Cobra walkie talkies

oldman45 · Feb 7, 2012

I bought a set of them today to use on an investigation I am doing. Cobra says they are good for 30 miles. I doubt that claim.

Anyone have experience with them? All I need is them to be good for about a mile. Will they work at that distance and be clear?

H Richard · Feb 7, 2012

I have a smaller set that are supposed to be good for 8 miles, and line of sight to about 2 miles is about the best they can get.

K1500 · Feb 7, 2012

I have a Midland set. For my set, 20+ miles is a fantasy obtainable only over an open body of water during the proper phase of the moon.

If you are in a vehicle or building, you might get less than a mile. Outdoors in relatively flat terrain, you should get a mile. Being hemmed in by mountains, you may (or may not) get a mile.

fiasconva · Feb 7, 2012

I'd say a mile is about all you're going to get, if that. But if the terrain is pretty flat or you're near water it could be a lot more.

Rule3 · Feb 7, 2012

How to Choose Two-way Radios: Expert Advice from REI

Class III · Feb 7, 2012

I've got a set of eight that I bought a few years ago to keep track of my employees on a highrise building renovation job site. These are the "8 Mile" radios. The longest distance we could communicate was about thirty floors (about 500 feet vertical). Lots of reflective glass, metal and concrete drastically reduced the range of these radios. Also remember that you are not on a secure band. ANYBODY with a radio on the same band and on the same frequency will be able to here everything transmitted if they are within range.

Class III

Old 44 Guy · Feb 7, 2012

Maybe over a flat surface like a lake or something a Cobra will do 20 miles but in the real world, No Way.

oldman45 · Feb 7, 2012

Rule3 said:
How to Choose Two-way Radios: Expert Advice from REI

That is a good site for sure. I enjoyed reading it.

I will know tomorrow just how good they are. We will be working in as near perfect conditions as possible. The area is flat for the most part and visibility is about 4 miles. The burr in this saddle is that I will be out in the roadway, just over the crest of a hill (actually a bridge) and there will be others warning me of traffic coming over the bridge from about a half mile away and another about a mile down the road clocking the speeds as the vehicles approach the area. The last thing I want to see is a car topping the hill while I am kneeling in the roadway and not hearing a warning.

We tried to do this a few weeks ago using a patrol car blocking the lane I will be in. The car got rear-ended. Those in power say I am expendable but cars are costly to replace.

Jellybean · Feb 7, 2012

I didn't read the link because my computers really bogging down, but if you are referring to the frs/gmrs radios, you not only won't get the range they claim, you also won't get the channels they claim either.

But the biggest gotcha' is that to operate them legally on the higher powered channels you should have a license.

If you want a decent radio that you can use license free, either get a handheld CB or look for radios that are "MURS compliant".

oldman45 · Feb 7, 2012

Jellybean said:
I didn't read the link because my computers really bogging down, but if you are referring to the frs/gmrs radios, you not only won't get the range they claim, you also won't get the channels they claim either.

But the biggest gotcha' is that to operate them legally on the higher powered channels you should have a license.

If you want a decent radio that you can use license free, either get a handheld CB or look for radios that are "MURS compliant".

My computer is running very slowly on this site today.

I do have a Federal Radio Operators license due to being a pilot and we have a couple of handheld FM radios but in this case, we needed three radios.

Never heard of MURS compliant. Will have to look into that. I am about to replace the CB in my vehicle this week. The current one has power but will not receive or transmit.

LVSteve · Feb 7, 2012

30 miles between line of sight mountains, maybe.

As for the forum, it or the Web has been clunky for much of this evening.

Rule3 · Feb 8, 2012

oldman45 said:
That is a good site for sure. I enjoyed reading it.

I will know tomorrow just how good they are. We will be working in as near perfect conditions as possible. The area is flat for the most part and visibility is about 4 miles. The burr in this saddle is that I will be out in the roadway, just over the crest of a hill (actually a bridge) and there will be others warning me of traffic coming over the bridge from about a half mile away and another about a mile down the road clocking the speeds as the vehicles approach the area. The last thing I want to see is a car topping the hill while I am kneeling in the roadway and not hearing a warning.

