Two-Way Radios Reviews

No support. All emails to support unanswered. Is dingotel even in business anymore? Their digital certificates authenticating dingotel via SSL seem to have all expired. I prepaid some money for the +dail option to terminate calls to landlines, but the dialer does not work. Not pleased at all, and out of patience with the product. I would like my money back

I want my money back! This device can't connect and the company does not support it, no reply to emails sent.
I would give it 0 stars but I don't have that option

This device allows you to connect two radios over the internet or a frs radio to a computer. It is a lot of fun to use. The audio is a little rough, but for the price it is quite acceptable. Make sure that you get Motorola radios, I have Cobras and the mic/earphone jack is slightly different, so you have to pull the plug out slightly to get it to work right. Worldwide Walkie Talkies - I wish there was cool stuff like this when I was a kid!

These are better than the FRS that are advertised with a 2 mile range. I live in suburbia, and tested these out. Range was from 1-2.5 miles within the city (and I'm being very generous)!

The radios offer some nice features, but after paying $75 for a 5 year FCC lisc. I expected a significant improvement in the range of the radio.

In case you havent read the other reviews,these radios DO NOT have ANY NOAA channels. I just purchased these at a pawn shop for *cheap* and they work great. They are worth the price listed here. I do not have an FCC license (~yet~) but still use GMRS and wow can I tell the difference from the countless FRS radios I own. For starters, as with any new technology, there a significantly smaller number of users of GMRS as compared to FRS,thus making a drastically reduced crowdedness. I get great reception and love this product.

We purchased this set of radios for a Christmas present, and based on the description provided...the impression is that "everything's included", right? Wrong. We did receive the radios, and the rechargeable batteries and chargers were in a seperate little box, but thrown in with the radios in the Amazon box. (Should have known something was not right when we saw that) We inserted the batteries, and then immediately tried to hook them up to the chargers, only to find out the chargers are NOT compatible with the radios. They don't fit! We called Midland directly to find out if we were doing something wrong...and they informed us that the chargers included with this set only work if you BUY MORE DEVICES TO PLUG THEM INTO!!! They also indicated that they can only assume that Amazon does not know this and is selling it all as a package. Unless you plan on going out and spending more money on another accessory, stay away from this particular "deal". Waste of money and time. Amazon did issue us a refund...so kudos to them for that--but more importantly I think they need to revise or remove this item as it is very deceiving.

I took my chance on gettings these radios hopeing that they
would surely have the problem fixed buy now. I received them today and had forgot about the reviews about the missing adapters until I tried to charge them. Sure hope they get the problem fixed.

I too was missing the adapters. While they have pointed me to Midland I don't think I should have to be the one to talk to them and solve this. If this hadn't happened before, I would be more understanding, but obviously from the last poster's comments... it has... more than once.

This definately puts a ding in my otherwise unblemished dealings with amazon over the last 4 years.

Be warned that if you get this set, you may have one more step before they will work.

I used this product in Thailand & Singapore and I think it's worth it. It allows you to move around freely in crowded places without the akwardness of having to keep bringing up the walkie to your mouth. It's great if you have to walk in a quite place like a conference hall or hotel restaurant and don't want the whole room to look at you when you're buzzed. I don't think not having the VOX matters so much ... I wouldn't want my other party to hear every word I say if the mike is clipped to my collar and I happen to have a conversation with another person face-to-face.

I am glad I bought the earbud with PTT mic. I bought the thing two weeks ago and took it on vacation with me last week. The place it came in most handy was at this huge outlet mall in destin where I communicated with family members who were using the new motorola Talkabout 5100's. Obviously, this accessory allowed me to leave my Distance Radio secured to my belt with the Motorola brand pouch/holster I have, and I did not have to remove the radio to talk. This was a humongous advantage over having to keep removing the radio from my belt to speak, then re-attaching it only to find that the person's reply required me to speak again. Another way this thing is advantageous is that if you are in crowded stores with a lot of people (like I was) or in some other place with noise, you can hear transmissions that you recieve easily, and it is easy to respond immediately. If the radio is on your belt, there is always a chance that you may not take notice of your friend who is trying to transmit to you if you are in a noisy place and your attention is diverted. Also, when using this accessory, you do not attract the attention of other people, or disturb them, because the sound is just in the little speaker in your ear (which is comfortable and padded as far as I am concerned). And, you do not have to hold your radio up in front of other people while talking/transmitting. The question is this--what is more conspicuous, having your built-in radio loudspeaker going for all to hear and holding up a radio in front of your face to talk, or walking around in public with this wire and microphone assembly coming out of the neck of your shirt (or just hanging in front of your clothes) and running up to your ear. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't look like a device for a hearing disablilty at all. One girl asked me if I was "listening to a game." Remember that I only used this accessory two diferent times. (The first was while riding a bike for one hour. I did not really get to use it then, but it did not fall out of my ear at all.) The second time I used it was at the outlet mall for two and a half hours--walking around. It never fell out there, either. I never used it while running to see if it would stay in.

