Do you live in an area where power often goes out? Or maybe in a coastal area where hurricanes are normal to come? In such a time, the most crucial thing to maintain is communication. So either you need to know what's going on around the world, or just connect to the emergency agencies, radio is the safest option to go for.
Provided that you have the right handheld ham radio, you won’t have to worry about its longevity and let it be your voice in times of needing help.
TYPES OF HANDHELD HAM RADIOS
HAM RADIO
HAM radios are for non-commercial use which means that you cannot make a profit from it, but nevertheless, it is still reliable and powerful. Normal HAM radios are up to 5-8 watts and base stations can legally go up to 1500 watts!
CITIZEN BAND (CB)
CB is an old form of radios and has been outdated by now. It is unreliable, crowded and unsatisfactory to use. It can go up to 4 watts.
FRS AND GMRS
In recent years, both of these radios have become a lot similar to each other. GMRS can be used in a small area, for commercial purposes, for example, communicating with employees. It can go up to 3-5 watts normally.
MURS
It’s not very popular and can go up to only 2 watts.
With this data, we can easily conclude that HAM radio, by far, is the most reliable one to use for surviving disastrous situations since its power goes up to maximum.
WHY HANDHELD HAM RADIOS?
HAM radios enable you to easily connect with emergency agencies when all other ways of communication have ended. Having wider frequencies, these versatile radios can access to other frequencies as well. Moreover, they have a built-in FM radio system, most of the other types don’t. It might not be easy to learn, but make sure that your product comes with a guide. Better learn now than regret later!
WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN BUYING A HAM RADIO?
DUAL BONDS
Most popular VHF/UHF are dual bonds, meaning that they can transfer on both 2 meters (144-148 MHz) and 70cm (420-450 MHz). It depends on how much area your radio is going to cover.
INPUT AND OUTPUT
A good HAM radio is capable of 3-5 watts for consistent coverage. HAM radios come with rechargeable multi-cell battery and it is important to have the regular alkaline AAA or AA cells.
FREQUENCY WITH VFO
All radios have at least one VFO. It is to tune to any frequency the radio covers. It usually tunes in discrete steps, for example, 2.5, 5 and 10 kHz.
Finding a radio with these features can be hard, but why worry? We have already chosen for you BAOFENG UV-82 HP, which is a versatile radio that is rated approximately 4.3 stars.
WHY THESE HANDHELD HAM RADIOS?
It has three power levels (1, 5, 7-8 watts) that can be set according to your area. VFO/ MR frequency mode can be locked via software and it comes with a dual single push to talk switch.
Also, it has a high gain V-85 antenna to improve its performance. In addition, this radio comes with a much louder speaker (1 watt) as compared to the others which use a 700mW speaker.
FEATURES
DUAL OR SINGLE PUSH TO TALK OPTION
This means that it comes with a ‘dual push to talk’ button which allows you to transmit on two frequencies.
VERSATILE
This means that it can be used for much more than to just save your life! It has a built-in receiver and watches both the frequencies. However, it prioritizes the first station to receive an incoming call. It can send DTMF tones allowing it to send caller ID or other commands requiring DTMF tones. It also supports CTCSS, performed tone calling (which is required by most repeater applications).
OUTPUT POWER
It has an output power of 8-watt max where 8 is the maximum! The power can be set from the highest to the lowest depending on how many areas your radio will cover!
APPEARANCE
It uses a stronger solid case which includes large and clear buttons for you to point them easily. It uses the latest chipsets which are better in accuracy, performance and can cover a wide range.
SHOULD YOU BUY THESE HANDHELD HAM RADIOS?
This HAM radio is necessary if a problem with other communication methods can put your life at risk! Moreover, they are reliable and come with more than just one function. At an affordable rate, get yourself this HAM radio to prevent any problems regarding communication in the future!
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