Posted this in the backpacking forum without much response. Im looking for radios that have better range than the Garmin Rino. Anybody use anything that would be better?
Thanks!

Anything smaller than a vehicle mounted mobile is going to basically be "line of sight" unless you can hit a repeater with a handheld HAM radio.

WIthout a HAM license you are limited to low power transmissions

Any experience with 5 or 7 watt VHF handhelds ?

Been there before ... it's line of sight or a repeater. But if in line, range can be pretty good. I have good radios but can't even walk parallel down each side of a ridge and talk to my buddy.

What radios do you have talus.

Baofeng UV5Rs

They are 5 watt radios in VHS and 4 in UHF. You can tune them to some legal frequencies if you don't have a HAM license. They are far better than the FRS radios you can buy at Wal-Mart etc.

I'm working on building a portable "backyard" repeater. This way, I can take it with me, launch a ladder line J-Pole up a tree, and have a much larger area of communications. Just need to get the rest of my hunting buddies to get their HAM certificate so that they can use the frequencies. HINT HINT....

I have a pair of Icom's. They are rated at 5 watt but normally put out more. They work so good Icom quit making them. I have used them successfully at 8 miles in rough terrain. On road trips they do far better than that.

interested in the reapeater. I'm wanting to make a small repeater to put up on the mountain so we don't have to hike to the top to radio the other camps to check in.

We use iComs on the ranch where I hunt in Colorado. Some years, the repeater takes a vacation. When that happens, the camp can't talk to the hunters up on the mountain very well, but if you're on the mountain, you can reach the camp if you need to. Much better than FRS radios from WalMart, Radio Shack, etc.

Owl, did you work out the repeater idea? I'm really wanting to work out a lightweight repeater setup to bounce the signal over the mountain to other camps. I'm not seeing alot of info.

K_Salonek knows a ton about them.

Seems a perpetual frustration. Take the advertised range, divide by three, and one has reality.

Thanks I sent him a PM

My experience mirrors Reloaders.

I have icoms at our Africa camp. We can talk to the lodge which is 11 miles by way of the crow. These are little handhelds. The trucks also have them with 6 foot antennas. These will really reach out and communicate crystal clear anyplace at the camp. The Lodge only has a hand held unit not the base station model

It's not crystal clear but that range is repeatable. The Lodge is on a hill and the far corner of this concession is 11 miles at a lower elevation. Lower by 50-80 feet. Not like mountains.

I called from a mountain peak one late evening to my home 17 miles away in North Bend Washington. This distance measure was with a Garmin GPS. I was at 5800 feet and my home is at about 1000 feet elevation. I could hear crystal clear the whole conversation. This was after sunset in the evening about 9PM

Trying it again the next afternoon during daylight it would not work. But then worked again that evening. Funny how the sun shine seemed to have an effect on the range?

They work by an enormous factor better then the FRS bands which are simply rubbish for hunting or any use out side of a game of hide and seek for kids.

I believe Baofeng UV-5R and UV-82 are a fantastic way to go. Last 24 Hour Campfire Colorado g2g was on a very busy Ham Radio field day. From our location we made handheld 2-way contacts out to 35 line-of-site miles away with a portable antenna tossed up in a tree!

These radios are fantastic afield.
Drop in chargers, plenty of power for walking and riding line of sight distances and rather inexpensive.

Watch me pull using an intended ham radio afield out of a gray area by using the term 'in an emergency' any form of communication is legal.

There are a few frequencies that are slightly less of a gray area to use with a radio over a 1/2 watt and replaceable antenna Radio.

There are dozens of frequencies no one will know or mind that your using afield. Like say using marine frequencies in a land locked mountainous State.

The Baofengs will communicate with the bubble packed FRS and GMRS radios, like a boss. Again, a gray area.

Just an open challenge, if I may?
The Technician level Ham license is super easy to get. For real, there is a local 5 year old here that has his ticket!

Short study, find a test session, pass tbe test - get your license. Free Easy Ham Stury Flashcards

A Baofeng repeater seems easy enough, on the cheap: https://youtu.be/_KrH86Dzhnc

Amazon list all kinds of sources for these things. Baofeng Tech among the best for an American importer.

Baofeng makes an 8-watt VHF - UFH version. About $60 bucks, add about $12 for an antenna up grade (Nagoya 701) about 20" of lite gauge wire grounded to the handheld's chassis ground or antenna base for a tiger-tail (counterpoise of a diapole). And you have a handheld that will heat (safe, but very noticeably heat) your hand when you transmit.

Battery expected life is shorter, but you can transmit at lower power settings if the high-power setting is an overkill.

(Btw: I am in no way affiliated with these Chi-com wonders, they just happen to be an inexpensive fantastic product)

Thanks for the great advice. I've watched way to many of these videos now

Jeremy, I am about to place an order for some and they will be shipped out to have programmed. Let me know asap if you want in and I can get them down at the same time and bring them down with me

I use old military radios. They are good all over our 2K acre farm. Pretty hard to find these days but they are worth every cent.

Another comment if I may?

There is a reason the bubble packs radios don't perform like advertised, or like they should.
We all know what went wrong with the Citizens Band craziness. Everyone and anyone walking all over anyone and everyone's signal, the technical term is a 'cluster-fark' (or something like that).

Christmas morning would be a good example of how congested the FRS frequencies would be if all the Barbie-doll/Frozen/GI-Joe radios carried more like they could and several city blocks.
We are not talking about urban radios here.

Gray area again,
In an emergency, if there was a threat to personal property/bodily harm and the need to brake a regulation.
Those little FRS radios are intentionally manufactured inept. The stock antenna is not much more then a dummy-load. A glorified paperclip.

The formula for a 1/4 wave antenna is 234 ÷ frequency or in the case of the FRS frequencies (Cobra channel #5), 234 ÷ 462.662 = 0.5057687902 feet. Or a tad over 6" , bluntly put, anything close is far better then the stock paperclip.

Here is just an example of a bootleg'd 'Emergency Radio' :

bump

Hello. I have been a little remiss in my attendance to the campfire. Sorry for the delayed response.

I do have some radios that can be built into repeaters. I have not done it yet.

I'm really looking at staying within HAM bands. I might be tempted to go GMRS, but really don't want to pay $85 for a license.

I guess that I really need to get with it, and get a repeater built.

Jeff

Amen ! Need my hunting buddies to get with it and take the test. That makes life easy, as there are LOTS of good repeaters in AZ that could be used, and simplex when needed too.

What model is this 8W radio?

Actually more then one model above 5 watts.
There is a new tri-bander kicking more power. The added 220mhz band of the tri-bander might prove interesting through foliage, while still following slight topography?

Talked to a guy with an 8 watt Baofeng, extra powered 5R .
As it seems looking up a number there are more now.
The AV-82HP @ 7 watts seems interesting to me.

Here is a site that might be better then my guess work.

http://baofengradio.us/ham-radios-21.html

This brings a chance to mention perhaps a better antenna then the mentioned Nagoya 701 . The Nagoya 771 seems to beat the 701 by a slight margin.

I cannot imagine using a radio whilst hunting. Though I am still lacking a rangefinder...

So one must have a ham radio license to operate a Baofeng?