Communication on the road

Ed_Gee wrote:
Wife and I use amateur radio when traveling separately.... an option for those without a ham license could be little Family Radio Service HTs......extremely cheap and good for almost a mile under the right circumstances. cell phones can be a backup....but illegal to use while driving unless you have hands free system.

Cell phones are not illegal to use in Minnesota and some other states I would assume.

GordonThree wrote:
Why would you want communication with other drivers on the road? I'm rather new, having logged less than 50k miles in my travels, but I've never felt the need to communicate with other drivers.

It's great to be able to talk to drivers ahead of you on the same road to find out what's causing a backup and how long or how far it might be.

Yes, CB still works, but it is not the value it once was. My coax got damaged and I have not bothered to replace it.

If you are going to count on a cellphone for much, look at the coverage map of where you are going and decide if you don't want a repeater or booster. Even with a three watt repeater, we are often out of coverage in Montana and the Dakotas and many other western states. This makes Google maps or Waze hard to count on.

We also have FRS radios that we use when traveling in convoy. They work and are simpler than cell because they are a party line.

Matt