Offroad Walkie Talkie FAQ

[joe.zeinoun]

it might be that the radio u purchased supports only VHF frequency range where as DO frequencies fall in the UHF range.... to be sure remove the battery and have a look at the back sticker in there...
VHF 136―174MHz
UHF 400—470MHz

[matthewficco]

Hi , apologies for my ignorance in advance as I am new to the website and new to the sport. I am looking forward to coming out for my first drive and am getting the essential equipment together. I have bought a Motorola MT-777 radio and have read the list of channels and frequencies. However after several hours with the instruction book I am still no closer to being able to programme the channels and frequencies you have listed. Can anyone advise a simple to understand set of instructions for how I do this ?

Many thanks in advance for anyone's help.

Chris R

Joe's advice above is your first step. If you have confirmed you have a UHF radio with frequencies above 400 Mhz then you are good. The next step is to follow Sasha's great tutorial here....

viewtopic.php?f=16&t=3190

If you still have issues after this feel free to give me a buzz and I can walk you through it over the phone. You may need to adjust the setup to get the small number 5, i.e. 4 digits after the decimal.

[Chris R]

Hi Matthew and Sasha,

great information and clear instructions ! Many thanks, I am all programmed !

Best regards,

Chris

[Lucagoesoffroad]

It took me 35 years to discover that channels and frequencies are not universal and that walkie talkies are not compatible with each other "out of the box" if you don't program them on the same frequencies per channel... Since I was a kid I heard people using the CB and just agreeing on the channel number (and not the frequency) when they wanted to talk. I used to sail and there was always a channel (not a frequency) that had to be used only for emergency.

While writing this I searched on wikipedia, and I saw that there is the UHF CB in which channels ARE standard, and not programmable to anyone's wish. So I guess our radios are "non CB" and "channels" are just some bookmarks of frequencies on which groups of people agree.
In case we are in emergency situations, we can only count on our "friends" to be rescued, since there are no standard channels/frequencies used for emergency, right?

[Ankit]

@Lucagoesoffroad yes the radio which normally off-road groups are using in UAE are non CB (as far as I know these radios are banned in this part of the world ). Most of the groups like ours use UHF radio with frequency 400-470 MHz. You can get them easily is dragon mart.

Why we have our list of radio channels?
That's to avoid confusion over communication with other off-road groups nearby. However a few times I have heard other groups voices on the radio while passing by (as it may be a coincidence that they have 1 or 2 frequency same as ours).

In case of emergency?
Well the 1st basic rule of off-road is you should not be travelling alone. But still if unfortunately something happens and ur alone . Then you can always use ur mobile phone to contact the authorities. I have always seen network on my phone while in desert .

PS: Dont forget to buy a programable radio and also learn to use it before joining the trip. As a compatible radio and a flag is mandatory in our trips.

[Lucagoesoffroad]

@Lucagoesoffroad yes the radio which normally off-road groups are using in UAE are non CB (as far as I know these radios are banned in this part of the world ). Most of the groups like ours use UHF radio with frequency 400-470 MHz. You can get them easily is dragon mart.

Why we have our list of radio channels?
That's to avoid confusion over communication with other off-road groups nearby. However a few times I have heard other groups voices on the radio while passing by (as it may be a coincidence that they have 1 or 2 frequency same as ours).

In case of emergency?
Well the 1st basic rule of off-road is you should not be travelling alone. But still if unfortunately something happens and ur alone . Then you can always use ur mobile phone to contact the authorities. I have always seen network on my phone while in desert .

PS: Dont forget to buy a programable radio and also learn to use it before joining the trip. As a compatible radio and a flag is mandatory in our trips.

thank you for the precise reply! I have the motorola 777r and I programmed with the DO frequencies, no problem with that ;)
I'm new in the group and friday will be my first group drive, but I go in the desert almost every weekend with my friends so I already know the radio/flag/water/ropes stuff, I just need time to "integrate" with an already established group with his rules etc... and the "other groups voices" thing was some something I never thought about before..!
Great, my radio is ready, flags are in the car, water in the fridge, see you on friday!

[Hafidk]

Thank you for this very useful tutorial.

[extensive7]

Hello everyone,

I just bought a new radio from dragon mart.
Shop Name: Sheng Da Trading FZCO.
9 Shops belong to the same brand.
Shop No: BAI-05 to 13.
That's in BA section.
The price they sale for DO Members is 175 AED.
They also provide channels programming for free.

Just wanted to share the info and to recommend the shop.

[Hemanth Khandagale]

Motorola PX 777 Programming

1. When the Walkie is OFF, hold the MENU button and the Black (MONITOR) button together and put ON the Walkie.
2. SELF mode will appear
3. Press MENU
4. Channel 1 will appear
5. Enter the Frequency..for ex 4565625
6. Press Enter…all options should be OFF, if not press VFO/MR, OFF will appear
7. Press Enter…till Volume , choose “H”
8. Press Enter…”WIDE” should appear…if not turn the CHANNEL selector to get “WIDE”
9. Keep Enter..ing
10. Channel 2 will appear
11. Channel 1 is set

Channel ----- Frequency (MHz)

1---------------- 462.5625
2---------------- 462.5875
3---------------- 462.6125
4---------------- 462.6375
5---------------- 462.6625
6---------------- 462.6875
7---------------- 462.7125
8---------------- 467.5625
9---------------- 467.5875
10--------------- 467.6125
11--------------- 467.6375
12--------------- 467.6625
13--------------- 467.6875
14--------------- 467.7125

[Eric FJ]

Today I went to Mr Liu. I gave him the print out pages. He was looking for the radio type and brand. After a while he reminder that it was a Motorola MT -777. Got it for 175 had to pay 10 DH extra for the car charger. He did the programing with is computer and 5 minutes later I had the radio. When straight to the Friday afternoon tour and it worked without a glitch.

Thanks for the tip Shamel.