Radioddity GA-2S Walkie Talkies Professional UHF Long Range Walkie Talkie Rechargeable Handheld Two Way Radio with Micro USB Charging Air Acoustic Earpiece for Adults (2 Pack)

These radios are, for the money, really good, but that assessment comes with multiple caveats. First up, as supplied these are not suitable for license-free operation in the UK or elsewhere. While they could (with some effort, see below) be set up to inter-work with, e.g. PMR446 sets, they won't do that "out of the box". As supplied, they are set to a mixed set of frequencies, using wide FM modulation at a couple of watts. Some of the preset channels might be OK if you have a HAM licence (I forget the exact ones that were set), some not, but none are OK without a licence.Do NOT expect these to work with PMR radios, as supplied, they won't. (If you want a nearly-identical radio, but configured for license-free PMR446 use, look at the Retevis RT24. As far as I can tell they're extremely similar except they have a different PTT button, an antenna you can't remove (without tools) and power fixed to 0.5W ERP, on the 16 PMR frequencies.)As another (extremely helpful) reviewer pointed out, to get proper use out of these you have to get a programming cable for them, and get yourself a copy of CHIRP (which is free). I used a Retevis branded cable bought to go with different Retevis PMR radios - it cost about half what the Radioddity brand cable did (on Amazon) last I checked (although someone said Radioddity will send you a cable on request - I haven't asked so can't confirm). The cable I have works without any additional drivers with a Linux laptop, and I would expect it to work also on a Mac.(People seem to have problems with these cables on Windows. They typically use FTDI or Prolific serial comms chips, and there are lot of cheap clones of those. A few years back, Windows drivers started refusing to play nice with older, or clone, FTDI chips, and Prolific clones suffered a similar clamp-down. The fix is to revert to an earlier version of the driver, or get a cable with a genuine (and recent) FTDI or Prolific chip. If the cable is suspiciously cheap, and "doesn't work" with Windows, it probably has an old or clone chip. Clone or old versions can be made to work, but it's a pain.)If you set these radios to narrow FM, on PMR446 frequencies, set a limit on transmit time, optionally set CTCSS or DCS (N) privacy codes, and set 0.5W output, technically they can interwork with PMR446 sets, but it's a reasonable amount of hassle, and still not legal because these sets are not licensed PMR radios (they have removable antennae for a start). There is no control on the radio itself for the CTCSS or DCS tone/code ("sub-channel") - you get whatever you pick for each of the sixteen channels when you program it.If you don't know what you are doing, it would be very easy to set these up in such a way as would likely get you into trouble - for example, over-power and/or overmodulation on PMR446 frequencies, the latter of which would be quite obvious on any PMR446 radio within range.At least one reviewer reported great range with them as supplied, in Snowdonia, and that's not really surprising as they come set to 2W, on probably-uncontested channels, with broad modulation, and open, high ground is ideal for UHF radios. I would not, though, use these, as supplied, to transmit in the UK/EU, you have to configure them first, and you can only do that with a programming cable.The configurability does mean that it's easy to make them fool-proof. For example, you could set all channels the same. Or you could set them to use the same base channel and different CTCSS tones on each "channel". Or whatever - they're super flexible. Each channel can be individually configured for frequency, power output (0.5W or 2W), modulation bandwidth, CTCSS/DCS.On the subject of the antenna, the supplied ones are OK, but they're a bit unwieldy - they jab you in the side if wearing them on a belt, and get in the way if dangling them from a wrist strap. I have four of these radios and no two of the supplied antennae are precisely the same physical length (though the wire inside them probably is). I replaced them for general use with some stubby antennae, that are also less fussy about orientation. If you like, you can attach a BNC adapter and run cables to proper aerials.These radios are super-cheap and simple, and fun for HAM use, if you don't mind that the radio itself has barely any controls. They could function as "prepper" radios, at a pinch, but their dependence on a computer for setup, and their limited power, makes them less than ideal for that. They seem like they were designed to be a kind of general purpose personal recreational or business radio that can cover all the bases, without having to have multiple versions in different territories, but otherwise stripped to bare essentials.The supplied accessories are a mixed bag.The charging bases are fine, if cheap and cheerful, likewise the (rigid) belt clips, and the antennae aren't too bad.With the wrist straps, it's best to add stitching at the bit where they join the thin part that goes through the hole in