Flourman’s Comms

Here is my comm’s set-up for the time being. It’s a growing set-up and I started small like a lot of people will. All of these radios can transmit to a repeater. These are all HT (handhelds). The HT’s are limited to about 5W transmit power (more power equals more fars) but I plan on putting a 50W GMRS mobile unit in the Bronco and my Tremor. I’ll put a “trigger” warning, transmitting on some of these radios on GMRS and/or Ham frequencies does not comply with FCC rules/regulations. Once can listen all then want. I’ve also got my GMRS license but not a Ham license. I NEVER TRANSMIT ON HAM FREQUENCIES.

I absolutely know that there are more knowledgeable people out there on radios but thought I’d put this out. If something’s wrong on this, let me know.


From left to right - The venerable Baofeng UV-5R. The Rugged Radios V3 radio. The Wouxun KG935G. The Motorola XTS2500. This is also in increasing price. All of these are set up for GMRS with the UV-5R and V3 set-up with Rugged’s business frequencies.

I got into trail communications a couple years ago for riding dirt bikes with my wife and youngest. I scored a pair of Rugged Radio V3’s with a helmet comms set-up for dirt cheap. I’ve expanded my fleet since then. I’ll give my take on these radios as there is a TON of info on these out there.


Baofeng UV-5R
These radios can transmit and receive on the full gamut of frequencies. They are super cheap and easy to program with free software. These are “throw away” radios and run about $25-30 on Amazon. This particular one has an extended battery with USB charge capability. I’ve got all of my Baofengs (I’ve got three total) cloned with the same frequencies.

All run the Rugged licensed frequencies, FRS, GMRS, MURS, Weather, local sheriff/fire/EMS as well as the local Search and Rescue. I’m set up to monitor only on the weather, sheriff, fire, EMS, and S&R. The radio I run in my dirt bike backpack also runs a remote PTT (along with a helmet connection) as well as a CAATAIL antenna (https://caatailantennas.com/products/baofeng-wearable-antenna-package). These are handy radios but the older version is not compliant with FCC rules due to the ability to program them to do just about anything. The newer UV-5R’s are set so you cannot openly program them (unless you watch a few YouTube videos). These radios aren’t the best but they get the job done. Tried and true radio nerds don’t tend to like them due to frequency bleed and a few other reasons.

Rugged Radios V3

Originally these were picked up in a deal I got. The way Rugged works is the company owns the license to a handful of frequencies and once you buy a radio, you operate under their license. This is a bit of a loophole and I could be totally wrong in that. Rugged got in some hot water with the FCC a few years ago but that is cleared up. That was when they were selling a rebadged UV-5R (read why the FCC doesn’t like the UV-5R above). The V3 is a locked down version that take special software and cable to program. The software is like $50 and the cable is about $25. I have my two Rugged’s set up with the same frequencies as my Baofeng’s. It appears Rugged no longer sells the V3. Without digging too deep, it does appear their business band license still holds true and the V3 still has all the parts to make it FCC compliant. IMHO, out of all my radios, the Rugged’s perform the worst on GMRS frequencies as well as the business band. These run about $135 from Rugged


Wouxon KG-935G

This is a GMRS specific radio and can ONLY transmit on GMRS frequencies. It can be programmed to listen to other frequencies. This is one of the most power HT’s out there for GMRS with a full 5W transmitting capability. I have this radio setup to transmit/receive on all GMRS and FRS frequencies (abiding by all transmit power limits) which fully complies with FCC rules/regulations. It’s a nice little unit and weighs a bit more (which means it works better, right). I also have this radio set up to receive on several of the business bands that the Rugged’s have as many Offroad Race teams run on these frequencies and I may want to listen in. I’ve also got all of the NOAA weather stations programmed in. The Baofeng, Rugged and KG-935G all have the capability to tune in FM radio stations as well. I really like this radio it is very capable for an HT. This was about $140 from Buytwowayradios

Motorola XTS2500

This is my newest addition and a neat piece of hardware. This is also my first HT with digital capability. This radio can only run on 380-470MHz which limits what can be transmit and received on. For instance, this radio cannot receive NOAA weather radio or the VHF Ham bands. I can however receive GMRS/FRS frequencies. To transmit, according to FCC rules and regulations, you have to operate under a FCC business license. Again, I can listen all I want. This radio has the capability to transmit and receive on both digital and analog. When transmitting on digital, analog radios cannot understand what is being said as it comes across sounding like a tractor (well more like an irrigation pump). These radios also have encryption codes to only allow direct radio to radio operation. Motorola hasn’t made these in about 7 years but you can buy them surplus. This one was Milsurp so it has some other encryptions the civi ones don’t. I just got this radio and I am learning about it still. This one receives as good or better than the KG-935G does. This radio is IP66 rated and was used by multiple civil service agencies until better technology came along. This radio was about $250.