Powering my Uniden hand held radio

dmarkvid2

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Nov 29, 2005
Messages
478
I bought a Uniden marine hand held. Can I have it on while its in the charging cradle on my boat and listen for transmissions? Or will it be strictly battery operated. I have a DC adaptor for it, but I think its only for charging the batteries while the radio is in the off position. Is there an adapter I can buy to be able to run the radio off the boat's accessory battery, and save the radio batteries for emergencies. And, How long will new radio batterys last while the radio is on? Thanks
 

springhead

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
184
Re: Powering my Uniden hand held radio

Hey mark<br />i have a handheld and the 4 aa batterys last all season
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,771
Re: Powering my Uniden hand held radio

That's what the DC adapter is for. Plug into the cigarette lighter socket (or add one). The radio can also be used while in the charging cradle. If that radio has 1W/5W switch four AA batteries will definitely not last all summer at the 5W setting or 1W setting unless all you do is listen.
 

Rock Hall

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
213
Re: Powering my Uniden hand held radio

some radios will not xmit at high power if running off the Charger. How many milliamps is the charger? Will probably need about 500ma to xmit at 5 watts.<br />Should be fine to monitor on the charger. Just might take longer to fully charge the batteries.<br /><br />Mark
 

waterinthefuel

Commander
Joined
Nov 15, 2003
Messages
2,728
Re: Powering my Uniden hand held radio

I have a handheld that I thought had amazing power. I could transmit on low, medium, or high and still get the same range. A quick hookup to a meter showed that the actual output stayed at medium (3watts) no matter what the unit was set to transmit.
 
Top