Binatone Action 1100 from the top of Winter hill
This post is a follow on from last weeks review and short range testing of the Binatone 1100's. Not content with the 3-4Km range already achieved, I felt it was now time to push these Walkie-Talkies to their limits. Would they reach the 10Km mark?
Roughly twenty minutes drive from home is Winter Hill which sits among the West Pennine moors and overlooks the town of Horwich near Bolton, Lancashire.
Winter Hill is roughly 456m or 1496Ft ASL (above sea level)
This makes for an ideal high point to test UHF radios which generally have limited range and rely on line-of-sight.
For this test a position quite near to the transmitter mast was chosen. This spot can be reached via Georges lane and Matchmoor lane.
Read more....
Winter Hill Transmission Mast 308m
This is not my photo by the way!
According to Binatone, the Action 1100's have a range of up to 10Km. This is optimistic at best. Requiring no obstacles, good atmospheric conditions and no solid objects in the way.
In truth you won't get anywhere near that in a normal situations. The challenge here is to see just how close to 10Km I can get before it all goes downhill.
I arrived at my designated spot with no real expectations. The road was deserted and the weather was sunny and clear. A quick scan of the eight channels revealed an abundance of local motorcycle instructor PMR, local business and a few Hill walkers and mountain bikers. My guess is that at the most these stations were only a few miles away. Which in itself is perfectly fine. Voice recieving was clear with minimal interference. I was quite satisfied that these new Handsets would be reliable for the Jobs I have planned for them.
Long Range Surprise
A few moments before packing up and going home I put a call out on channel 8 in the hope that someone with better gear may hear me...... Nothing, then a call back from a guy on a welsh mountain near to Chester! The reception was crystal clear on the Binatone which was a surprise as over distance I expected the audio to be terrible. When asked how I was being received he replied that it was a good 3 out of 5 which is remarkeble considering the piddling 0.5W power and short fixed antennas of consumer Handsets.
The actual distance point to point is approx 61 Km or 36 miles!
What an astonishing range on a cheap handset! Suffice to say Im absolutely delighted by this.
Overall the winter Hill test has been a very useful to me. Providing proof that these radios can be effective at short and long ranges if the conditions are good. My main purpose for these units is for indoor spaces but its handy to know that they can be just as good out in the open if choosing on a country ramble.
A big thumbs up for the Binatone's then. The gift that keeps on giving...
Overall the winter Hill test has been a very useful to me. Providing proof that these radios can be effective at short and long ranges if the conditions are good. My main purpose for these units is for indoor spaces but its handy to know that they can be just as good out in the open if choosing on a country ramble.
A big thumbs up for the Binatone's then. The gift that keeps on giving...