Unfortunately, this deal has expired 19 January 2023.
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1331°
Posted 14 January 2023
Cobra Two Way Twin Radio £12.99 Free Collection / £4.95 Delivery @ Robert Dyas
Shared by
JustMarky
Joined in 2015
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About this deal
This deal is expired. Here are some options that might interest you:
5% Student Discount Available
5% BLC/NHS Discount Available
1% Cashback via Quidco or TCB Available
£4.95 Home Delivery or Free C&C!
Features:
5% BLC/NHS Discount Available
1% Cashback via Quidco or TCB Available
£4.95 Home Delivery or Free C&C!
Features:
- License free PMR446 radios so no contract, no airtime charges and no bills or fees
- UHF/FM ultra-clear long distance reception with extended range capability, that provides up to 3 km range. (Range will vary depending on terrain and conditions)
- 16 channels and 121 privacy codes.**(Only Channels 1 to 8 are available by default. Channels 9 to 16 need to be activated by user before they can be selected and should only be used in countries where these frequencies are allowed by government authorities)**
- Unique battery saver circuitry extends the life of the batteries and if there are no transmissions within 10 seconds, the unit will automatically switch to battery saver mode
- Call alert feature provides an easily recognizable alert for incoming calls
- Included Components: 2 x Cobra MT100 Radios, User Instructions
- Dimensions: H:13.1 x W:4.9 x D:3.6 cm
- Colour: Black
- Guarantee: 1 year
- Batteries Required: Yes
- Model Number: MT100
More details at Community Updates
Edited by a community support team member, 14 January 2023
150 Comments
sorted byThe "privacy codes" are not really for privacy. Let’s say you have your radio set to send privacy code1. When you transmit the radio adds in a signal. If the receiving radio is also set to privacy code 1 it will detect the signal and send the audio out of the speaker. If a receiver is set to privacy code 2, then it will not output the audio. Think of it as a selective mute.
However anyone who does not have the privacy codes feature turned on (or the radio does not support it) will hear everything thats transmitted on Channel 1, hence it’s a convenience factor and does nothing to give you any real privacy. (edited)
With PMR it's basically how high up you are that increases the distance you can receive/transmit.
So a kids radio with 0.5W output & a fixed antenna at the top of a multistorey will cover a greater area than my 8W transceiver with a 40cm antenna on the street below.
Signals also travel well over large flat areas including river estuaries.
Hills beat multistories, and near me in Glasgow there's the carparks in the Campsies, Carpark in the Sky (Paisley), Cathkin Braes, next to the Newton Mearns roundabout over the M77 (go onto the old A77), Lyle Hill (Greenock) can access most of the Firth of Clyde.
Going near to a place with radio masts works well too, as the place has already been picked for that reason. So, Whitelees Wind Farm, Sergeants Law, or Carrick Hills all have masts.
So is anyone up for 8@8 tonight?
The only issue/problem with this is that due to the range of PMR, you are likely to be able to see the person you are talking to.
It's not quite bouncing the signal off the ionosphere to talk to Moscow.
Placed order and received confirmation email.
Thankfully, free roaming across Europe was eventually offered.
Oh wait... (edited)
HSDOZMLU
In most cases it's one radio contacts another directly, although you can also use things called repeaters to vastly extend the range.
hotukdeals.com/dea…460
Any decent ones out there? The ones on this deal are also 3km . I realise being high up helps distance a lot but keeping to the simple PMR system i'm hoping there is something better at a budget range.
Theres a BF-88E model that shares PMR's 0.5W output & the triple 8's body, but that seems a little pointless, although I'd presume you can swap the antenna.
These types are solely UHF (the range covering PMR's 446MHz), have only 16 channels, & tend to have no displays.
I got a pair of BF888S about a year ago for £20, complete with programming cable & an extra two batteries (and the usual crap, belt clips & headsets). They came with USB desk chargers, which are a pain as different Baofeng radios tend to have dedicated desk chargers, but all look fairly similar.
There's a small radio called a BF-V8 that transmits 2W & has swappable antennas that is similar to the triple 8s. But it charges with micro USB, and I think you use the triple 8s settings to program it with CHIRP.
I bought three radios since last spring, but have been busy & haven't had a chance to set them up optimally yet.
The BF-V8 is one, and the other two are the Baofeng T99 & T1. The latter two being near enough Swan Vesta matchbox size, one has a display, but both have integral antenna. All 3 are 16 channel UHF & micro USB charging.
Theres a design fault in all T1s, & it needs a resistor soldered over a processor to fix volume issues. I haven't done this yet, but the size means it could fit in a shirt pocket.
I was looking for one with li-ion ones...
Anyone know how users can activate these channels? It's my understanding 9-16 are now okay for the public to use in the UK.
But the full 16 analogue frequencies these use are legal in the UK.
I can see if you have a couple of kids they might be fun for them to use....but apart fro that?
And/or, toxic environments even, like, eg. a nuclear power plant + in nuclear fallout situations too, etc
Walkie Talkies are one of the ONLY 'tools' that are literally guaranteed to be able to save your a$$ out of any ill's there - no contest.
On account of the lowwwwww frequencies that Walkie Talkies work at, they're able to still function in 'situations', where literally very little else is guaranteed to function on your behalf in such a fashion.
In a similar way, high altitude situations would all but render your mobile phone redundant (irrespective of how fancy fancy one's mobile may be, or whatever), whereas (again), a Walkie Talkie is one of the few thing's there as well, that's almost all but guaranteed to save your butt as well - eg. those living in the Scottish Highlands, Himalayan mountain climbers, and suchlike's
And those working out at sea too, rarely would a mobile phone be used as a prime form of communication within extreme cases within such 'environments' - but a Walkie Talkie would.
There's about 1001 real world applications for Walkie Talkies out there, for which either a mobile could be deemed as either impractical, and/or, potentially deadly to you altogether - bit a Walkie Talkie rather fills up that void nicely instead, and wotnots?
And so on, and so forth ...
But will make it moreso, as/when the secretary then arrives too, me thinks ...
If any of you beat me to it please let me know. Soldering on a microUSB port and snapping off a little bit of plastic would make life a bit easier if it works IMO.
Edit: Thinking about it the circle on the top could be where they planned to put a headset jack but I forgot to check the board for that when I had it open. Years ago I bought some cheap Cobra MT200 and they were DC charged via the 3.5mm headphone jack with a proprietary charger and they were far less featured than these MT100. So I'm going to guess all the charging circuitry is built in and a headset jack might be a possible mod too.
Edit 2: It's less than a fiver for 4 "Lenovo Tab 2 A7-20F" charging ports which seem like they'll do the job and be easy to fit so I guess I'll report back in a few days. (edited)
It works best it you drive to a hill near a radio mast (as that's already been identified for having good coverage), but any decent hill will do.
Multistorey fats are good too.
Go to a window that faces the largest populated side.
Don't try to use it inside a car & expect any distance.
Standing at/above the coast or an estuary will give good range too.
Google Earth shows you the height of roads using the cursor.
If anyone is interested ...