I found this accesory for my talkabouts excelent. I use them for my motorcycle under my helmet, and keep in touch with my partners. Excelent, except for the price.

I purchased this for $... at Staples but they have discontinued it. They must know something...
It is loaded with a lot of nice features like channel scan, selectable call tones and a few others not normally found at this price. I haven't fully tested the range but it seems just as good as any other frs radio. I especially like the charger stand and the batteries by themselves can run you $... and they are included! That's the good part. The volume output is marginal - you can forget hearing anything from this radio in a high noise area. The button driven menu is not very intuitive leading you to not bother using some features because you can't figure out how to get to them. One of the radios broke in the first week of use (would not transmit voice), so the 90-day warranty has to be viewed as a liability (even though I got to take advantage of it - UGH!). I'll never buy a product with a 90-day warranty again. These days, a company should stand behind their product longer than 3 months!!!

I just bought these radios today. I had a little trouble getting used to how to change channels and the like. Also, the menu felt clumsy.

I haven't got the chance yet to try them out over a distance, but I expect them to perform well.

My favorite feature: the call feature (which DOES work between brands) has different tones to choose from, even songs!!

I originally purchased these back in December 01 so my wife and I could talk back and forth while driving from Iowa to Ohio when we moved. We drove seperate cars and wanted to be able to coordinate breaks and stuff as we drove with our kids. I charged these up the night before we left and drove with them for well over 12 hours using them the whole time. They came in handy as we had to travel through a snow storm and it was difficult to keep in sight of each other. The range is great. We were getting at least two miles as advertised. Now that we are in our new home and live near relatives my daughter grabs one as she heads out the door to Grandma's and we can keep track of her while walking through the yards to get there and she can let us know when she's safely inside. As for the buttons being difficult we don't have a problem. Variable volume control is great and so are all the different call signals. Durablity has been good as well. Batteries have held up and still will hold a charge for days on standby.

Class D citizen band provides an excelent very short distance communication. With the FCC only legally allowing 4 watts on 11 meters your range is very limited; all CB's can potentially be modified however for a illegal higher output. Unless your running a half wave base antenna, a nice beam, or a extremely long hi-gain mobile antenna dont expect much from this rig, or any other CB rig. With the new FRS fad they are pounding in the 2 mile range... however this is not true because one they run in (FM)frequency modulation mode which has excelent sound but its mainly line of sight communication only, two they have extreme power restrictions and no external antennas; those 350 miliwatts of power will barely get you a mile unless your in an excelent terrain. I highly recomend AM mode for distance, however if your going to buy a CB get one with (SSB) single side band which will allow you to use a portion of an AM wave the upper or lower part. In side band mode your 4 watt radio will produce 12 watts of legal power because you are only using the top, or bottom part of a wave without a carrier, this tends to be garbled so constant adjustment with the clarifier nobb may be neaded. As well on CB..11 meters if your lucky in the heat of the summer days the band accasionaly will open up and allow your radio wave to skip clear across the world; this is rare though running such low power but it is possible and ive seen it happen. But for those who seek the distance of radio Amateur (HAM) radio is what its all about. The FCC has made it possible to become a liscensed ham operator without knowing morse code anymore and a 35 question test which you can pass with a 70%. As a ham operator i can tell you its very rewarding, repeaters are free to use and usually have about a 25-40 mile range which you can hit with just miliwatts of power, or for those who seek long communications it is legal to run up to 1.5 kilowatts (1500 watts) of brute power. Although this is not neaded you can easily work the world with low power on certain bands. And with repeater ive hit some of them next to 100 miles away running only 5 watts on 2 meter fm. but thats all i have to say
73's
kc�mvl

The Midland 77-092 is definitely not overloaded with features, but it is a good low cost general purpose transceiver. I use it as a mobile unit with the Midland 18-2983 magnet mount antenna and am pleased with both products.

