So, do all of these import radios come as 5W? if they do how come they're allowed in the country as they would be illegal to use. Are other frequencies able to use >.5w? If they're not the import/sale should be controlled.
You need to be careful how you encourage others to act, advising people that using a 5w is ok because they don't really care is not wise and gets flagged as the promotion of something illegal, can you reword it please as it would be a shame to remove the whole post.
Sorry, i was not trying to suggest illegal activity but only pointing out that most users do it regardless and ofcom do not seem to care because this is a free service and really it causes no trouble other than further range. If the uses was running more than 5w the TX would probably rip right through all the channels and then ofcom would not be happy.
Most (but not all) can be set to different power outputs depending on what you need. If you can reach someone using 0.5w then its best to set your radio to this as is saved battery power.
As i say these radios can be programmed to the 446mhz but also programed to anything on UHF. Only on 446 the power output is limited to 0.5w, everything else is generally 4-5w.
For example i can hear a shopping center security and all the shops talk to each other about 8 miles away loud and clear and it is surrounded by buildings but the signal can still reach me no problem.
The Chinese radios are not illegal, in fact you will pretty much find 5w 'professional' radios in maplin for £100 which is the exact same job.
People just chose to run them on 446 as this is the only license free area you can operate, otherwise you have to buy a license and operate on the HAM bands to use equipment with far more power and use big antennas.
Another thing to note is that a lot of these radios are used by people for baby monitors which is very frustrating as there is only 8 main channels.
Also manufacturers of proper monitors like to use the license free 446 channels which is always very annoying to people who wish to use the channels as they should be used.
I think if anything, this is more of a misuse than more power but again ofcom will not get involved with such problems.
Personally i do not see an issue with using more power if it is needed to communicate in situations where 0.5w is no use in the outdoors due to heavy wooded areas.
If you are using radios in these kind of areas you are not going to disrupt anyone.
The only issue is that its labeled as 'against the rules'.
In a built up area you may bother some people with the higher power so it would be smart to the use 0.5w on your radio.
There is lots of talk about what is CE marked and what is not, the fact is they all do the same job and these Chinese company's are putting out radios that do a great job for £30 instead of £100+ and can be used legally too.
Also like Doc says on Ham bands there are repeaters and also internet gateways, people have done the same now with CB networks and further more 446 (which is illegal).
A chap not far from my house set up an internet gateway on 446 and one day i heard it sending out an automated voice alerting people it was there so i decided to give it a shot which proved very interesting. I managed to talk with lots of people all over the world as it links over the internet.
It also improved coverage in the local area, someone 12 miles away on a basic 446 0.5w was calling in and could hear us no problem talking back (all of us using 0.5w).
It made 446 very interesting to use because otherwise it had been very boring to use so i think it was nice to try it out, unfortunately (and understandably) this is illegal but i just wanted to point out something else about what goes on with this license free network.
I see santaman2000 talking about GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service) and FMRS (Family Mobile Radio Service) used in the US, i bet lots of people have bought these 'walky talkys' on holiday, especailly when visiting the Disney parks and then taken them home and not realized they are completely illegal here due to emergency services (fire brigades) using some of the same freq they run on which causes them a lot of problems in emergency's (or used to... now they are on the same secure network as police for the most part. They are still illegal as they are still using the freq's from time to time as backups)
Lots of people on here go into the outdoors with huge knifes and blades, way over the legal limit but see it as not an issue.
I see it as the same kind of situation here.
In fact i was thinking about buying one of these dual band Chinese radios so i can program in emergency frequencies such as the coast guard, mountain rescue, search and rescue, etc.
It is against the rules to TX on these frequencies but i would only use them in sure a drastic emergency where there is no other way to get help if something has to go wrong.
I have read of situations where people have done this and it was accepted as okay as it was a real situation.
Unfortunately the coastguard distress channel is prone to many hoax callers which can result in a prison sentence (quite rightfully too!)
Again i am not trying to promote illegal use here, i am just pointing out what really goes on with most radio users out there.
If you want to stick to 110% to UK radio requirements/guidelines then i suggest the binatone 950's as good radios with better distance than most.
Most radios that are found today in high street shops are really no use more than 1 mile at best unfortunately.