RANGE TEST: $20/Pair "8-mile" Radios that Beat Their Claims!
Martin
rebate, with free shipping:
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4885200?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
Same deal is available in-store, if you have a "Fry's Electronics"
nearby.
Pretty good feature set - 22 channels, 99 squelch codes (38 seems the
norm), channel and code scan, vibrate alert mode, 8 weather channels,
VOX, and accessory (mic/ear) jacks.
Advertised range is "up to 8 miles". I always take these claims with a
large grain of salt, but when I looked at the radios I was encouraged
by (1) larger physical size / antenna and (2) powered by 4 AA
batteries. So I decided to risk $20 and give them a shot.
First of all, the claimed range is 8 miles over water and 6 on land,
line-of-sight. We set out yesterday morning to check the range. I'm
in Dallas, and it's hard to find a long straight stretch of road, but
we wound up going out I-30 east toward Rockwall. I dropped my friend
off at "Snuffers", a roadside restaurant with an outdoor patio, so he
wouldn't have to stand in the sun. For those who want to check a map,
Snuffers is at the Ridge Road exit on I-30, just east of Lake Ray
Hubbard. I took off back down the highway toward Dallas.
I didn't expect to meet the claimed range, for several reasons. First,
I assumed the claims would be optimistic; second, I was using
rechargeable batteries which have lower terminal voltage than the fresh
alkalines that were probably used for testing; and third, I wouldn't
have true line-of-sight due to buildings, bridges, hills, etc.
Anyway, to make a long story short, we were reading one another pretty
well at the 6-mile point (mfrs claimed land range), even though I was
still sitting in the cab of my truck. Somewhere around 7 miles we
started breaking up when I'd go down hills. At 8 miles I stopped on a
high spot, got out of the truck, and found that we still had strong
signal and clear audio. And we were still readable using the half-watt
channels also.
The last point we checked had me at the intersection of I-30 and I-635
in Dallas, on high ground outside the truck, with him on the Snuffers
patio back in Rockwall. At this point we were both getting some
crackle on the audio. Distance is almost 10 miles, three of which were
across water. Terrain was not ideal, but it was approximately
line-of-sight.
I stopped the test at this point because it was going to take some
major effort from where I had exited to get back on I-30 pointed west,
and then there would be a 3-level highway interchange and some more
hills between us anyway. Plus, we were both hungry for lunch.
Needless to say, my buddy is heading over to Fry's today to grab a
couple of these sleepers before the sale is over.
best regards,
Martin
IR
Martin
IR wrote:
> Is that price per pair?
Yes, see the title of the original post.
Barky Bark
buildlings.