BCA BC Link Radios ...what say you?

[My Friends Call Me Whiskers]

Thinking about adding two of these to the christmas list (not sure if they'll be selling by christmas though). I'm keen on the idea of using a radio, I've been finding the use of the "woop-wooop" call to be somewhat limiting. With this set-up it seems you're paying not so much for the radio, but the hand-held unit that clips to a pack strap for ease of use and I can see the appeal to that.


Anybody else thinking about these or have any other radio solutions? Anybody have any pro/con experiences using radios?

[Matt J]

I'm pro radio. Issue is usually battery life in cold temps. If you develop protocol around them working and then they fail problems can ensue. I look forward to reading a long term review of these once some folks get some days with them.

[aka-bigsteve]

We consider radios to be essential in the group that I ski with. Keeping track in the trees(still use buddies, though), what's up with the straggler at the back, checking in with the two who might want to explore a new line or head home early, lead skier indicating whether it's safe to continue, etc....so many uses. Most are using the common and inexpensive Motorola type FRS/GMRS ones. They work well enough for our purposes and have proven reasonably reliable and durable. No idea about the BCA radios other than that they are pricey. Wild Snow had a preview of them a few days back.

[Rokjox]

175 bucks for a frs/gmrs radio is certainly spendy. Ther lithium battery is nice, I have often thought the general class of radios were missing a good bet in being so cheap as to use nicads.

I don't think the BCA model offers enough for the money, obviously the external microphone/speaker is the big change, is it enough?


I am a Ham Radio operator, Extra Class. I actually often carry a vhf/uhf radio ($600.00!) that has been carefully "broken" to where it will transmit on FRS channels as well as everything else. This is not recogmended for ordinary users, the problems will create issues if you are not fully knowledgable on the freqs you can actually use. My little handi talky has 5 watts output, removable antennas so I can actually use an antenna with GAIN and I can hit every repeater around me usually for about 50 miles if I am at elevation. The use of repeaters means I can make a phone call almost anywhere, without ANY bars (haha). None of these things can a FRS user expect, these are illegal features to include in a Non-Ham radio. NO REPEATER use!

I like using a external mic, have one permanently attached to my Yeasu, it cost me about 25 bucks from a reseller of radio ham gear.

Actually, I think you'all should just go with the nicer FRS handhelds in the medium price range. Its not like running a citizen's radio is actually hard or requires intelligence of a high order. Just turn it on, make sure you are on the correct channel and make sure the "sub-channels" (they are NOT subchannels actually, they are silencing your receiver if the incoming signal does not have a sub-audible code sequence as the beginning of the signal) are OFF.

The results are sub-optimal, but without at least a technician license you will not have access to better radios. And even with them, the regs are designed to keep the various types and freqs of radios separate, I.E. "type accepted" and not "frequency agile" as a ham rig. That way you ain't worried about what freq and power output combinations are allowed, which antenna is the proper match and if you are about to step on some other persons prerogatives... like the local airport, SeaTac or other emergency services.

Nice radio, but over priced and under featured for me. BTW, if you intend to buy and use a frequency agile radio as a unlicensed rig, you be careful, there are a LOT of hams who are into "fox hunting" and you WILL hear people complaining if you use such a radio without a valid callsign. They WILL hunt you down eventually and you WILL get punished in the wallet, sure as hell. Hams LOVE tracking down unlicensed users and various other sources of noise. Its one of the hobbies they play and practice.