Long Range Two Way Radio

[burkhall1]

I will be caravanning across the US to remote national parks with friends and venturing into areas with low/no cell coverage. Does anyone here have experience with good long range two way radios with extended range? I'm willing to spend some decent money to ensure good communication. I've read good things about Motorola Motorola RDU4100 12.5kHz 4 Watt 10-Channel Two-Way Radio 2 and the Motorola MM2050 2Two-Way Business Radio. Any suggestions?

[ktmrfs]

philh wrote:
Friend set me up with Baefong radios and programed them for me. I applied for and received GMRS license. I was going to wait for the lower license, cost to finally be approved, but decided to pay the current fee.

Friend did make one mistake in programming, apparently it was set up to simultaneous broadcast on ALL programed memory channels. He feigned change in how the program worked between Win 7 and Win 10.

Radios work very well. I need to add a short cheat sheet to the radio for the different channels. I have about 26 channels programed.

when programming this type of radio it is very easy to assign a name for each channel. usually around 12 characters available. Eliminates the need for a cheat sheet. you can toggle between what you name the channel and the channel frequency

Chirp is a common program for programming these radios and is available on the web for free. Easy peasy. Just make sure you follow the FCC rules on channel power, bandwidth, etc. and even though the radio can program a given frequency or channel that doesn't mean it is legal for use on those channels. FCC has been cracking down on these imports, and they have started making units FCC compliant.

[philh]

Friend set me up with Baefong radios and programed them for me. I applied for and received GMRS license. I was going to wait for the lower license, cost to finally be approved, but decided to pay the current fee.

Friend did make one mistake in programming, apparently it was set up to simultaneous broadcast on ALL programed memory channels. He feigned change in how the program worked between Win 7 and Win 10.

Radios work very well. I need to add a short cheat sheet to the radio for the different channels. I have about 26 channels programed.

[houstonstroker]

For caravanning with friends we always used CB radios. The range is OK and fine for talking to friends. There is a 4 watt limit. On the last trip we used GMRS. The radio in my motorhome is 40 watts. The range increased significantly and the transmission much clearer. You do have to obtain a license but no test, it is good for 10 years and covers the whole family. They are lowering the fee to $35.

[wa8yxm]

The LIttle hand held FRS/GMRS do not as a rule have a lot of range.
When they say "2 miles" they mean two boats on a very large lake or two hilltops with no trees.

When Ham Radio operators talk to each other over hundreds of miles. that is not the case.. One of the radio nets I check in to with my VHF radio the local repeater covers 3 counties and it's networked to the other side of the state over 200 miles away.. now you can't count on a linked system. but I've talked direct to folks many miles away as well as via repeaters and linked system. My own linked repeater (it's a micro device) chatted with Hong Kong one morning, about 3:15 am where I was PM in HK. Not bad for a hand held (but then it only needed to reach about 20 feet)

[ktmrfs]

azdryheat wrote:
Check out satellite radios, they operate anywhere.

not really. most work very poorly inside buildings, cars, etc.
And those who use GEOS sat's need a clear view of the southern sky for reception........ Like aiming a TV sat dish.

Irridium based systems that don't use geos sats are much better but can suffer reception problems for about 10 minutes every hour depending on terrain.

Now if you want to send/recieve text messages the Garmin inreach which uses Iridium sat's. works quite well. Seldom has taken more than a few minutes to lock onto a sat and send a message when I am outside. Inside a building, even a trailer/house much more problematic.

Spot uses GEOS sat's and only allows one way communication, send only, no recieve.

Sat phones can be rented for short term use.

[Alan_Hepburn]

burkhall1 wrote:
All,

Thanks very much for the feedback!

ktmrfs, after my research, I'm like the GRMS together with MURS. What make/model do you have? I'm considering a Tera TR-505.

I just picked up a Midland MXT275 GMRS package from Amazon - haven't had a chance to install or test it yet, but it gets good reviews on the various off-road forums I've checked.

[rk911]

enblethen wrote:
Cobra radios have different power output depending on channel. How much it changes range, I do not know!

assuming everything else is equal less power = shorter range.

[enblethen]

Cobra radios have different power output depending on channel. How much it changes range, I do not know!

[ktmrfs]

Fisherman wrote:
Have to agree about the companies opinionated hope to get past a couple miles at best. I think they did their testing in outer space with absolutely no interference.

just about correct. Range for some, maybe all, is listed for the conditions that one radio is on a high elevation and able to look directly downward to the other radio with nothing in the path, zip, nada, not a tree, not a rock outcropping nothing.

And as some others have mentioned, 5W gives a limited range, especially with the "rubber ducky" antennas. On mine I have loaded, matched, wavelength matched antennas.

[Fisherman]

Have to agree about the companies opinionated hope to get past a couple miles at best. I think they did their testing in outer space with absolutely no interference.

[Michelle_S]

We have a set of Cobra radios, advertised as maximum range of 35 miles in ideal conditions (up to two miles in urban conditions) don't believe it a mile maybe two under the right conditions and that's it.

[Sagebrush]

Even as an Amateur Radio operator with the option of having more powerful transceivers the range isn't much better with a 6 watt or stronger Handy Talkie. For battery life we run the HT's at the lower power settings and use wire J pole antennas you can throw up in a tree or get up high somehow. Power doesn't do that much with a hand held. Rubber duck antennas are very limited. I use the base loaded wire antenna from Comet on my little HT instead of the stock plastic antenna. It does help... I think. But its still line of sight, get a cheap FRS radio and call it a day or become a Tech rated Amateur Radio operator for more options. 🙂

[ktmrfs]

burkhall1 wrote:
All,

Thanks very much for the feedback!

ktmrfs, after my research, I'm like the GRMS together with MURS. What make/model do you have? I'm considering a Tera TR-505.

In the cars and for around camp we have rugged radio RH5R, one of the no longer sold units due to FCC crackdown on the non compliant radios. Programmed for MURS, FRS and GRMS

for off road riding etc. we have Standard Horizon HX370 or HX400 programmed for MURS channels and FRS channels. Standard horizon is single band only so no GRMS channels.

On both I programmed them with tone controlled squelch on the channels as well as the non tone controlled squelch on the same channels.

[burkhall1]

All,

Thanks very much for the feedback!

ktmrfs, after my research, I'm like the GRMS together with MURS. What make/model do you have? I'm considering a Tera TR-505.