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UHF Radios. Worthwhile investment or gadget?


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I was surfing the knowledge bank over at Moosh.com.au and someone raised an interesting point about UHF radios.

 

Now I'm not being mean to my GF, but she's got the worlds worst sense of direction, so a new ski field like Niseko in a foreign country, would be even more troublesome.

 

One response in the thread rang very true...

 

MOOSH.COM.AU - Two way radios

 

 Quote:
My girlfriend and i picked up some motorola radios in the states a couple of months ago. I got tired of saying just ski down that run we just did only to get to the bottom to find that she was not there and was in fact on the other side of the hill. Lets all face it. Chicks are hopeless with directions and, before all the women out there have a go at me, this has been proven by research into the differences in men and womens cognitive memory of 3D Space.... Much cheaper than a divorce over a meeting place.
Is this a worthwhile investment? or just another gadget?
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thanks CB did that, and it looks like you're not allowed to use them in Niseko? Is that right? I was also looking for a more recent response seeing technology changes so fast. and also that rules might have changed...

 

Thanks Thurs, maybe I don't want one, lol.gif .

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Ok you are breaking laws if you use them actually in Japan. The channel is usally the same as the patrols or police channels. That said people use them all the time in fact I got tried of using mine on piste cause I would just get people on it all the time. "jen jen where are you" etc. So the line goes they are illegal but you have a 99.99% chance of never having an issue.

 

 

I have a set that I bring into the backcountry sometimes. But i havent brought them in for a while at least since i changed helmuts. My old helmut was wired up to be able to listen to the radio.

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According to a quick web search I just did the Aussie ones work on 476 to 477 MHz which looks like it isn't currently in use in Japan (although not legal either) while the ones from the USA are either 460 to 470 MHz or 26 to 27 MHz and it looks like the Japanese emergency services use 462 to 467. This is info gathered in a 5 min web search so don't quote me on it. However I do know from experience that the 40 channel handhelds bought in the USA don't work with the Aussie ones.

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We found them pretty useful at Niseko with a crew of about 12 and probably 8 radios between us, some had the 2W ones and the rest of us 0.5W there was some relaying of messages required. ie if some people were way down in Hanazono while others over in Alpen messages could be relayed if someone was in Kogen - but with a dozen of us out on the hill it usually worked. Was handy so the slow morning folk could catch up with the powder hunters without anyone having to wait around...

 

Have found the radios frustrating at Thredbo here in Aussie because there is no line of sight from one side of the hill to the other so we usually give up and use our mobile phones.

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We found them pretty useful at Niseko with a crew of about 12 and probably 8 radios between us, some had the 2W ones and the rest of us 0.5W there was some relaying of messages required. ie if some people were way down in Hanazono while others over in Alpen messages could be relayed if someone was in Kogen - but with a dozen of us out on the hill it usually worked. Was handy so the slow morning folk could catch up with the powder hunters without anyone having to wait around...

 

Have found the radios frustrating at Thredbo here in Aussie because there is no line of sight from one side of the hill to the other so we usually give up and use our mobile phones.

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