Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Best 2-way radio for rugged elk hunt

Anybody have suggestions for a two-way radio system for the mountains? Been looking at Cobra and Motorola right now. Waterproof would be nice but not all that necessary.

None of them work very well in the mountains where line of sight can be very short.

It will depend.. If you are both hunting the same mountain side, even if it’s a huge area, you’ll probably be fine with any of the new 15-30 mile units made by Motorola. If you are going to be separated by a mountain, say one of you is scouting in a truck and the other is scouting in a different truck. Not many radio systems within a reasonable budget will accomplish contact...Ours work good in rugged terrain out to 5 miles. 😎

brayirish,

As a licensed "ham" operator & a "storm recovery volunteer", I have considerable experience with 2-way radios of numerous sorts.

NONE of the "prepackaged" & CHEAP sort of radios that one usually sees in discount & sporting goods stores (by Cobra, Motorola, etc.) works "worth a hoot" or sometimes at all in mountainous terrain, as the vast majority of such radios work in the VHF-high or (more commonly) in the UHF portion of the radio spectrum.
(I would NOT bet my life and/or that of my friends on cheap VHF/UHF radios that MAY well work POORLY or NOT at all in an emergency. - During one east coast hurricane recovery event that I worked, some radios & at some times wouldn't "talk" a 1/4 of a mile 100% of the time & seldom successfully beyond 2 miles.)

As I told a TX DPS senior supervisor, who was looking for a suitable radio system for the rough terrain/mountainous areas along the TX/Mexico border, VHF-high & especially UHF radios are "line of sight" & therefore work poorly, IF AT ALL, in places W/O a more or less direct line from one radio to the other.

ImVho, what the DPS agent & you need are COMMERCIAL-INDUSTRIAL QUALITY, LOW-BAND FM (that's between about 25 & 50 MHZ) radios..
(IF you can find 2 or more of the so-called "agricultural radios" that operate just above or below the 11M "Class D citizen's band", those should work WELL for your purposes, as will any number of other low-band FM radios of the sort that rural LE, FD & ambulance services have used for decades.)

I've seen several such LOW-BAND FM radios for sale on Ebay.com, under "commercial & industrial supplies" & at very reasonable prices.

GOOD LUCK on your search & upon the hunts to come!!!

yours, tex

satx

What kind of license do you need for those radios and what would a reasonable price be?

tag

Prwlr,

Thanks for the question. I should have said a bit about licensing.

The FCC licenses private citizens/non-profit groups/commercial enterprises for those radios/frequencies. = IF you are a farmer (as our family is) you can get an "agricultural license" easily. Similarly, IF you are a contractor, trucker, work for/own a company that has commercial vehicles & are involved in a lot of other commercial/industrial businesses, you can get licensed for 2-way commercial radio fairly easily/quickly. = As is usual for the feds, you must fill-out some "blank forms", pay a small fee & wait to receive your license before operating LAWFULLY.
(As police/fire/emergency medical departments have mostly moved to VHF-High & UHF, there are FEW currently licensed radio systems below 50MHZ in 2018. = Our farm is the ONLY "agricultural radio system" that is currently licensed on "low band FM" in Northeast TX & we essentially have 2 "private channels" near 25MHZ.)

Note: During "hay season" our family is ON the radio nearly 24 hours a day to "get the hay in" (while the weather is good) & sold. = We once had a VHF-High pair of frequencies that was shared with a local DVM's office. = Our constant "chatter" about cutting/raking/baling/storing/sale of/transport of our crops "drove the DVM's wife nuts", so we got re-licensed on a pair of "unoccupied channels" by the FCC.
(Our main business is primarily selling HIGH QUALITY bales of hay to the horseracing industry.).

Also a "ham ticket" at the Technician or General levels are EASY to get, too, with only a relatively simple "multiple choice" test. = NO Morse code test is required anymore.

