BCA Link Radios

Phizzer · Jan 14, 2016

summitboy said:
Real pros use VHF. A guide would use something like the BCA to keep a group of newbies together. A BCA radio is useless on resource roads and other well used VHF facilities. Range is very subjective. Terrain feature is what limits range in the mountains, seldom the radio. Just not sure why u would pay 199 bucks for something u can get for 40 bucks that does the same thing LOL. Id buy a Baofang before a BCA, much better bang for your buck.

We use VHF all the time in the marine industry. I feel they serve a different purpose than the BCA.

If you are out riding all day, and consistently exploring different terrains, it would be nice to communicate with your riding partners without keeping a VHF channel busy the entire time.

For emergency purposes and needing to communicate with an operator or Coast Guard, VHF would be the ideal.

For the sake of this discussion, I have always packed around a VHF whether I'm in the boat, mountains, or somewhere I may need to communicate with an outside source. But, having a set a handhelds to communicate within your group, in my opinion, requires a slightly different type of means like the BCA.

summitboy · Jan 15, 2016

Serve a different purpose ? I dont follow. The VHF radios do it all. Mine stays on the GMRS channel all day long. Switch to forestry and logging roads when needed to travel on. Forestry guys hate when guys dont use a VHF in a logging area. Last thing a trucker wants to see is some dildo pulling a 30ft in front of him coming up the trail. Thats how land area gets shut down. I like to be able to call up the helicopter when my buddies Axys throws a driveshaft, breaks a arm, or loses his motor LMAO. Why pay more to have less ?

Bocephus · Jan 16, 2016

how do you know what channel these loggers/helicopters/emt personnel are on?

Scott · Jan 16, 2016

Bocephus said:
how do you know what channel these loggers/helicopters/emt personnel are on?

I've gone up a lot of roads and often times they put a sign on the tree that says what channel they are on up there.

Many of them still use CB radios.
The sign will say "CB 17" or something like that.

Proride_58640 · Jan 17, 2016

Blk88GT said:
Can anyone comment on the range of these radios in the timbered slopes?

What my experience with these radios are, on top the mountain looking down to open country they work about 6-7 miles away. Average range I'd say is 1-2 mile. Sometimes less such as dense trees on steep terrain separating the two radios. All in all they work great for what we need them for.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Scott · Jan 17, 2016

Proride_58640 said:
What my experience with these radios are, on top the mountain looking down to open country they work about 6-7 miles away. Average range I'd say is 1-2 mile. Sometimes less such as dense trees on steep terrain separating the two radios. All in all they work great for what we need them for.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Are you talking about BCA Link or Baofeng?

Bocephus · Jan 17, 2016

Scott said:
Are you talking about BCA Link or Baofeng?

if you area familiar with the cooke city area....... last year i was out there on lulu pass. another group of friends chose to ride the top of the world that day. they were on a higher area out there and i could communicate with them from lulu pass. i would guess that is roughly 10 miles as the crow flies????

Phizzer · Jan 19, 2016

summitboy said:
Serve a different purpose ? I dont follow. The VHF radios do it all. Mine stays on the GMRS channel all day long. Switch to forestry and logging roads when needed to travel on. Forestry guys hate when guys dont use a VHF in a logging area. Last thing a trucker wants to see is some dildo pulling a 30ft in front of him coming up the trail. Thats how land area gets shut down. I like to be able to call up the helicopter when my buddies Axys throws a driveshaft, breaks a arm, or loses his motor LMAO. Why pay more to have less ?

In the area I live in (ALASKA), 99.9% of guys hauling trees out of the woods are using a CB radio. Maybe it's because I live in a remote area in Southeast AK, but I never see a logging truck when we are out riding on any Island. But then again, we are at Sea Level to 3000' so we don't have to drive very far in elevation until snow is piled on the road. But for you guys who have to drive in a ways before reaching snow, I totally understand wanting to be able to hear who else is on the road.

Like I said previously, I pack a VHF around with me in the boat all the time. I'll squawk on it when heading somewhere, and if I ever need to in the case of an emergency, contact the Coast Guard or Search and Rescue on Channel 16.

But I get what you're saying and you make a valid point. I've already got a nice hand held VHF, as well do all of my buddies. It would be nice to have a shoulder mic like the BCA's to communicate without pulling it out of my bag.

Blk88GT · Jan 19, 2016

Has anyone tested their beacons with/without the BaoFeng radios? Curious how the signal is affected.

sledheadd · Jan 19, 2016

Blk88GT said:
Has anyone tested their beacons with/without the BaoFeng radios? Curious how the signal is affected.

I just tested this out myself
With the pulse Barryvox no issues but with my almost 20 year old S O S F1-ND there is some interference on search mode if held within a couple inches of the radio.
I will try to do more test with different beacons.

Blk88GT · Jan 20, 2016

Thanks for the info, I too am using the Barryvox Pulse. Was were your testing scenarios?

Even the BCA Link affected their own beacons when tested.

bobgrmkpro · Jan 20, 2016

Be careful about carrying your Rhino and or cell phone on your body or in coat pockets turned on because the GPS function interfers with the Beacon's signals if you get buried or are searching. Google: Mike Duffy, Avalanche training. It's the GPS function that is the problem.

sledheadd · Jan 20, 2016

Blk88GT said:
Thanks for the info, I too am using the Barryvox Pulse. Was were your testing scenarios?

Even the BCA Link affected their own beacons when tested.

The only time that it would interfere with the S O S beacon was when it was in search mode with the radio less then 4"-5" away with the push to talk button depressed. Other than that nothing. the beacon started squelching and the range finder would max out.

Mafesto · Jan 22, 2016

Is there a given frequency that all Search & Rescue use?
Would be good to know if the situation arose.

Or how about Highway Patrol?
Always handy to be a half step ahead of those rascals!

snowww1 · Jan 23, 2016

The BCA BC link radio does not interfere with a transceiver in the search mode when the body of the radio is in the back pack. Most people do not test this properly and put an electrical device within inches of a searching transceiver. That's not how you test.

Mike Duffy
Avalanche1.com

Phat Cat · Jan 23, 2016

This is from the BCA Link manual. I believe you can set any FRS/GMRS radios to communicate.

A Channel 1 privacy code off
B Channel 5 privacy code 10
C Channel 4 privacy code 20
D Channel 8 privacy code 10
E Channel 9 privacy code 11
F Channel 20 privacy code off

more info:

Channels 1 through 7 are combined GMRS/FRS channels. Channels 8 through 14 are
FRS channels. Channels 15 through 22 are GMRS channels. The FRS channels (8-14)
transmit at 0.5 W, while all other channels transmit at 1.0W. While battery life is longer
when using channels 8-14, the range of transmission is shorter.

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BCA Link Radios

Phizzer

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summitboy

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Bocephus

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Scott

Scott Stiegler

Proride_58640

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Scott

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Bocephus

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Phizzer

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Blk88GT

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sledheadd

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bobgrmkpro

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