two way long range radio's

[Kruel J]

I hate to be the crudgmunchin on this topic but......
35 miles is a lot to ask from any handheld, I know those handie talkies claim 25 to 35 miles, but i have never seen one that will do it. maybe if you are working at high elevation with your house within line of sight wiht one of those hand held gmrs radios... You might have to go with vehicle mounted 100 watt radio, and a 100 watt base station with a fairly tall antenna. or you and your wife get your tech ham licenses then you can go 2 meter and have access to the whole west coast from a small handheld thru the peaks radio repeater system.

This.

 

[Kruel J]

Baofeng ( real ones not copies) are pretty decent. Some require licenses depending on model. If you go with Ham you get police , fire etc allot more flexible.

Someone copies the Baofengs?

 

[The Heretic]

Baofeng handhelds are ok, but as others have said, if you treat them rough they may not last as long as a Yaesu (especially the waterproof ones).

Any handheld is going to be limited by their antenna. If you want one for SHTF then get a good mag mount for you vehicle - it will cost at least twice what a Baofeng HT will.

There are also better antennas you can use while on foot - one of the better ones is a dipole, but it generally requires stationary use.

If you want an inexpensive base station or a mobile, then a TYT 9800 is an okay quad band with 50 watts on some bands. You can find them on sale sometimes for about $200. Again, not as good as Yaesu, but it works.

What you get when you go to the name brands like Yaesu is more cost, more reliability and more features. If your budget allows, then you can get Yaesu ham band sets that give you some nice things like digital transmissions where you can add a module to automatically transmit your position. Also, digital transmissions, while not encrypted, will prevent someone who does not have digital features in their RX from understanding your transmissions.

Garmin has FRS/GMRS handhelds with GPS - but the range on these is limited by the fixed antenna (cannot be removed/replaced).

Generally, fixed antenna handhelds will have a range of just a few miles, maybe even less in bad conditions.

A handheld with a short stubby antenna of just a few inches will also have very limited range, but if you can replace the antenna you will find that this makes a big difference.

Power does make a difference in transmissions, but not reception. But twice the power will not get you twice the distance.

When it Comes to RF, Distance Plays Tricks with the Mind

I.E., a signal that has X power at one mile will have one fourth the signal power at 2 miles.

You can increase the signal power transmitted AND recieved with an antenna that has better gain.

 

[Certaindeaf]

If it gets real cold, crows work pretty good.

 

[Hayshaker]

Spend a little time and get a ham license. The tech test is mostly rules and regs with a few safety rules and a little bit of electrical info.
A good 10 meter radio set up to work 11meters [cb] will cover quite well across town on side band. Depends on the antennas. But the radios are expensive ,so till better of to get the tech license. work with the wife on getting your tickets together. You both will feel better and secure if the SHTF. Just my 02/c

 

[Miravox]

The hilly terrain of Western Oregon and Western Washington will almost always limit line-of-sight communications to a few miles or less. This is what you get from the VHF and UHF frequencies used in almost all brands and types of handheld radios. A handheld CB radio is technically HF but is very close to the VHF range and is spectacularly ineffective at long range comms. HF radios, which work by bouncing radio waves off the ionosphere back down to Earth, also require large antennas to be effective. It's possible (though rather expensive) to install an HF ham radio in your car. It's technically possible — but severely impractical — to buy and use an HF handheld radio (I have such a rig and it requires trailing a very long "counterpoise" wire behind me as I walk!).

Your best bet is for you AND YOUR LOVED ONES to obtain entry-level ("Technician") ham radio licenses and use the radio repeaters in your area. Repeaters are radio transceivers, usually placed on large hilltops, that receive your radio signal from down in the valley and retransmit it to a huge footprint all around the area, perhaps on its far side where your family waits. Understand that in a true SHTF situation repeaters are going to fail, either eventually or immediately. When the balloon goes up, call your spouse on the repeater as you're racing to the nearest gas station to top off your tank before speeding home. If the repeater fails, you might be able to communicate directly (w/o a repeater link) as you get closer.

~ Robert N7REB/WQWD622

 

[Head Shot]

Erased

 

[11Charlie]

Good Lord brother! I had to give you a like just because you took the time to post that!

On the serious side thanks for the info it was very helpful.

 

[Certaindeaf]

After reading that, it's obvious that you work too far away.

 

[Mountainman38]

GMRS is a very good way to go for local comunications. With my Baofeng handheld, I was able to talk 36 miles to a repeater on Mission Ridge by Wenatchee, from the Nason Creek Campground. This repeater has been opened from Walla Walla, which is 130 miles away. Repeaters definitely give you a nice range advantage.

