I’ve used marine band VHF over the last 34 yrs. in the commercial marine industry. I have farm property out of state & would like to know what exists out there that could transmit approx. 500 miles to communicate with my home?
The second part of that question is how affordable would something like this be?
Been looking at the Rapid Radio company but hoping to find something that stands alone & doesn’t rely on cell towers.
Any info. is appreciated,
Gary
An easy answer - and with your marine experience you might even have some of it?
HF
500 miles means HF. Not cheap, but cheaper than using satellite comms, and cheaper than installing a chain of land based towers and links.
HF radio is heavily licenced and relies on time of day and atmospheric conditions, plus a great deal of operator skill. There is no plug and play system. Ground wave or skywave each work at different times. There are countries where HF land comms exists - Australia is a good example.
If you are looking for a solution that does not use satellites or the internet, then HF is the only solution. I suppose you could become a ham, and so could another family member. That could work with few licence issues, just an exam. Business use of HF is tricky and expensive. ham wise - 2-3 grand for the kit (2 radios, 2 tuners, 2 antennas) might be a solution, but the work involved for the exam and getting it set up may be too much.
Hi there! I’m Chandler with the Buy Two Way Radios team. I came across your post and just wanted to provide a bit of guidance! Unfortunately, most radios aren’t capable of communicating 500 miles consistently. There are exceptions, such as HF radios. These are radios used by experienced HAMs that can communicate vast distances, but it definitely takes a lot of knowledge to fully utilize a system such as this. There are also LTE radios that use cellular service, but that doesn’t sound like it will fit the bill either.
You may want to look into obtaining Business radios along with a license. This won’t communicate the distances you’re looking for, but there are cost effective options available, and the radios will be easy to use. We’ll be happy to discuss the matter with you further if you’d like to give us a call!
That’s good information. Thanks for the quick lesson sir.
Thanks Chandler, I appreciate your time.