[upstatePatriot]

I am a new member and have missed a lot, but what are most doing about longer range communication (over 1 mile +) besides ham radio? I heard
(rumor) that marine radios can be used 'in emergencies' over land to communicate, are there any other options?? Of course this means mobile
and not handheld radios. Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks-from upstate New York.

 

[Armordude]

Why discount ham radio right out of the gate?

 

[upstatePatriot]

licensing: all that paperwork, studying, test, etc. and Id rather be incognito to the government.

 

[Armordude]

There is no free lunch, good luck with your search for suboptimal solutions(IMO)

 

[technoprepper]

Marine radios may only legally be used on board a boat in the water, an airplane, or a licensed coast station which can only carry maritime traffic. The emergency provision only allows you to issue a distress call from a mobile station where there is an immediate threat to life or property or respond to such a distress call.

No license, no medium or long distance communications - by design. Without a license, you can't use repeaters, satellites, HF bands (ground wave, ionospheric skip, NVIS), phone patches, internet linking, or high power and you have antenna limitations. To get around these limitations you must have a ham, GMRS, LMRS, marine, or aviation license and some of those limitations still apply except for ham licenses of general class or above.

CB is on the upper end of the HF bands so you may get some long distance propagation. Groundwave is limited to about 10miles(less in practice), there is no NVIS, you may get ionospheric skip but it will likely be drowned out by local communications and it is illegal to communicate with a station more than 155 miles away which rules out most skip.

 

[Tevin]

I am a new member and have missed a lot, but what are most doing about longer range communication (over 1 mile +) besides ham radio? I heard
(rumor) that marine radios can be used 'in emergencies' over land to communicate, are there any other options?? Of course this means mobile
and not handheld radios. Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks-from upstate New York.

Armordude is right: You can't have it both ways.

This forum is littered with posts from guys who can't be bothered to learn even very basic radio skills, due to either old fashioned laziness or contrived tin foil hat-ish nutjob paranoia about getting involved with "the government". They figure they can just buy a radio and stick it on the shelf and forget about it until there is an "emergency". Communications beyond a mile or so does require some knowledge and pre-planning. There is no sleazy-easy, effortless plug-and-play solution. You will have to sweat a little. Sorry.

To answer your questions: Marine radio is just another VHF service. There is nothing special or different about them that makes them better than any other VHF radio. Even if it were legal, using them for land-based communications doesn't make much sense because there is no one around to talk to.

So basically, no, there are no other (legal) options that do not involve any kind of licensing. About as close as you will get is to lease a business system (and pay serious $$). The license would be assigned to the dealer you are leasing from and there would no direct connection to you personally. It's making things waayyy more complicated & expensive than they need to be, but it is worthing looking at if staying off "the list" means that much. Even after all that, your communications would be limited to within your group and you would have no link to the outside.

Tevin's Law: "Ham radio is so essential to prepping that, without it, one cannot truly say they are prepped. It is second only to water and equal to guns."

 

[Sweeper80]

I am a new member and have missed a lot, but what are most doing about longer range communication (over 1 mile +) besides ham radio? I heard
(rumor) that marine radios can be used 'in emergencies' over land to communicate, are there any other options?? Of course this means mobile
and not handheld radios. Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks-from upstate New York.

Only option your requirements leave open is CB.

CB is great for a few miles, if you're in the flatlands (like we are in central WA) you can reliably talk 60+ miles away, but once you get into the foothills, your range is cut down to under ten in many cases, and if you're in some canyon, you could get zero mile range.

Ham licensing is CHEAP! $15 to take the basic level test where I'm at, I've heard many paying $25 in other areas, but it's cheap no matter how you look at it.

 

[cobra2411]

There are free online study guides and practice testing sites. They're the same exact questions you'll be asked on test day.

As far as .gov knowing - so what? They'll come for guns before ham radios if that's what you're worried about.

I agree that a HAM radio is the best bet for being 'connected' in a SHTF moment. Since I don't have my callsign yet I can't hit the PTT button but I was listening to a repeater 30 miles away. Not sure what power they're using but a HAM I spoke to said he talks to a repeater that's 10 miles away with ease daily from his HT.

