two way long range radio's

[w6rat]

HAM has the mot possibility's lots of repeaters,many are linked together making for long distance on VHF or UHF. some repeaters are solar powered. On HF 6 - 160 meters is good for long range = most anywhere on the planet is possible. Some work better at night and some better in daylight. Some hams bounce signals off the moon back to earth. Just putting in my 2 cents worth

 

[Head Shot]

Erased

 

[HenryJ]

"Hello:
... alligator station.
Big mouth but no ears."

I like that quote

 

[The Heretic]

Some hams bounce signals off the moon back to earth. Just putting in my 2 cents worth

Some bounce signals off meteorites.

My first job out of college (I specialized in RF comms at the time, I have both amateur and professional licenses) was for this outfit:

About Us



I developed analysis systems to monitor/test the performance of their networks. Meteor burst can be used for a number of different low speed wireless data TX/RX uses at long distances (hundreds of miles) where high latency is not an issue and cost of using satellites is an consideration. It can use sporadic E in addition to meteorites - indeed, sporadic E works better where it exists, but you usually don't see it unless you are above a certain latitude nearer one of the poles and because it is sporadic by definition you can go days without seeing any whereas there are always micro-meteorites entering the atmosphere. Typically it also works better with directional antennas (usually large LP antennas).

I expect/hope that eventually ubiquitous LEO satellites will come to be - this would give us low cost satellite comms. But I am not holding my breath; a number of entities have promised this for decades and they have failed to get the funding and put them into orbit. OTOH - with the new space launch companies making satellite launching cheaper and easier, someone may do it someday - keep an eye on Google and others that would benefit from such an effort.

 

[MrMillspecer]

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.

I talked to a friend in St.Helens around 14 miles away. I'm up on a hill so it probably helped but they did better than we thought they would. That's with the Midland brand 5 watt handheld.

 

[The Heretic]

That reminds me of a little demo of line of sight:

I live on the north side of a "mountain" (only about 1300 feet at its peak) which has a repeater at the top which is about 5 miles away.

I can hear and hit the repeater in the west hills or Portland about 30 miles away a lot better than the repeater on top of the mountain I live on. Why, because the terrain is such that the repeater on my mountain is not line of sight and the repeater in Portland is. Also, my kids live about halfway between where I live and Portland, but because they are down behind a hill in the valley, they are not line of sight, so they would have to hit a repeater on top of that hill (that I can see from here) in order to talk to me up here.

As mentioned many times - line of sight is everything and the higher the freq, the more important it is.

 

[MikeSettles]

We, with some friends, have been working this problem (on and off) for about 5 years.
We use Baofeng uv5-r (1w & 4w) or bf-f8/f9 (1,4,8w) for short range work, but have found the Anytone AT-5888 (50w on VHF) to be useful for "mid" range.
These radios are programmable via ChIRP, operate on the same 70cm and 2m bands - including FRS, GMRS, MURS, Marine, public safety, business, Ham, and NOAA freqs; but not aviation nor military. The Anytone has internal dual-band repeat capability.
The Baofengs are useful because they are inexpensive, very flexible, and accessories (including antennas, headsets, batteries) are available and cheap. Because they are inexpensive, you can have many copies which allows redundancy on a budget.

Then, antennas make the difference. 14.5 inch on the Baofengs helps with greater range on VHF - we have achieved 20+ miles on a clear night from Mt Tabor (in Portland) to north of Vancouver. I have also hit the Mt. Boistfort (BawFaw) repeater from Vader, and my friends have talked to me (near Castle Rock) on their hand-helds from La Center via the Deer Island repeater.

Fixed antennas help immensely to achieve better range. Directional dipoles, yagis, and long-wire antennas can not only give better performance, but better security as receivers outside the directional lobes will get little or no signal. For omni-directional fixed, look into the J-Poles. Several Hams on eBay sell copper fixed and ladder-style roll-ups with sma and pl-259 connectors that you can hook directly to your Baofeng and Anytone (or Yeasu, for that matter). Don't forget ground-plane elements: These make your antenna more efficient.
Line-of-sight is crucial for the higher frequency bands, with atmospheric conditions also contributing to good or poor communication. Repeaters help, satellite helps, but there is no panacea once the cell tower and repeaters start to fail.