 

[Mark Torrence]

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but what does a decent 1-5 watt handheld cost? I have thought about this myself, and have been thinking about getting my ham license for this exact reason.

A Garmin 5 watt hand held with GPS will cost you about $600. They work pretty well but no where near what this fellow is wanting. The ONLY way to reach that range is either with a repeater or HAM. Not a chance in hell of a simplex radio going that far. 2 to 3 miles in perfect conditions.

 

[Mountainman38]

A Garmin 5 watt hand held with GPS will cost you about $600. They work pretty well but no where near what this fellow is wanting. The ONLY way to reach that range is either with a repeater or HAM. Not a chance in hell of a simplex radio going that far. 2 to 3 miles in perfect conditions.

As I stated in my previous comment, my 5 Watt handheld on UHF (GMRS frequency) hit a repeater 36 miles away, through mountainous terrain. I have previously used a Midland GMRS handheld with 5 watts to talk line of sight a measured 26 miles distance.

 

[Mark Torrence]

OK you keep on goin. Never had anywhere near that luck with mine.

 

[Mark Torrence]

NOT in western Oregon. Aint gonna happen.

 

[Mark Torrence]

Like everyone else has said it's all about line of sight.

 

[The Heretic]

A Garmin 5 watt hand held with GPS will cost you about $600. They work pretty well but no where near what this fellow is wanting. The ONLY way to reach that range is either with a repeater or HAM. Not a chance in hell of a simplex radio going that far. 2 to 3 miles in perfect conditions.

You can get a GPS module for a Yaesu HT and windup with a better rig. The Garmins RINO may have the GPS display and everything, but every one I have ever seen has the fixed antennas, which means you cannot improve them like any ham band rig. The Baofengs also have additional bands - many of them have FRS/GMRS, public safety and aviation bands too.

If you are going to be spending hundreds, go with the Yaesu IMO.

 

[The Heretic]

NOT in western Oregon. Aint gonna happen.

It is line of sight - but there are places where you can see that distance; I am 30 miles out of Portland and I can see and hit the west hills antennas because I am at 900 feet and they are at about 700-800, i.e., I can physically see them from where I am at, so yeah, line of sight.

Granted, lots of dead spots in between, but it can be done; several times I have been in mountainous terrain and able to make cell calls to cell towers that were many miles away line of sight - cell phones being much weaker at both TX/RX than a 2 meter handheld and having a pretty weak antenna system.

Also, increasingly a lot of mobile rigs are coming with repeater functionality, and ham rigs are increasingly coming with digital functionality too.

Just the same, if you are down in some gully and there is no line of sight or repeater you can hit, 100 watts and a good antenna won't help at VHF or UHF freqs. And the higher the freq the more likely something as piddling as being in a dense forest is going to make comms difficult.

So what's a person to do - there is no magic here - do the best you can with what you got.

 

[The Heretic]

GMRS is a very good way to go for local comunications. With my Baofeng handheld, I was able to talk 36 miles to a repeater on Mission Ridge by Wenatchee, from the Nason Creek Campground. This repeater has been opened from Walla Walla, which is 130 miles away. Repeaters definitely give you a nice range advantage.

Also, many repeaters are hooked up to networks - i.e., the internet, so you can talk up and down the west coast or further if you want - by relaying the comms via the internet and then transmitting at a given repeater you choose (and have permission/access to use). Of course, in some SHTF scenarios, that kind of comms will eventually (or immediately) go down - but while it works, it can be useful.

 

[The Heretic]

Another thing preppers should look at is mesh networks for local comms. You can setup a WiFi mesh network in a neighborhood and use cell phones without the cellular network towers.

 

[badbob85037]

I am in desperate need of a good quality two way radio. What do you guys have that you like and works well.

It would be nice if the SHTF I could get a hold of my wife at home. I work about 35 miles from my house. As the crow flies it might be less.

Get you a Cobra or Uniden Washington if you are talking about a base unit with a kicker that can light up a 4 foot fluorescent tube Use the kicker sparingly or you will have a lot of neighbors getting mad. The better you ground the less neighbors you will get pissed at you. a directional antenna will also put some miles on it. When you key up everybody will be listening to you and only you. and that's coming from a guy whose MOS was 11B10. What's fun is when skip is in play, radio waves bouncing off the ionosphere Sometimes you can talk to people on the other side of the world like they are next door.
The 600 watt kicker I can also opens security gates, blow speakers and cause total meltdown at a gas station's pumps so be careful. It all in the ground.