Walkie talkie?

I have a midland 16 chanel 20 mile 2 way radio set that came with charger and all that stuff. The only problem is it acts more like a 1 way radio cuase most of the time only one wil transmit clearly and the other will hear clearly, but not the other way around. I just ordered some headsets to wear under the paintball mask, to use for communication durring paintball games. Why wont they communicate to each other clearly?Walkie talkie?
This is probably a half duplex system!



That means that only one person can speak at the same time. If this is the case, there's nothing you can do to fix that, as it's the design of the system.



One which allows both people to speak at the same time, is called full duplex.Walkie talkie?
These are normal "push to talk" radios. Only one person can speak at a time. It sounds like you are just having normal reception problems. Normal walkie talkies operate "line of sight". If you are far away from the other person with a hill in between, they will not work as well (if at all). Walkie talkies do not transmit well through hills, mountains, buildings etc.



The way to test them is to stand about 100ft away with the other person in clear sight. The radios should work fine. If not, then there is a problem with the radios.



The "20 mile" range is for advertising only. They might reach as far as 20 miles if it was directly across a valley or lake.



If these radios are not performing as expected, you also might want to try getting some better radios - just remember that they will be "line of sight" also. A better radio probably will be more reliable.