This Cb is great I have been using it for a while now and I love it. You do have to go to radio shack and get a cigarette adapter and splice the wires but its common sence stuff. and I didn't mount it. it sits fine in my ranger. You should get a good antenna I got a plastic whip at radio shack for about 20 bucks and it gets out far. The only thing you might consider is a filter because when the car runs it makes a buzz noise not lound just annoying but its nothing that you couldn't fix with your squelch because when you talk it goes away and when you get someone talking to you it will go away but if you are one that needs everything perfect go get it at radio shack. but other than that no problems! Its Great GET IT!

can anyone tell me the range of this CB radio

The range of any cb depends upon the antenna. A $30 cb on a good antenna will have considerable more range than a $150 cb on a cheap antenna. Inexpensive cbs do have less sensitivity and features of more expensive cbs, but if you are just starting out, I would suggest an inexpensive cb with a good antenna such as a Wilson 'Lil Will' magnet mount. If you purchase the antenna at a cb shop, normally they will be more than happy to install and tune the antenna for you free of charge. The antenna normally runs around $30 and is one of the better entry level antennas out there. I have ran a cb for 10 years and I still use one as a back up. But remember, the secret to range is in the antenna system.. not so much the radio. But whatever you choose.. do not get one of those 'through the glass' or a 'rubber magnet mount' antenna. These are poor antennas with very limited range, usually less that a mile. Get something with a steel whip equal to or over 36" in height.

The previous review that mentions antennas are key to a good CB setup is correct. For a normal CB user I would recommend either the Wilson lil' Wil or the Wilson 500 antenna. Both are magnetic mount antennas. The lil' Wil antenna is a relatively small antenna and it's only around $39.00. Actually any Wilson CB antenna will be fine. Also, to do a good job at setting up your antenna you should purchase an SWR meter. They are not expensive. You only need the meter connected inline between the radio and antenna when you are adjusting the antenna. Once you are done adjusting the antenna you can take the meter out of the connection and connect the antenna directly to the radio. Don't be fooled by cheap ordinary CB antennas like you will find at radio shack. Do not settle for anything less then a Wilson antenna. Cobra and Uniden both make fabulous CB radios so either make will be fine.

An electronics fan from New York State USA They are not good radios! they do not function right and always break. I'm from a company who rates diffrent dadios do not come out on top. Out of 350 radios tested it can out as 310th it is a waste of money!

We've been using the FRS250 radio for about three years now with no major complaints.

The radio offers the 14 FRS channels, and can optionally use the 38 "privacy codes" to suppress communications from other radios (assuming that they aren't using the same privacy code as you). By setting the privacy code to 0, you hear everyone's transmissions, regardless of their privacy codes.

Battery life so far has not been an issue. Though we haven't measured how long you can listen or talk on a channel before the batteries die, we have yet to run into a situation where a fully charged set of batteries has run out on us during use. A fresh set has lasted us a week at Disney World, for example, with moderate use (a few minutes of communication about a dozen or so times a day). Still, rechargeable NiMH batteries would be a wise investment.

Some of the more interesting features:

1. This model does voice-inversion scrambling (referred to as "voice privacy"), which reduces the likelihood of eavesdroppers: only other users with a Cobra radio and the "privacy" feature will be able to understand your conversation.

2. There is a "squelch suppress" button that will allow you to hear faint transmissions that would normally be silenced by the radio. Note that you'll hear tons of static too, so only use it when you need to.

3. A lock button, to prevent accidental changes in your radio's configuration. This is more useful than it sounds, particularly in environments where the radio can get bumped around.

Some caveats:

1. Cobra's marketing refers to the privacy codes as "sub-channels", which is a misnomer. The radio only has 14 channels, and these 14 channels are set by the FCC for the Family Radio Service. There is no such thing as a sub-channel. See the FRS FAQ for information on privacy codes and what they do.

