Can you use a walkie Talkie bought on lazada in thailand

[oporhatch]

I was looking at buying 2 walkie talkies for when me and my Mrs work on the farm , its quite large 150 rai ..........sometimes we have to search high and low to find each other, if we move of the beaten track.

don't like carrying a phone and the signal is poor/non existent if you are not at the top of the hill...

So I was looking at a walkie talkie  - I understand its illegal to bring them in,, but I was just going to buy a couple from lazada or Shopee thailand .  Will I have any issue with this plan ??

 

Also could someone advise of ones they use which is Ok .........if possible , not looking for any  expensive , as we are only on the farm about 100 days a year.

 

Any help would be appreciated  

regards 

[cliveshep]

What you might ask yourselves is firstly how far you are from anyone who might be monitoring bearing in mind the very limited range of little handhelds on a good day is likely to be under a mile. Secondly, unless you are a couple of motor-mouths rabbiting on all day your very short transmissions even if overheard will be too short to get a fix on assuming anyone is actually sitting outside your farm on the off-chance someone over there has got a handheld walkie talkie and I'm gonna catch them with it. Let's face it - it's very improbable it will ever happen.

I was a CB nut in the UK back in the day, if the authorities there couldn't find us, even with bloody great antennas on top of our cars or 6 metre silver rods poking up from our house chimney pots in full view of any van with a spinning roof rack how the hell will Thai local plod who almost certainly won't be looking find you? Have you ever seen a van with a RDF antenna (spinning roof rack) in Thailand where almost no one uses a CB? 

Just go buy them, it's battery life and recharging you need to look at, power at 5-15 on offer here watts but then batteries get exhausted pretty quickly when you "key-up" (transmit), but on silent standby last a long time like any transistor radio. So as it is likely to be a case of "Darling - where are you?"...."on the toilet!" ...."what's for dinner?"........."noodles in 10 minutes"..............."ok, I'm castrating pigs but I'll come and washup in 10 mins, bye."......."ok darling, see you, bye."

No way would anyone ever bother coming to look for you because no one unless you are transmitting on a police wavelength is ever going to be listening and handheld CB's from Lazada will not be set to police bands anyway. So bearing in mind police can't even be bothered to challenge farmers burning waste with smoke palls visible for miles even after Prayut made it illegal, and almost never stop speeding cars or black smoking trucks do you think they'll be on a nationwide hunt for you yakking to the wife for 20 seconds on a set-to set system with a range of maybe only 5km?

My advice, go buy, don't flaunt, don't key up alongside  military or police vehicles or otherwise act stupidly, keep transmissions short and to the point and only purchase sets with drop in chargers but expect to change the rechargeable batteries at least once a year. You get what you pay for, They claim 2-8km or more but CB's can be "knocked down" by the terrain, hills and trees especially wet trees so although doubling the power, i.e 3w up to 10w might seem good it doesn't actually increase range a great deal. I'd nevertheless go for the bigger output but also the biggest battery power, 4000mAH being significantly better than 1200mAH. This one says no licence required and is legal - I don't know the law on the subject here as although we have some we've never opened the boxes in 6 years. But the specs are pretty good, dual band UHF and VHF and 128 channels so you should be able to find a clear one and at about 1000 baht each value for money for a pair.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/baofeng-uv-9r-plus-high-power-upgrade-waterproof-walkie-talkie-15w-for-two-way-radio-long-range-10km-8000mah-uv-9r-plus-i1666376981-s4657182449.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlist.list.79.3abc5a0cqaCL1e&search=1

 

[simon43]

The punishment for using unlicenced transceivers in Thailand usually always involves jail time! (I'm previously a radio ham in Thailand, so know the law and previous jail-time cases).

 

Since you can buy licence-exempt (red colour) walkie-talkies in Thailand anyway, why take the risk?

[easydoor]

I am a licensed Ham operator with a Thai radio amateur license HF-VHF. So I know what I am talking about. The answer on you questions is NO.

