To HAM or not to HAM?

[Pauluminous]

Slowly advancing in overlanding in general,the question comes to mind on how to connect to the outside world in case of trouble. 90+% of our travels were and will be single vehicle, solitude ******! Having no means besides a cell phone atm, we have limited past travels to within a ~2hr walk of "frequently" traveled forest service roads, depending on terrain/wildlife etc. The main fear being a fuel pump/starter/etc failure, although putting a nasty gash in my hand this past summer was also a stark reminder that **** does happens.

Now here's where it becomes difficult to decide on which way to go when it comes to comms, 99% of the terrain in the our neck of the Pacific NW is dense forest, mountainous and repeaters are pretty much non-existent (100+ miles).

In these scenarios will HAM be of any use or are we stuck with SAT?

 

[Frdmskr]

Get your General or Exttra ham license. Then put in a rig that does HF and V/UHF. You can use repeaters when you want but in the back country you have access to nets on 20m and 40m that cover regions, continents and beyond.

I love 40m HF out east because there are some quite active nets during the day. ECARS, SouthCARS and MidCARS operate between 7250 and 7290 LSB daily. Not sure what you have out west.

On 20m 14.300 or 14.3USB usually has nets starting with InterCon at around 8-9am EST then the Maritime Mobile Service Net that runs starting at about noon EST until propagation drops. Both take any mobile anywhere.


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[EMrider]

Slowly advancing in overlanding in general,the question comes to mind on how to connect to the outside world in case of trouble. 90+% of our travels were and will be single vehicle, solitude ******! Having no means besides a cell phone atm, we have limited past travels to within a ~2hr walk of "frequently" traveled forest service roads, depending on terrain/wildlife etc. The main fear being a fuel pump/starter/etc failure, although putting a nasty gash in my hand this past summer was also a stark reminder that **** does happens.

Now here's where it becomes difficult to decide on which way to go when it comes to comms, 99% of the terrain in the our neck of the Pacific NW is dense forest, mountainous and repeaters are pretty much non-existent (100+ miles).

In these scenarios will HAM be of any use or are we stuck with SAT?

If you're sure that there is no repeater coverage then go with a sat phone for emergency comms.

That said, most areas I'm familiar with do have repeater coverage.

I appreciate the ease of use and direct line of communication that comes with a sat phone (only use Irridium), but that of course comes at a significantly higher price.

R

 

[DaveInDenver]

There's a whole mix of ways to go. Amateur radio is very useful but as an emergency option it needs to be used and practiced with in non-emergency times.

If you want to be a ham you need to be a ham, talk to other people, tinker with it, check coverage, look at repeater maps, use it so that you know how it works and that it will work when you need it to.

I don't feel it displaces the purpose of SPOT, InReach, sat phones, PLBs or cell phones and especially if you want a plug-and-go system that you never turn on until you need it then ham radio is not a good choice.

 

[Pauluminous]

Thanks for the responses!
Definitely understand HAM isn't "plug & play" which is one of the reasons why it peeked my interest, I enjoy tinkering and learning new skills.
From my research, which is surely limited by my current understanding and knowledge of HAM, repeaters in BC, Canada are mostly centered around populated area's.
Ie, we went to Gold Bridge past summer and the closest repeater I can find is in Lytton, which is "only?" ~60 miles (straight line) but with a decent mountain range in between.
And obliviously even when I reach the repeater it still remains a question whether any one is listening and willing to go out of his/her way to get us the help we need.

 

[Rando]

Ham radio is a fun hobby if you are a nerd at heart, however for reliable emergency communications just buy a SPOT, InReach or Iridium Sat Phone. If you actually have an emergency, you want something that is both easy to operate and works every time - two criteria that only satellite communications can meet. But buy a cheapo VHF/UHF radio and get your ham license as well, just not for the emergency part.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Ham has it's place in the emergency scheme of things, but more so when the emergency is widespread and ongoing such that regular communications are impacted. IOW wildfires, floods, hurricanes, snowstorms. At an individual level it's hit or miss. I'm an Extra have lots of options, HF and up. I still carry a SPOT all the time regardless of mode or activity. For mechanicals or non-life threatening situations I'll try ham as an alternative to cell phones, it's actually somewhat more reliable away from towns that I'll be able to raise a repeater here in Colorado than get a cell tower.

 

[LR Max]

So I just got my HAM radio license.

1st off, yeah, it isn't "plug and play". Not by a long shot. So if keeping it simple is the way to go, then stick with SAT phone.