2. The voice-inversion scrambling offers privacy only from casual listeners. People with Cobra radios or that have equipment to invert the voce signal will be able to hear you. It is a very nice feature, but it does not offer enough privacy for things that you do not want others to hear (your credit card number, etc.)

Overall, we've been satisfied. It would be nice if the headphone and microphone jacks were combined into a single jack, but this is a minor nit. The unit is less expensive than the equivalent Motorola models, and performs well enough for general use.

These radios are the best that I have ever used. They feature 14 channels and 38 sub channels, that makes 532 different channels so even in the most crowded areas there is no problem finding an open channel. In the rare case that someone wanders onto your channel they will not be able to listen in on your conversation because this radio encrypts or scrables your voice. The radios have a tremendous range of two miles considering how small they are. At this price you can't afford not to have one.

It's pretty disappointing when you think you are going to get 2 radios and only get one. It would be nice if it said exactly how many you would recieve. What point is it to only have one radio anyway.

when i was looking for a radio i found this one but i think ,the price is too cheap ots going to be very bad but today i get it and is the best radio and very cheap ernesto

GOT THE PRODUCT QUICKLY AND THEY WORK GREAT.

For those of you who are looking at this thinking it is a CB radio, it is NOT. Though this may look like a CB radio, it is actually a radio designed to transmit in the amateur radio frequency spectrum. Transmitting on this radio without the proper license issued by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) will subject you to charges by the FCC, which can include siezure of all radio equipment, as well as monetary fines in the thousands of dollars.

There are very few licensed operators who use this type of equipment. It is mainly used by "freebanders" and truckers looking to get away from the confines of regular CB. Besides those drivers who illegally operate these radios, many trucking companies are now getting fined by the FCC for allowing this equipment to be used in their trucks, and are therefore restricting these radios from being installed by the drivers. As the FCC continues it's efforts to crack down on the illegal use of these radios, you have to stop and ask yourself if it's worth the risk to operate one of these radios without the proper licensing.

If you are truly interested in becoming a properly licensed amateur radio operator who can legally trasmit on one of these radios then there are plenty of online and offline resources to help you out. However, as far as amateur radio equipment is concerned, this type and brand of radio is pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel, as lacks most of the useful features found on decent amateur radio equipment.

Just bought this radio. It has had a lot of good reports.
I like the way the radio transmits. It will do 30 watts out of box AM, and 100 watts SSB. It did not have MosFEt Finals like the ad claims. It has Mosfet pre Drivers, but the actual finals are sc2290 Transistors, Bi Polar type like all the 10 meter radios and 2 pill linears use.
I thought that was a disappointment, because that is about the only reason I purchased this radio.
I wanted to try out MosFet Finals, as a cleaner alterative to transistors. If you are going to buy one of these Cobra Rigs to get into the MosFet world, Beware this radio is a mixture of both worlds.
I have been told by others that it is a very excellent sounding radio on SSB but without talkback enabled, you cannot monitor your audio or echo effects. In fact I have never seen a radio with echo without talkback, very strange. To modify this radio for 11 meters would be a hard and risky business and not legal in the USA. It would also be a nightmare because the components are all surface mounted, and tiny.
The radio peaked to about 120 watts AM but the MosFet pre-drivers don't drive the SC2290's the way the conventional SC2166 or similar do, as there is a higher dead key, and less forward swing. If you try to take the dead carrier lower than 10 watts the SWR will go crazy on you, as if the PRE DRIVER MOSFETS fall out of range or something. The smallest dead key possible before SWR funk is 20 watts. Way to high for a lot of amps.
Low power equals about 20 to 85 bird watts. High power about 40 to 125 bird.
Now the really bad part. The receiver has rotten channel rejection, and if someone within the city limits runs a lot of power, the radio becomes almost un-usable. It is a BLEED BOX, but that seems to be a trait of Cobra, Uniden.
This Radio may look great and sound great on transmit but without good ears a radio is worthless.
The receive is no where near the quality of a RANGER or RCI 10 meter rig, but for $204.00 what can you expect. There is a mod out the to add standard components to the SMT board, (nightmare)to reduce the channel rejection, but once again that evolves micro board level repair. It's a big hassle, and you might end up wasting your radio! (NIGHTMARE)
Why won't Cobra spend a couple of more bucks and make these radios receive better? Any way it's a beautiful radio, in the country it might be really great, but in the city it is a little to noisy for my taste.

