DON'T BUY RADIOS TO SEND TO A COMBAT ZONE... ESPECIALLY RADIOS THAT OPERATE IN AN UNSECURE MODE... I THINK IT'S A BAD IDEA...ESPECIALLY IN AN URBAN "POLICE" ROLE...
that said, if you insist, I will lend you my advise... Midlands are fine... gotta watch the batteries and chargers... if I ain't mistaken, the Midlands operate on AA batteries... I don't know if y'all want to invest in NIH batteries and chargers... we could go broke tryin' tuh keep the platoon in batteries...
I'm aware of that problem. I think the troops are, too. They seem to feel lack of secure commo is less of a problem than no commo at all. I'm here to grant them their wishes as best I can. Besides, these are Reserves, and may never get official secure radios anyway. I'm grateful they're not asking for body armor, or IR suppression for their helos.
And used properly, unsecure communications can make for some interesting sport. Announce that your convoy will be at the intersection of Saddam Ave. and Uday Blvd. at noon. Have your sniper teams in place by 0800, and see how long it takes to bag your limit.
As of last night the last few audiovox radios drew their last breath. We are now down to 5 Motorolas. We are using the Motorola T5720 and T5920. They both offer a 5 mile range and far outreach the Audiovox claim of 7 miles. We can get by with as few as ten radios total. We dont need rechargeables. The motorolas will run of AA batteries which we have thousands of. The Motorola I have I found in a mud puddle, and it works great. I dont want you guys to feel like you have to do this for us. The Government should be taking care of us, but you know how that is. We really appreciate all the support you guys provide. Maybe you could contact Motorola and see what they can do. Before we left the country one soldier contacted Cobra and they donated I think 30 CB radios to us. We put them in our trucks and they help out a lot. We use the Talk Abouts in trucks with no CB, and when we have to get out of the truck for anything. Again, Thanks for everything. Steve
It sounds like AA batteries are no problem for them. I'll buy three pair of Motorolas online, since I doubt I can find the FRS versions easily around here. Then again, maybe Costco might have them.
I know there's the sore subject that they're unsecure. But it looks like their commanders have decided that unsecure CBs and GMRSs still give them a better chance of survival than no radios at all.
I get the uneasy feeling that there's a warehouse in Kuwait with 50,000 radios, but nobody knows they're there. And if they did know, there's no paperwork to authorize their release. I still remember the last scene in "Raiders of the Lost Ark".