WRTT642

Where did you get them at?

They are very comfortable, to me at least, and I shoot my Benelli M4 a lot. It has a field stock installed on it because I just am not a fan of the pistol grip stocks. The ear pro do not get in the way at all and can be worn with no issues while shooting shotgun. Took these to my schools ham club and the kids loved them, they all said they told their parents to buy them a pair lol. I know there are better ear pro out there, but for the cost and features you cant go wrong with these. Also, just so you know, you can hook up your own radios to these, you dont have to have this exact radio hook up.

The total cost of both the ear pro and the walkie was about 70 bucks, not too bad considering what they are, but do understand wanting to get other things first.

I get the left handed shooter part. I mean being wrong handed must suck, but the FRS part isnt too bad. You can get the razors and hook up your own comms and it shouldnt be a problem.

Just got these ear pros with the walkie-talkie attached to them. These things are pretty cool. One of my other hobbies that I partake in a lot is guns and shooting and wanted to get some ear pro that didnt break the bank, so I grabbed these at Sportsman. Little did I know that these radios/ear pro not only communicate with each other, but they also transmit to FRS/GMRS radios! I know, I'm slow lol. But these are pretty cool. I was able to transmit to a Baofeng GMRS radio with no issue and the audio is really clear. Seeing as I only have one pair, I have not been able to talk to another person with this ear pro (I know I need friends lol), but man these things are cool. Would for sure recommend them to anyone who needs hearing protection while talking with others. I know there are ways to connect your radios to these different types of ear pros, but I like this setup so much more. It is much cleaner with very little in the way and no wires hanging down. They are marketed as FRS so the power on them isnt going to get you across town, thats for sure, and you can not program them as far as I see, but it is nice for short range comms with friends and family. They are FRS so really anyone can use them. This radio also has sub-channels that can be selected to only receive transmissions from other radios set to the same channel and sub-channel (which I think you can only do with other Walkers, still playing around with them) and they also have PRI or priority channel set-up which I think is pretty cool too. I have not tried out the VOX feature yet, but I think that might be better used for individuals who both have this same set up. Anyone else out there have these or tried them out? I like them so far and I am going to take them to my ham club at the school and show the kids, I think they will get a kick out of them. I paid probably about $70 for them, which isnt bad for what they do. Would love to hear others input on them.

Same. I have not had any issues with it and I have three of them and they all have been programmed with no issues.

I do not feel like it is my place as an employee in my position to comment on the security protocols of our schools on a public forum. I will add a link to an article that may put some perspective on this matter. https://www.edweek.org/technology/school-shootings-are-fueling-the-debate-over-cellphones-in-class/2022/06 Hope this helps answer some of those concerns you may have. If you have any questions or issues with the no cell phone policy at your local schools (if they have them) you have every right as a parent and a citizen to speak with either the principal of the school or the school board in your district.

Have yet to see that happen. Not saying it has not, but I have yet to hear that from any teachers or staff. We have a whole procedure we go through in making sure kids have their cell phones in their pouch. If they don't and when they get caught (they always get caught) we send their phone to front office and parent has to come to school to pick up phone. Once that happens lets just say the kid never forgets again, that's if they get their phone back from their parents.

Interesting how so many are talking about how repeaters are dead and not much simplex use because modern tech such as cell phones has become the norm. The school I teach at has gone completely cell phone-free. Meaning the kids can not have their cell phones from the time the morning bell rings to the last bell of the day. We have issued to all students Yondr Pouches, which are little bags the students have to put their cell phones in when the morning bell rings they magnetically lock and the kids can not get them open until we put the "keys" out at the end of the day. With that being said, I have been able to use that to recruit more kids to ham radio. I have been showing the kids all the ways that radio can be used like a cell phone, such as text messaging, sharing pictures, and emails, and just plain ol talking with each other. Most of these kids all live in the same neighborhood or close enough to do simplex. The big thing when telling the kids this is that cell phones may be banned, but the principal never said anything about ham radio lol. I know there are caveats to all of these, but generally speaking as some of you already know these things are not difficult to do. I told them that even if they are grounded from their cell phones at home they can still use their radios to communicate with their friends and even share each other's locations etc. lol. Teaching these things to the younger generation has been a big hit and the school admin is all for it and super supportive of the kids using radio tech instead of their cell phones. Please guys, and gals, don't give up on our younger generation. These kids are smart and catch on quickly, they just need more people showing them how to properly utilize ham radio and all the benefits it has. Man, I can go on all day on this subject as I have been working hard integrating ham radio into our school. The ham club I started at the school has been a big success to my surprise and has fired me up to know that ham radio is not dead and is alive and well in our kids, as long as WE do the work to show them. Sorry, rant over lol.

Hello Roger, nice to meet you. There are a lot of us out there and believe it or not a lot of the guys on here are great guys and have a lot of knowledge about radios and Im sure they would love to share that knowledge with you. If you ever want to get your amateur license, know that there are countless resources that help people with earning it. If there is anything I can do to help you please send me a message and I will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Hey dogfarts arent you located up here off the loop? Im out here now if you want to do some radio checks I will be on channel 16.

I love GMRS and I am also a "HAMster". My name is Will nice to meet you, I have started a ham radio club at the jr high school I work at and I have already led one student to earn his technician license and have about 10 more in the works. I have about a total of 20 kids that I brought into the hobby. Check out the blog that Bridgecom Systems put out on the ham club that I created for these kids. With that being said, please do not assume that all amateur radio operators are a bunch of hermits that keep to themselves and do not share this hobby with others, because there are a lot of teachers like myself out there that are doing the same at their schools. As well as countless hams that teach their family and friends. I am sorry that you may have had a bad experience with some people. I hope we can talk more sir, I am always up for a good chat

This sounds like the way to do it. Thank you so much for the info!

