KAF9830
GMRS WEB

July 10, 1999

GMRS WEB Reviews the ADI Talk King by Paul Shinn ADI Website

When ADI shipped me the prototype Talk King radios, I immediately knew something was up… The box was so light!

Inside, two radios, two headsets, and a set of batteries for both. Funny, ADI uses Radio Shack batteries too! I guess we all put our trousers on one leg at a time.

First impression was how small these radios are. The Talk Kings look a lot like a little jukebox with an antenna. Using my old scratched up metal ruler; I measure about 3 ½ inches tall, minus the antenna, 2 ¼ inches wide, and about 7/8 of an inch thick. Just about the size of your shirt pocket on that shirt you got for Christmas that’s too small.

I got a blue one out first, so it’s blue… Then, I got the camouflage one out. NEAT! I know I will never need to resort to holding this radio over my head to hide me from enemy aircraft, but it just looks so cool. Even though the silver painted name on the front would probably reflect the sun and get me shot, I like it.

Checking the performance of these radios was not disappointing. Nice receiver audio was a surprise. With such a small physical size, I expected everyone to sound like the McDonald’s drive through. Wrong again, Ronald. Crisp, clear audio wasn’t the only surprise; the receiver is also pretty sensitive. The only problem with the receiver was that it did pick up the paging transmitter down the street at times. When using these radios outdoors away from population areas, this should be of little concern.

The ‘Press to Talk’ button is up on the left top corner, and very easy to operate and hold for long periods of time. It even has a little bump on it so you can find it without looking. The volume and other functions are adjusted by manipulating the four buttons on the front and the occasional press of the ‘PTT’ button.

The Talk King does scan, although a little slow. Who cares? If I weren't looking right at it, I wouldn't notice anyway. It did stop on the interference from a paging transmitter, which made me quit scanning. Why are paging transmitters the only thing louder than car commercials on the TV?

The Talk King has a dual color LED near the channel readout that illuminates green when receiving a signal and red when transmitting. My philosophy professors would read way too much into that and say that the green light is a go to listen and the red light is to stop you from transmitting…. I think. Like grandpa told you about why the Lord gave you two ears and one mouth? I found the LED to be a useful means of knowing what’s going on in my shirt pocket.

After I did take the time to review the instruction sheet, I learned how to make the radio scan using CTCSS decode and scan using open squelch. I found out that I could turn the keypad ‘BEEP’ on and off at will. I figured out how to make the backlight stay on all the time and even how to lock the keypad. This is easy to use, but you do need the instructions!

The battery compliment consists of 3 ‘AAA’ batteries, which give about 25-30 hours of hot use. The battery cover takes no engineering degree to open, and may border on brittle because of its easy access. The overall feel of the plastic case gave me the impression that you do not want to drop this radio.

The antenna is extremely flexible when compared to other FRS radios. This should help prevent antenna damage from your less coordinated radio users.

The headset/microphones included with the radios deserve mention. Instead of a head band to hold the Walkman style headphone against your dome, these headsets have an ear clip that…clips around your ear. The boom microphone is about the right length to pick up my tonsils, but had no trouble transmitting clear audio direct from this horse’s mouth. These would be slick for bike riding! The jacks for the headset and microphone are on top of the Talk King and have a rubber cover to protect the jacks when not in use.

The end result of the ADI development team is a small, useful FRS radio that needs some gentle treatment, but will provide good quality performance for your family use. Maybe you should get one of the camouflaged radios so you can hide yourself from enemy jet fighters on patrol in your neighborhood.

More Information from Ken at ADI!

The radio does NOT include batteries or the headsets. We're certainly glad to offer the headsets as accessories for anyone's FRS and GMRS radio. (We have models to fit everything, including VX-10s and GP-300s. Heck, we're even about to release a version for the HT-1000.) For batteries I do recommend sending people to Radio Shack where the PowerZone card gets you a heck of a deal on batteries in bulk.

You guys also might want to mention the model number of the headsets. They are the "SPM-400 series." The last digit in the model number determines what the unit is for. SPM-400 is for the majority of radios (including Icom, ADI, Alinco, Yaesu, Motorola FRS, etc.), the SPM-401 is for Kenwood, SPM-402 is for Vertex VX-10/FT-50/VX-1/VX-5 and the Icom IC-Q7A, and the SPM-403 is for the Motorola GP-300 and compatibles.

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Last updated July 10, 1999