Map: Is this area too steep for GMRS?

[dreadlocks]

something's gone sideways electronically, apparently its a common issue.. was not til I got a TM-281 for my trailer and realized the lil whip sitting on the table I was testing with was beating my giant collinear roof top antenna.. got another TM-281 and hooked it into the roof top antenna and holly crap I could hear wyoming heh.. it does pretty good w/UHF on the other hand, bad filters or something I think.

might explain why I could never get rig software to talk to it, its in my basement server rack so I really really wanted to control it from my office but it just wont talk to nothing.. I should send it in for repair with as much money as I spent on it.

Used to take a shortwave radio with me backpacking so I could pickup BBC news and weather reports at night, but they stoped transmitting all that stuff..

 

[DaveInDenver]

something's gone sideways electronically, apparently its a common issue..

It's pretty common for the ceramic filters to fail. That's actually true of many (most I'd even say) radios built in the last 20 years. In this case miniaturization isn't ideal, they are fairly delicate and don't like vibration and heat. That's probably all it is.

Used to take a shortwave radio with me backpacking so I could pickup BBC news and weather reports at night, but they stoped transmitting all that stuff..

It'll be a sad day when WWV goes off the air. It's been on and off the chopping block the past couple of years to cut NIST funding and the HF time broadcast would be high on the list of cuts.

I just hope it makes it to September when the Northern Colorado ARC is planning a 3 day contest transmitting from the site to celebrate WWV's centennial.

Home

Celebrating the 100 years of WWV

wwv100.com

 

[snowfiend]

Thanks everyone for the information, in a few years when I figure out what most of that means I'll invest in a solution

We have been getting by just fine with the little radios and we know the area well with most trails looping back to the "main" road, but I was curious if there was a neat solution with some of the radios out now. Especially as the kids get older and start venturing from camp on their own.

No active repeaters cover the area based on that site map (not much in Northern California at all), and I don't have a radio that can reach a repeater. Maybe I'll just put a MXT275 + antenna in the Jeep for S&G

 

[Ray_G]

No reason not to put an MXT275 in the jeep-great radio. I'm enjoying mine.

Worst case you just find high ground if you want to talk valley to valley. A portable GMRS repeater would be a good solution, and not hard to construct (notwithstanding some of the other issues you'd encounter doing that on that band). Likewise, building a portable VHF repeater after getting a HAM lic lets you grab some baofengs and you are set. Not a heavy investment, with just a little learning curve.

The experts here will chime in more I'm sure, that's just what leaps to mind from my optic as a basic level user.

 

[sonoronos]

Can you put a homemade passive repeater on the ridge?

 

[BigJimCruising]

My off road group uses HAM radios while on trails. We often get strung out and many times have found ourselves on other sides of mountains from each other. And yes we have been able to talk to each other on UHF! Not just once or twice, many many times and not even always on high power. Radio waves do funny things so there are no absolute rules. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Daytime is also different then nighttime communications. I've also found that moving a short distance can be the difference between working and not working.

So it may work at times and might not at times. But if your stranded or injured and need help I'd certainly want to have a high powered shot at getting help. As radios go they're not the highest cost units you can buy so it would be worth trying. Only way to know for sure is too try it. Also, if you're trying to talk to a base camp from mobiles get a very tall mast for the base station and as high a gain antenna as you can find.

If this is a regular spot for you I'd look into making a portable repeater. A repeater, antenna and battery will pretty much do it if you keep the talk short and for important comms. If allowed by law.