2 way radios

[dent]

theres a set of husky ones on ebay at the moment going for about £20

[FIFTYFEETUP]

I use motorola pmr446's, they are waterproof and they bounce! they use the uhf carrier wave, ideal for tree to ground comms, very clear, they can be set up for vox, basically no buttons to push(voice activated). Get a couple of 'D' ring ear pieces with inline mic's on ebay. Activate the 'roger beep' so you don't keep having to say 'over' all the time. Works a treat, good for safety, comms between climber and groundy very important.

[Andy Collins]

The limitations with the pmr446 is the output power, which therefore restricts the range. This is not an issue for tree surgery works, tree-ground, or line of sight stop/go boards but in the woods I've found the density of trees and the greater distances involved mean the signal breaks quicker. We've worked quite ok with standard pmr radios in the woods up to a mile apart (tractor and forwarding trailer going off to tip off) but voice transmssion starts to be hard to hear at times. For this sort of work I'm now using UK General radio (449Mhz) which does require a licence (75quid for 3years), the power output is 5watts, transmission is clear and clean, the channels dont have kids cluttering them up at holiday times, and if you buy ex-Utility radios, re-programmed to the correct frequencies, they are cheap as chips and professional grade.

Whatever system you end up with doesnt really matter, what does matter is the improvement of communications on site, we are able to let each other know of dog-walkers coming into the woods, if we need assistance with a hung-up tree, or break the monotony with a quick joke, I now dont like working without them.