We tried to do this a few weeks ago using a patrol car blocking the lane I will be in. The car got rear-ended. Those in power say I am expendable but cars are costly to replace.

You guys don't have cell phones or "cop" radios??

chief38 · Feb 8, 2012

About 14 years ago I bought a set of 4 Motorola two way radios so we could keep in touch with the Kids board a Cruise Ship. Back then we went on a few cruises a year, and the Kids were teenagers so we wanted to stay in touch at Sea. They barely worked on the ship and the ships we sailed on at the time were about 1100 feet (approx. 1/5 mile long). Unless we were on the outer decks, they were sort of useless. On the Islands we stopped at (ports of call) they worked up to about 1/4 mile, no wheres near the claimed 5 mile range on the package. In fact...the ONLY time they worked great is when I was enjoying a fine cigar and a drink with the guys on the rear deck, and my wife wanted to know where I was!

Chief38

chud333 · Feb 8, 2012

I bought a set of Cobra walkies for deer hunting season. The set i got is supposed to be 8 miles radius. My buddies and i used them this year and i had good results with them for a 20 dollar pair of "Wallyworld" walkie talkies. Never tried them past a mile though. Just on my buddies 150 acre farm. Very clear communications.

Chuck

oldman45 · Feb 8, 2012

Rule3 said:
You guys don't have cell phones or "cop" radios??

We have them. Lots of them. What we do not have is time to dial a phone to alert or answer a phone. We also have about 50 units with overheads that could be used but then that would change the traffic pattern.

We have talkies but they tie up frequency and they are heavier and have some other restrictions. We discussed it and decided the small talkies would be best, if they worked.

What is happening there is dozens of major accidents each month. Each year there has been several fatal accidents in a very short area of the roadway.

Engineers says it is all driver error and nothing is wrong with the roadway or signage.

We are going to be doing some measurements, timing and speed testing today to see if my idea about the location is right.

Rule3 · Feb 8, 2012

Well then, do it the Cajun way. It's all about the height of the antennae.

Bring really tall step ladders, lots of metal coat hangers and aluminum foil.

oldman45 · Feb 8, 2012

Rule3 said:
Well then, do it the Cajun way. It's all about the height of the antennae.

Bring really tall step ladders, lots of metal coat hangers and aluminum foil.

We considered flagmen but that would have changed the speeds of the cars.

Actually down here, motorist aim for people working near the roadway.

A good friend had stopped a guy one night and was ran over (well away from traffic) by a driver. He was fatally injured.

There are about a half dozen cars in the shop now from being hit during traffic stops. One State Trooper was in a construction zone with the overheads on and to the right of traffic cones. He was rearended so hard that it totalled a new Crown Vic.The offender took out several cones prior to hitting the trooper.

I want my obit to say I died chasing women and not by some dumb driver wanting to run me down.

Moonman · Feb 8, 2012

oldman45,

Kneeling in the roadway, YOU SHOWIN BUTT-CRACK AT THE ON COMING.

Rule3 · Feb 8, 2012

oldman45 said:
We considered flagmen but that would have changed the speeds of the cars.

Actually down here, motorist aim for people working near the roadway.

A good friend had stopped a guy one night and was ran over (well away from traffic) by a driver. He was fatally injured.

There are about a half dozen cars in the shop now from being hit during traffic stops. One State Trooper was in a construction zone with the overheads on and to the right of traffic cones. He was rearended so hard that it totalled a new Crown Vic.The offender took out several cones prior to hitting the trooper.

I want my obit to say I died chasing women and not by some dumb driver wanting to run me down.

I am glad Florida has the "Move over Law" but still see idiots that just zoom by just like they do for School buses. Too busy talking on their cell phones or just plain stupid.

"Lets be careful out there"

sophie · Feb 8, 2012

Maybe you would get good performance from 1 mountaintop to the other with a lot of flat land in between. Most of the range figures are overstated to say the least. Line of sight is what they count on. I don't believe any of their claims about distance of communication.

I also have a pair of 26 mile Cobras and they worked pretty good for about 4 mos and then one of them went kablooey. The latest I bought were Midland 26 mile range and they don't work as good as the Cobra's did.

Just keep feeding them money I guess.

______
James

Cobra walkie talkies

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