Logging rd radio suggestions

[Islandeer]

I am looking at buying some new radios as the ones we have are not usb chargeable.
Price range under 350.00

Thanks for your input.

My hunt report for the mainland wS fantastic with family and peaks and sweat and no harvested deer.

Similar for my island hunts, consistent cougar sign in the ever diminishing old growth winter range.

[KodiakHntr]

Watch marketplace. Tad M10’s, Icoms, kenwoods, they come up used all the time with a magnetic antenna and 12v plug inside your budget and already programmed.

[IronNoggin]

This is the one I used for work all summer.
Good range and long battery life.
Comes pre-programmed.

Icom ICF1000S VHF Radio Programmed with Lad & RR Channels $325.00

https://www.kccommunications.ca/Icom-IC-F1000S-VHF-128Chs-Portables-_p_4.html

Don't rightly know if it is still on sale, but well worth it even if it isn't.

Cheers,
Nog

[MOUNTAIN MICKEY]

USB chargeable Baofeng hand held-----UV S9 can be ordered with a usb to battery cable. Baofeng UV-13 PRO (version 2) come with a usb/c charge cable. Baofeng UV 17 Pro (V-2) also come with a usb/c charge cable---order the V2 with the black screen not the V 1 with the blue screen. There is also a V2 GPS model, but I have not had one yet. The 17 models have more features that some people will be more interested in.

[carnivore]

Check out this one from Fleetwood digital $120.00
Pofung by Baofeng P11UV FSR Edition BC RR Logging Road Back Country Overlanding Radio

[fozzy]

A few years ago I bought a baofeng bf-f8hp off amazon along with a mag base high gain antennae and programmed all the RR channels on it, best money I ever spent for hunting gear.

[grantk]

I've been happy with the Yaesu FT-65, and it can be unlocked very simply to allow transmit & receive. Simple to program with the cable and free CHIRP software.

[Knute]

I've been happy with the Yaesu FT-65, and it can be unlocked very simply to allow transmit & receive. Simple to program with the cable and free CHIRP software.

X2...The FT-65 is well rated and popular with users

[Islandeer]

X2...The FT-65 is well rated and popular with users

Thanks everyone for taking the time to share, much appreciated!!

[M1SF1T]

Yaesu FT70 here with a MARS mod. Works great.

[S.W.A.T.]

Don't cheap out, can save your or someone else's life

[Islandeer]

Totally agree, age has taught me well to prepare for when shit hits the fan, not if it will.
We have been borrowing a pair for a while, time to get on the program.
what’s your pick SWAT?

[ACE]

​Have a pair of Icom mobile radios. They work well.

[S.W.A.T.]

Totally agree, age has taught me well to prepare for when shit hits the fan, not if it will.
We have been borrowing a pair for a while, time to get on the program.
what’s your pick SWAT?

I have several Kenwood's and have no complaints. Some are hard mounted into trucks and others are just a magnet mount in vehicles (extremely frustrating when running new fords as they are all aluminum except the rear seat mounts).

Get ALL the RR channels including the 5 LD channels and LADD 1,2,3 plus any other reginal frequencies that you may wish. Having more channels is like having a radio phone book. Some area's even offer tower tell phone capabilities. Tower tell isn't as essential as it once was with things like inreach and other products.

[caddisguy]

While a 5-8W handheld can do the job in most cases, you can extend the range (TX and RX) by connecting it to an external antenna such as a mag mount on the hood or roof, or a fender mount. This can really make the difference in some cases where terrain isn't favorable. You might get 8km range in cases where you would get less than 2km (where you'd meet the log truck before you hear each other) with the rubber duck. In most cases I can get 20-30km in the bush with terrain from a handheld connected to an external antenna.

Check out Vernon Communications, Fleetwood Digital and other shops for recommendations on radios. For your budget, I would be looking for a 25W mobile (you might only find 50W, but they're only going to program it to 20-25W or whatever the limit is for light license mobile) You can likely connect it via the cig plug adapter and not having to worry about wiring.

