VHF/UHF HT for emergency use?

[prerunner1982]

Where are you located and where do you plan on hiking?

 

[DaveInDenver]

I believe only one of the stories I listed involved the ham being the one needing to be evac'd, all others were hams who happened upon the incident and were able to provide assistance.

Which is the foundation for the amateur service!

Basis and purpose.
The rules and regulations in this part are designed to provide an amateur radio service having a fundamental purpose as expressed in the following principles:
(a) Recognition and enhancement of the value of the amateur service to the public as a voluntary noncommercial communication service, particularly with respect to providing emergency communications.
(b) Continuation and extension of the amateur's proven ability to contribute to the advancement of the radio art.
(c) Encouragement and improvement of the amateur service through rules which provide for advancing skills in both the communication and technical phases of the art.
(d) Expansion of the existing reservoir within the amateur radio service of trained operators, technicians, and electronics experts.
(e) Continuation and extension of the amateur's unique ability to enhance international goodwill.

 

[Phoo]

prerunner1982
Where are you located and where do you plan on hiking?

Currently marooned in southeast PA, likely moving to CT in a couple weeks.
I tend to spend a fair bit of time in the Green Mountains of VT and the White Mountains of NH, with an occasional trip out west. Hoping to get out on Rainier this summer.

 

[prerunner1982]

Currently marooned in southeast PA, likely moving to CT in a couple weeks.
I tend to spend a fair bit of time in the Green Mountains of VT and the White Mountains of NH, with an occasional trip out west. Hoping to get out on Rainier this summer.

There is an APRS digipeater up on Equinox mountain in the Green Mountains.
There is an APRS Igate up on Cannon Mountain in the White Mountains.
There are a couple of digipeaters near Mt. Rainer as well, mainly one on Shriner Peak.
APRS may be something to look into. You can get HTs that have it built in or get an external TNC such as a Moblinkd that bluetooths to your phone and uses an app called APRSdroid, it does not require cell service to work. I use this setup but connected to a mobile radio in my Jeep. In addition to beaconing your position you can also send SMS Text messages and short emails.

Here is a linked repeater system in PA/MD. http://www.wanrepeater.net/wan-repeater-listing/
Here is a list of linked repeater systems in CT: http://www.ctares.org/files/linkrepeaters.htm#otw
Note that there are DMR, D-star, and NXDN repeaters listed...these take special radios.

Reapeaterbook.com can be a good resource to locate repeater systems, however it is only as good as the info submitted and it sometimes doesn't get updated so a repeater may show as active when it is no longer in use.

 

[Mtn Mike]

I do a lot of hiking, backcountry skiing, and SOTA activation's with my HT's. They can be very effective for comms as long as you plan ahead. As has been mentioned, research and program in popular repeaters, and know their coverage footprints. You can also extend the range of your HT with various external antennas. Install a BNC (bayonet style) antenna connector so you can swap out antenna's based on your needs at the time. I have five different antenna's that I use for my HT depending on the situation. No HT will beat a 75 watt mobile radio, but with some forethought they do work well.

 

[Scoutn79]

As others mentioned an HT is going to be very limited in it's range. Line of sight I can reach about 5 miles with my 5W HT and a rubber duck antenna. My Signal stuff antenna will reach a bit further I believe based on clarity it has compared to the rubber duck.
So for rescue you would need to have a repeater, or some other HAM listening with-in that short range.
A mobile can reach much further, especially with the engine running to keeps the voltage around 14+ instead of 12.8-13. My old 60W with a 5/8 wave mounted on the mirror of the truck could easily reach 60 miles, not direct line of sight but no big mountains.
A sat phone or other satellite comm device might be worth looking into.

Darrell

 

[LR Max]

Many variances.

Here in the big city, I find ham to be of little help, really. The once every 4 years when we have a disaster it'll become relevant, that that is it.

A "good" HT (for reference, I'll use my Icom ID-51, since that is what I'm basing all of this off of) can hit repeaters easily within 15 miles. I have hit repeaters 30 miles without any extras. I was outside and had decent line of sight (on top of a ridge and repeater was on a mountain). If you get better antennas, on top of a mountain, etc, then it goes up. So keep that in mind. I've found that adding a simple mag mount antenna helps A LOT. It greatly extends the range.

The main issue is that cell and data service is quite plentiful here on the east coast. I don't see any real need for ham beyond trail communications.

Out west is where I see ham coming into its own. When I went out there, there was NO cell service. And when there was, you had to tilt your head, hold your elbow, and sacrifice a sandwich to the radio wave Gods.

So I guess it depends. I still carry my ham and use it to locate popular repeaters here in the southeast (I have a thread in the southeast forum with my data). I'm always testing terrain vs. capability to get a better feel for what I can and cannot do.

Overall later this year when I'm out west, I look forward to listening to the Colorado Connection and seeing what I can do with 2m/70cm. I'm really wondering if I get on a tall mountain on one side of the state, how far I can go to the other side (I know its dumb, but I've been wondering about it...so there. lol).

 

[Phoo]

Some research into my own question w.r.t. cross band repeating -
Some lovely diagrams from qsl.net

And corresponding text description:
http://www.qsl.net/wb3gck/cbr.htm

I found this quite helpful in getting my head around the whole thing.

Noted issues with this are:
Having the mobile radio transmit your own ID back on the UHF channel
Having a good level of control over the mobile if it misbehaves for any reason
Keeping the mobile from overheating at high duty cycle (assuming you are tuned to a busy 2m repeater)

It does not appear that any of these issues are insurmountable, but they are not trivial either.

 

[craig333]

When I got my radios I thought crossband repeat sounded like such a useful thing. Other than testing it out I've never actually used it though.

 

[colodak]

I have a Yaesu FT1XD handheld, when I'm hitting the trails I take it with me, obviously as others said, we have a lot of coverage here in Colo., perhaps because we have so much back country travel. When I bought mine, the first thing Ham Radio Outlet did was toss the rubber duck antenna in the trash and sold me a Diamond 15" antenna, I also have a magnetic mount antenna on the roof of my vehicle for it. In a situation like posted above from the NewX site, I would most likely be able to get a hit, especially since I was able to listen to others. I'm planning to install a radio in my vehicle in the next few months with a better range, and hopefully the ability to cross band.

 

[dragun]

Radio’s that cover the HF bands are generally much more expensive that for the higher bands. For effective use in an emergency situation, you would probably want a radio that can put out up to 100 watts. You can find more for lower power, and price, radios exist, but are not as effective. About the lowest buy in for a new HF rig is about $470 for the Alinco DX-SR8T. At the high end, the cost is $3000 -6,000 for something like the Elecraft K3S. The closest thing to “One Radio to Rule Them All” is the Yaesu FT857D, at around $850.