Does price matter?

[Borage257]

8 hours ago, marcspaz said:

 

I'm not sure I would agree with that.  Most modern vehicles don't have a traditional alternator (one that behaves like a generator) that puts out a fixed voltage.  The car's computer monitors the battery values, like temperature, voltage, and power utilization, and then adjusts the alternator output voltage based on the needs.

 

For example, if my Jeep sits for a week in the cold of winter and I start it up at night, the use of the lights, heat, radio and other electronics, I will see the voltage as high as 15vdc.  On the flip side, the opposite is true if I have been cruising on the highway for hours during the day, in the middle of Spring or Fall, with nothing but the bare essentials to run the vehicle.  My alternator will almost completely turn off and my electrical system will run near purely on the battery, with just a trickle charge holding it at about 12.4vdc-12.8vdc.  It won't increase the voltage unless the demand draws the battery down.

 

This is relevant to the point that at 12.4vdc, my 50w radio's total system consumption may be about 100w, but at 15vdc it may use 120w.  With modern efficiency of radios, that is a variation of somewhere in the neighborhood of 10w transmit power.

My point being most power supplies will meet the radio’s 13.8 VDC +/- 15% 

[Lscott]

The title of this thread could be interpreted another way.

One could ask does the user care a lot about how much they spend on a radio? I know some on this forum have likely spent well past 4 figures on a portable radio. If I spent that much on a portable radio I would be reluctant to even take it out of the house.

I have only purchased a few radios new over the years. The majority are clean used radios showing few signs of use. Even then I've spent maybe $200 to $250 at most on a used commercial grade radio. The more expensive used commercial ones tend to be FM/Digital types. Out of the later the FM/P25 radios seem to be noticeably more expensive than the other FM/digital types, especially the VHF models. 

Ham gear is a different story. Before the new TH-D75A was released the older discontinued TH-D74A was selling for a huge price premium above what they sold for new. I saw a few selling for above $1000+ on eBay.  When the TH-D74A's were available one could buy it new for around $650.

[tweiss3]

I can see this both ways. Both as a "does it matter if I spend the least possible" and "does it matter if I spend hundreds". The real answer is spend what you are comfortable spending, as long as it has all the features for your situation. And remember, GMRS is BYOC (bring your own contacts), so you pretty much have to be ok with buying at least 2 of everything to talk to your wife/kids/granchildren/etc. 

That being said, ignition sense in the commercial radios is a huge advantage. My wife's car, it just comes on when it's started, and turns off 10 minutes after the car turns off. With the right settings, she hears nothing but me when needed. I don't have to instruct her or get her to remember anything. Grab the mic and respond is it. Worth spending the few extra bucks for the setup in her car.

[WRXB215]

18 minutes ago, tweiss3 said:

GMRS is BYOC (bring your own contacts), so you pretty much have to be ok with buying at least 2 of everything to talk to your wife/kids/granchildren/etc.

That!!! ^^^^^^

[WRYZ926]

One can't always got by the name on a radio either. I have an Icom IC-T10 hand held and it is not much better than my Baofeng hand held radios when it comes to picking up noise/RFI. The IC-T10 is a SOC radio. Granted the IC-T10 is Icom's entry level hand held.

Where the IC-T10 does better is on RX/TX and rejection of adjacent signals.  Plus the IC-T10 feels like a real radio versus a child's walkie talkie from the 1980's.

My Wouxun hand held radios are both superheterodyne and do better than my Baofeng and Icom hand held radios. Neither one picked up the RFI like my Icom or Baofeng radios. The front ends also do not get overloaded like the IC-T10 or GT-5r/UV-5R GMRS radios do. The Wouxun hand helds I own are the KG-935G and KG-Q10H.

The Explorer QRZ-1 fall in between the Icom/Baofeng and the Wouxun radios. The QRZ-1 is a rebranded TYT UV-88 hand held with a custom firmware.

My testing for RFI was far from scientific. What I did was walk around the house with all of my hand held radios tuned to both VHF and UHF frequencies. Every radio except for the two Wouxun's picked up RFI on UHF inside the house. The biggest culprits of the RFI source is my computer monitors and TVs.

Sorry for being long winded here. This goes to show that you can't always go by the brand name either.

As far as mobile radios go, the Wouxun and Midland GMRS radios are hard to beat. Neither brand is perfect but they perform better than the cheaper brands. One can always go with Kenwood or Motorola radios if they can afford them or find used radios at a decent price. In the end, go with what you can afford and has the features you like.

[amaff]

7 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

My Wouxun hand held radios are both superheterodyne. The Wouxun hand helds I own are the KG-935G and KG-Q10H.

The 935G actually isn't. But I think that further illustrates your point. Half the price of an Icom, with a better front end.

[WRYZ926]

I stand corrected on the KG-935G. It is a direct conversion SOC radio. It still outperforms the Icom IC-T10. The KG-Q10H and IC-T10 are close to the same price. The Wouxun KG-Q10H and KG-Q10G (GMRS version) are $220 and the Icom IC-T10 is $240. 

If I had to do things over, I would not have bought the Icom IC-T10 and instead stuck with the Wouxun KG-Q10H or KG-UV9D for a dual band hand held radio. And the Wouxun KG-935G is probably one of the best hand held GMRS radios.

I ended up replacing my Midland MXT500 before I realized I could send it in to be fixed for the low power issue. Otherwise I might have kept the MXT500. I have been pleased with the Wouxun KG-1000G and KG-XS20G mobile radios.

[GreggInFL]

On 6/2/2024 at 7:57 PM, Ziggidy said:

I have 2 HT's just to learn what this GMRS is about and how I may benefit from it.  I live in a suburban setting and those HT's are good but I am not getting the full taste of GMRS and how it may be used by me.  Knowing that, I am thinking......thinking about a mobile unit.  When searching I see a wide variety of prices, watts, features and such but nothing shoots out to me as "that's the one".  If 50 watts is the best, why would anyone settle to less?  If a $200 unit is as good as a $300 unit, why pay the extra?

I was once at the same place when I started with GMRS, i.e. thinking about getting a mobile.  A wise non-sad H.A.M. advised I start with the antenna: "Forget the mobile radio for now, just plug your HT in to a mag mount on the roof and see what happens.  When you go with the mobile you'll need the antenna anyway."  A few bucks later I had a newfound respect for antennae.  I drove that sucker to the top of a hill and everything lit up.  Height is might, indeed.

I'll leave the radio comparisons to those here who are more knowledgeable.

[Ziggidy]

I think that will be my first try.  Thanks!

[WRYZ926]

It is very common for amateur radio and GMRS users to start with an HT and using a magnet mount antenna on their vehicle. It is definitely an improvement over trying to use the rubber duck antenna inside the vehicle. 

Here are some good antennas for GMRS that I have used with a HT and mobile radios. The Nagoya UT-72G, Tram 1174 and Comet 2x4SR. The Nagoya and Tram are under 20" in height while the Comet 2x4SR is 38" tall. I did have to trim the Tram 1174 and Sean antenna analyzer to get it right. The Nagoya and Comet were good to go right out of the package.

I am using the Tram 1174 and a Comet SBB1 for my GMRS and dual band radios in my Ford Escape sue to height restrictions and they have worked well with HT's and my 50 watt mobile radios. The Comet is on my SxS and works well with HT's along with my 20 watt water proof GMRS and dual band radios.