Thank you for the info. Our schools have pretty good security and I believe the principals, at least at some of the schools such as the high schools, do have one dedicated radio for local law enforcement locked in their office for emergency purposes. Without getting into too much detail our district has done some very good work for our schools as far as security and safety are concerned. My guess about the staff radios as to why they are not making a bigger issue about it at my school is that maybe other schools are not having the same problem. I don't know all the specifics about the comms situation at our district and the principal just brought this up to me so I have only been trying to figure this out for the past couple of days. This is why I bring it to you all because after using the Baofengs and that they worked as well as they did I kinda just scratched my head and said I have no idea what is going on here lol.

I agree. I don't think Baofeng is a suitable replacement. I only used it to get an idea of what could possibly work. It is the only set of radios that I have on hand that we can transmit in the building to see a comparison. I'm not sure of the exact size or square footage of the building, but it is a decent-sized building and one of the bigger ones in our district. The entire building is pretty much made of brick, which I suspect is the cause for the interference, but it still doesn't make sense to me as to why the Baofengs worked so well, but the Hyteras don't. There is one location specifically that the principal has concerns for and that is the location where the students who are in I.S.S. (in-school suspension) as well as students who are being sent out of class for disruptive behavior. The room gets very poor reception even with cell phones and the Hytera just sends static, but again when I tested the Baofengs from that room to the front office and cafeteria, etc, they were loud and clear. Anyway, I do appreciate the help and information, I will compile all this info to give to the principal and continue to do more research on the recommendations you have all given. Thank you very much!

Thank you for the info. Yeah, not sure why the Baofeng works better than the Hytera, but it did with multiple people including myself saying it works much much better throughout the whole school. I was very surprised as well. Anyway, I will pass the information along and see what we can do. Thank you again for the help.

Hello all, I am a teacher at my local middle school and I am in the process of starting a ham radio club for the kids. It has piqued the interest of students, parents, and staff alike. In doing this the principal has been asking me questions about the radios that the staff use for the building. They typically use them for communications in locating kids, lunchtime duties, bus duty, etc. The principal has told me that the radios they currently use are horrible and that they have a hard time reaching across the school. The radio that the school is using is the Hytera PD362i, and we have about 8 of them along with some no-frill, basic Motorolas. When I asked him about who runs all the radios for the district and his experience he stated that the individual is IT guy and his knowledge of radios is very limited. The principal does not know why they use these radios specifically, but that was what was given to them. He has made complaints to the district about the radio not being able to reach all around the school and even within closer proximities. When he asked me to find out what radios would be good to have for the school and brought a couple of Baofeng UV-9g's to school and ran a couple of tests to gauge the distance and sound on them. I was very surprised that the UV9g's could be heard loud and clear on FRS frequencies everywhere in the school as well as outside of the building yet the Hytera's could not even make half those distances. I am not a professional in this field and my knowledge in doing such things in this capacity is almost nonexistent. I did tell the principal I would look into it and see what I can find out, I am a history major so business comms is not in my wheelhouse of expertise in any way. So I come to all of you who are experts in such things and know way more than I do in this subject. Any feedback or help would be greatly appreciated. The answers the principal got was that they were going to need to set up a repeater in the school and for some reason was going to cost them $10,000!!!! So as you can see this has been a touchy subject with admin because of the cost, yet these radios are vital for communications around the school. If anyone is willing to help us out and give us some info or if anyone is willing to volunteer their time for a consult over the phone with the principal or just point me in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Awesome!!! Thanks for putting up a new repeater in the area, it is much appreciated. Next time I'm in Anchorage I will drop by and say hello over the repeater.

Oh, ok, I understand, yeah that makes sense. Yet, for individuals like myself, which are probably many, why would I need a commercial radio for if I am only using radio for personal and educational use? I looked into P25/NXDN and to be honest, it's just too much for me personally and seems pretty restrictive. I could just be totally misunderstanding its purpose and use, but for the general market DStar, YSF, and even DMR are more viable options for the average user with my much better pricing and accessibility. So, I definitely get your point and you explained it very clearly for a slow person like myself, but I still don't see the practical use for the average consumer to get into the commercial side of radio and maybe that is why Kenwood stuck with DStar.

Just curious. Since they already make the NX series that do DMR, P25, NXDN, FM, then why not make one that does DSTAR as well? I mean wouldn't that just make Kenwood a go-to company for your digital needs regardless of which mode you use? I personally use Dstar a lot and love it, others don't and that is perfectly fine. But at least Kenwood would have whatever you want and offer it all. Not sure if Icom has multi-protocol radios.

HAHAHAHHAAHHAHHAHAAA. Love it!

I am personally willing to pay ID52 prices for the new D75, but anything over that will be a no-go for me, yet I find it hard to believe that they will sell this unit for my then 5-600 dollars. With everything coming out on this I am very excited to see more about it. Looks to be a very big contender in the HT market and hopefully will cause the other companies to up their game.

Yeah, I saw that. They have a really good price for it right now, just never really been a fan of Yaseu, don't ask me why lol. But a great price nonetheless for a good HT. Maybe Yaseu will have some new goodies to announce at ham.