2-way radios. Need recommendation.

[Charlie]

If you had an antenna on your house/home up in the air above the roof, you'd probably be able to talk back and fourth to the house (guessing since I don't know your topography). The big killer for the handheld portables is the little rubber duck (negative gain) antennas. An elevated good gain vertical antenna on the house may allow you to go a mile or so, maybe. If you have a friend close by that is a ham, check with him. Just my two bits.

 

[Charlie]

I've been a ham radio operator for over 40 yrs. and know a lot about what will not work! Elevation of the transmitter and the receiver is generally what effects success at VHF and UHF.

 

[SA_Steve]

I've been a ham radio operator for over 40 yrs. and know a lot about what will not work! Elevation of the transmitter and the receiver is generally what effects success at VHF and UHF.

Dang, 40 years, you must be an old guy.
I'm a ham for 55 years, and a few months. Going to take my afternoon nap now.

 

[Dad_Roman]

Chase has a "SPOT" for when he is on the trail. Fairly inexpensive. Main unit didnt cost too much and sevice plans are fairly reasonable. Im not sure of all the services available but I know that when its activated it has realtime tracking on a time interval that you set and has realtime locating. These services can be utilized (kibbutz) by your CWPF (closewarmpersonalfriend) at home base to maintain an idea of your progress or your exact location at ANY given time.
If it had a button for alerting "mamma" instead of full blown 911 that would be perfect for you.

He carries his strictly for the 911 Call the friggen Marines type emergency.

.

 

[Charlie]

Dang, 40 years, you must be an old guy.
I'm a ham for 55 years, and a few months. Going to take my afternoon nap now.

I didn't get licensed until later in life!

 

[jordanmills]

The most effective thing would probably be to spread a digital cell network across your target area. That is almost certainly more cost/effort than you want to put into it.

Second most effective is probably to have you and your wife get amateur radio licenses and set up a small repeater on a tower. You could legally use pretty much whatever antennas you want on your handhelds for amateur use. The down side is that both of you would have to get licensed and sit for an exam (it's easy, but might be a hassle... or might open up lots of other cool stuff that you might like). This has no recurrent costs.

Third most effective is probably to get a GMRS license and a GMRS repeater. The license costs $85 for ten years, and covers your entire family (parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, kids, grandkids, etc). Set up a repeater on a reasonably high tower (20-30 feet is probably more than enough, and you can use some rigid electrical conduit and a winch to pull it up only when you are on site. Height above blocking terrain is more important than transmit power. I imagine a small marine battery would last all weekend for you, and would charge more than enough over the week from a solar panel. One down side of this is that GMRS radios that support digital transmissions (sending position or text messages) can't have detachable antennas. Otherwise you should be able to replace the crappy built-in antenna with something decent. This also has no recurrent costs.

All said, I think a basic GMRS repeater setup would do everything you need.

 

[jordanmills]

I didn't get licensed until later in life!

Same here. Only got mine a couple of years ago.

 

[Charlie]

I never realized GMRS radios couldn't have detachable antennas. I'm sure I've had some (from waay back) that did have a detachable antenna.

 

[jordanmills]

I never realized GMRS radios couldn't have detachable antennas. I'm sure I've had some (from waay back) that did have a detachable antenna.

They used to not be allowed to, IIRC. Now they can, unless they do the in-band digital stuff.

 

[TheDan]

I don't need much range about 4miles. Problem is terrain is very undulating. I was only 2 miles from house in the creek and the cheap radio got me nothing.

You could setup a CB base station at the house with a tall antenna and use a handheld while walking. CB will work much better than any other unlicensed radio in this scenario.

Find out if there is a HAM repeater in the area. If so you and the wife can get a license and use the repeater with pretty inexpensive handheld radios.

I never realized GMRS radios couldn't have detachable antennas. I'm sure I've had some (from waay back) that did have a detachable antenna.

There's two kinds of GMRS radios. The low power versions that share FRS frequencies cannot have removable antennas; the ones that require a license can.

 

[Younggun]

You could setup a CB base station at the house with a tall antenna and use a handheld while walking. CB will work much better than any other unlicensed radio in this scenario.