You need a license for all kind of radio transmitters, even a PMR or Walky Talkie. In case they catch you I don't come to visit you in jail. I know cases been catched.... don' t want to replace them. So one advise: DON'T DO IT !!!!

[HappyExpat57]

Maybe I'm missing something, but couldn't cell phones cover your need?

[hotchilli]

24 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Maybe I'm missing something, but couldn't cell phones cover your need?

 

21 hours ago, oporhatch said:

don't like carrying a phone and the signal is poor/non existent if you are not at the top of the hill...

Yes you missed a bit.

[oporhatch]

Thanks for the replies

Little confused by a couple of the comments though as they slightly contradict 

1 )  Since you can buy licence-exempt (red colour) walkie-talkies in Thailand anyway ...............I read this , so buy a red colour one from lazada !!   

2) You need a license for all kind of radio transmitters, even a PMR or Walky Talkie. -   So from this are the red colour ones illegal  !!

 

Hopefully this can be clarified 

 

regards

 

 

[digbeth]

245mhz CB radios are okay for unlicenced use, lower powered ones (under 500mW) are also excempt from licence to own.

more high powered ones will require a licence to own, which is trivial to make, the shop selling them can usually arrange them for you, will require ID and house registration, probably easier if you have a Thai person do it.

Having the licence to own means you can hand it over to your workers, or anyone and they can use it with no problem, you can also buy it and not get the licence and no police would batter an eye at you, you can get it from a 2nd hand shop or whatever

 

permanent installation with big antenna and mobile station in cars will also require separate permission.

 

These radios made especially for Thai law will have their body in red plastic

the emphasis is that it must be red bodied radios, there are other class of CB for marine and offshore explosive environment use colored yellow, just look for the red ones, they cost around 1000-3000 baht, low power ones (500mW) don't need any paper work at all, the big 1-5watt power requires licence to own/have, but it's not really enforced and you're not breaking the law by using them

 

Things on Lazada and Shopee shipped in from China could be intended for other countries and might not be legal for Thailand

[digbeth]

1 minute ago, oporhatch said:

Thanks for the replies

Little confused by a couple of the comments though as they slightly contradict 

1 )  Since you can buy licence-exempt (red colour) walkie-talkies in Thailand anyway ...............I read this , so buy a red colour one from lazada !!   

2) You need a license for all kind of radio transmitters, even a PMR or Walky Talkie. -   So from this are the red colour ones illegal  !!

 

Hopefully this can be clarified 

 

regards

 

 

small red ones (<500mw power) - no need for any paperwork

 

big red ones - need licence to own - not hard to get - if you don't get it it's not a big deal

 

red ones are free to use, means if you have a licence to own, you can hand it to friends or workers to use

 

importing radio things always require an import licence, radio equipment will need to have Thai stamp with serial no., if your online seller ship the thing from China, even if it's a legal red radio you could be asked to turn up to custom with an import licence, people get caught out with things like mobile phone and wifi router even though the same model is already sold here

[fangless]

6 hours ago, easydoor said:

am a licensed Ham operator with a Thai radio amateur license HF-VHF. So I know what I am talking about. The answer on you questions is NO.

You need a license for all kind of radio transmitters, even a PMR or Walky Talkie.

So how do you go about getting the licence?

[phetphet]

8 hours ago, simon43 said:

The punishment for using unlicenced transceivers in Thailand usually always involves jail time! (I'm previously a radio ham in Thailand, so know the law and previous jail-time cases).

 

Since you can buy licence-exempt (red colour) walkie-talkies in Thailand anyway, why take the risk?

That's what I thought. Red ones being the way to go as they don't need a licence.

 

But if it is important to the OP why not just apply for a licence?

[Lokie]

All the beach workers -jet skis, Para-sail etc use them little Red ones they always have them with the Bum Bags/Fanny Bags/ also seen Taxis use em too to call vehicles to stand for customers

[DJ54]

Guess it’s like when asked the Taco stand in Mexico is it ok to walk around (sidewalk) and drink beer...

No problemo as long the policia don’t see you... 

[johng]

They sell  Red and Black  coloured walkie talkies in the Amorn shops.

