2-way radios - where to buy?
 

Can anyone recommend a place in Manchester, Leeds, or York to purchase a pair of inexpensive PMR-446 radios? Manchester or Leeds would be on a Sunday; York on Monday.

Argos sell them and are on most high streets. However this does seem to be a peculiarly American thing. I can't think of any time I've seen a European family using these for anything other than playing.

Not that you can't use them - it's just an observation.

We are a large group and will be renting 2 vehicles. We hope to use them primarily to talk between the 2 vehicles so we don't get seperated during travel.

Walkie-talkies are sold just about everywhere in those cities. Best to go to an electronic shop (such as Curry Digital, Maplin) and mobile phone shop (e.g. Carphone Warehouse). Argos is also good, though you can't handle the goods as they are a catalog shop. You often find them in larger supermarkets and Woolworths.
They cost from as little as £20 to £30 a set.

Thank you!
Exactly what I needed. With names I can search websites and find store locations.

Another option... you could stop into a Virgin store and purchase two cheap pay-as-you-go mobile phones. I bought a couple for £20 each and they came with £5 credit on the SIM card. (You normally have to ask the salesperson for the cheapest phone as they aren't normally on display.)

We use them, like you, to keep in touch with others in our group if we go seperate ways and for making local calls or calling home. And cell phones will have a much longer range than walkie talkies. :)

With a realistic range of approximately 0.5 to 1 mile around town, and maybe up to 2 miles in open country, it doesn't seem like walkie-talkies would be that much use to you travelling by car... mobile phones might (as suggested) be a better option.

WH Smiths (again on every high st) are flogging a basic Nokia PAYG phone for £15.

When travelling in convoys, we always take walkie-talkies with us (European-spec). While the range is limited (usually around 1/4 mile in moving vehicles), they serve us well. Trouble with mobile (cell) phones is that in remote locations, the signal may be patchy or non-existant, and of course you are charged every time you use it. Since in a typical day of travel, we may talk to each other perhaps a dozen or more times (things like 'we are just stopping off at next service station for fuel, toilet, rest, picnic etc'), it can soon mount up. We also carry mobile phones, which we use when we are split up.
Remember it's illegal everywhere to use a mobile phone while driving a car unless you have hands-free kit, while you are normally permitted to use walkie talkie (CB radio). Not a problem if you have a passenger, but sometimes the driver may be on their own or passenger may be asleep.

I was thinking get a couple of PAYG phones too.

Re the legality - using a radio while driving is not explicitly banned by law but you can be prosecuted for other things such as driving without due care and attention. This seems to be getting more common with people being fined for eating or smoking in their cars.

But if you want the radios currys, argos, woolworths - iif you are landing at manchester you might be able to pick them up at the airport.