ham or cb radio

[tbltony]

getting ready to spend this year travailing in US. Is CB radio a worthwhile investment ,also what brand best ,user with easy hook up

[SCVJeff]

People under-estimate the distance of VHF. Contrary to books its not line of sight and gets out of canyons suprisingly well for a handheld, certinally better than CB. Would i trust either in the REAL back country, no. But there are thousands of 2 meter repeaters all over the country, and 100+ miles to a VHF repeater is not unusual at all. FWIW- a sat phone may not do well in that canyon either. The constallation is asyncronys, and if you have limited view of the sky it wont work until there is a flyby within line of sight.

[Jfet]

In non emergency situations I can see the 2M handhelds being very nice. With a 20 mile range using a 1/4 wave or slim jim antenna they would allow you to keep in touch with base camp without having to spend $1 a minute on Sat phone charges (plus it would require TWO Sat phones, one for you and one for your base camp).

This is in the situation where you are doing something like hiking, gold prospecting, or just riding your dirt bike and want to let your partner know you are ok or when you are headed back.

Probably wise to carry everything if you are going really remote. Cell phone, Ham, Sat phone or SPOT.

[Geewizard]

I suggest a CB radio while on the road and a satellite phone for off the beaten path. Why? I agree with "retiredtoo", you can avoid the filth and get very useful information from CB while on the road. CB takes no license and is cheap to own and operate.

The satellite phone is invaluable virtually anywhere. Yes, it's cost is high as is the yearly subscription but what price safety? I think it's very very worth the cost and utility. And they can easily be rented for trips if you don't want to buy one.

Ham radio is not the choice I'd make for getting information while on the road OR while in the backcountry. 2M won't get you out of a canyon and you sure don't want to have to string up a longwire antenna to get on HF.....during an emergency.

Before you start bashing me, note this: My parents were both ham radio operators from the 50's. I've been a ham for many years. I've used satellite phones, CB radio, and ham radio.

That's my suggestion.

[Jfet]

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I took and passed the technician and general ham license. We purchased some cheap Baofeng UV-82 5 watt 2m/70c handhelds with rubber ducky antenna.

We were able to make contact a couple of miles apart and I was able to make contact with a 100 watt base station on a hill about 10 to 12 miles away.

I then built a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna with four 1/4 wave radials aimed down 45 degrees. I was able to contact my wife's radio 20+ miles away over hilly terrain.

$35 radio + $4 homemade antenna = fun

[retiredtoo]

CB radio is cheap and invaluable for trips. You don't have to leave it on all of the time. Also, you have many channels to use for caravaning with other people that the truckers never use. The FRS is very low powered, and if you have a mile or two unobstructed view, they are okay, but CB will let you get around some corners and through some obstructions so you can com around 2 to 5 miles. If you are operating more than the 5 watts, you are operating illegally and the fines are huge, so turn of the amps. So it is easy to escape the low class filth that you can encounter on 16. I don't drive anywhere without the CB available. Ham radio, and I've been a licensed operator for 40 years has minimal use for traffic issues. When the traffic is stopped for miles ahead, the truckers in the opposite travel lane are a fountain of information that can help you find alternate routes or at least know how long you may be sitting before your lane gets moving. CB has bailed me out too many time to count, even in the last 10 years. Cell phones are worthless for nearby traffic issues. There are some smart phone apps that can be of help, but usually are many minutes if not hours behind your real time needs.

[dieseltruckdriv]

I have to agree, wintersun, you seem to have some errors in your perception of ham radio. Also I am pretty sure GMRS can use detachable antennas, since they can use repeaters.

My wife and I use VHF on our motorcycles to chat with each other, and we usually have the entire band to ourselves. It is much more efficient than the lower frequency bands for our uses. We will probably switch over to UHF this year though.

As a hobby, there is something for everyone. I am an appliance operator, and proud of that. I am an emergency comms guy, and I really enjoy playing with antennas. There were a couple Field Days where I could make any contact I wanted on 20 meters with 100 watts and a dipole. Location was everything. We were camped at 7000+ feet with land sloping away in all directions here in the Black Hills.

Edited to add, 73 from N0PFS.

[SCVJeff]

There are repeater books as well as phone apps that show most of the active repeaters in the country. Until you learn the various offsets and PL of you're favorite channels, that book/ app is invaluable. I'm pretty sure the app is free.

PS- With the 11 meter skip in, a 2mtr HT will likely talk farther locally than a CB, unless you're interested in talking to someone 1200 miles away.

