Walkies

West.Mass.Hunter

West.Mass.Hunter

Member
I'm looking for a walkie talkie that has an honest distance of 5+ miles in mountainous, thick forested terrain. I know most companies say there's have 20+ mile range but that's out on open water or clear land. Any suggestions?
My group currently has cobra HH450's and they don't cut it up in NH and parts of MA
Thanks
 
I don't think you'll have any luck with 5+ miles using handhelds. It's all based on line of sight. Mountainous, thick forested terrain is not conducive to line of sight.

That said, VHF is your best bet. Get you a couple Baofengs and spend almost as much more on good antennas and you'll have as much bang for your buck as you can possibly get.

Need an amateur radio license (Ham) to legally operate, but passing the Technician test to get your ticket is a piece of cake. I studied for about four hours and got 100% on the Technician and General at the same time. Might go for Extra one of these days just for grins.

- DAA
 
^^^^^^^^^^ what DAA said.
Its not going to happen valley to valley and a mountain in the middle, with anything less than a sat-phone.
LOS (line-of-sight) is the limitation for VHF & UHF walkies.

(got my Extra back when 20 wpm code was required)
 
Originally Posted By: Bob_Atl

(got my Extra back when 20 wpm code was required)

I would not be considering it if 20 WPM were still required
laugh.gif
.

But to OP, get your license. It's easy. It's worth it. And then, depending where you are, but pretty decent chance you can utilize local repeaters to get what you want. You really want to get licensed before trying to utilize the repeaters. But once licensed, you'll find nothing but helpful folks on the air and if there's a way to utilize your local networks to accomplish your comms goals, those helpful folks will get you there.

You can't talk directly, valley to valley, with a mountain in between. But if there is a repeater on that mountain... Or on any other mountain within range for both sides...

An example of the possibilities... This spring, I was in about as remote a location as it it is literally possible to get in vehicle in the contiguous 48 states. Seriously. You can't drive a Jeep to further from anyone or anything than where I was at. Using a Baofeng HT with a really good antenna, I was able to key up a repeater almost 30 miles away line of sight (100 miles driving distance). That repeater was networked to other repeaters. Within minutes I was talking to a guy several hundred miles away. I was just seeing if I could make contact with that particular radio from that particular spot. I was able to.

But the real point is, that guy would have been MORE than happy to call my wife for me, call a friend to bring me parts if I needed them, call medical help, do whatever he could to help me simply because we are both amateur radio operators. As it was, I was simply doing a radio check and he thought it was just neater than crap that I had got to him using a cheap-AZZ chicom HT from the literal middle of nowhere.

And, not for nothing, but using the 50W mobile unit mounted in my Jeep, I could have sent my wife or any of my Ham buddies a text, or a picture, from my radio, from that spot, using that repeater station which was also an APRS gateway.

The guy I was talking to had the info I would have needed to connect to an actual phone line so I could have made my own calls from my radio directly and he would have been happy to provide that access info had I asked. Without doing anything, because I automatically send packet beacons every five minutes on the mobile, my wife can click a link on her phone and see where I'm at on a map, real time. Which makes her real happy when I'm out by myself in literally the most remote locations accessible in the contiguous 48. She'll know exactly where to send the authorities to find the body and the insurance check will be in the mail!

All free of charge. Just for taking a few hours to study and take a test. Ham is cool...

- DAA
 
Originally Posted By: DAAOriginally Posted By: Bob_Atl

(got my Extra back when 20 wpm code was required)

I would not be considering it if 20 WPM were still required
laugh.gif
.

But to OP, get your license. It's easy. It's worth it. And then, depending where you are, but pretty decent chance you can utilize local repeaters to get what you want. You really want to get licensed before trying to utilize the repeaters. But once licensed, you'll find nothing but helpful folks on the air and if there's a way to utilize your local networks to accomplish your comms goals, those helpful folks will get you there.

You can't talk directly, valley to valley, with a mountain in between. But if there is a repeater on that mountain... Or on any other mountain within range for both sides...

An example of the possibilities... This spring, I was in about as remote a location as it it is literally possible to get in vehicle in the contiguous 48 states. Seriously. You can't drive a Jeep to further from anyone or anything than where I was at. Using a Baofeng HT with a really good antenna, I was able to key up a repeater almost 30 miles away line of sight (100 miles driving distance). That repeater was networked to other repeaters. Within minutes I was talking to a guy several hundred miles away. I was just seeing if I could make contact with that particular radio from that particular spot. I was able to.

