? Best Comms. for 30 miles on limited power ?

[357magnum]

Capt , I have & 8-10' Galaxy Marine Antenna mounted on my roof , connect to & old Xtal style Motorola VHF Marie Radio , I monitor it all the time . I have in case of emergency in case my wife needs me & I'm out of Cell Range . Believe me it works ! The range I get being @ 679 ' OSL & over 35' to the tip is awesome ! Only needed it once & I was out there , I don't abuse it , but nice to have ! IMO ( I know how range is " Supposed to work " @ my height i think it makes a difference ???

 

[2NC995]

Capt , I have & 8-10' Galaxy Marine Antenna mounted on my roof , connect to & old Xtal style Motorola VHF Marie Radio , I monitor it all the time . I have in case of emergency in case my wife needs me & I'm out of Cell Range . Believe me it works ! The range I get being @ 679 ' OSL & over 35' to the tip is awesome ! Only needed it once & I was out there , I don't abuse it , but nice to have ! IMO ( I know how range is " Supposed to work " @ my height i think it makes a difference ???

Hunters here have all but made 100% switch to Marine VHF.

Very few running CBs anymore.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

Capt , I have & 8-10' Galaxy Marine Antenna mounted on my roof , connect to & old Xtal style Motorola VHF Marie Radio , I monitor it all the time . I have in case of emergency in case my wife needs me & I'm out of Cell Range . Believe me it works ! The range I get being @ 679 ' OSL & over 35' to the tip is awesome ! Only needed it once & I was out there , I don't abuse it , but nice to have ! IMO ( I know how range is " Supposed to work " @ my height i think it makes a difference ???

Exactly. I'm not sure what the gain of that antenna is (too lazy to look it up LOL) but it is more than a typical CB omni for sure and with the standard 25 watts into it at that height coverage should be pretty decent. Typically marine radios run 25 watts on high and 5 watts on low. Ever see what the range is like on low power?

 

[xm49north7]

CB might get you 30 miles NOW at the bottom of the cycle but it won't get you much beyond 3 miles at the peak of the solar cycle.CB has it's place but I would not rely on it for that simple reason. The huge advantage that VHF has over CB is that gain can very easily be made up with the antenna system as well as the fact it is not subjected to the noise like CB is at the height of the solar cycle. I myself would prefer five watts on VHF into a good yagi over five watts on CB onto an omni antenna at the peak of the solar cycle.

Very good point. That is why I posed the question, find out things I did not think about.

 

[357magnum]

Capt , like said " Old " Motorola has the hand mic that looks like the ones in police cars years back . 25w on high , 5w on low just as you stated . Works very well usually in the summer months I use it to monitor my friends on their boats . Just something I had , not that valuable & decided to hook it up .Sorry can't answer your question on 5w , my boat is in my yard shrink wrapped for the winter so I can't try that route , but I'll listen for hunters , it's that season here & a lot use them . Hopefully I might be able to answer your question . 73 , Leo

 

[xm49north7]

I never thought of marine radios, It is not legal to use them on land here in Ontario, I know.....most people do not care much a about the rules of radio. Always an option to think about for sure.

 

[binrat]

I hate to say this as I am a " Legal Beagle " when it comes to infringing on my legal ham friends . I have radios that will transmit on ham frequencies ( I do not , just listen ) but as far as this " Prepper " thing ,if it ever really hits the fan ... ? Who's going to be around to enforce the rules ? jmo

There always is some self appointed individual out there. I once bumped my vfo and it spun to 14.348 when transmitting in the mountains. 5 emails threatening by the time I got home.

 

[Slowmover]

CB due to ubiquity. Millions out there. Not because of performance. Local party line as I’ve experienced it around summer lake houses and RV gatherings (dozens to hundreds).

Not a replacement. But a local necessity. In the meantime a useful roadway tool.

.

 

[xm49north7]

Yes I think cb is a good way to go, but can see that the best would be , all of them laughs. More radio types is always better. I will tell the wife; laughs.

