Ham radios

wa8yxm wrote:
I will say again .. Many areas my 2 meter or 70cm rigs are basically uselewss

But the HF rig can reach out if I need it to. I don't HF from the driver's seat but I've never been where I could not reach someone with it.. Just have to pick your band depending on the time of day.

HF rig is a Kenwood TS-2000 now 15 years old with a KAT-1 Auto tuner and an assortment of long wires depending on where I'm parked.

Beg to differ, 2mtr and 70CM CAN be far more "reliable" in an CLOSE emergency than HF, period.

Yes, MY DW and I have "tickets" and yes, we HAVE talked outside the US on HF, but "reliable" it is not. I would not have wanted to depend on HF the time I hit a deer and it disabled my vehicle 20 miles from home early in the morning on the way to work.

Instead, I had my handy dual band 2mtr/440 mhz rig and dialed up my local 440 repeater which had a phone patch and direct dialed my DW to get a tow truck.. Granted that was before I had a cell phone and those were $45 per month and $2.50 per minute then.. But hey, the repeater was my local Clubs repeater and I had the correct codes for phone patch.

HF bands depends highly on atmospheric conditions, often on many bands you cannot communicate LOCALLY (ground wave propagation)even with ideal antenna and a pretty hot linear. Not to mention not every Ham is packing full on HF rigs and antennas in their vehicle just waiting for such an emergency and that person would just happen to be listing on the frequency you are transmitting on.

2mtr/440 Ham bands can be decently reliable provided you have repeater coverage, someone IS listening to that repeater and or you have access to that repeaters phone patch if active (not sure if that is some much of thing now days due to cell phones).

CBs, not much hope there, very short distance, 1 to 5 miles on a good day with decent gain antenna and you have luck on your side for correct atmospheric conditions (sun spots and skip noise) and not to mention someone would have to happen to be listening to the one out of 40 channels you are transmitting on and even if you have a foot warmer you won't gain anything if no one else is listening..

FRS, yeah, once again, someone must be listening on the channel your are transmitting on within earshot of your rig and you really have a radio intended on very short distance communications, not really intended on emergency help me use..

Personally, if one is going to be outside Cell coverage, the sat phone route is most likely a safer bet even if it a much more expensive route.

PAID FOR Commercial communications for this purpose is most likely going to be more reliable than depending on free "just hope someone is listening" HOBBY communications.

Sometimes you just need to buy the right tool for the job.