We will be travelling to Japan in a few months time with a big family. Since voice "sim cards" are pretty much hard to source for tourists in Japan we are looking for 2-way radios that would be legal to use in Japan. I will be getting some data sims too but its not as handy as a radio for instant comms.
Aussie CB and American band walkie talkies are quite illegal so we would rather not.
Yea I've read that, unfortunately Amazon JP is a nightmare, it's only partially translated by Chrome and I do not even know if the stuff there is Japan FRS legal
data sim + viber = simultaneous communication
just buy them locally when you get there……………………
Yes there is that
Aussie CB and American band walkie talkies are quite illegal so we would rather not
You're right.. the Aussie CB radio bands interfere with the Japanese TV signals and there are heavy penalties.
The only place you can buy the ones to use legally in Japan would be in Japan.
If you intend to go there frequently, you can buy radios here and program them according to the Japanese frequencies. The branded ones here are not cheap though. There are much cheaper chinese radios off eBay that are programmable to the required frequencies.
There is another option you can try
These are apps for various smartphones that allow you to use 4g LTE or Zello which i had used any network i could obtain as push to talk walkie talkie they are actually quite good and are great in remote locations
must admit haven't tried them while snowboarding
Erm… you can buy prepaid data sims cheap from yodobashi/bic camera, and at most airports… then just use fb messenger, whatsapp, viber etc.
"I will be getting some data sims too but its not as handy as a radio for instant comms."
Sooo… you use handheld radios for "instant comms" while you're in australia? And you'll be buying data sims anyway, yet still want handheld radios? Pretty sure we're in 2018 now.
still want handheld radios? Pretty sure we're in 2018 now.
Don't knock handhelds! They will always have it's place regardless of how well phones get.
The biggest difference between handhelds and phones are, handhelds do not rely on a mobile network of antennas. If something happens that knocks out some antennas in the area, phones would instantly become useless.
They are much more useful when groups of people are within a relatively short range and everyone knows how to use them properly. No need to dial one person at a time and listen to the tone!
I could go on, but… you get my point! haha
edit - ignore - replied to wrong thread!
My reply is less on the technical point, but more on the Japanese etiquette side of things.
I would advise against it. it's already extremely rude to talk loudly on your mobile phone let alone having it on speaker mode. A 2 way radio would be even louder and more rude/annoying.
Stick with the data SIM and use something like Viber as others have suggested.
Use the line app.
/ Thread
Some information here though it is a few years old; https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/japan-2-way-radio.61545/
Maybe take that information and look at Amazon JP?