 

[Slowmover]

The wife. How many radios being monitored is inversely-proportioned to belief.

 

[2NC995]

I never thought of marine radios, It is not legal to use them on land here in Ontario, I know.....most people do not care much a about the rules of radio. Always an option to think about for sure.

Widely used for land-based comms in the US, which I am pretty sure falls into the same catergory.

 

[fogdog]

I prep, and I've got all kinds of radios and my antenna farm is growing, but I made a simplex QSO 34 miles away with my Yaesu 2900 at 75 watts. My terrain up here is gnarly. My simple no gain jpole is on a tree @ 20 ft.
My cobra 29 (4 watts ) :-( makes it about 8 miles or so going through a Imax 2000 @ 40 ft, through the same terrain. I've tested this when my son got his CB. I bumped it up to 200 watts, and it didn't seem to make a difference on his receive. So I believe my 2900 is the winner. My Yaesu FT 1500M (50 watts) In my pickup while travelling in these mountains will go about 10 miles on simplex.
I have also had a QSO with my Baofeng uv5r that was probably 10 miles with 5 watts. The guy I tested this with wanted to know how far it would transmit, because he was thinking about buying one. The conditions during that QSO was pretty much a good line of site with no mountains in the way. Fluke? Maybe, but it did make it.
30 miles is not easy without a repeater or a big antenna and amp.
One more thought, I have a Mirage 40 amp portable amp for 2m/440, and it does almost as good as my 2900 when connected to the jpole antenna. It also plugs into a cigarette plug. Mirage doesn't make that anymore.

 

[xm49north7]

I get out well on my uniden 980, on am reaching out 30 miles daily to my regular contacts, my antenna is 2, full wave loops in a phased planar array, about 8 dbi of gain. So no trouble doing my 30 miles, I get out on ssb for dx well, but do not have any locals on ssb to test how far I can get on ssb local. I think 30 miles is about the effective limit on stock power, and that is on good antennas send and receive. The guy I regularly talk to, out 30 miles has a 3 element beam, with rotor at 50 some feet. We have good comms. Never an issue.

 

[fogdog]

I get out well on my uniden 980, on am reaching out 30 miles daily to my regular contacts, my antenna is 2, full wave loops in a phased planar array, about 8 dbi of gain. So no trouble doing my 30 miles, I get out on ssb for dx well, but do not have any locals on ssb to test how far I can get on ssb local. I think 30 miles is about the effective limit on stock power, and that is on good antennas send and receive. The guy I regularly talk to, out 30 miles has a 3 element beam, with rotor at 50 some feet. We have good comms. Never an issue.

so, did you answer your own question? My icom 7300 been making the trip to Europe every day for the past 2 weeks. That will be my go to radio. The antenna is a piece of black wire thats almost invisible. In fact all my antennas are stealth. There's always something on the at least 2 or three Ham bands any time of the day.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I get out well on my uniden 980, on am reaching out 30 miles daily to my regular contacts, my antenna is 2, full wave loops in a phased planar array, about 8 dbi of gain. So no trouble doing my 30 miles, I get out on ssb for dx well, but do not have any locals on ssb to test how far I can get on ssb local. I think 30 miles is about the effective limit on stock power, and that is on good antennas send and receive. The guy I regularly talk to, out 30 miles has a 3 element beam, with rotor at 50 some feet. We have good comms. Never an issue.

so, did you answer your own question? My icom 7300 been making the trip to Europe every day for the past 2 weeks. That will be my go to radio. The antenna is a piece of black wire thats almost invisible. In fact all my antennas are stealth. There's always something on the at least 2 or three Ham bands any time of the day.

DX performance means NOTHING when it comes to a SHTF situation where you need local comms. I have worked intercontinental DX using antennas that would not get me much more than 15 miles. I have had excellent antennas on 11m (Wilson Shooting Star at 45 feet with a horizon 20 miles away) and I could not work stations 10 miles away when the DX was rolling in. DX would roll in at S-9++.