Seeking Information

I am seeking information on the best radio on the market which fit the following specifications:

VHF Base Station: Frequency Band- VHF 136-174MHz; Repeater capable, Minimum 40 Watt with Transmit Interrupt, GPS capable, Programmable Buttons, Minimum of 900 Channels, and Caller ID. Digital Technology backward compatible with analog and rated at IP57.

VHF Vehicle Mounted; Frequency Band- VHF 136-174MHz, Repeater capable, Minimum 25 Watt, Day and night mode, Transmit Interrupt, GPS capable, Programmable Buttons, Minimum of 900 Channels, Caller ID, Voice Operated Transmit (VOX). Digital Technology backward compatible with analog and rated at IP57.

VHF Handheld Radio; Frequency Band- VHF 136-174MHz, Repeater capable, Minimum 4.5 Watt, Battery Life- Minimum 12 hours, Keypad ? Full, Weight <14.00 oz., Day and night mode, Transmit Interrupt, GPS capable, Programmable Buttons, Minimum of 900 Channels, Caller ID, Voice Operated Transmit (VOX). Digital Technology backward compatible with analog and rated at IP57.

Can you direct me a good vendor and or manufacture. TIA.

Asking a question like this is like asking which is the better truck, Ford, Ram or Chevy or the better motorcycle, Harley Davidson, Honda or Yamaha. You are going to get as many different choices as the number of people that answer.

What you need to do is determine what your needs are and then start researching radios that will do what you need. All you’re going to get here is opinions about radios that might do what you need.

Fair enough!

I have done that. I am finding the majority of Base Stations and mobiles aren’t rated at IP57. Therefore, I was looking for someone to point me a direction to locate a radio/ vendor that can meet the specs. Thank you.

The problem is your wish list is extremely vague and has a number of real questions that leap out. Firstly - what is your primary requirement. I am assuming you are some kind of enthusiast with the rather wide band required? Needing 900 channels suggests maybe you’re a receive enthusiast who wants to use it as a scanner (bad news because with 900 channels to scan, any transceiver will be very slow - they make rubbish scanners). Maybe you with the IP requirement want to use it on a boat, so marine is a primary goal? If so, then some radios do not have the facility to have a name on the display just frequency, making the request to go to marine channel 77 tricky. 40W minimum output is also pretty high, but the worst query is digital technology backwards compatible - what on earth does this mean? You want a digital radio that can receive FM? Virtually all do that - but the variety of digital is very, very wide, and I know of few transmitters that can manage all the different systems.

DMR, P25, dPMR, motorola’s system, plus the variants used for ham kit make the spec you provide very confusing. You are just not going to get all that - and even if you could, it still might not do the trick. Base, mobile and handheld versions of the same thing.

You probably do need all those things, but frankly, it’s a bizarre choice for any usage I can dream up, so I wonder if you just compiled a list of wishes without much real thought as to what the end result is - a bit like when requirements are drawn up by committees.

What do you want to actually do? The IP rating suggests water, which means boats or perhaps motorcycles to me - but you could be wanting a radio for use on the top of a mountain climbing Kilimanjaro in a monsoon? Wanting long life and high power from batteries, for example? Which one, because you cannot have both?

By and far the most important is digital - FM is always pretty well specified and inter brand comfy. Digital is NOT. Even if you ignore the digital requirement, I cannot think of anything currently being marketed that meets you very particular requirements. (well the IP rating is the killer being honest)

Some are very odd - day and night mode?

Most radios nowadays can be programmed for the ability to inhibit TX or not if the channel is busy.

900 channels? the chances of anyone being licensed for 900 channels seems unlikely - so maybe you also need to add, TX inhibit to your wish list too?

I remember a while back somebody complaining that the IP rated equipment list was getting smaller and smaller for the enthusiast radios, and getting more common on business radio products, which of course do not have the other bells and whistles.

Based on what I read in your post, I understand you are searching for a complete set of VHF radios - base, mobile and portable handheld - that are both digital and analog with GPS capability and are IP57 dust, waterproof and submersible.

You did not mention which digital standard you were searching for. Do you want NXDN/D-Star, DMR, dPMR or something else? Your search may be narrowed further depending on the type of digital format you want.

Assuming you mean DMR, there are a number of portable handheld radios out there now that will fit most of the requirements, however the last one will be a bit of a challenge when it comes to the mobile/base radios.

While not uncommon to find waterproof portable handheld radios, particularly on the high end, right offhand I don’t recall any non-marine mobile units rated for IP57. As for base stations, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of one that was even substantially waterproof, much less submersible. This is simply because a base station radio is typically designed for use in a controlled environment indoors on a desktop or in a rack, not out in the elements.

Of course, that’s not to say there isn’t such a device, but I think you may be hard pressed to find one.

The same can be said of mobile radios to a degree. They are typically designed for use inside an enclosed vehicle. Some mobile radios are built for use in all-terrain vehicles with open cabs, and those can be fairly water resistant or even somewhat waterproof, however they are generally not designed for full submersion. Those models will also not be cheap.

One of the challenges in waterproofing a mobile unit is the ability to protect the power supply from water damage. Unlike a handheld radio, mobile radios do not supply their own power source and rely on an external source of power to operate, which may or may not be equally protected from ingress of foreign elements such as water.

Another challenge is heat dissipation. Unlike handheld units, which usually operate at about 5 watts or less, most mobile radios are capable of 40W or 50W of transmit power. This requires them to have massive built-in heat sinks and/or other methods to dissipate the heat built up inside the radio during transmit operation. Waterproofing a radio requires a complete and secure seal around the radio to keep water from entering. This also means nothing leaves the radio, such as hot air. Waterproofing a radio can potentially trap the heat and severely limit the ability of the radio to remain cool, which can cause the radio to fail. These are all things to consider when attempting to waterproof a mobile radio.

Of course, you can always give us a call at 1-800-584-1445 or chat with us online weekdays during normal business hours at Buy Two Way Radios and we will be happy to assist you in searching for the radios you need.

Paulears, Thank you. Yes, I agree with you. This is a Government wish list. I believe they cut and paste the information across the board. The radios will eventually be shipped overseas, Afghanistan. This is to satisfy a Gov’t contract. I well ultimately direct and tell the Gov’t what they really need/ want. But for now, what I posted is all the information they provided. Your input was helpful, thank you.

Rick S, Thank you, I actually browsed the Buy Two Way Radios website. I found some radios matching the requirements. Then I did an individual search to locate the actual spec sheet for comparison.

The Buy Two Way Radios website was helpful. When the USG comes back with a quantity I have you my list to contact. Thank you.