M538-HT MURS Wireless VHF Transceiver - Handheld 2-Way Radio License Free - Multi Use Radio Service

We currently use three of these handheld units and plan to purchase a fourth. Here in rural southwestern Ohio, where there are lots of hills and woods, the 1 watt output of these radios provide a one mile range reliably. While traveling in convoy on long and unobstructed stretches of highway, the range is greater. They are used infrequently and have provided communications for five weekend long events over the past two months. For well under one hundred dollars, I did not expect much. These units exceeded my expectations.While the manual that comes with the radio is not very detailed, vender support is outstanding. I had a question regarding charging the batteries and received a reply within one business day. They recommended charging for 24 hours when new or totally depleted and overnight for normal daily use. These radios use commonly available rechargeable AA batteries and not the expensive type found on many amateur and commercial handheld radios. In other words, no special order for replacement rechargeable batteries. Also, at need, regular alkaline batteries may be used. (Attempting to charge the alkaline type batteries will damage the unit) The rechargeable batteries supplied work surprisingly well. We keep our transmissions short and to the point and regularly operate for two days and more per charge, especially if we turn them off for the night. These radios are extremely easy on the batteries while receiving and only draw the batteries down appreciably while transmitting.I hope to acquire the matching Dakota Alert MURS transmitters to provide wireless and portable security at remote locations. Allowing us to monitor the area around the vehicles or camp while in the woods etc.These radios are not water resistant nor do they provide military grade shock resistance. These radios are not "industrial strength", but neither is the price. They do provide all five of the unlicensed MURS frequencies while many others only provide one or two operating frequencies. They are affordably priced with great customer support from the vendor, Home Controls / Home Security 4 Less. In summary, good value for the money.

This radio is big & clunky to wear on a belt or waistband, due to the weight of it and the long antenna. Easy enough to use. Do NOT leave in the weather - it is not weatherproof!

Received used, previously returned unit - Bad Experience - waste of time to return. Too bad because these are OK radios and work well, if you can receive a new one from Amazon when you order.

These relatively inexpensive radios bridge the gap between FRS and more costly "business" radios, without requiring FCC licensing, which most folks don't bother with when using certain FRS frequencies, or so I'm given to understand. Or maybe it was just us...Anyway, back to the radio: pretty rugged, took a few good drops and one of ours being left out in the rain before showing only a little drop in the volume. Very useful that there is a desktop version of the same radio, a feature I couldn't find when we used FRS types. You have to unscrew both the belt clip and another screw for the battery cover to get to the batteries, but I haven't had a set of the supplied batteries fail to recharge yet. Reminds me: whereas with FRS radios you had to replace the OEM battery pack or equivalent if you want to recharge with the batteries in the unit, or use disposable batteries. The Dakota Alerts use a bank of rechargeable AA-size cells, so readily available replacements are all over the place, at any hardware store or rat shack!

We bought this hand held radio and 10 base stations for our children's ministry. I love that there is absolutely zero interference. It's easy to hear and very simple for any volunteer to use. Our 10 rooms are spread out over 3 floors and every unit works flawlessly. The units are sturdy and reliable - I'm certain they'll last for years.There are two reasons I didn't give it 5 stars. First, though it says there are many sub-channels, there is not a way to program one unit to receive more than one channel. For example, I thought we could give each classroom a different channel and let our central desk receive every classroom at once. That is not the case. Therefore, every room hears every communication every time - which is not ideal, but in our case isn't a showstopper. Secondly, the "call" button has five different tones, but they all sound so much alike that they aren't useful for announcing a major alarm. Again, I had planned to use different sounds for different messages (1: general announcement, 2: fire emergency, etc). Unfortunately, because they have similar sounds, we are just using one general sound to get everyone's attention.We used these units to replace walkie talkies and we are quite happy with the upgrade. Having a rechargeable battery is much simpler, and the base units plug into the wall (saving money on batteries!).You can buy these with confidence that they'll work without interference, but don't count on them being too high tech.

I have had the base station for years. I have been using it in my shop and at the wood shed. It lets me know when the UPS and postal people are coming. This handheld unit is handy and allows you to monitor your driveway from any location as long as the signal can reach you. An additional bonus is the radio function with the base that works fairly well if you need it.