What radios for SHTF

[Kid Stanislaus]

Which of these radios would do a guy the most good in a SHTF situation?

http://www.murs-radio.com/products/products.html

[gunafficionado]

The best radio for a SHTF situation would be a Yaesu FT-60R. Full power capable with AA battery pack. That power will come in handy during simplex mode operation.

[XYZ]

The FT-60R is a great radio and probably one of the more popular models. For me if SHTF I'd prefer something that can operate quad bands like the VX-8DR and it's also submersible.

[SpectreZ91]

Huge fan of the FT-60R. However depending on how bad the SHTF repeaters may or may not be up.. So I have a FT-8900 Quad Band in the truck.. I can get 60+ miles away with 50 watts on 2m. =)

Though if it's not bad enough to run me out of the house I can always turn on the HF rig and go 1/2 around the world.

[GrizzlyGuy]

If you had a rural retreat, the MAT MURS Alert Transmitter along with the MURS base unit or handheld could provide a force multiplier by alerting you to intrusions. You'd also be able to use the radios for comms between people at your retreat.

If you don't need that alerting capability then a 2m ham radio like the Puxing PX-777 that they are selling would give you more value. You'd be able to communicate with your people along with other hams, scan the public service frequencies (and use them in an emergency), etc. If you go the ham radio route then check out EmptySkull's review of the Wouxon. Radios from Yaesu, Kenwood or Icom would also be worth considering such as the FT-60R that others have mentioned.

If you really are looking for intrusion detection, then check out Dakota Alert. They sell the MURS systems along with non-MURS systems that provide additional detection capabilities but less range. I have one of their 2500 series systems for driveway monitoring and it works OK. The 3000 series provides the most sensor flexibility but also the shortest range.

[Kid Stanislaus]

Thanks for the input guys, I'll probably spend the rest of the day checking those items out!

[gvazquez]

If you had a rural retreat, the MAT MURS Alert Transmitter along with the MURS base unit or handheld could provide a force multiplier by alerting you to intrusions. You'd also be able to use the radios for comms between people at your retreat.

If you don't need that alerting capability then a 2m ham radio like the Puxing PX-777 that they are selling would give you more value. You'd be able to communicate with your people along with other hams, scan the public service frequencies (and use them in an emergency), etc. If you go the ham radio route then check out EmptySkull's review of the Wouxon. Radios from Yaesu, Kenwood or Icom would also be worth considering such as the FT-60R that others have mentioned.

If you really are looking for intrusion detection, then check out Dakota Alert. They sell the MURS systems along with non-MURS systems that provide additional detection capabilities but less range. I have one of their 2500 series systems for driveway monitoring and it works OK. The 3000 series provides the most sensor flexibility but also the shortest range.

Grizzly, can any of the mentioned radios above work with the MURS Alert system? I think this is what I have been looking for!

[CessnaDriver]

Be really paranoid prepared, store it so it wont get zapped by EMP.

[GrizzlyGuy]

Grizzly, can any of the mentioned radios above work with the MURS Alert system? I think this is what I have been looking for!

Per the FAQ here, the MURS Alert transmitters "broadcast a voice alert over the air on any MURS frequency/CTCSS tone combination that you set up" when the sensor is triggered. This means that any radio capable of receiving the 5 MURS channels in the 151-154 MHz range would be capable of receiving the alert. That includes all scanners, MURS radios and any 2m ham radios that have extended receive coverage (most do, including the Wouxun).