Nissan Patrol 4x4 (Africa)

I am snooping around for a two way for the patrol. Got the license , but now I have to get a license . I see that the forum is standardized on vhf orra.

I’ve been hearing good things about bosvark, has anyone had any experience with the radio below from RTSRadio. Think it’s the same one that’s being advertised in SA4x4

RTS radios are good radios, have not heard of any complaints.

I have a Bosvark which is a license free UHF radio. Small handheld that can also use an external mag antenna for better range and reception of signals.

The DV2135 is a VHF radio for which you will have to get a license to use the ORRA frequencies.
The DV2400 is a UHF radio, and i am not sure if you need a license for that one....

If I am right, and Ian will be the better to advise, the Patrol forum use a UHF frequency for which you do not need a license....

Oetie wrote: ↑09 Apr 2019 15:39 RTS radios are good radios, have not heard of any complaints.

I have a Bosvark which is a license free UHF radio. Small handheld that can also use an external mag antenna for better range and reception of signals.

The DV2135 is a VHF radio for which you will have to get a license to use the ORRA frequencies.
The DV2400 is a UHF radio, and i am not sure if you need a license for that one....

If I am right, and Ian will be the better to advise, the Patrol forum use a UHF frequency for which you do not need a license....

Thanks for the reply, I thought the forum was using vhf. Stupid me. Just got a quote from them shipping and external magnetic (for the vhf radio ) is R2400 shipping

Izak,

The forum uses a mix of VHF and UHF radios.

A bunch of us use VHF ORRA frequencies, for which an authorisation is required. Authorisation is easy through ORRA (if you are a member of an accredited 4x4 club). Alternatively, one can also get an authorisation from 4x4 Community, which is licensed for the same spectrum, and therefor operates with no issues with ORRA registered users. Authirisation is also relatively cheap.

UHF license free is the easiest to sort out, as you can buy the devices over the counter without needing to present an authorisation. UHF LF will work perfectly for something like the River Trip. However, I believe VHF is better suited for our standard use-case scenario.

Finally, I have not checked the specs of the two radios you posted. RTS make good kit. But I am not sure whether you will be able to purchase even the UHF vehicle mount kit without an authorisation (this regulates output power, although this can be probably be programmed).

In short, for vehicle mount, VHF is probably the way to go. I do, however, normally travel with my vehicle mount VHF, and a UHF handheld for chatting with the UHF folk. Best of both worlds.

A final though on this:

Whilst many forum members make use of UHF, LF. Whilst this is not an issue, generally, there have sometimes been issues in the past using LF frequencies as there may be discrepances in terms of which LF frequency is on which channel. As such, probably best to have a radio test in the first evening so that everyone finds a channel they can communicate on. Alternatively, we must arrange another programming day.

Oh.and a final, final though. The Vratvark 2.0 handheld is a dual band radio. Which means, they will program the ORRA VHF frequencies for you (if you have an authorisation) as well as the license free UHF frequencies.

Thanks Ian. Jip I do have a vhf license (through 4x4 Community). I’ve looked at the vlakvark. Just don’t know if I want a handheld one. I just want something that’s connected in the Patrol and also left in the patrol.

So it’s either the uhf or vhf. But thanks for the advice , I’ll look some more at the vlakvark and eat a lot of red meat just before bed so I dream about it and see which one

Izak,

Just remember that there are two vratvarke. The dual band one (VHF and UHF) is the VratVark 2.

iandvl wrote: ↑09 Apr 2019 16:18 Izak,

Just remember that there are two vratvarke. The dual band one (VHF and UHF) is the VratVark 2.

Jip, saw. If I do decide to go the vratvark route it’ll pretty Babel be the dual. What is the range of the handset by the way without and external (vratvark)?

I so not have the specs on hand. As handhelds are normally limited to 5W output, I'd estimate range at about 4 to 5km line of sight. Possibly more elevated (ie: external antenna). This is purely a guestimate, and probably wildly inaccurate. If I remember correctly, Christo Boegman and Alex Botha use VratVark 2s. You can perhaps hear from them ?