COBRA 200 GTL DX w/Nightwatch

Type: 10 meter radio

Frequency range: 28 to 29.7 MHz from factory - 26.0650 to 29.6950 after conversion

RF power: 4 watts low power - 30 watts high power (deadkey)

Transistors: Dual 40-watt SC2290 finals

Control frequency switch: 10 kHz - does not work after frequency coversion for expanded coverage.

Bands: 4

AM/FM: Yes

SSB: Yes, 100+ watts

Channels: 320 (80 per switch setting)

Variable power : Yes - high/low button, high (max range) and low (conserves power)

Antenna warning indicator: Yes

SWR calibration: Yes

NightWatch panel illumination: Yes

Echo control: Yes

Analog meter: Yes

Mic gain: Yes

Frequency counter: Yes, 6-digit

Jacks: 4-pin front mic

Warranty: 1 year parts and labor

In the box: 200 GTL DX radio, microphone, user's manual

RECEIVE -

The radio has an excellent receiver - but it does pick up some background static. The AM stations sound clear far off or close up.

You will get bleedover with this radio - I'd say it's worst within 6 channels.

SSB receive is very clear - the radio stays on frequency for receive very well - no drift whatsoever from turn on to turn off.

TRANSMIT

On low power the AM deadkey on my stock radio was 3 watts swinging to around 12-15 watts. The SSB output was about 12-14 watts.

On high power the AM deadkey on my stock radio was 30 watts swinging to 70 watts. The SSB output was about 110-120 watts.

I didn't test FM or CW.

AM REPORTS- It gives a very steady signal and very clear steady modulation. On high power you definitely get a boost in modulation on both AM and SSB.

Everyone says the radio sounds great and has a very unique sound to it.

SSB REPORTS - Everyone said that the modulation is clear, clean and LOUD. My signal has been hitting everyone well.

THE RADIO LIKES AND DISLIKES -

* I love the NIGHTWATCH

* The echo is really clear and has no distortion problems at all. BUT with no adjustments for speed all you can adjust is the level of echo.

* There is NO talkback - stupidest thing I've every seen. Why have adj echo or roger beep when you can't hear it to adjust it.

* Knobs are pretty solid - Some of them have a tiny amount of "play" and the plastic of them feels a little cheesy but you get over it pretty quick.

* The front facing microphone is kind of in the way, BUT it's nice for up front installs since the radio is already pretty big.

* The fine/coarse controls are excellent. The clarifier is unlocked from the factory and moves on TX and RX.

* Six digit freq counter works great and mine is spot on freq from the factory.

* The push buttons are small and a little cheezy - I wonder how they will hold up over time....buttons on radios like my Omega worked great, but on some older radios I know at some point they pop out or become loose, only time will tell.

* Output from the radio is great on AM and SSB. NO it is not as high as a 2970 ...BUT this radio is $200 less than most of those. It's advertised as a 30 watt RF radio. If you have it tuned and get 80-100 watts AM I'd say its a fair deal. 60-70 watts stock is still plenty to get you heard.

* The stock speaker is okay..not great..but it works good enough for me. I tried it with my external speakers but haven't found a good match yet.

* The heatsink is big and heavy, but I think this radio could still use a fan. After 30 mins of solid use on SSB the heatsink is almost too hot to touch.

* The rotary channel knob is a little picky. Somtimes when you turn it, it won't go to the next channel, sometimes it may skip a channel. Not really a huge problem, 80% of the time it won't miss, but every couple of times you may skip over a channel.

* I don't like that I can't cycle through the 40 channels and end up back at channel 1 - because it's 80 channels per bank you have to go up/down or all the way through all 80 to get back to the beginning.

* BLEEDOVER

As a buyer you do have to be aware of some of the problems - ones acknowledged by Cobra

- Overload possiblity with strong signals
- Possible Warble or popping noise due in modulation (I didn't run into this at all)
- Channel rejection decreases with the NB/ANL on.
- Choppy Squelch control
- Possible that freq display needs adj, not accurate from factory.


SUMMARY - for the $225-250 Price range I think it's an excellent deal. It's never going to outdo a radio + amplifier but if you don't want to run an external amp the radio will do enough to get you heard and is perfect for SSB Dxing!