Affordable communications solution

VenomIreland

My brothers have convinced me to do some research for them on what PMR446 radios are decent for the price and good enough for airsoft, I've found the Cobra MT600 but I'm not sure if they are good or not, what else should I be looking at?

NakedDex

Depends on the budget. Motorola XT's and Icoms are fantastic, but they're also a couple of hundred quid. If you're looking for something a step above cheap and cheerful, the Cobra's are good middle-of-the-road radios. I keep a set in the house for various things, but never used them for skirmishing, simply due to the lack of decent headsets.
I've had them in work, on road trips, etc, never had much of an issue beyond less than stellar battery life. They're AAA NiCd's so you can't really expect much. On the plus side, you can swap in alkalines if you're stuck out and about. Not a lot of headset support, as I said. They come with one, but it's rubbish unless you happen to be in a quiet room, standing still, and you have the earbud taped into your ear. I'm sure there's adaptors for available for them online. If not, it's easily made with a soldering iron and a couple of quids worth of parts, then you can pick and choose your headsets, to an extent.

VenomIreland

NakedDex wrote: »

Depends on the budget. Motorola XT's and Icoms are fantastic, but they're also a couple of hundred quid. If you're looking for something a step above cheap and cheerful, the Cobra's are good middle-of-the-road radios. I keep a set in the house for various things, but never used them for skirmishing, simply due to the lack of decent headsets.
I've had them in work, on road trips, etc, never had much of an issue beyond less than stellar battery life. They're AAA NiCd's so you can't really expect much. On the plus side, you can swap in alkalines if you're stuck out and about. Not a lot of headset support, as I said. They come with one, but it's rubbish unless you happen to be in a quiet room, standing still, and you have the earbud taped into your ear. I'm sure there's adaptors for available for them online. If not, it's easily made with a soldering iron and a couple of quids worth of parts, then you can pick and choose your headsets, to an extent.

What would you recommend with wider headset support? We are not looking to spend more than €40 per radio

NakedDex

Honestly, if that's your budget, you're somewhat short on any choice. It'll be adaptors all the way.

VenomIreland

NakedDex wrote: »

Honestly, if that's your budget, you're somewhat short on any choice. It'll be adaptors all the way.

Hmm, alright, what sort of adapter would we need?

NakedDex

Entirely depends on the headset. You'll probably have to make one to suit. The Cobras use a 3-pole 3.5mm jack connector. One pole will be common ground, the other will be mic signal, and sound signal. A couple of models use a 4-pole, though I think this is just to provide separated grounds. You'll have to check on your model.

After that, it's just a case of matching wiring to the right connector.