But the real point is, that guy would have been MORE than happy to call my wife for me, call a friend to bring me parts if I needed them, call medical help, do whatever he could to help me simply because we are both amateur radio operators. As it was, I was simply doing a radio check and he thought it was just neater than crap that I had got to him using a cheap-AZZ chicom HT from the literal middle of nowhere.

And, not for nothing, but using the 50W mobile unit mounted in my Jeep, I could have sent my wife or any of my Ham buddies a text, or a picture, from my radio, from that spot, using that repeater station which was also an APRS gateway.

The guy I was talking to had the info I would have needed to connect to an actual phone line so I could have made my own calls from my radio directly and he would have been happy to provide that access info had I asked. Without doing anything, because I automatically send packet beacons every five minutes on the mobile, my wife can click a link on her phone and see where I'm at on a map, real time. Which makes her real happy when I'm out by myself in literally the most remote locations accessible in the contiguous 48. She'll know exactly where to send the authorities to find the body and the insurance check will be in the mail!

All free of charge. Just for taking a few hours to study and take a test. Ham is cool...

- DAA



so considering one might be in a pickel in the area of operations we hunt, maybe once in 5-10 years. is this baofeng and ham licence deal better than the spot messenger services that are out there. meaning if a guy may only be needing it rarely is the extra trouble worth it. OR is there extra trouble?

isn't part of the excitement worrying about something going wrong in these parts and having to figure out how to deal with it? I mean seriously no one may go down that road you are on for a year, LOL.

lastly does having this capability change your hunt experience? I am getting to the point where I want to make people turn off their phones when they get in my truck, is that an a hole request?!?! maybe I don't want to talk to anyone. I know you feel the same way. back to the point does having radios or spot messenger change the spirit of the outing?
 
Short answer yes it does but happy wife happy life. I despise Spot devices. I'd rather wear a colostomy bag than carry one. Don't get me started.

Ham has other uses which is what I REALLY got into it for. Wife thinks it was just so she'll know where to look for my body. And it's not Sat. Lots of places I go I can't hit a repeater from. Win win. And no ongoing fees.

- DAA
 
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I looked into ham recently to see if it could give me the ability to have communication in the cell phone dead zones I hunt. There just aren't enough repeaters I can access in my terrain to make ham very useful, not even with soft J-pole antennas rigged up in trees.

But it looks kinda fun! The test looks easy and you can get a license, Baofeng, and antenna together for about $100 total to get going.
 
Wait, what? Im sort of interested in this. Im not sure Im smart enough to pass a test but I may look into this.
Thanks for the info.
Mark
 
I've been down this road and getting licensed really is the only way. I bought the highest rated midland radio's and like mentioned above they only work line of sight, about a mile if you're lucky even though they're rated for 50 miles. More like a half mile in the actual woods, again if your lucky. I've read it's irrelevent which radio's you buy if they're on the open network, it's strength is limited by the FCC to sh*t levels.

I'd love a HAM set for hunting in northern New Hampshire and northern Maine, I just don't know enough about them at the moment. New Hampshire especially is loaded with hunters so you get chatter on ANY channel which leads to you keeping your radio off.
 
Up elk hunting last year, broncoglenn brought his portable base and we just hung an antenna between 2 trees. He could send texts via a lap top to his wife and some fellow he was chatting with did a radio to phone relay call to his wife. We were about 90 miles from cell service.
He also had a handheld unit and one in his truck which worked awesome when one of us would take a hike and the other would drive around and pick you up on the other end.

The frs radios were only good enough to use from truck to truck on the highway. Even at that, line of sight was iffy at less than a mile.
 
Yah, 5th post on this thread has a www-link to one: HAM repeater map
Enter your state at the top, then pick 2m and 70cm, for the most active bands.
Then click SUBMIT - it shows where they are on a map..
Then hope the coverage is over where you hunt.
 
Originally Posted By: DAAOriginally Posted By: Bob_Atl

(got my Extra back when 20 wpm code was required)

I would not be considering it if 20 WPM were still required
laugh.gif
.

But to OP, get your license. It's easy. It's worth it. And then, depending where you are, but pretty decent chance you can utilize local repeaters to get what you want. You really want to get licensed before trying to utilize the repeaters. But once licensed, you'll find nothing but helpful folks on the air and if there's a way to utilize your local networks to accomplish your comms goals, those helpful folks will get you there.

