Need to outfit team comms but don't have a lot of money?

[Downs 99]

Look no further than the Baofeng BF-888 Single Band UHF radio.  Compact, lightweight and simple.  And best of all cheap.

 

Compact/Lightweight-These things are small and very light.  The stock antennas work well on these radios because they are single band UHF which eliminates the need to buy new antennas which again saves money.  Without the antenna the whole radio can fit in my flat hand

 

Simple-Got that guy on your team that can't keep his radio setup right during a game?  These things are great for that.  They are bone simple.  Just a volume knob and a 16 channel selector knob on the top.  Hard to mess that up.  Great for radio noobs or guys who just can't keep their electronics from messing up.  "hey put this on Channel 5 and leave it there".  

 

Cost-  these things are CHEAP.  You can buy singles on Amazon for $14.85 a pop or a 6 pack of them (if you are setting up a small team) for $84.87 which works out to be $14.14 a piece.  

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ECWE4WC/ref=s9_simh_gw_p422_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-3&pf_rd_r=0ZR9SD0MVWS8H98HMC56&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2084660942&pf_rd_i=desktop

 

http://www.amazon.com/BAOFENG-BF-888S-Transceiver-Illumination-Flashlight/dp/B007F7MZ04/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1437446842&sr=1-1&keywords=bf-888

 

Downsides- Only programable via Computer.  you HAVE  to buy the programing cable to use these radios as the channels they come programed with are random frequencies that will not work at most events.

 

-Low power. These are not 5 watts as normally advertised.  I've had both of mine on the power meter and you will find similar observations on reviews around the web but these radios don't put out a ton of power.  Both of mine did just over 3 watts on a freshly charged battery.   Other reviews find the same between 2.5 and 3.5 watts.  For comparison the UV-5R puts out 4 watts sometimes a little more sometimes a little less depending on where you are at in the frequency band.  The newer BF-F8HPs and UV-82HP put out 7 to 8 watts on high power.  

 

Now the good news is this doesn't really make a huge difference in most circumstances.  UHF/VHF is mostly line of sight anyway and there are ways to make your singal reception and transmission better and that usually revolves around the quality of the antenna and antenna height.  The higher you can get the antenna the more range you will have.   Luckily the little antennas that come on these low cost beaters is pretty good.  

 

Battery-The battery is fairly small.  Only about 1300mAh but since the radio is relativly low power it should't be an issue.  Larger batteries aren't avaliable but spare battery packs are.  If you are going to run one it may be a good idea to pick up a spare battery.  Or better yet buy an extra radio or two because the batteries are between 8 and 11 dollars and having a spare radio is always a good idea hah.

edit-  My experience with these radios is that with light use maybe using it to transmit a handful of times per day for a few minutes at a time I'll get a few DAYS of use out of one battery.  But I always keep at least one spare battery for my radio no matter where I"m at. 

 

note-These radios also come equiped with a scrambler/compander function.  But from my understanding of the AMS rules scrambling is not allowed.  Either way the only way for the function to work on these radios is to program it (again with a computer) and anyone wanting to hear what you are saying has to also have a BF-888 for it to work right.  It is low level scrambling and can be decoded with a person knowledgable with a computer.    But I doubt anyone is showing up for a local game with the ability to do this.  


http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/11094

[Guest Specs]

Good right up! All depends on how you want to set up your team. 

 

My team is currently outfitting with UV5R's. While more expensive, we like that they can be manually programmed in the field. Cost overall can be an over time deal. For example, we started with 2 radios (about $90 ish) and just make sure 1 is always with any part of the squad that is respawning. After that, each member without one can save up and grab there own over time. 

 

Definitely a boafeng fan though. Great and durable radios.

[Downs 99]

Yeah I've got 4 of those.  One of them lives permanently on my bike now.  You can find those for pretty cheap now.  28 dollars a piece for the UV-5R and 30 to 40 for the BF-F8+ which just has an upgraded chipset.  50 to 60 for the 8watt "HP" models. 

 

Manual programing is great but you have those guys who could mess up a bowling ball haha.  One accidental button press on something like a UV-5R or BF-F8+ or HP and your whole comms plan is messed up if the person holding it doesn't know how to get back on the proper frequency.  Since most airsoft Comms plans I've found for events use FRS/GMRS a single band UHF radio should get get the job done.  Downside is most only have a 16 channel selector knob so you can't program EVERY freq into the radio but should be able to cover your faction's freqs and at least the main staff freq. 

[Guest Specs]

Haha just gotta lock down that keypad once all the programming is set. Believe it's the bottom right key with the key icon. 

[Downs 99]

I'd be nice if you could do to the UV-5Rs like the UV-82C and lock the keypad out via software so the end user can't unlock it at all.  The keypad can be locked but it doesn't stop people from playing with the radio's keypad.  On the 82C you can lock out the keypad to where there's no way for the end user to change anything but the channel.  No VFO mode or anything like that.