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Two way radio for use in Ukraine?

peter_964rs

That's no moon!
This is an odd one I guess....

We have a Ukrainian lady and her daughter staying with us under the 'Homes for Ukraine' scheme.

She comes from a village in the NW of the country which has so far seen little impact from the war apart from the conscription of many of the menfolk into fighting along the front line. This may change at any moment of course, especially if Belarus decide to flex their muscles.

She's working hard here in a local cafe to earn money and is booked to fly back to see husband and family for a short break in a couple of weeks time and asked me a question about walkie talkies, of all things, because a cousin of her husband who is on the front line was looking to buy some Motorola 4400 models and the price in Ukraine is approximately £600 equivalent. So the idea being, get them in the UK where they're cheaper and she can bring them in her luggage when she flies back and they can make their way across to said cousin.

I have a number of concerns! Perhaps a wise PFMer can advise me here:

1. Can you take items like this in hold luggage (it would be to a Polish airport on a std Ryanair flight and then she busses across the border)?
2. Why the 4400, why not something cheaper? Is it range, clarity, reliability, battery life, compatibility with other radios?
3. I have no idea what the cousin is doing on the front line, perhaps he's well behind it coordinating (say) logistics, perhaps he's up front trying to communicate with fellow soldiers. But I imagine the wrong radio could advertise your position to Russian military and be a disaster to carry, even just in standby?
4. Are they restricted so you can't buy them in the UK?
5. Are they configured for UK frequencies and inappropriate for Ukraine, or incompatible?
6. Anything else I haven't thought of? Very grateful for input on this one!
 
I would also check on the Ukranian rules and regulations on using such devices, especially under the current troubles.
Here, for example, there's a mountain of paperwork and a long list of conditions to be met, before you can legally use them. Enough to put the majority of people and small businesses off the idea completely.
Failure to comply with the rules here leads to surprisingly large fines.
 
I regularly take a Marine Handheld on my hand luggage when off for boating, and nobody has ever been interested in it.
When in your hold luggage, the usual restrictions regarding Batteries apply.

If they are configured for the UK, they can be reconfigured for Export, no problem.
The Ukraine certainly won't give a damn if these are legal or not in times like these...

They are not really cheap anywhere I'm afraid.
If you can source a few somewhere go ahed and do it!!!
 
This is an odd one I guess....

We have a Ukrainian lady and her daughter staying with us under the 'Homes for Ukraine' scheme.

She comes from a village in the NW of the country which has so far seen little impact from the war apart from the conscription of many of the menfolk into fighting along the front line. This may change at any moment of course, especially if Belarus decide to flex their muscles.

She's working hard here in a local cafe to earn money and is booked to fly back to see husband and family for a short break in a couple of weeks time and asked me a question about walkie talkies, of all things, because a cousin of her husband who is on the front line was looking to buy some Motorola 4400 models and the price in Ukraine is approximately £600 equivalent. So the idea being, get them in the UK where they're cheaper and she can bring them in her luggage when she flies back and they can make their way across to said cousin.

I have a number of concerns! Perhaps a wise PFMer can advise me here:

1. Can you take items like this in hold luggage (it would be to a Polish airport on a std Ryanair flight and then she busses across the border)?
2. Why the 4400, why not something cheaper? Is it range, clarity, reliability, battery life, compatibility with other radios?
3. I have no idea what the cousin is doing on the front line, perhaps he's well behind it coordinating (say) logistics, perhaps he's up front trying to communicate with fellow soldiers. But I imagine the wrong radio could advertise your position to Russian military and be a disaster to carry, even just in standby?
4. Are they restricted so you can't buy them in the UK?
5. Are they configured for UK frequencies and inappropriate for Ukraine, or incompatible?
6. Anything else I haven't thought of? Very grateful for input on this one!

I'd guess the IP functionality (range extension via Starlink constellation) and built-in scrambler are the desirable features.
 


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