You can't talk directly, valley to valley, with a mountain in between. But if there is a repeater on that mountain... Or on any other mountain within range for both sides...

An example of the possibilities... This spring, I was in about as remote a location as it it is literally possible to get in vehicle in the contiguous 48 states. Seriously. You can't drive a Jeep to further from anyone or anything than where I was at. Using a Baofeng HT with a really good antenna, I was able to key up a repeater almost 30 miles away line of sight (100 miles driving distance). That repeater was networked to other repeaters. Within minutes I was talking to a guy several hundred miles away. I was just seeing if I could make contact with that particular radio from that particular spot. I was able to.

But the real point is, that guy would have been MORE than happy to call my wife for me, call a friend to bring me parts if I needed them, call medical help, do whatever he could to help me simply because we are both amateur radio operators. As it was, I was simply doing a radio check and he thought it was just neater than crap that I had got to him using a cheap-AZZ chicom HT from the literal middle of nowhere.

And, not for nothing, but using the 50W mobile unit mounted in my Jeep, I could have sent my wife or any of my Ham buddies a text, or a picture, from my radio, from that spot, using that repeater station which was also an APRS gateway.

The guy I was talking to had the info I would have needed to connect to an actual phone line so I could have made my own calls from my radio directly and he would have been happy to provide that access info had I asked. Without doing anything, because I automatically send packet beacons every five minutes on the mobile, my wife can click a link on her phone and see where I'm at on a map, real time. Which makes her real happy when I'm out by myself in literally the most remote locations accessible in the contiguous 48. She'll know exactly where to send the authorities to find the body and the insurance check will be in the mail!

All free of charge. Just for taking a few hours to study and take a test. Ham is cool...

- DAA



Dave, you always seem to run quality gear. Would you mind sharing with us what your setup is?
 
Sure, the mobile in the Jeep is a Yaesu FTM-400XDR. Was a very close, hard decision between that and the Kenwood TM-710GA. Only time will tell if I made the right choice between them. I think probably, there was not a bad choice to be made there though.

Dual band with built in TNC were my main requirements. The TNC in the Kenwood is a "real" one that you can use as stand alone. The one in my Yaesu is more like just built in APRS, it's not as accessible for other custom TNC functions. I was really tempted by the Kenwood for the TNC, thinking I'd like to geek out on packet. But in the end, the big color screen of the Yaesu was too tempting. I can always tether an external TNC to it if I want to play with that stuff.

Running a Larsen NMO 2/70B antenna.

For hand helds (HT), I have an assortment of Baofeng models. All picked up very cheap. Most have Signalstick antennas on them though, which cost almost as much as the radios. I carry them on group runs off road and hand them out to people that are still stuck with CB only.

About 80% of the people I loan them to on a trail run, on the next trail run, they show up with their own Ham radio. Same thing happened to me. I was leading a small group into The Maze. I was the only one still running CB, nobody else even had one in their rig, so a buddy handed me a Baofeng. By the end of the trip I never wanted to have to use a CB for trail comms again. A $25 Baofeng had much better range and far better clarity than my peaked and tuned Cobra. Two meter just kicks the holy crap out of CB.

- DAA
 
This is the radio most of the people I know are running:

Yaesu 2980

I'm going to put one of those in my pickup. Doesn't do APRS stand alone, but for the money, it's a heckuva great little radio. Lots of range.

- DAA
 
I have several of the older UV5R-A that work well.
Gave one to my grown son to entice him to get a ham ticket, it worked.
We use them on caravan between cars (good LOS).
A UV5R works much better from a car with an external magnetic mount antenna, like: Dual band Ant
Works fine in a metro area where repeater coverage is likely.

No,, on UV5R crosstalk with CB, since CB is AM on 27 MHz while 2M ham is FM on 145 MHz.

One downside to most Baofeng radios (UV5RA) is they ship with channels unprogrammed.
It is a bit tricky to get them loaded the first time, I used an app called CHIRP.
YouTube is your friend in this little exercise.

ps: HAM radio has evolved exponentially in the last two decades.
Digital modes have improved VHF/UHF clarity (like DMR) and weak signal HF performance (like JT-8) while dropping overall costs.
Not nearly as engineering oriented to the hobbyist, as was pre-Digital technology.
Also fairly easy to pass the first test now, the questions and answer pool are openly posted.


 
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