Alternative Communications??

[Avenger]

What kind of alternative communications do you use living out in the country?

Living out in the country has many great benefits. No nosy neighbors, fresh air, more freedoms that our city dwelling counterparts. My place, several miles from town, is my little slice of heaven. However, even heaven has some drawbacks. Dusty rough roads, long drive into town, horrible internet service, and spotty cell phone reception to name a few.

There have been a few recent changes to my way of thinking living out in the country. I explain a few in my latest YT video, but for brevity (and not trying to push people to my channel) I'll explain a bit here:
I recently purchased a semi truck to move materials, but its primary purpose is to haul water. I have a mostly dry well. I'd like to also haul water to help out with very local fire dangers. This year, we had two fires that I was directly apart of, one smaller and one where we had to evacuate. The fire almost took my house! This got me thinking about being more prepared than I already am. Specifically, what would I use for communications if my cell phone was not working, for whatever reason?

During a disaster, cell phones cannot be relied upon. People will reach for their cell phones first, and rightfully so, but this can cause cell coverage outages. Phones also rely on battery, and having an external power supply, cables, etc., is great, but when you will need it the most, the battery will be dead. So what to do? You need to communicate with neighbors, friends, and family during an emergency.
But it doesn't just need to be an emergency, it could also be for working on your property, or as a hobby.

Recently, a friend of mine who lives very remote, got his wife pregnant. When he is out on the tractor, he is typically in an area where cell phone reception is not happening. The CB radio in his cab is great, but only for the other tractors in the same field. How would his wife contact him, several miles away, when she goes into labor?? Satellite phones are expensive. FRS sucks worse than CB. HAM radio is a possibility but requires both people to get licensed which requires them to take a test and pay a fee, not something easily sold to the wife. GMRS is an option, if a repeater is near by, requires a fee to use, but everyone in the family is covered. What's the best option here?

For me, and my truck, got me thinking about communicating or monitoring with local fire. Not saying I want to be a firefighter by any means, but if I have 3000 gallons of water nearby for their trucks to use, it would be great to be able to tell them where I'm at. But what about when I'm out hauling water, and I break down in the canyon that is between my place and my home? I seldom have cell phone coverage in that hole and CB is too far, if it could get out. Many truckers still use CB, or at least have it installed in their trucks. Gravel pits still use CB's or so I've heard. If I need to go get some gravel, having the CB would be beneficial.
Working out on the property, a CB could be useful, if I had a CB in the house and tractor too. The wife could simply ring me up and let me know dinner is ready. Or the person helping me move dirt (either on my truck or in my tractor) could communicate with me without getting out the cab or honking horns.

After doing several days of research, I think I've decided on GMRS radio. Here is why: Currently $70 for the license with no test, that is good for 10 years and covers the entire family. It's supposed to go down to $35 for 10 years, but hasn't happened yet and I may not wait. I can use a local repeater and get some better range, but the only repeater in my area is the opposite direction from where I'd go to get water. Not sure how well it will work in the hole. With GMRS, I can communicate with FRS, those little cheap hand-helds everyone has. So the wife can use that when I'm out dinking around. I'd probably still put up a 50w base station, but not right away. Neighbors have FRS hand-helds, and in speaking with one, who is a HAM operator, is all about it.

As for communicating with local emergency, I ordered a Baofeng UV-5R HAM radio in 'scanner mode' to listen. I wont be able to transmit with it, but its hand held and mobile. Perfect for an emergency situation such as the forest on fire. (This is where the the HAM operators will break their fingers typing telling me that I'm going to go to prison and pay heavy fines imposed by the FCC for violating the 'laws' by using a radio that is not Part 95 compliant. Basically, I'm breaking the rules using a HAM radio without a license, on GMRS freqs... If you are a HAM and do feel the need to correct me, please provide the link to the FCC where they list the people who have gone to prison or paid fines for using this radio on GRMS. Besides, I'm not transmitting so backoff!) Anyway...

I still plan on installing a CB in my truck too, for the odd ball times I go to the gravel pit or need to communicate with someone over CB.

GMRS has the range, has a repeater (that may or may not work), can communicate with those cheap hand-helds, and neighbors are on board. The license is expensive, but no test and the wife will be able to use it too. I have no desire to talk to someone in Japan from a radio (though that may change, this could turn into a hobby) so HAM is not necessary and a bit overkill.

What do you use, if anything? Do you have experience with GMRS or HAM? Would you wire in a radio to your vehicles and have that redundancy, or do you believe that cell phones are good enough? What are your thoughts?

 

[sea2summit]

Well, I'd still say you need to go get a HAM even if she wont. It opens up a ton of doors and just studying the material will show you a lot of ways to get the most of your other radios, especially if you study the general class.

MURS has been our goto as a family, any radio will have line of sight issues etc but with the proper conditions we're able to speak approximately 3 miles from our property to our good neighbor's property.

GMRS is an okay tool but it does rely on repeaters because you have the repeater offset...something you'd learn about in your HAM class. Lots of people get sucked into GMRS (50W) or CB (4W...and stuff) looking only at transmitting power/watts but there's a lot of folks out there that communicate around the world, as in speak from their radio to someone on the other side of the world on their radio, with less. Learn how to use the radio, don't get stuck on how many watts it will push.

 

[oosik]

I rely on email and cell phone. My son lives too far away - 25 miles - for FRS or GMRS.

You might want to check into 2 meter Ham radio. It DOES require a license. It's range depends upon the location of repeater towers.

I have Kenwood MURS units. Around here they will work to about five miles distance. However - distance and reliability are weather dependent.

 

[k0ua]

As you know I am a licensed Amateur radio operator.

I will not Chastise you or break my fingers typing to you.