[acudr]

I think for traffic issues, CB even with the crudeness would be better because many more out there with established channels for the road and emergency.

For wilderness, I am not sure... As I have recently gotten my ham tech lic. KK6OUS and got a handheld and have been learning to use it. I have not found it that easy to make contact. Especially when we have been on the road or out in the field.

First, I have not found any frequency's dedicated to traffic or emergency.

Second, the range of the handhelds are not that far... Unless you are connecting to a repeater. Which, you need to know the repeater frequency where you are. Easy for where you live, but more difficult when out and about and far from home. I have an app on my phone that lets me know the repeater frequency's where I am. Except, this winter when we were far out an did not have cell service, and I did not look up the frequency's before hand. I let my radio search and waited to hear someone. Didn't happen. If we had an emergency, the radio would not have been much help.

I am working on practicing more, but finding, ham is not super easy to find the frequency and make contact.

[megahurst1964]

Wintersun: If I read you right you have stated that there is no amateur frequencies in the VHF range. I believe the amateur band of 50 - 54 Mhz known as 6 meters, 144-148, known as 2 meters and 222 - 225 (1.25 Meters) is considered VHF.

The VHF (very high frequency) range of the radio spectrum is the band extending from 30 MHz to 300 MHz

[Surfrat]

Oldme wrote:
I installed a CB.

The wife could not see why.
After a detour last year that closed
part of the Alabama interstate for 24 hours
and being able to find fuel and other needs,
thanks to the CB, she is a believer.

I would think few hams are on the road.
Mainly due to licensing requirements and
equipment costs.

Exactly the reason I have one. Same thing happened on I-95 couple of years ago. Truckers talk may be a little crude but if things start to slow down on the road the CB gets turned on quick.

[wintersun]

A hand held radio like the FRS and GMRS are prohibited from having a detachable antenna by the federal government. So the antenna is broadcasting the RF inches from the user's head.

Check the FCC regs if you actually want information and not the opinions of people to lazy to check the facts. The output Watts is also restricted by the FCC for these hand held radios.

The only way to get more power from a GMRS or VHF radio is to get a mobile unit that has a separate antenna. Then you can put the antenna higher and improve the range and at the same time have it further from people's heads.

Fortunately people put antennas higher to get more range without having to be bright enough to realize that there is a hazard in having RF output at head level, though this still happens from time to time with radar installations on private boats.

By the way the website is at www.fcc.gov for those who want to download the regs.

[Oldme]

I installed a CB.

The wife could not see why.
After a detour last year that closed
part of the Alabama interstate for 24 hours
and being able to find fuel and other needs,
thanks to the CB, she is a believer.

I would think few hams are on the road.
Mainly due to licensing requirements and
equipment costs.

[NinerBikes]

Jfet wrote:

SCVJeff wrote:

As far as cell sites being above the horizon, the opposite is true which is why they ALL are on low towers, poles or buildings. You cannot build an efficient cellular network these days from high sites, there are way too many users. While there may be high sites out in the middle of nowhere, they are the exception. Ham repeaters, and any reasonable base station can easily out perform any cellular node distance wise due to frequency and power.

Jeff nailed it. Also, some Ham frequencies can bounce off of the various layers in the earth's atmosphere allowing contact hundreds or thousands of miles away (almost like a fiber optic cable where the light is contained by total internal reflection).

We just took (and passed!) our Ham technician and general license tests. Now just a short wait to get a call sign and an entry in the FCC database.

As well as the tail of a comet, Skylab and talking with astronauts, and satellites. Heck, with the right band width and enough watts, you can bounce signal off the moon also.

[tc-lance]

wintersun wrote:
The limitation of Ham, CB, FRS, GMRS is that the hand held units have their output limited to avoid damage to the user's brain. Need a mobile unit connected to the vehicle's 12v DC for power and an external antenna to get much range. Even then it is line of sight so OK for wide open spaces but not for wooded, rocky, or hilly areas.

I think handheld power is limited more by battery life for a portable radio than concern about RF exposure. If a ham or CB handheld were to put out more than 5w, the battery life would be cut back to mere minutes of transmit time. As it is, my 5w handheld will only transmit 20 - 30 min on a fully charged lithium. So, I usually have the power dialed back to 500mw if that will work.

FRS/GMRS radios are power limited *and* antenna limited to reduce range of operation. That way, a lot of users can share the limited number of FRS channels. If only people would stop using illegal power amps on CB, then CB would also be a lot more useful.

Just my humble opinions.