"Al Klein" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 09:28:23 -0800, "Alex Clayton"
wrote:

The run about $60.00 a pair for the ones that take AA batteries.

5 watts out of a pair of AA cells - probably closer to 10 watts drain
on the batteries to get the 5 watts transmit - would limit you to
about 3 or 4 hours of use, so you'd better carry spare batteries.

And in the woods at 450 MHz (most people hike when there are leaves on
the trees, not snow on the ground), the range is even more limited
without a repeater nearby. Over the other side of a decent hill
without a repeater? If it works buy lottery tickets - they'll win.

Well either Midland lies about them, or no one told the radios then. I use
them for 2 12 hour shifts on a set of AA rechargeable, and have never had
them die in the middle of a shift. Of course we are not talking for 12 hours
to each other. If they were in constant use as in we had nothing better to
do than chat all night, I suppose I would have to recharge them a couple
times a shift.
We tried them tonight at 5 miles, with me in one building, and the other
guy in another building 5 miles apart and we could talk fine. Don't know if
the leaves are harder on the transmition than the walls, don't really care
as I am not out in the woods with these.
I know little about radios, but from reading this group for years I do get
one hell of a laugh out of all the experts though. One says one thing, then
someone else with a degree clams that's completely wrong and on and on it
goes. The threads about antenna's often have me laughing good.
I know with the old set of these I had, when we were in Mt. Rainer Nation
Park talking from car to car, when we could not see the other cars because
they were on the other side of woods, those worked great. They claimed 4
watts of power. Now I'm sure some experts here will tell everyone that they
can't do that and even have slide rule equations to prove it can't work. For
me, I will not tell the radios, as they do not know, so they just work.
shrug
--
"Everything in excess! To enjoy the flavor of life, take big bites.
Moderation is for monks."
[Lazarus Long]