CB vs Ham.. better option Ocala Natl Forest Florida area

Evening,

I enjoy driving the backroads of the Ocala National Forrest, in my 2 wheel drive SR. Considering getting another means of communication if no cell service, in case needs arise of being stuck middle nowhere.. and to listen to others talk and perhaps make for interesting drives and have way to talk back on mic.. have read Ham can do MUCH more with than CB this the Ham longer Ram.. But wondering which option would be better for my situation. Desire a small easy to mount system in truck with easy to use and read screen and mic.

 

Pretty sure the ham has longer distance broadcast than a CB

 

Do you happen to have a recommendation on a quality truck Ham radio for my purposes?

 

Ham radio requires a license that you get from the FCC. It’s not that hard of a test to pass but don’t transmit without it.

 

I understand, there’s a local club that meets once and week and offers the 3 exam levels. Just wanted more info on Cb gmfr and Ham so I better understand

 

For a ham radio, the sky’s the limit. Basic is a standard 50W VHF/UHF transceiver. I have a Kenwood that has served me well. There’s several brand name units and there’s Chinese imports. With all emergency comms, it’s all dependent on someone on the receiving end to hear you. Ask at the club if there are repeaters that cover the Natl Forest. If there are, that would be best at getting in touch with someone. On Ham, there’s also APRS which gives others your positional data and some other things. I haven’t dabbled in APRS so I don’t have a lot of knowledge with that.

When you study for your technician license (step 1) try studying for your General (step 2). When you pass the technician, take the general test even if you don’t feel confident as it should be free. Good luck.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/amateur-ham-radio-bs-and-callsign-thread.260643/

 

Ham operator here. I have my license because of offroading.

Out here in Colorado you are much better off by having an iphone that will do satellite texting (14 and newer) or a starlink dish handy. We have some great repeater networks but hitting them can be a challenge if you are stuck in an odd valley.

Definitely get the license. Hamstudy.org is where I have always pointed folks. It does take some honest study, but not too much.

Lots of decent radios on the market. Programming them with your computer is the way to go. Check out CHIRP and make sure the radio you want is on there. There are alternatives for nearly every radio, but CHIRP is free. I have a Yaesu FTM-400 and a bunch of handhelds, mostly baofengs since they are cheap ($18)

 

As @ZColorado said, iPhones can use satellites. Service is free for I think 2 years when you buy the phone, paid by you after. Or a Garmin InReach Mini2. Dedicated satellite network, supposedly more reliable than iPhone for SOS. You pay monthly to use and the device is $400 ($300 on sale often-enough).

Unless you want to actually talk to others in a real conversation then the HAM is probably better.

 

CB radios went the way of bell bottoms.

GMRS would probably be a better option.

 

EH Taco beat me to it, but I second GMRS. There is a license requirement but no test. $35 for 10 years makes the license less than a penny a day. I installed one earlier this year. No complaints.

 

Have a recommendation for a mic hand held truck mountable GMRS? Or would the one mentioned above for Ham also be capable of GMRS? Really like the small units with the hand mics

 

CB was great in it's day, but the big problem nowadays (being 27 MHz) is whenever you enter populated areas, there's so much radio static from modern fluorescent lights and other electric devices it's nearly impossible to hear anyone on it anymore (even big-rig drivers are hardly using it now). So yeah, pretty much useless now for anything beyond talking DX as a hobby ("shooting skip", as it's known).

×3, GMRS is where many have gravitated to. It's FM, so provides clearer sound, and being UHF (462 & 467 MHz) means little or no static, and full-¼-wave whip antennas are a mere 6 inches tall (compared to 8½ feet for CB). This also makes higher-gain antennas practical such as a ⅝-wave (about 14-15" long).
GMRS also has repeaters available (much like ham), although generally you need to know ahead of time what the repeater access requirements are (channel & PL tone) to be able to use them.

Another popular option are so-called "race radios" which operate on VHF (~151-158 MHz) (Rugged Radios & similar). These have more range in forests and in hilly areas than GMRS does, but there aren't repeaters available to use. ¼-wave VHF antennas are about 18" tall.
The license requirement for these is unusual... