Our prop in Pa has several high low areas we have always struggled with reception using radios
Anyone have a suggestion on what the best units a re ive looked up motorola t645 but want some honest reviews on them before buying

Thanks in advance

Hi,
We use Baofeng ham radios off road as well as Kenwood, Yaesu, etc.
I like the handheld Baofengs, they are dirt cheap and if you hurt one, oh well. They work very well...

Pros- Cheap, functional, easy to program (See CHIRP programming)
Cons- Need a license for ham radio

But you can load FRS/GMRS frequencies and push them out at a higher wattage. The ham guys will say ILLEGAL but GMRS is pretty much the off road standard now.

Baofeng has a new 8 watt radio (output) that charges off a USB cable in your car and is very handy.

Antenna is far more important than output power. Far more. Are you talking handheld or vehicle use? Probably the easiest is to get a GMRS license and use a good antenna. You can also setup a repeater if you have the know how. If you are or are willing to get a ham (easy) you may have a number of repeaters already in your area that would make it simple.

Agreed.

Handhelds are line of sight. A good antenna will help some, but it can't magically solve terrain issues.

Terrain is everything. There's a reason antennas are atop hills and buildings. A well placed repeater can do wonders, but you'll still need to solve power issues too.

Surprising though, text messages can often be more reliable than voice. Something to consider.

Good luck.

Standard Horizon.

Zero cell service is our biggest issue

Don’t use the handheld marine VHF suggested above. They are illegal to use on land and don’t really work any better than the other options. The FCC enforces illegal use of the marine bands more than any other band outside of public safety bands. The odds of getting caught are still pretty low. But why would you when there are plenty of good alternatives that are legal.

Funny how they work here.

What’s funny? That they work (of course they do)? No one disputed that a marine band radio would work on land. This issue is they are illegal to use on land. If you want to ignore that law, go right ahead.

Are they better than ham or MURS, both of which are legal? Probably not. But hey, they are pretty cheap and if you are far enough from the coast I guess you don’t need to worry too much about getting caught.

Years ago we use the Marine band to play radios right here in the middle of Missouri yes I know you weren't supposed to but they work so much better than the other little to a radios available at the time.

Anyone of you 2-way users have a partner that waits 94 minutes to reply on comms?

Or is this just text message phenomena

No, we have set times to talk about what we’ve seen or if we need help dragging. Otherwise we don’t talk more than 30 seconds between 2-3 people. You don’t want to let those Hamheads get that vector on you…..LOL. No texts in “The Quiet Zone”, or at least they think there isn’t.

Cheap chinese ham radios make everything else look kind of pathetic. Get a license. or don't.

Bingo. Get your ham license then you can use repeaters, etc. I started out with an expensive handheld (ICOM) and then discovered the Baofeng dual band radios. Basically disposable radios with no freq lock out so
you can set up your own net. If licensed you still need to respect the band assignments.

We use Keenwood ProTalk handheld radios. I think they were about 300 bucks each but they work quite well. We also use GoTenna. That makes it where you can still text from your phone even when there is zero cell service. Just google GoTenna and you can read all about it. It works very good also.

I have four, including two Baofeng. I have yet to use them as I am in the educational stage. My one Baofeng has a flaw in the back cover so it does not close , but I believe I have the skills to fix it. I got them mostly for emergencies. Some much to read , so little time!