Suitable Low-Band FM commercial radios are relatively inexpensive, if purchased used & in good condition.
(Fwiw, I paid 40.oo each for 12 radios, in GOOD condition, from a nearby volunteer fire department, that was "moving up" to trunked 800MHZ equipment, for the farm's radios that we have on all of our tractors, trucks, PUs & heavy equipment. We have since bought 4 handhelds on our pair of frequencies for about 60.oo each. - I saw NO reason to buy new radios, given the easy availability of crystal-controlled/used "low band FM" radios.)

Good-working "ham" radios start about 50.oo used & go up to several hundred/thousand dollars each, depending on how "fancy" that they are.

yours, tex

If you decide to go the Ham route, I got my Tech license with a simple phone app study guide.(free), and a small handheld Baofeng UV-5R ham radio is only $40-$50 with earbuds and charger. I did carry a baofeng UV-3R (which could be recharged using USB, but it has been discontinued.

Thanks for the info satx78247 and kellory.

Prwlr,

WELCOME.

yours, tex

brayirish; prwlr; All,

Btw, there is a LOT of "skip" on low-band FM frequencies, at certain times. = As an example, a college chum, whose family owns sawmills, cuts/sells pulpwood & has about a dozen log-trucks, has a "forestry radio license". All of their fixed facilities & vehicles have 2-way radios. - The business ventures, which are out from Livingston, TX are in the "forestry & timber products" low-split, low-band, FM frequencies.

One night a few years ago, Rob P_________ was surprised to hear another & unfamiliar feminine voice on "his" frequency. Expecting to discover an UNLICENSED "outlaw" using their frequency, he answered the woman.
(There ARE "outlaw stations" out there in the USA. - Getting caught transmitting W/O a license will usually get the "outlaw" HEAVILY fined.)
The lady's timber company was licensed on the same frequency but she was at a fixed station near Watertown, NY. - Turns out that there are a total of FOUR forestry companies "sharing that frequency" in the USA.
(REMEMBER: Do NOT forget that, even though you may not ever hear anyone speaking on "your frequency", that someone MAY be receiving your transmissions & therefore do NOT transmit "sensitive information" AND/OR transmit vulgar words!!)

yours, tex

Not just that, but ANYONE can buy a radio and listen in just for fun. It only requires a license to transmit, so always behave as if someone is monitoring you.

As always, you are welcome to any knowledge I can provide.
I was annoyed when the Baofeng UV-3R was discontinued (mine is damaged) because it is the only one I know of that could be recharged USB which my solar charger puts out. It meant I could recharge anywhere.

kellory,

That's WHY that I love the old-school commercial MIDLAND, GE & MOTOROLA radios, converted to the FM ham bands.
OR
The REALLY old Motorola & GE "rock-bound" mobiles are STILL USEFUL on industrial frequencies & in DUSTY/rough terrain.

FOR EXAMPLE: The 110W Midland 70 series of industrial transceivers has 80 channels (expandable to 160) & works well on 50-54 & 144-148 MHZ. - PC-programmable, too.

Also, both sorts of mobiles are tougher, as a mobile in a heavy-duty truck/Jeep/PU/car, "than a 2.oo steak".

yours, tex

I had a pair of Motorola transceivers with twistlock batteries that worked well and good range, but might have been an anvil in my pack. Heavy as original sin. I could carry 10 spare radios for less weight and space.

Edit: my company stopped using radios when the last repeater tower locally sold out to become a cell tower. At that time, our range dropped from at least 100miles to 6-8 on a good day. We went to cells.

FRS is Family Radio Service. No license, 460-some odd MHz that is UHF mentioned above. Nearly all the inexpensive radios are FRS: Cobra, Midland, Motorola (actually designed by a company called "Giant" and made in China People's Radio Factory No 46, the only Motorola employee to have any contact with those radios is the accountant who cashes the royalty check for the use of the name).

usually sold as a pair for $60

the "range" is just a marketing slogan. You will get much much less range in flat treed terrain, much much less to nothing in steep canyons and mountains and longer range mountain top to mountain top line of sight. but a mile or so is pretty realistic nearly all the time.

