UKH

Any recommendations on 2-way radios for climbing use? Looking for something tough with reliable performance at shortish range (<100m) voice-activated/hands off, multiple reliable attachment points, good battery life, not too expensive (<£75) 

Cheers,

Matt

I have used Binatone and they do the job well. Should get a pair for under £50

I've used the Motorola TLKR T40 for a couple of years now - it's small, light, cheap (£20-30) and takes AAAs so that's handy for situations where you might not be able to charge your devices regularly. It's not voice activated but I haven't found that to be an issue. There are holster clips and a robust attachment loop on the base - I've taken off the holster clips and threaded 60cm of accessory cord through the base instead, with cord locks on the end. If you wear it like a sling across your chest and tuck the unit down your front of your top, it keeps the unit fairly safe and doesn't clutter your harness. 

Your own voice or an agreed system of rope pull signals will never run out of batteries and are probably no less ambiguous than a radio signal that is not 100% trusted at both ends.

Have to agree with this -I don't see the need for a radio.

I found using a radio was a great alternative to shouting / pulling on the rope. Less intrusive to other people at popular destinations, works better as distances get longer and weather noise increases and also much better at communicating more complex issues than "climb now".

Shouting and yanking remain as a free backup.

No suggestions as to which model. I liked big buttons for use with gloves but never tried voice activation.

Having used radios on long routes for about two years now, I couldn’t disagree more. It saves your voice and can save the day when things go wrong at the end of a 60m pitch, with complicated terrain and rope drag, where it becomes impossible to give either rope or voice signals.

Yeah, not really needed on a two pitch limestone route but it sure is helpful on longer routes and I’m not entirely sure why you think the signal cannot be trusted. The radios I and two more parties I climb with use are Binatone Action 1100, with a maximum range of 10km. Never even considered the possibility of no signal, because it’s not something that happens at pitch length distances. 

You can always fall back to regular signals where possible but having radios is a definite QoL improvement.

I'm not sure you would want VOX (voice activated) - I thought these only work with headsets. with a normal ear-piece & mike, the mike dangling around on a wire won't reliably pick up the voice well enough to switch on when you want it....

when you're looking at different options it's worthwhile to compare the IP rating. IP66 would be good, but you probably want IP54 as a min.....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Code

I'v got a pair of mitex 446 - reasonably compact and light, got them quite cheap and they do the job

This. Exactly this. You can use a radio and its not like you can't still tug/shout/use interpretive dance or whatever as well.

If you don't want to use radios then don't. 

I used my daughters' pink toy walkie-talkies for a trip to Gogarth and thought they were great for easing communication. I think I may have even used it when I wasn't at a stance, but I had a hand free. It's great to hear a calm "climb when ready" and to respond "it's going to take me a while to detach this belay" rather than have the shouting and seemingly impatient tugs of the rope when its windy.

On sea cliffs with the noise of crashing seas and wind they make life much easier and safer. 

I didn’t mean the signal couldn’t be trusted just what was transmitted. It’s just as easy to miscommunicate whatever the medium.

Really? That's quite an assertion!

Is that not why phonetic alphabets are utilised for clarity on occasions; so that certain words are expected and can be more easily determined if only partly heard?  

Sorry, but this is an odd assertion considering your alternative is entirely ambiguous. If there’s too much wind you have to rely on rope signals. If there’s too much drag you have to pull your second as tight as you can and hope there are no tenuous traverses involved. In no world is a bidirectional communication device, where clarification can be requested at any time, less trustworthy than role signals.

Interesting point, but I don't see a particularly direct relevance to a comparison between communicating by rope tugs and two-way radio: the former is clearly much more limited. Of course, one can imagine scenarios in which limiting the range of meaning could possibly be advantageous, but still .....

On a rather funnier note, I was in the Dolomites last weekend and a film crew got on our channel. It took a lot of self control to stop myself from broadcasting "CUT!" before changing channel... :-P

Thanks for all the advice people, much appreciated.

I once years back shared a stance on Gogarth with a guy with a 2 way radio.   There was I shouting down to my 2nd who could not hear me and he was in full contact with his 2nd without raising his voice.  In fact his 2nd was transferring my messages  to my 2nd.