Find out if there is a HAM repeater in the area. If so you and the wife can get a license and use the repeater with pretty inexpensive handheld radios.

There's two kinds of GMRS radios. The low power versions that share FRS frequencies cannot have removable antennas; the ones that require a license can.

Hell, put a CB in the side by side, maybe pop the cover and make some adjustments first if you need some extra oomph...

Not really, that’s not legal. I’d never recommend it...*walks away whistling*




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[ZX9RCAM]

You could setup a CB base station at the house with a tall antenna and use a handheld while walking. CB will work much better than any other unlicensed radio in this scenario.

Find out if there is a HAM repeater in the area. If so you and the wife can get a license and use the repeater with pretty inexpensive handheld radios.


There's two kinds of GMRS radios. The low power versions that share FRS frequencies cannot have removable antennas; the ones that require a license can.

I'm surprised that nobody else had suggested this...

 

[kbaxter60]

GMRS is also OK, provided that there is at least one GOOD repeater in your area. - GMRS requires NO test but you must be licensed & pay a fee to the FCC for the license.
(IF you decide on GMRS, make sure to buy commercial/industrial quality radios. - NONE of the "cheap" radios that you see at the discount stores are more than toys, imvho.)

This is good info. GMRS handhelds are supposed to get up to five miles range (w/o repeaters). The FRS class radios are also quite good. They typically have about two mile range (line of sight) and are pretty inexpensive. Same idea: go with good brands: Motorola, Kenwood, Uniden, all make good ones. You can get a pair with chargers for $35 on sale pretty often.

 

[V-Tach]

5 miles is....optimistic. imho........

Even with perfect conditions.........

 

[TheDan]

GMRS handhelds are supposed to get up to five miles range (w/o repeaters).

Not in undulating terrain. Handhelds suck without a repeater. A mobile rig with a good antenna and 50 watts would do better. It's still basically line of sight.

 

[Brains]

FCC doesn’t seem to give two sharts about 11m / CB radio. 25-30 years ago I (made it up *wink*) ran ~350w in the car through a 1/4 wave whip, and ~200w at home through a Moonraker. Wouldn’t be legal, but if you keep your radio clean it won’t bother anyone - especially way out in the hills. At the 4w legal limit, and especially with a handheld, you won’t accomplish much with a CB though.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

FCC doesn’t seem to give two sharts about 11m / CB radio. 25-30 years ago I (made it up *wink*) ran ~350w in the car through a 1/4 wave whip, and ~200w at home through a Moonraker. Wouldn’t be legal, but if you keep your radio clean it won’t bother anyone - especially way out in the hills. At the 4w legal limit, and especially with a handheld, you won’t accomplish much with a CB though.

Yep.
Back in the 70s I liked to pull into gas stations and light up the fluorescent bulbs....

 

[satx78247]

To All,

Fwiw, LOOK on ebay.com under "industrial equipment" for QUALITY "commercial grade" GOOD USED handheld radios that are in the 400-500MHZ band for generally LOW prices. = Those handheld radios work FINE on GMRS & on 440MHZ ham bands too.

I paid 50.oo each for the 3 MOTOROLA industrial/commercial-grade radios that I bought >3 years ago with a "gang charger" & they work FINE on GMRS & on 440MHZ ham repeaters.

yours, satx

 

[Vaquero]

Yep.
Back in the 70s I liked to pull into gas stations and light up the fluorescent bulbs....

My buggy whip mounted on top of the headache rack broke a few bulbs.

 

[avvidclif]

To All,

Fwiw, LOOK on ebay.com under "industrial equipment" for QUALITY "commercial grade" GOOD USED handheld radios that are in the 400-500MHZ band for generally LOW prices. = Those handheld radios work FINE on GMRS & on 440MHZ ham bands too.

I paid 50.oo each for the 3 MOTOROLA industrial/commercial-grade radios that I bought >3 years ago with a "gang charger" & they work FINE on GMRS & on 440MHZ ham repeaters.

yours, satx

The only problem with commercial radios is you have to pay to get them programmed and you are limited to whatever channels are programmed in.