Yes, there are FCC rules (and Ham nazis) to be dealt with. Absolutely, once SHTF nobody will abide by them. For now, we must "comply" while also preparing for what may come.
I have a technician license so that I can legally use ham 2 meter and 70 cm freqs and repeaters. I have a mobile sideband CB which I don't rely on - I use an Anytone mobile and Baofeng for "tactical." I have several Midland FRS/GMRS radios, but don't use them because of range, security, and lack-of-accessory issues.

Rhetorical question: Does ANYONE actually ever go to the trouble of purchasing a family-license for a blister-pack GMRS radio?

 

[The Heretic]

The cross band repeat can essentially give you a local repeater. You can have the handheld transmitting to it when you are outside your vehicle or outside your house and have RX/TX such that you have the power of the mobile or base station with a much better antenna while on foot. This is useful if you have to stop and take care of a situation while traveling - e.g., you come upon an accident and are rendering aid. Also, if you are working outside the house - e.g., I have 20 acres and the bottom of my property is about a thousand feet away from the house down in a gully - while the house is 100-200 higher and has a clear view of the valley - being able to call mayday if I hurt myself or have a heart attack is useful. All kinds of scenarios come to mind.

Myself and my kids carry the Baofeng F8HP in our vehicles. I bought 4 of the Baofeng HTs that were on sale for $10 each (IIRC) to hand out to neighbors or family if they come to my BOL in a SHTF - IMO they are better than the blister pack Midlands/et. al., they have replaceable antennas and rechargeable batteries and have some ham bands while also having some of the other bands IIRC. I won't cry if someone drops or loses one.

I have a TYT 9800 quad band with cross band repeat that I am testing - intend to probably get two or three more. Keep one setup at the house with multiple fixed antennas for the different bands, and one in each of the vehicles. Later, I will probably get some Yaesu HTs and mobiles and an all band base station with a bit more power - probably upgrade my ham license then too.

Depending on where I move when I retire, I may setup a WiFi mesh network with neighbors.

 

[Head Shot]

Erased

 

[cigars]

For anyone interested, Midland has a special for a pair of GXT1000's and a Micro mobile 5 watt GMRS for $119. I believe it's free shipping too. That Micro mobile does pretty darned good with that magnetic roof mount antenna. It's a good deal on decent radios.

GXT1000XB MicroMobile-GXT Bundle | Midland Radio

 

[cigars]

We, with some friends, have been working this problem (on and off) for about 5 years.
We use Baofeng uv5-r (1w & 4w) or bf-f8/f9 (1,4,8w) for short range work, but have found the Anytone AT-5888 (50w on VHF) to be useful for "mid" range.
These radios are programmable via ChIRP, operate on the same 70cm and 2m bands - including FRS, GMRS, MURS, Marine, public safety, business, Ham, and NOAA freqs; but not aviation nor military. The Anytone has
internal dual-band repeat capability.

The Baofengs are useful because they are inexpensive, very flexible, and accessories (including antennas, headsets, batteries) are available and cheap. Because they are inexpensive, you can have many copies which allows redundancy on a budget.


Then, antennas make the difference. 14.5 inch on the Baofengs helps with greater range on VHF - we have achieved 20+ miles on a clear night from Mt Tabor (in Portland) to north of Vancouver. I have also hit the Mt.
Boistfort (BawFaw) repeater from Vader, and my friends have talked to me (near Castle Rock) on their hand-helds from La Center via the Deer Island repeater.

Fixed antennas help immensely to achieve better range. Directional dipoles, yagis, and long-wire antennas can
not only give better performance, but better security as receivers outside the directional lobes will get little or no signal. For omni-directional fixed, look into the J-Poles. Several Hams on eBay sell copper fixed and ladder-style roll-ups with sma and pl-259 connectors that you can hook directly to your Baofeng and Anytone (or Yeasu, for
that matter). Don't forget ground-plane elements: These make your antenna more efficient.
Line-of-sight is crucial for the higher frequency bands, with atmospheric conditions also contributing to good or poor communication. Repeaters help, satellite helps, but there is no panacea once the cell tower and repeaters
start to fail.

Yes, there are FCC rules (and Ham nazis) to be dealt with. Absolutely, once SHTF nobody will abide by them. For now, we must "comply" while also preparing for what may come.

I have a technician license so that I can legally use ham 2 meter and 70 cm freqs and repeaters. I have a mobile sideband CB which I don't rely on - I use an Anytone mobile and Baofeng for "tactical." I have several Midland FRS/GMRS radios, but don't use them because of range,
security, and lack-of-accessory issues.

Rhetorical question: Does ANYONE actually ever go to the trouble of purchasing a family-license for a blister-pack GMRS radio?

I have my ham and the GMRS license. We have a
multiple midland GXT1000's and a few micro mobiles, one pushing 40 watts. I rather like GMRS. It's great for convoys, camping, neighborhood stuff, etc. Plus you don't have to worry about repeater hogs when all you need is local range. There are GMRS repeaters out there as well. The nice thing about the GXT1000's I that they also run on alkaline batteries.
Regarding FCC rules, in an emergency anyone may use the ham (and other frequencies) without being licensed.

 

[edzz]

Regarding FCC rules, in an emergency anyone may use the ham (and other frequencies) without being licensed.

Yes, however this doesn't mean that just because the governor has declared an emergency that you can use the frequencies as you wish. Yes you can do whatever is needed to call in a mayday, but... it doesn't mean you can use it to call the wife, girlfriend or significant other to check if they are OK. Also as I assume you know during an actual emergency hams tend to control their communications and refrain from chit chat.

The other problem with recommending ham radios to the unlicensed is most will not have the experience to use them during an emergency. When your world is in peril is not the time to be trying to understand that manual and learn chinglish.

73

 

[Hayshaker]

Yes, however this doesn't mean that just because the governor has declared an emergency that you can use the frequencies as you wish. Yes you can do whatever is needed to call in a mayday, but... it doesn't mean you can use it to call the wife, girlfriend or significant other to check if they are OK. Also as I assume you know during an actual emergency hams tend to control their communications and refrain from chit chat.

The other problem with recommending ham radios to the unlicensed is most will not have the experience to use them during an emergency. When your world is in peril is not the time to be trying to understand that manual and learn chinglish.

73

Most of the "outlaw/illegal "people don't understand "tones and etc. to use most repeaters. A few will but mostly not .

 

[cigars]

I can b

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.

E done

Yes, however this doesn't mean that just because the governor has declared an emergency that you can use the frequencies as you wish. Yes you can do whatever is needed to call in a mayday, but... it doesn't mean you can use it to call the wife, girlfriend or significant other to check if they are OK. Also as I assume you know during an actual emergency hams tend to control their communications and refrain from chit chat.

The other problem with recommending ham radios to the unlicensed is most will not have the experience to use them during an emergency. When your world is in peril is not the time to be trying to understand that manual and learn chinglish.

73

Let me clarify then. The rule is regarding emergency situations only, not casual chit chat. Not sure I really needed to clarify that.

 

[edzz]

I can b

E done

Let me clarify then. The rule is regarding emergency situations only, not casual chit chat. Not sure I really needed to clarify that.

You may understand however many people reading this thread may not understand the word emergency as viewed by the FCC.
Just look a year and a half later we still see many people claiming that the USA is currently in a state of emergency.

 

[cigars]

You may understand however many people reading this thread may not understand the word emergency as viewed by the FCC.
Just look a year and a half later we still see many people claiming that the USA is currently in a state of emergency.

Duly noted.

 

[badbob85037]

I was a radio operator in the army. The first 10 or so years after I got out I didn't mess with it, But a friend of mine hooked up a CB at my house and I went at it again. Right now I have a Uniden Washington with a 600 watt Boomer hooked to it. In my truck I have a little Realistic with a Boomer 400. i don't use it much any more except to open security gates. I like getting out there when I got the skip going on and talking to someone on the other side of the planet or talking to somebody a block away and make him think I'm on the other side of the planet. I once had a raido with 6000 channels and had a key but it was going to get me in trouble so I got rid of it.

 

[Head Shot]

Erased

 

[KKG]

I have not read all the other Posts but here goes my two cents worth.

Sounds to me like you might want to get your Ham Licence and learn to sent Morse Code. It's still used by other Hams World Wide and still monitored by those same fine folks.

I know there are a number of them right here on this Forum and I'm pretty sure several have already replied to your Post. Good Luck with finding something that works for you.

 

[thereddog]

There's also the thought process that says, depending on the severity of the SHTF incident, there won't be anyone around to enforce the fact that you're using a radio without proper licensing... Of course, you may want to familiarize yourself with the systems ahead of time, thus prompting the license getting, instead of just keeping them in the cardboard boxes until said SHTF event occurs and then reading the manual.

just remember that with any two way radio, your position can be triangulated and known quickly by Good Guys and bad guys.

To the point that I'd be apprehensive to broadcast on one if the military (any) was involved in a "situation" Particularly if it was an invading military. Unless you were quickly on the move while transmitting. In those situations, I'd just listen in to glean info, but never transmit. I