BUT, however comma, Have you considered the WHY the FCC does not want you to use your Baeofeng UV-5R on part 95 frequencies or anywhere else outside of amateur bands? Have you thought about that? And do you care?

Since you do not have your Amateur license and have not studied or taken any tests, you will not likely know.

I can give you the main reason: Baofengs are filthy. Yes very dirty from an electrical spectrum purity standpoint. They are not type accepted because they would not pass type acceptance. What does that mean you ask? It means you are not being a good neighbor and causing interference to others when you use it.

So to all the people that have bought type 95 accepted equipment and repeater owners who have spent thousands of dollars plus ongoing maintenance to keep the repeater systems running, along comes the filthy dirty Baofeng to cause interference to these people.

They bought their products in good faith and with the implied guarantee that all users will us type accepted equipment. By the way I own a Baofeng. I don't use it on anything but amateur frequencies where the requirements are much less stringent and the results of interference are less consequential.

Why do the Chinese sell these things? Because they can. China is not a good neighbor in the world, and that covers the entire spectrum of products they make. China is always looking for a shortcut, and we gullible and "cheap" consumers are always looking for a bargain no matter the actual and true costs.

There is nothing that China does that is good for America. Nothing. Everything they do is good for China.

 

[k0ua]

Now, as a Amateur Radio operator, I am not going to tell you that you are going to jail or will pay heavy fines if you get caught keying up your Baofeng. You and I and everyone else knows that is not likely.

BUT let me ask you this, just because you can be a scofflaw and you can get away with these types of infractions "most" if not all of the time, does that mean we should be scofflaw's? If you know you can get away with speeding on a lonely road "most" of the time, does that mean we should? A good example would be people on CB running thousands of watts of power and using the "service" as a hobby band. They are doing it, and they are not being punished, "most" of the time. But should they be doing it, because they "can"? We report, you decide.

One other consideration about CB radio that you may or may not have considered. Cycle 25 of the 11 year sunspot is now starting and will continue to ramp up for the next several years. With the CB band being centered around 27 Mhz which is still in the HF band of frequencies, means that propagation will be enhanced more and more real soon.

This means that nation wide and yes even worldwide communications will be possible on those 40 little channels. This means that CB will become more and more useless for local communications with all of the interference from such a large area becoming more prevalent. Don't forget about the guys's running hundreds and yes thousands of watts of power. You will have to compete with them with your 4 watt radio. Not saying CB can't be useful, I am just saying that as cycle 24 waned and before Cycle 25 gets started, they were a lot more useful.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

 

[oosik]

I'm a licensed Ham also- KC7SW. What James says is so very true. I operated during my twenty year stay in Alaska. I've never heard of a Baofeng. Been out of active service for too long. Back in the day - mid to late 60's - it was the "filthy" CB radios.

A well maintained/tuned Ham radio signal is more like a rifle shot. The CB signal can be akin to a wide open blunderbuss.

 

[k0ua]

As for your original questions:

I still plan on installing a CB in my truck too, for the odd ball times I go to the gravel pit or need to communicate with someone over CB.

GMRS has the range, has a repeater (that may or may not work), can communicate with those cheap hand-helds, and neighbors are on board. The license is expensive, but no test and the wife will be able to use it too. I have no desire to talk to someone in Japan from a radio (though that may change, this could turn into a hobby) so HAM is not necessary and a bit overkill.

What do you use, if anything? Do you have experience with GMRS or HAM? Would you wire in a radio to your vehicles and have that redundancy, or do you believe that cell phones are good enough? What are your thoughts?

I think your proposed actions to be pretty spot on. There is nothing wrong with installing the CB in your truck, keep the squelch tight as cycle 25 heats up It may or may not be of much use, but it won't cost a lot of money to find out.

As for GMRS, I think this may be your best route, and will likely do all that you want to do. The license fee change has been put off now until 2022 according to the latest news on that subject.

 

[stevewarner1957]

I am also a licensed Extra class Ham operator and a volunteer examiner (VE) that administers tests to candidates. I would encourage you to seek out a local ham club and see if you have any local 2 meter repeaters that serve your location. The technician level ham radio test is not that difficult with some study. Your local club might be able to assist with training options and testing. There's lots of free training online now that was unheard of years ago when I was first licensed. If you decide to pursue the Ham option, I would suggest buying a radio from one of the established manufacturers such as Yaesu, Kenwood or Icom. IMHO it will be money well spent

 

[k0ua]

One thing to remember on Amateur Radio you cannot discuss anything of a pecuniary interest to either party. In other words if you and your wife discuss anything that makes you money That is not allowed. Items of a personal nature are fine. "honey pickup a gallon of milk on the way home" Fine and dandy. "honey I have checked on the sale of our hay and you have to have it ready by Saturday to get the best price from the Stable".. Nope, big no no. You cannot talk about anything that advances your or anyone else business. This is why ham radio is NOT the best choice for most of the people that ask about these things. It is not just the study and the test because the Lowest entry test to use VHF/UHF is very easy, but it is the intent to the way you intend to use the Amateur Service that is the problem.

 

[hayden]

I have been struggling with this too. There are only a few spots on our property where there is cell service, with the remaining 80% having no coverage. The terrain is too hilly for radios - I have tried FRS, GMRS, VHF. This leaves two options:

1) Build a repeater tower/station and buy radios to work with it. This is a pretty big project requiring not only the antenna and repeater equipment, but a solar power station to run it. But I do have a location scoped out and tested using GMRS and VHF handhelds across the property.

2) Use a sat phone or device like an Iridium Go or Garmin InReach. All provide texting, and to varying degrees phone service.

I'm planning to try #2 to see how it works. I'm can pay a lot of months of sat service before it will equal the cost of a repeater, not to mention to work involved in building it.