 

[Sky1950]

A little physics here: UHF/VHF radio wave propagation is controlled pirmarily by line of sight and transmission power to overcome noise of other random radio emissions (ie static, noise, etc):
See how high you antennas would have to be to get line of sight commo over a flat plane (like the ocean). Topography of your area's terrain between the transitting and receiveing stations also play a HUGE part:

http://www.qsl.net/kd4sai/distance.html

You need antrenna height and more power than 5 watts to overcome the noise.

This is why everyone is telling you no way without either repeaters or NVIS "skip". And knowing this and also knowing how to work these impediments is why everyone pushes HAM radio licensing.

 

[aramchek]

I suspect that it will be a failure of government that accompanies any large-scale TSHTF. Government will be in hiding, bought-off, or otherwise nowhere to be found. Depending on your scenario, they may actually need help from hams.

licensing: all that paperwork, studying, test, etc. and Id rather be incognito to the government.

 

[Mortimer]

You can get over a mile pretty easily using CB radios, particularly on the upper/lower sidebands with a properly sized and tuned antenna.

That's pretty much your only option outside of HAM.

 

[Tigard]

Depending on your scenario, they may actually need help from hams.

Well there's an interesting moral dilemma!

 

[aramchek]

Oh, I don't know. It could be viewed more as an opportunity than anything else. Not many generations get to witness, or actually assist, a new government. If TSHTF in a huge way and it turns out that ours is an emperor without clothes, they'll need good men at the table. I could probably set aside some time.

Depending on your scenario, they may actually need help from hams.

Well there's an interesting moral dilemma!

 

[Tigard]

Oh, I don't know. It could be viewed more as an opportunity than anything else. Not many generations get to witness, or actually assist, a new government. If TSHTF in a huge way and it turns out that ours is an emperor without clothes, they'll need good men at the table. I could probably set aside some time.

I like your thinking. Let's all hope it turns out that well. ;-)

 

[Ticom]

If you don't want to get your ham license, get some SSB CBs, good antennas, and call it a day.

 

[dok]

Don't rule out GMRS. In my area I get over 12 miles mobile to base, 6 miles HT to base and you can get great prices on rock solid used units on E-bay that are easily re-programmed. License is $85 but no test and your family rides for free, well sort of. HAMs fine if everyone is up for the license, and I have one as well, but GMRS takes care of the wife , in my case a no go for HAM test and gets me all the coverage I was after.

 

[CrypticCRICKET]

CB radio gets out just fine so long as you have line of sight. Half way across the country too with great "conditions" and a great antenna.

Anytime you pay a fee to, or buy a privilege from the government you're making tyranny profitable.

 

[aramchek]

I rather don't expect it will. If the government collapses, it'll just go to the second-highest bidder. But for certain natural disaster scenarios, hams might be of assistance if the government can't get its act together.

Oh, I don't know. It could be viewed more as an opportunity than anything else. Not many generations get to witness, or actually assist, a new government. If TSHTF in a huge way and it turns out that ours is an emperor without clothes, they'll need good men at the table. I could probably set aside some time.

I like your thinking. Let's all hope it turns out that well. ;-)

 

[Pathfinder11]

I have to say a big thank you to the communication guys on this forum- because of the educational information and encouragement on this site I decided to go ahead and get my Technician's class license. A few months ago I would have never considered, and was closer to where upstatePatriot is now, but it's well worth it, even for the amount of basic knowledge you gain about radios in general.

upstatePatriot- I understand your hesitations. If you're even slightly interested in becoming a licensed HAM operator, go to www.hamtestonline.com and take a look. I ended up using their services and passed the test within the same week I started studying.

 

[Operator60]

I am a new member and have missed a lot, but what are most doing about longer range communication (over 1 mile +) besides ham radio? I heard
(rumor) that marine radios can be used 'in emergencies' over land to communicate, are there any other options?? Of course this means mobile
and not handheld radios. Any reply greatly appreciated. Thanks-from upstate New York.

I find it hard to believe that rather than the "illegal-on-land " marine radios, has no one even considered MURS radios? Look up Multi Use Radio Service.
MURS will definitely give you the range you want without having to b licensed and doesn't have the lunatics on it that cb does! :thumb: