Cost Effective Communication Between 2 Vehicles Out West

Samanthahhi wrote:
Thank you for clarifying my original post. I received a real thorough education in FRS/GMRS, handheld CBs, etc. I believe we will set up a plan of contact that goes:
1) designate meeting spots along the way ahead of time
And for emergency stops or scenic stops2
2) cell phone
3) handheld FRS/GMRS
4) cell text to give an update should one of us stop and we lose track, eventually we will get mags to one another

Thank you all!

sounds like a plan. good luck.

Thank you for clarifying my original post. I received a real thorough education in FRS/GMRS, handheld CBs, etc. I believe we will set up a plan of contact that goes:
1) designate meeting spots along the way ahead of time
And for emergency stops or scenic stops2
2) cell phone
3) handheld FRS/GMRS
4) cell text to give an update should one of us stop and we lose track, eventually we will get mags to one another

Thank you all!

msmith1199 wrote:

dewey02 wrote:
I find it interesting that some folks feel insulted that someone might think cell coverage is less than perfect in some regions of the country. If anyone looks at that Verizon map, for example, it might look like fairly good coverage in most states. But use the zoom function to really look at a state and you will find lots of holes in coverage. In Minnesota, it looks pretty good until you actually zoom in. In many parts of the north, there simply is no coverage. Having just camped at a USFS campground many miles north of Tofte MN, I can attest to the lack of coverage in that area.

Not every place has cell phone coverage, or wifi, or an electrical outlet plug. It is called camping, and I am thankful that such places still exist.

As for the OP, I agree that CB radios, or walkie talkies are probably your best solution.

If you look at many of those places in the west where there is no coverage you will also find that there also is no people in those areas. Okay there may be some people, but there are very few people. Many of those areas aren't even accessible to most humans as it would take some work to get into them.

True. But the OP is TRAVELLING through on the roads and wants to communicate while travelling. The OP didn't say anything about wanting to live there, or only travelling where there are people. There are many miles of national forest roads that RVs travel that have no people or communities. And yes, some large areas in the west are Designated Wilderness, so have no roads, no permanent residents, and therefore no cell coverage.

Samanthahhi wrote:
rk911 > thank you for the additional "stab" at it. In that last bit, I was attempting to get a definitive answer concerning jumping up to a 32-mile handheld vs the 16-mail one I currently have...in the circumstances with which I am trying to use it and the answer appears to be...no point in doing that. Then I was also asking if any of them have better construction/components and Bumpy gave me some insight into one he has.

Justme > I will go check that out. I suppose if I am going to spend any additional money, might as well get something that boosts my cell service.

Thank you!

I don't know if this has been suggested or not as I didn't read every post here, but the best solution to your problem is text messaging. You can send a text message even if you don't have coverage. Okay you can't actually send it, but you can type it and as soon as the phone has coverage it will transmit the message. If the phone you are sending it to doesn't have coverage then as soon as it does have coverage it will receive the message. Yes coverage can be spotty if you're going to get out into the wilderness areas of the west, but the text messages will eventually get through. The cell service will continue trying to send it until it receives confirmation from the other phone that it was received. Seems like the easiest solution to me.

Redsky wrote:

2oldman wrote:

Samanthahhi wrote:
This is what makes me think there is little to no cell phone coverage:

That's the 4g data coverage map. If you stay on interstates, they almost always have voice coverage. I don't know what roads you'll be on.

Statements like this make me wonder where people actually travel. Cell phones will work in most but not ALL areas and that is why the OP asked for help and not comments demonstrating the posters ignorance.

We often encounter stretches of highway where we go a hundred miles or more with no cell reception and this has occurred in California along I-5 and Hwy 101 and in Montana and Idaho and Utah and Arizona and New Mexico. Cell towers require electrical power and where there is no electrical power there are no towers and no cell service. Check the online cell tower location maps and it is easy to see this limitation. We don't get cell reception at our house and there is a Verizon tower located less than 2 miles away.

Cell tower range is 4 miles and in very flat country might be up to 10 miles but that is rare. The limitation is the outgoing signal of the cell phone that has to make it to the tower. Everyone has been on calls where the person with the cell phone can hear you (they get the tower to the phone signal) but you cannot hear them as the cell phone's signal is not making it to the tower.

The best public use devices that do not rely on cell towers are the GMRS radios. All hand held radios have a very limited range as they are limited in terms of the antenna that is provided (and no external antenna or booster is allowed by law) and they have very limited signal output which is designed to protect the user as these radios will be transmitting with the radio held against the users' heads.

The manufacturers' claims about distance and signal strength cannot be trusted. They often state power levels that are 10x what they have actually tested and filed with the FCC. Read the reviews by owners of the FRS and GMRS hand held radios and you will find frequent complaints about lack of range.

Regardless of what you decide to use for communications I would still have a fallback to planned meeting places and times to hook up a couple times during the day to do a status check.

Maybe back in the 90's there were areas of 5 and 101 that don't have coverage. Not anymore. Also the cell towers in populated areas generally have a few mile range, but when you get out in the Country the range can exceed 25 miles depending on terrain.

dewey02 wrote:
I find it interesting that some folks feel insulted that someone might think cell coverage is less than perfect in some regions of the country. If anyone looks at that Verizon map, for example, it might look like fairly good coverage in most states. But use the zoom function to really look at a state and you will find lots of holes in coverage. In Minnesota, it looks pretty good until you actually zoom in. In many parts of the north, there simply is no coverage. Having just camped at a USFS campground many miles north of Tofte MN, I can attest to the lack of coverage in that area.

Not every place has cell phone coverage, or wifi, or an electrical outlet plug. It is called camping, and I am thankful that such places still exist.

As for the OP, I agree that CB radios, or walkie talkies are probably your best solution.

If you look at many of those places in the west where there is no coverage you will also find that there also is no people in those areas. Okay there may be some people, but there are very few people. Many of those areas aren't even accessible to most humans as it would take some work to get into them.

Redsky wrote:

2oldman wrote:

Samanthahhi wrote:
This is what makes me think there is little to no cell phone coverage:

That's the 4g data coverage map. If you stay on interstates, they almost always have voice coverage. I don't know what roads you'll be on.

Statements like this make me wonder where people actually travel. Cell phones will work in most but not ALL areas and that is why the OP asked for help and not comments demonstrating the posters ignorance.

don't know what was ignorant about that post. a glance at a coverage map in some more isolated areas do show coverage along the major interstates and none in between them. AT the lake in S VA I get 0, none, nada, reception, period.
bumpy

2oldman wrote:

Samanthahhi wrote:
This is what makes me think there is little to no cell phone coverage:

That's the 4g data coverage map. If you stay on interstates, they almost always have voice coverage. I don't know what roads you'll be on.

Statements like this make me wonder where people actually travel. Cell phones will work in most but not ALL areas and that is why the OP asked for help and not comments demonstrating the posters ignorance.

We often encounter stretches of highway where we go a hundred miles or more with no cell reception and this has occurred in California along I-5 and Hwy 101 and in Montana and Idaho and Utah and Arizona and New Mexico. Cell towers require electrical power and where there is no electrical power there are no towers and no cell service. Check the online cell tower location maps and it is easy to see this limitation. We don't get cell reception at our house and there is a Verizon tower located less than 2 miles away.

Cell tower range is 4 miles and in very flat country might be up to 10 miles but that is rare. The limitation is the outgoing signal of the cell phone that has to make it to the tower. Everyone has been on calls where the person with the cell phone can hear you (they get the tower to the phone signal) but you cannot hear them as the cell phone's signal is not making it to the tower.

The best public use devices that do not rely on cell towers are the GMRS radios. All hand held radios have a very limited range as they are limited in terms of the antenna that is provided (and no external antenna or booster is allowed by law) and they have very limited signal output which is designed to protect the user as these radios will be transmitting with the radio held against the users' heads.

The manufacturers' claims about distance and signal strength cannot be trusted. They often state power levels that are 10x what they have actually tested and filed with the FCC. Read the reviews by owners of the FRS and GMRS hand held radios and you will find frequent complaints about lack of range.

Regardless of what you decide to use for communications I would still have a fallback to planned meeting places and times to hook up a couple times during the day to do a status check.

Samanthahhi wrote:
rk911 > thank you for the additional "stab" at it. In that last bit, I was attempting to get a definitive answer concerning jumping up to a 32-mile handheld vs the 16-mail one I currently have...in the circumstances with which I am trying to use it and the answer appears to be...no point in doing that. Then I was also asking if any of them have better construction/components and Bumpy gave me some insight into one he has.

Thank you!

you're welcome. some radios, even the same models from a specific mfg, will have better receivers. heck, we see that with TV's all the time. but all FRS radios have one thing in common...they are limited to 1/2 of one-watt power output.

good luck to you whichever way you end up going.

A booster will not help if there is no signal.