Technician: Basically, 2M and 70cm radio. The benefit of this is 2m is pretty much everywhere. I've been enjoying tuning into my local repeater and just listening. Assuming you have great line of sight, a good radio, and a good antenna (vehicle assumption), you can hit a repeater ~25 miles away. Usually repeaters are at high places. Example: here in town, there is a repeater on top of a 60 story building. I'm pretty close, but I could hear a guy talking from 35 miles away, and he just got a "better antenna" and his radio was putting out 50 wats (he said he lives in a low spot).

General is when you get into the HF stuff, and it is extremely capable. I don't know how long range it can go, but it can go a long way.

Another nice thing about HAM is vehicle-to-vehicle communication. A lot more useful than other means. You lose sight of someone, you can give them a ring. Easy. Also great when spotting, having a hand held. The hand helds can be pretty compact and small. While they are limited, for less than 3 miles, they great.

Pitfall: After I got done with my test (BTW, if you have crap for memory like I do, the test will be difficult, literally it is all memorization), everyone told me "oh you gotta buy XYZ equipment". Na. I just bought a very nice antenna for my hand held and I'll see what that does. But no, I'm not building a ham shack.

Community: Everyone in the HAM community is pretty nice and great people. I met and talked to a lot of great guys. So that is awesome.

 

[e60ral]

If there isn't good repeater coverage, i would get an inreach with text messaging or sat phone. i'd carry an inreach regardless of repeater coverage

but you can get a cheap HT for not much money, so its not that expensive to jump into if you want to try it out

So I just got my HAM radio license.

1st off, yeah, it isn't "plug and play". Not by a long shot. So if keeping it simple is the way to go, then stick with SAT phone.

it might not be plug and play, but 2m HT is pretty simple. Study for a couple evenings and get your technician license, buy a radio ($35-$50) and programming cable ($20, don't buy a cheaper one or it won't work), download CHIRP, use the built-in function in CHIRP to pull all the repeaters from the counties you want, send to the radio and enjoy.

 

[Comanche Scott]

Cell phone, ham radio, satellite com device. That gives you three opportunities to reach someone.
If all that fails, keep waterproof matches and kindling to start a forest fire. That will definitely get someone in to find you. From then on you'll have a place to stay and a nice orange jump suit to wear...

OK so the burning down the forest just to be found is a really dumb idea, but having multiple forms of easy to carry communications is smart.
Here is something else to consider, in a "money is no object" scenario for the Ham side of things.

Kenwood TS-2000 with a portable antenna in the rig.
Kenwood TH-D72A Hand Talkie which has Sky Command ii, and will control the TS-2000
One big arsed battery bank to keep the TS-2000 up and running while hiking in the woods.
Can't guarantee the person you get on the other end will speak enough English to be helpful in an emergency, but at least you'll make a new friend before passing on.

 

[KG4NEL]

Getting on 14.300 and making a fuss should get someone's attention.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Getting on 14.300 and making a fuss should get someone's attention.

So true. In case anyone is wondering, 14.300 is where the Maritime Mobile Net meets so you'll hear stations on the coasts and sailors (civilian and military) at sea checking in. It has been going since the 1960s, it was a way to stay in contact with servicemen in Vietnam during the war. Also 14.300 is one of the IARU designated Emergency Center Of Activity (ECOA) frequencies. There are always people monitoring it, relay stations and generally a phone patch. The other two ECOA that are the same worldwide are 18.160 and 21.360.

 

[NetDep]

I may have skimmed this thread too fast but although I have a job and can afford most essentials, I missed ANY mention of an economic reality....

1) Sat Phone -- really high ($400-600) purchase and either a monthly subscription to lock the number ($30-50) or really high per minute cost....a lot of this depends on if you choose Iridium or Globasat

2) SPOT or InReach -- cost of unit ($200-500 depending) and then either monthly/annual or per minute cost.

3) Ham Radio - go to class (often free), get a license ($15 fee) and a radio ($29 - Lots depending on how much you want) and go for it....

Yes - each has advantages but please don't think you can grab that Sat phone and whip out a call. It depends on if you have a line to a Sat on your network - and that can get dicey depending on where you are. Best plan is to know where you are going to be/when and print a chart of when you will have coverage while on your trip. Economic realities do impact in my decision protocol and I had a Sat phone (Globalsat) and SPOT -- I have since abandoned both of these and will be doing a ham class and going that route for reliable/dependable communications for what it is that I do.

Of course, YMMV...wheel safe!!

 

[Rando]

Just to be clear - the idea of looking up when satellites are in view is not really an issue any more. This was the case with globalstar phones a few years ago when most of their constellation had bad voice transponders and only a small fraction of their satellites could be used for voice calls. This was never the case with Iridium, where you can always see several satellites as long as you can see the sky. The only caveat is the you need to have a good view of most of the sky for a sat phone to work well - in deep canyons you may have trouble making a voice call. However ham radio is not going to work in that situation either.

As a said before, ham radio should not be your first or only choice for emergency communications.