There are 22 "channels" (individual frequencies) assigned to FRS (used to be 14) and nearly all of them have a "code", I would never buy one that did not have this code. If two user groups pick the same "channel" but different code they will almost never hear each other, but rarely will interfere with the other group. Learn how to program them and don't use the default channel/code it has when its first powered on.

We use FRS in some of our local clubs for Line to Pits communications in High Power Rifle Competition (200 to 1000 yards).... channel 2, code 23 of course!

Ham radio could be even better, Baofeng handheld ham radios are better than and cost less ($30 each) than FRS radios. But every person using the radio must have a ham license.

if the area you hunt has a ham radio repeater, you quite possibly will have clear communications for tens of miles in every direction, except for the steep canyons and areas shaded by mountains from the mountain/tower the repeater is on. I wish my hunting partners would all get ham licenses. But we typically never get so far away that FRS doesn't work, well one trip we did, but climbing a hill got me back in range....

FRS are notoriously cheaply built and the batteries die at annoying times. I usually have several spare radios in the truck and everyone hunting partner I give a radio to gets spare batteries. (if they come with chargeable batteries, those will have a terrible usable life, plan on using Alkaline batteries on hunts.)

MURS (Multi-Use Radio Service) is 5 channels in the 150 MHz range (VHF High) no license but very hard to find radios for that band.

GMRS radios require a license that is good for the whole family and only the family, not all your friends and hunting buddies, they need their own $65 license. Radios tend to cost more >$100 also in the 460 MHz UHF band like FRS. but the range is likely to be a bit better due to power level and radio quality. There are GMRS repeaters but not nearly as many as ham repeaters.

Marine radios 150 MHz VHF range are priced like GMRS but are only legal on boats on water.

Most other "commercial" type radios require some kind of business (or as mentioned agricultural) license, which likely limits their use to the business geographical area and perhaps business use, so they might not be legal for hunting.

Poole

GMRS radios are good, but buy the license. The most important advice I can give you about 2-way radios is to never buy any where all the settings, specially if turning it on and controlling the volume has to be done through the menu. What you want to buy is a set of radios that you both turn on and control the volume with a rotary knob. Don't even look at radios that to turn on and also to control the volume is done with push buttons, nor radios that when turned on always have a LED blinking light that comes on every few seconds. The radios where everything, including turning ON and increasing/decreasing the volume is done with push buttons use a lot of battery power, and the LED coming on/off also drains the battery, although slowly. I have both types of radios, so what I am trying to tell you is true.

Yes, some of the settings such as channel number and a myriad of other stuff has to be done with the LED menu, but you don't want to turn it it on by pressing and holding a button for a few seconds, nor to increase/decrease the volume through the display. Also, you don't want any blinking LEDs whenever the radio is on.

HAM radio is the best, of course, but don't forget that marine radios are also quite good, as well as GMRS channels. 2-way radios with GMRS channels aren as expensive as told above. Your pocket is the limit, but you can buy a pair for around $40.00 on the low end, and pay more if you want a built-in GPS with map features, plus texting. Yes, some allow you to text between identical units nearby.

Finally, regardless of radio, have spare Alkaline batteries.

How do radios compare in price and usefulness to satellite phones? I've never used either and don't know how well they do in the mountains. I know you can rent the phones, though, and pay by the minute so you don't have to lay out hundreds for them.

You might also consider the Rino radio/GPS. It allows for radio as well as it can keep track of your location and the location of every other radio in your group.

https://youtu.be/sjMcXDbzp-8

There are several varieties, and made by Garmin.

We used to use Marine radios. Had one I used in my boat, mounted in my Jeep. I always carried a hand held. Didn’t expect any tug boats in Deep South texas. Hasbeen