I'am going down to watch the 1000 next month and wanted to take a hand held radio that would work on the SCORE frequncey ----do any of you racers out there know of a brand/ model radio that you would recomend and a good place to buy one. As always the info is much apreciated.

If you are going to eventually race in the future, don't waste your money on a hand held. We use a I-COM race radio for a base when we race in the states. When we go to Baja to spectate/chase, we use it to stay informed on the weatherman frequency channel.

We have a pair of Icomm IC-V8 Sports for use for our team. they are good for when you need be away from the base radio. These radios work great and pick up weatherman all through Baja. the transmitt power isn't the strongest as the yare only 5 watts I believe. They are great to use to monitor one station when your base radio is dedicated to another. these radios will need to be modified to broadcast on the higher frequencies however. Michael Brenner used on during the last race. Ask him how they worked. They sell for about $100 bucks from Ham Radio Outlet.

They work great for talking to people when they are close, like less than 5 miles away. For conveying the technicalities of a dysfunctional in car camera system they are lacking. Some things are just difficult to communicate.

Go with a kenwood tm-271a and do the mod. They are $210 out the door with magnetic antenna, it's a good chase radio with great power. Skip the handheld unless you really have your heart set on one. I consider them really only good for pass-by communications and talking to a driver when you can see them in the pits and things like that.

when we raced te snore kc midnight race we did a 50 mile loop and the only radios we had were handhelds. We were able to communicate with our pits throughout most of the race . Only lost communication when we went deep.

Check out Rugged Race Radios, they have different handhelds, some have the ability to monitor two channels at once with a priority channel.
If you call them, ask for Greg the owner, he is an old time Class 11 and 1/2 1600 guy.

Powerful 5 watt water proof with 40 programmable channels. This is your extreme duty radio. When water is an issue get the only radio with a factory backed 3 year water proof guaranty.

• 40 programmable channels
• 1400 mAh long life battery
• Submersible to 3 feet for 30 minutes
• 5 full watts of transmit power
• Drop in desk top charger
• 12V charger adaptor
• Backup AA battery tray
• Highly legible LCD display
• Automatic back light
• Emergency strobe light
• NOAA weather alert
• 3 year waterproof guaranty