 

[johng]

On 10/30/2021 at 6:04 PM, oporhatch said:

if we move of the beaten track.

don't like carrying a phone and the signal is poor/non existent if you are not at the top of the hill...

You might be interested in setting up your very own LoRa  mesh system

 

[cliveb]

Does anyone have the current link to the form required to apply for radio (black) licence running around in NBTC without any ideas and can this form when found be completed online ???? Posted June 2023

Edited June 13, 2023 by cliveb

[n00dle]

walkie talkie, are we all four years old again?

[simon43]

2 hours ago, cliveb said:

Does anyone have the current link to the form required to apply for radio (black) licence running around in NBTC without any ideas and can this form when found be completed online ???? Posted June 2023

What do you mean by a 'black' radio?  If you mean a black walkie-talkie that operates typically over the range of 136 - 154MHz, then only the police, utilitity operators and licenced radio amateurs with reciprocal Thai ham licences can legally own these.

 

I have a 'black' walkie-talkie for use on the 2 metre ham band.  At the NBTC you need to go to building 7 ground-floor which deals with all kinds of personal licences (CB and radio amateurs).  It would help you a lot if you can speak/read Thai, but the staff are helpful ????  You have to apply in person for the licence - it cannot be applied for online AFAIK.

 

On the Amorn sign above it says that to purchase a black radio, you need to show your ID card, house book and licence.  I was able to buy a black radio by showing my UK passport, Thai ham radio licence and lifetime membership card of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand.

Edited June 13, 2023 by simon43

[cliveb]

18 hours ago, simon43 said:

What do you mean by a 'black' radio?  If you mean a black walkie-talkie that operates typically over the range of 136 - 154MHz, then only the police, utilitity operators and licenced radio amateurs with reciprocal Thai ham licences can legally own these.

 

I have a 'black' walkie-talkie for use on the 2 metre ham band.  At the NBTC you need to go to building 7 ground-floor which deals with all kinds of personal licences (CB and radio amateurs).  It would help you a lot if you can speak/read Thai, but the staff are helpful ????  You have to apply in person for the licence - it cannot be applied for online AFAIK.

 

On the Amorn sign above it says that to purchase a black radio, you need to show your ID card, house book and licence.  I was able to buy a black radio by showing my UK passport, Thai ham radio licence and lifetime membership card of the Radio Amateur Society of Thailand.

based in pattaya is an office here ??

[blackcab]

If you buy from Amorn then they offer a service where they will apply for the NTSC license for you. You pay them the license fee and an agency fee, sign a few documents and give them about a month or so.

 

Two years ago the NTSC charged 500 baht plus vat per license. Each transceiver needs it's own license.

[simon43]

On 6/14/2023 at 2:32 PM, cliveb said:

based in pattaya is an office here ??

No, you have to go to the NBTC office in Bangkok, (although check Blackcab's comments re Amorn at Tutkom).

[digbeth]

the black 'walkie talkies' are for amateur radio (HAM) operators, 

you must have HAM licence to own or operate one,

to get one, you'll have to get training from NBTC and get tested, skills include up to sending and receiving morse code and various theory tests, if you can't navigate NBTC's website, you're probably lacking skills to make it through the process

 

and

even if you have HAM licence, you can't just buy a couple of them for your staff to use in a business

 

This is not a formality like the license to own the red ones where the shop can do it for you, this is like license to own a gun serious 

[nahomant]

I just recently bought a baofeng walkie talkie from lazada too take back home it says free license but couldn't be sure about the laws in Thailand after reading the comments, should I just get one to be safe or not use it until I return back home?

[anpants]

I used to work on a big property too, and we had the same issue finding each other across the fields. Phones just didn’t cut it out there. We ended up grabbing a motorolla radio, which were pretty reliable and didn’t break the bank. They worked great even when we were off the beaten path.As for buying them from Lazada or Shopee Thailand, that should be fine as long as you’re aware of any local regulations. I don’t think you’ll run into any major issues with your plan. Look for ones with good range and battery life; you don’t need anything too fancy.