Hi Folks, I a newbie here and looking for help. My boys and I are getting ready to purchase some BaoFeng radios for our back country hunting & hiking trips.
We are going to be in a remote area in the ADK Park in upstate New York, all 2 million acres of this park are open open to hiking and camping. There is no cell phone service so we are looking at these radios for communication. It is highly possible we will be 5 to 10 miles apart at times.
Which one radio would you suggest??
Also I saw a posting which I thought was from this site that had a web link posted where we could take a free online course to get our license. Anyone know this site???
I can’t help you on the license as I’m in the UK, but radio to radio comms at 5 miles is pretty dreadful, and 10 unlikely, unless you are both on top of a hill will a valley between. Even high powered radios won’t cut it, unless one of you is somewhere up high! The problem is simply terrain, and even using VHF, which is a bit better for distance, the aerials you have on portables are pretty poor. A vehicle with a portable mast, antenna and a repeater will work, but that’s quite expensive.
Getting a ham license ( at least here in the UK) takes commitment and an interest in radio communications,which may be a stretch for somebody who really wants to use radio as a tool, rather than a hobby in itself. I’m sure many might find the content somewhat dull and stretching, if their maths is a bit rusty. Here it would also be frowned on to use ham radio for general chit chat about something else. Strangers butting in and wanting to chat would be common. I’m not sure it’s the same in the states, but when people hear business type radio usage, it’s not appreciated. Not even uncommon for people to then run legitimate tests on the channels in use. Just being awkward, but they do have a point.
I would buy the Gordon West, Technician Book with Ham Study Software CD sold by BuyTwoWayRadios.com. Study the book and take the practice test over and over and over. Gordon West makes learning about amateur radio fun and helps you retain the information. My wife did this and aced her test after about 3 weeks of studying. Its the book I use when I teach “free” ham radio technician classes.
Hi. You may consider getting in touch with local amateurs in your area. Do a Googe search with your town’s name and the keywords “amateur radio club”. If you live near a large city of 100,000 or more people. A ham radio club will be organized. Once you find the club’s website, send the president, secretary, or web administrator an e-mail to request info about joining the club .You will get satisfatory answer and even make some friends .
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I strongly agree with previous posters that have indicated that 5 to 10 mile ranges simply are unrealistic with handheld radios, even on high power, and even on extended antennas. If there is a big hill between you and your party, you might not even be able to communicate over 1 or 2 miles. If one of your party is on top of a hill and there is a line-of-sight range into various valleys, then 5 miles or so might be achievable.
You may need to get out your topo maps and start plotting and evaluating where you might be able to establish connections, then set up some kind of a schedule to keep in touch. If you have points where you might have some kind of open line of sight, then you can give it a try and go for 5 to 7 miles at most. If you do try that, then I would recommend that you hook up an extended antenna to your handheld. For instance, you can buy a J-Pole antenna.
There is a ham, KB3KAI who makes these j-pole antennas. You can google his call sign.
Tie thin rope to the top, throw the rope over a tree, pull it up, and you have an excellent antenna with good gain. You will see great improvement in range especially if you can pull the antenna up above the tree line. You and your other party would need to do this if you are going to have a chance at talking over such a range.
In addition, I would stick to VHF rather than UHF frequencies for slightly better range.
I encourage you to follow the recommendation of another poster, and get your technician ham license. Technician class (which is the beginner class) licenses are easy. Many people in our club studied materials for one day and took the exam without problems. Good luck.
If you don’t want to get ham licenses, then the Baofengs operate just fine on the MURS frequencies. You do not need a license to talk on MURS frequencies. They are VHF frequencies. The roll-up antennas referenced in my previous post are not exactly resonant on MURS frequencies but will provide gain because they are close enough.
Yes, no license is required for MURS, but the service is even more limited than the amateur service. A radio on MURS must be certified for the service (which the Baofengs are not) and are limited to only two watts power. Amateur handhelds usually put out five watts on high power.
Please. NO discussion of illegal operation. All radio services have equipment requirements. Prior to operation or giving advice, please consult the regulations regarding the applicable services.