Tuesday, June 30, 2015

PMR 15km? No way?


A Personal Message Radio can be used for free here in the Netherlands. 8 channels in the 446 MHz band have been assigned for this and power output is max. 500mW. You don't need a license for this and it is ideal for communication on vacation. Now this Turkish company is advertising with their own brand Heider. It looks like.....our famous Baofeng UV-3R Mark 2. The strange thing is that my little Baofeng does at least 6dB more power but max. range would be about 10km at normal use and only if the opposite is a base station. I think and hope that if I use my Baofeng with my large 40cm Comet SMA24 flex I can have a QSO with someone 5km away with the same set up. The Comet SMA24 is certainly the best antenna to date for my small HT, though it is priced half of what you pay for a complete UV-3R. Anyway, the turkish company claims this little HT has cellulair receive. That's why this little wonder of technology has a range of a magical 15km (on free space that is, so only at sea I guess). No, I don't think this company has something like coversity like we have here in northern Netherlands, if they ever heard about it. This is just a case of misleading customers I guess. Although I like the large antenna they use....

UV-3R with Comet SMA24
It all does remind me of my CB years. When CB started in the Netherlands we were allowed 100mW walky talkies. I remember they advertised those had a range of 5km. But in reality it was only a few 100 mtrs. So, I hope for those that buy these little Heiders the range will be about a kilometer if they are lucky.



8 comments:

GW0KIG said...

Hi Bas
Yes it seems that rig is a UV3r but programmed for 446. I think maybe it will do more than 500mw if you went into the menu! 15KM? maybe possible if both stations were on a mountain top but in a normal situation no way. I have a UV3-R and its a nice little rig for the price and I am told the tx audio is good. I find the receiver overloads if its near any strong pager transmitters etc even on the little "rubber duck" whip that came with it.

73 Kevin

Bert, PA1B said...

Hallo Bas, leuk ding voor de korte afstand of in de bergen. Jaren geleden gebruikten mede amateurs zulke setjes om met elkaar te praten binnen het zelfde gebouw. Waar zit jij? Ik zit in de kantine. 73, Bert

Hans said...

Hallo Bas, De UV-3R (2W) alsmede de UV-5R (5W) heb ik in bezit en bevallen mij goed. Uiteraard kom ik met de 5W iets verder maar mag over beide niet klagen. Zeker gezien het aanschafbedrag. De UW-3R is bij mij op UHF wat beter. De originele antennes zijn erg slecht en zitten buiten de amateurbanden. Er zijn betere te krijgen die ook goed op de frequentie zitten en ook wat langer, zijn maar doen het erg goed. UV5R gaat standaard altijd mee in de auto en met de landelijke repeaters kom ik bijna door heel nederland. DE UV-3R gaat standaard mee op vakantie op LPD freq. Leuk speel goed! 73 Hans, PE1BVQ

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hallo Hans, jij had toch voor de UV-5R ook die SMA24 gekocht toen op de jutberg? Volgens mij kon je het verschil toen direct zien. Ik was erbij ;-) 73, Bas

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hello Kevin, I personally like the UV-3R as it is very small and does a good job. Most HT do have a overload problem at receive because the filters are designed for use with a small antenna and weak signals. I have worked with a UV-5R but I found it has too many features you don't use at all. The extra power is nice but you don't need it. 73, Bas

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hallo Bert, jaren geleden waren er nog niet van zulke setjes! Of je moet de veel te dure Yaesu setjes bedoelen. Ik kan me herinneren dat een collega amateur zo een dingetje had ter grootte van een creditcard. Ding was wel een beetje aan de dure kant. Maar ach dat zijn de meeste gadgets. 73, Bas

angels.disco said...

Ordered and paid for 2 radios, will now not answer E Mails, reported to the Police as scammers

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Pity to hear that. Hopefully this article did not lead you to this scam. 73, Bas