What type of radio should I buy to keep in touch on cruises

[wuked]

Yeah I was just wondering what type of Radio, walkie talkie, CB etc I should get to keep in touch on cruises.

Got some examples here, is this the sort of stuff I should get?

1

2

3

Which would you guys recommend?

Thanks

[Milo]

In larger cruises small hand held like the one i got, 2 for $120, if i remember properly (your no1), may not reach from the from to the back of a group. They usually go 3-5 kmish Line of sight. I am going to get an in car one installed with a handset. But if you really want a hand held well i dont know 120 is a big diff to 50 odd. but it does do 8km. But that may still not be enough for a big cruise. So i would look into installed ones and get the cheapo in the meantime.

[Kinks]

1.5 watt is better than 0.5 watt, however that will only help you reach other people. If you need to HEAR what's going on you need a bigger or better antenna. Not sure which one of those will have the better antenna, probably the most exxy one but that's not guaranteed

Any of those do the job fine, but as milo says you do lose out on signal if you're in a big group or there's distance between cars.

I've got an ICOM IC-40s which retails new for $400, but picked mine up second hand for a lot less than that. It's as good a handheld as you're going to get, and you can take it out of the car or hide it so you don't attract thieves. I will eventually upgrade to a proper mobile rig and keep the handheld for when I am outside the car. It's only really necessary to get a mobile CB if you do a fair bit of cruising though, for starters I'd just grab a cheapie and when it starts holding you back, upgrade.