I may have skimmed this thread too fast but although I have a job and can afford most essentials, I missed ANY mention of an economic reality....

1) Sat Phone -- really high ($400-600) purchase and either a monthly subscription to lock the number ($30-50) or really high per minute cost....a lot of this depends on if you choose Iridium or Globasat

2) SPOT or InReach -- cost of unit ($200-500 depending) and then either monthly/annual or per minute cost.

3) Ham Radio - go to class (often free), get a license ($15 fee) and a radio ($29 - Lots depending on how much you want) and go for it....

Yes - each has advantages but please don't think you can grab that Sat phone and whip out a call. It depends on if you have a line to a Sat on your network - and that can get dicey depending on where you are. Best plan is to know where you are going to be/when and print a chart of when you will have coverage while on your trip. Economic realities do impact in my decision protocol and I had a Sat phone (Globalsat) and SPOT -- I have since abandoned both of these and will be doing a ham class and going that route for reliable/dependable communications for what it is that I do.

Of course, YMMV...wheel safe!!

 

[Thoreau]

Now here's where it becomes difficult to decide on which way to go when it comes to comms, 99% of the terrain in the our neck of the Pacific NW is dense forest, mountainous and repeaters are pretty much non-existent (100+ miles).

In these scenarios will HAM be of any use or are we stuck with SAT?

It's pretty important to know the infrastructure available, and it's use-levels. From the sounds of it, both of those factors score low in your intended area. Lack of good repeaters (stable, good coverage) with people actually using it (monitoring or actively chatting) can quickly make that route a dead end.

HF is indeed an option, but unless you intend to nerd out on it, it's not something one should reasonably expect to be able to put into action in times of need. Not to mention the sizable antenna needs which are rarely conducive to off-road travels. Even ignoring the need for practical experience and antennas that like to reach out and grab tree branches, it's still difficult to know where in the bands to go and who will be on the other end. (Do you really want to try to get some random guy in Indonesia to send help to you somewhere in the middle of Oregon?

As others have said already, more options are ALWAYS a good thing, but as an extra-class ham myself, I only consider it one tool in the toolbox. For that reason, my Inreach SE goes with me if I'm likely to be out of cell signal coverage.

That said, it's possible that that one tool may be the life saver. I had an incident some time back when a friend who was with me on a backpacking trip got separated and despite my fat *** making it back to the vehicle, he was still MIA hours later despite being a much stronger hiker. A big storm was rolling in and eventually I made the call to get some assistance. Called out on CB (more to stall in hopes that he would show up before I had a S&R bird hovering in the area) and was not surprised when that led nowhere. Called out on various ham simplex frequencies, including ones often used by the AZ off-roading community, nada. (50 watt mobile radio.) Scrolled through and realized I wasn't even receiving DPS chatter in that area, so no point in shouting out on their freqs (not to mention almost a guaranteed 'adios' to my ham license.) Finally went through every repeater programmed into the radio, kerchunking and failing, until FINALLY hitting a machine in Flagstaff. As luck would have it, my call out was answered by a local who used to even live in the area I was in. He relayed to the authorities and the ball was rolling.

Not 10 minutes later my friend emerged from the forest soaked and less cheerful than usual, so I was able to call off the hunt before anything even got started, but it was still a case of ham working for that particular situation and location. Had that one repeater not worked, I would've had to abandon the agreed-upon rally point and made my way back towards the highway and civilization until I could reach someone, and it would've turned into a cluster****. Having an Inreach would've been a phenomenal tool to have handy to escalate to.

I've also been in canyons where even that wouldn't work without crawling up some rock walls to get a view of the sky, so grain of salt there.

I may have skimmed this thread too fast but although I have a job and can afford most essentials, I missed ANY mention of an economic reality....

3) Ham Radio - go to class (often free), get a license ($15 fee) and a radio ($29 - Lots depending on how much you want) and go for it....

Small nitpick here, but ham licenses do not actually cost $15. $15 is what the ARRL currently charges to administer an exam. The FCC, however, has zero fees for new licenses and renewals. (Vanity callsigns do cost a few bucks though.)

The ARRL is only one of over a dozen VEC (Volunteer Exam Coodrinator) options out there. They ARE the most popular and easy to find though.

https://www.laurelvec.com/

Laurel VEC charges $0 for the exam, so it's worth checking to see if they have any teams in your area. They also process results a lot faster than the ARRL, which means your callsign will likely be in the FCC ULS a LOT faster. (It's not guaranteed by any means, but anywhere from the next day to another day after is very common.)

Disclaimer: I've been an ARRL VE for years, and was briefly lucky enough to work with Laurel as a VE as well. Both are great groups of people and cost aside, you can't go wrong with either.