For RR/LD/LADD I use an IC certified / licensed TYT UV88 (5W) connected to a mag mount antenna. It's not USB chargeable, so probably not helpful. I'm in the market for a 50W IC certified rig where I can have the shop program the Land Mobile frequencies as well as a list of ham repeaters and simplex I give them so I'll be able to do Land Mobile and HAM one rig. Only downside, no VFO but it's the legal route to achieve what I want. For now I just use two separate radios to be on the up and up. I'll go with Kenwood or ICOM. Probably Kenwood.

For HAM radio I like the 25W AnyTone mobile radios. They plug right into the cig plug adapter and I can hit repeaters over 150km away from out in the bush. TYT 9000's a good budget 60W monobands (95% of what I do is VHF) Some of the repeaters let you make phone calls through your radio, so handy if you're ever without cell and need to get a call out. Not a replacement for things like InReach, but can be convenient. Figured I'd mention it in case you're interested in additional comms. Unlike the Land Mobile license, you do have to take a test for ham, but it's not all that bad and you only need 70% unless you want to get into HF, then you need 80%.

[caddisguy]

Totally agree, age has taught me well to prepare for when shit hits the fan, not if it will.
We have been borrowing a pair for a while, time to get on the program.
what’s your pick SWAT?

Lmao I'm with you there. I started with a couple hand helds. Fast forward a year later, I'm talking to the space station (not even joking) and bouncing my signal off a bunch of different satellite repeaters, receiving SSTV, etc. I love playing around with simplex too. That's where you really get to test your gear. There are some local emergency simplex nets here. With the split boom Arrow II Yagi antenna (breaks down and fits in a backpack) connected to a handheld set to 1W, I am able to get from Langley all the way out to Hatzic Lake as well as other stations in Mission. Same deal with Coquitlam. 1W gets my signal out there loud and clear. I can get out to the island (Cowichan area with more power) Sometimes it's not about the power, but how you use it. With a mag mount I need around 50W to do the same stuff I can with the Yagi at 1W. Cool thing about directional antennas is you can bounce your signal off mountains. I like to bounce off Baker. I think I have around 20 radios now, ranging from 5W to 60W. I'm addicted LOL.


https://i.imgur.com/ip8K9om.jpg

[Norwestalta]

Just curious where you guys are getting your yaesu's from? I've got a FT 2900R but some ham fisted asshole pushed some buttons on it and I lost or misplaced all my programming.

[caddisguy]

Just curious where you guys are getting your yaesu's from? I've got a FT 2900R but some ham fisted asshole pushed some buttons on it and I lost or misplaced all my programming.

Ooof. Not familiar with that model but hard to factory reset a radio with a fat thumb or a fat fist. Usually need to awkwardly hold down multiple buttons turning in on and then some confirmation stuff. Figure you ruled out it's not just a channel mode vs vfo mode toggle?

They're programmable through CHIRP, so worst case scenario should just be tossing in the frequencies into a spreadsheet if I'm not mistaken

[Norwestalta]

Ooof. Not familiar with that model but hard to factory reset a radio with a fat thumb or a fat fist. Usually need to awkwardly hold down multiple buttons turning in on and then some confirmation stuff. Figure you ruled out it's not just a channel mode vs vfo mode toggle?

They're programmable through CHIRP, so worst case scenario should just be tossing in the frequencies into a spreadsheet if I'm not mistaken

I was in INT mode. Don't know what that means? I'm now in VFO. I don't know what that means either. If you got a collection of radios maybe you want to add this one to it? Way to much tech on it when I just want to call in my km's and not get run over by a logger or fluid hauler.

[Redthies]

You might get 8km range in cases where you would get less than 2km (where you'd meet the log truck before you hear each other) with the rubber duck.

