Blackbox UHF Radio? A little comms help please.

[Whiskey_Bravo]

I have a friend that has one of these and is trying to get me to get one as well. I have been wanting to get a decent radio for the jeep for a while, but I have almost no knowledge of them. He seems to be happy with the one listed below but I can't seem to find out much about them.

Blackbox UHF Field Programmable 40 Watt Mobile Radio
http://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3884

Does anybody have any experience with this? If not or if they suck could I get something similar by a better brand that would be compatible with his? Trying to delve in to radio land is a little overwhelming.

On the same note, I am also looking for some decent handhelds that are better than the shit bubble pack ones I got from Academy. I don't need to tune in distant Vietnam battle fields, just talk to the other vehicles in the group(and no not a CB), hiking/camping, etc.


An help on these would be greatly appreciated.

If this isn't the correct place for this please let me know.

[QuietShootr]

Ooh...I'll look at that and check back in.

[tb-av]

Read the second radio down on this page. Looks like the same radio.

http://www.wouxun.us/
ETA: Oops sorry, I got my pictures mixed up.. not same radio.


as to inexpensive handhelds. $50-$60
I bought a Baofeng UV-5R+ to learn with. There is a good following on Yahoo groups. Everyone seems very happy with them. I've only had it a few days but it seems to work well and feels solid. Trying to get my license this weekend.

All this stuff is on eBay. Mine took just about a week to ship from China and arrived looking better than most local mail I get. Full tracking the entire way as well.

[Touchette]

Just a couple of things:

1- You will run into a quality difference between the name brand (Motorola, Icom, Kenwood, etc.) brands and the cheaper Asian ones (Puxing, Wuxing, etc.). That said, the cheaper brands may do just as good of a job given your specific requirements.

2- Legally speaking, to transmit at any wattage over .5, you need to have a HAM license. Pretty easy to get from what I understand, but also very rarely enforced.

As to which handhelds might work best for you, what's your budget?