the radio, a couple of mine fell apart at first use, and the way they are made is very poor - the wrist strap braid is just melted together at the end where the thin string loop is joined, and the join to that is simply a knot in the thin string pulling against a hole in the braid. I have stitched all of mine, now.The "secret agent" style curly-air-tube earpieces look the part, but are super quiet and have very poor sound quality, at least that's how the ones I got were. The mics are OK but the earpieces, not so much. The mic and speaker built into the radio for traditional handheld use, though, are absolutely fine - excellent, in fact.The radios feel solid in the hand and appear well-made, built on a metal chassis. When the wrist straps broke on mine, they dropped from bicycle handlebar height onto a concrete surface and suffered no damage. They're clearly not particularly "ruggedised", or waterproof, but they've a quality feel. For the price they are excellent.Battery life is excellent, and you can charge them on the supplied bases. There's no mains adapter supplied, the bases are powered by USB-A. You can also charge them via micro-USB plugged into the radio, handy for charging in the car etc. If you had spare batteries, the design is such that these could be charged in the bases without the radio attached. The spare batteries appear to be listed as "discontinued", but I have found Retevis RT24 batteries to be nearly identical, and they fit and work fine.The scanning feature is weird. They scan the channel slots as configured, when scanning is activated, but only if you set the channel switch to 16. If you leave the "scanning" feature set to its default behaviour, and leave the radio set to ch 16, it goes into scanning mode after a short idle period. This means that it takes a relatively long time to respond to transmissions on that channel, as it has to go around its scan until it hits ch16. It's not *at all* obvious that this is what it's doing, it just seems like it has become mysteriously laggy and unresponsive. I have turned off the scan feature on mine. Again, you need the programming cable to do this.Overall, nice radios, with the low price more than making up for any niggles or missing features. However, if you're looking for something to use for PMR446 out of the box, or don't like the idea of having to hook them up to a computer and reprogram them before you can use them at all, then look elsewhere (eg the RT24, or more expensive PMR sets with screens and controls for sub-channel setting.)At the price, I think these are very good value, and I like their simplicity.

The Radioddity GA-2S is a fantastic little radio, that is brilliant for experimenting with as a licensed amateur radio operator or for local communications on PMR446 frequencies for non licensed users.The unit is well built for the price point and feels solid in the hand, the audio quality is good and the battery life is excellent. The stock antennas are perfectly useable and work well with the radio but you can replace these for increased gain. I have put a SMA to BNC on one of the radios (as pictured) and then use a variety of antennas with this radio - the Diamond RHF10 is on there now. This versatility is a great addition to the radio, I can now connect the radio to my external home base antenna, a portable yagi or a longer HT antenna. Of course these all increase the range significantly of this little radio - I have had contacts over 30miles away with no problems using other antennas. On the other radio I have Diamond SRJ77CA which is a great match for the radio, and has decent gain on UHF. When I let the kids use the radios (on PMR446) I put the stock antennas back in - due to their robustness.The audio both in and out is fantastic for the price and I have had excellent reports from other amateur radio operators when using the GA-2S. I have added the Radioddity speaker mic, particularly for home base use and they work well - they look and feel just like a Motorola one but come in at a fraction of the cost.I have programmed mine using Chirp which is easy to use and gives you great flexibility with the radios. I can program UHF simplex channels, repeaters (inc, offset, CTCSS tones etc) or with the new regs PMR446 frequencies and use these within the licence exempt regulations.When you buy the radios you can apply for a free programming cable, which I did, and that arrived promptly from the manufacturer direct.One feature that is very useful indeed is the ability to charge the radios via USB which means you can use power banks when out in the field rather than having to use 240AC, of course it also means they are easily charged in the car.The fact that the radios are preprogrammed (by you) means they are very easy to use in the field, no inputting frequencies on the move. Just select the channel you want (1-16) and away you go. Simple.The whole of this review is based on the price that these radios come in at. WAY better than anything else I've come across for the money and really good fun to play around with. I have some pretty expensive amateur radio gear BUT have played around with these more than anything else.