I need to be on radio just to drive up my street as they are actively hauling on it these days. Of course the last call down is at 3km, and between 3km and the valley is where all the blind hairpins are. Might as well not even have a call protocol for all the good it does. I call my way up (5w with external antenna) and hope they at least know someone is coming uphill through the switchbacks…

My point is, knowledge is also power. If I didn’t know the road, and where their call outs occur, I’d be blindly confident.

[caddisguy]

Here is a radio Islandeer might be interested in. This one is USB chargeable:

https://www.fleetwooddp.com/products/baofeng-pofung-p11uv-rrb1-logging-road-back-country-walkie-talkie-two-way-radio?_pos=2&_fid=7bc77a0be&_ss=c

Here is the license information / instructions they provide as well: https://www.fleetwooddp.com/pages/logging-resource-roads-land-mobile-walkie-talkie-radio-license

I purchased the TYT UV88 from them. Pretty easy process. I just purchased the license online from ISED, bought the radio from the Fleetwood digital online store and provided them with my license number. Got the radio about a week later. It came programmed with all the RR / LD / LADD channels.

That's the legal and fool proof way. It's good to know that if there was an incident (ie: with a logging truck) that the radio won't come into question (potentially affecting insurance? possible ISED fines, etc) and also that the radio is indeed programmed correctly. There have been a few incidents recently where people "thought" the UV5R was transmitting when it actually was not (because the new ones are locked and it is not obvious to some the radio is not transmitting) as well as a lot of people who incorrectly set the RR channels to wide band instead of narrow band (actually stumbled a YouTube video of someone trying to teach others to program RR's into CHIRP - sure enough he had them all set to FM instead of NFM) Some other gotchas are accidentally setting an offset or step setting by pressing wrong buttons and it isn't obvious on the display. It still "looks" like they are transmitting on the right frequency or channel, but they are actually receiving on one and transmitting on another. I think that's probably the reason one of the main criterias for an IC certified (for Land Mobile) radio cannot have VFO or be user-programmable from the radio interface. It's so easy to press something and have the radio not do what it should, or worse causing interference to other commercial frequencies.

It happens on the HAM band all the time. You'll have some peeps talking to each other on UV5R's (you can tell by the roger beep) not realizing they are taking on the input of a repeater and their conversation is being heard all across southwest BC and Vancouver Island. And since they are talking simplex (into the repeaters input, I guess some people just pick random frequencies and not realize a repeater can pick up a 5W handheld 100km away no problem) and not listening to the repeater output, they don't hear the dozens of people calling back "you're on the wrong frequency". In those cases we'll start monitoring the repeater input frequency and if anyone is picking them up on simplex, then we can alert them. I imagine this happens on commercial / emergency repeaters with more consequence. It is pretty easy to track down the signal with a directional antenna. We actually do that from time to time. In one case we had a constant carrier on the Mount Seymore repeater (VE7RPT) ... it only took a few hours to track down (with coordination from several people in different locations aiming directional antennas to pinpoint the source. Turned out to be a HAM operator who had a box of books fall off a shelf and peg the PTT. Oddly he had a talk time-out set, but it never kicked in. OH and I screw up too! A few weeks back I was trying to talk to the space station. Turns out I was announcing my call sign and grid square on a local repeater. Still embarrassed. Damn that A/B button

Not my biz what other peeps do and no judgement. Just wanted to share some info. And I'm no saint on the subject. When I first started looking into all this I "thought" I could legally go the UV5R route for FSR calling and that was the route I was planning. Then I started researching more and studying for my ham license (totally separate thing from Land Mobile... no test needed for Land Mobile, just like buying a fishing license) and learned a ton about what is and isn't on the up and up with radio in general. And after passing that with honors I sure as heck couldn't plead ignorance LOL.

[BeerMan]

Great post caddisguy, I have been on the fence about these radios, but the way you explained it sounds easy. Thanks!

[Islandeer]

I like that one that comes programmed.
8-)