Waterproof any radio with shrink wrap?

[pcradio]

I was out on the trail and had a radio with me. No being certain of its water properties, I put it inside a ziplock bag and was able to use it just fine. But that got me thinking. What if I could put my radio inside clear plastic, and then heat shrink it to seal it off? This would be for single use hiking trips to protect the radio. When I need to recharge the batteries, I will replace the covering and heat shrink again.

Thoughts?

[OffRoaderX]

Doesnt seem like a horrible idea!  My only question would be how does the shrink-wrap affect your transmission audio quality - usually the mics are pretty small and not very sensitive, so a layer of thick plastic could reduce your audio level  .... ??

[gortex2]

Most FRS/GMRS radio are fine with water resistant. Unless your swimming or walking thru a hurricane I think your ok. I have yet to cover a radio up. 

[pcradio]

9 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

My only question would be how does the shrink-wrap affect your transmission audio quality

8 hours ago, kb2ztx said:

Most FRS/GMRS radio are fine with water resistant. Unless your swimming ...

It might effect audio ... however, the ziplock bag did okay. Will have to test. And yes, I will be swimming. What I do now is: use the ziplock bag, and put that inside a dry bag while swimming. I was looking for a way to just keep the radio on me, attached to belt or whatever, while swimming.

[WyoJoe]

2 hours ago, pcradio said:

It might effect audio ... however, the ziplock bag did okay. Will have to test. And yes, I will be swimming. What I do now is: use the ziplock bag, and put that inside a dry bag while swimming. I was looking for a way to just keep the radio on me, attached to belt or whatever, while swimming.

The Baofeng UV9G is rated IP67 Waterproof. I think that would be a good start, although I don't know if I'd try keeping it on my person while swimming. There are bags made to protect phones and radios from the elements, which when used to protect a "waterproof" radio, might do the trick.

[haneysa]

I have the Baofeng UV-9R IP67 radio (the daddy of the UV9G). The UV9R is submersible, even while powered up. I have drop tested them from about 4 feet on to concrete (just a few times) and they held up. Even with IP67 gear, if I knew in advance that I was likely to get dunked, I would put my electronics in a dry sack or loksack, etc.