Radio help

TREE68

too tall for the rzr
Aug 15, 2011
760
14
18
so cal
Any of you out there using a ham radio. Or just a dedicated radio from rugged or pci. Is there a lot of difference? I have a shot at a icom dual band in car unit. But its a dedicated ham radio. Any ideas? I actually want a handheld from rugged.
 

Oc1

Member
Apr 21, 2011
167
5
18
Call the guys at rugged and they will get you squared away. Good prices and always willing to help out. Not to mention they hardly shed a tear on a midnight run up Chocolate thunder at midnight during last year KOH week!:D
 

Rokitman

UTVUnderground La Familia
Mar 11, 2013
909
40
28
Nipomo, CA
A true ham radio needs a license to operate as the frequencies are regulated by the FCC. I have a riding buddy who is an expert on commo but unfortunately he is currently in the hospital recovering from surgery otherwise I would hook you up with him.
 

Glamisfan

Active Member
Oct 26, 2009
671
103
43
imperial valley
Race radios are ham radios. I have a Kenwood TM-271 from Ham Radio Outlet that I had to mod to unlock the higher frequencies (151-17?hz) and it works with the high dollar race radios. Mine cost $130 plus $40 for the antennae.
 

kennyo15

Paramount Motorsports / Black Rhino - UTVUndergrou
Aug 19, 2009
272
8
18
64
Alpine, CA
I originally started out with a ham, with the tweak done. After my kids started racing I learned a lot more about radios.

There are a lot of good brands, and dealers out there like PCI, Rugged and RacerX to get your radios from.

What I found made the biggest differance was how they are installed (wiring), using the proper antenna (ground plane or non ground plane) and having it trimmed for the frequencies you plan on using.

Just my opinion and 2 cents.
 

TREE68

too tall for the rzr
Aug 15, 2011
760
14
18
so cal
Nice to know. I got my antenna and mount from rugged. If i get my title 22 first responcer cert and volunteer with rescue 3 i will buy a radio from rugged. I had pci in my desert chase days. If i just play ride in the utv i might grab the icom ham from my buddy and mod/unlock it. And take the ham class/test. I dont wanna be limited with the ham though. Any ideas help. Thanx again
 

crazywatson

#13 - UTVUnderground Approved
Jul 30, 2009
1,272
120
63
49
Redwood City
When I first got a rugged radio I calculated the antenna length it should be cut to. When I measured the antenna they sold me it was already cut to the exact same length. I know this doesn't help but I thought it was cool.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
 

PCI Race Radios

Official UTVUnderground Sponsor
Jun 29, 2011
149
19
18
Long Beach, CA
www.pciraceradios.com
Any of you out there using a ham radio. Or just a dedicated radio from rugged or pci. Is there a lot of difference? I have a shot at a icom dual band in car unit. But its a dedicated ham radio. Any ideas? I actually want a handheld from rugged.
There is a difference in the ham/amateur band radio vs the commercial band radios that we sell. The first difference is that the amateur radios are designed to be running in the 14X.XXX frequency range, they are usually modified to get into the channels that we use for off road in the 15X.XXX, however this is highly frowned upon by the FCC and is illegal.

Next, the commercial band radios that we sell have much better quality receiver and more filters for clearer and cleaner communications. If you look at the insides of both radios you can see that there are more electronics and filters in the commercial band radios.

With that said, we have both handheld radios and mobile radios that are legal and easy to use in the off road frequencies. Our ICOM handheld is $240 and is a great addition to a mobile radio setup. Keep in mind the handheld radio is only 5 watts while the mobile radios are 50 watts.

Handheld:
http://www.pciraceradios.com/ProductDetail.jsp?LISTID=8988852129523205121

Mobile radio:
http://www.pciraceradios.com/ProductDetail.jsp?LISTID=4184933584391276545

If you have any questions please feel free to give us a call and we can help you out as well.

Alon
 

RuggedRadios

Official UTVUnderground Communications Sponsor
Jan 20, 2009
2,608
67
48
Arroyo Grande, CA
www.ruggedradios.com
Any of you out there using a ham radio. Or just a dedicated radio from rugged or pci. Is there a lot of difference? I have a shot at a icom dual band in car unit. But its a dedicated ham radio. Any ideas? I actually want a handheld from rugged.
Call the guys at rugged and they will get you squared away. Good prices and always willing to help out. Not to mention they hardly shed a tear on a midnight run up Chocolate thunder at midnight during last year KOH week!:D
Thanks for the kind words guys!

Winston, thanks for the order last week, glad you liked everything. Like PCI, we stay away from HAM radios due to FCC regulations. However, our 5-watt HX370 handheld radio is a 40 channel handheld. Like its 50-watt big brothers, it comes preprogrammed with 40 off-road race channels, and can be custom programmed with any channel you would like, so long as it is between 134-174 MHZ.

Let us know if you have any other questions.
 

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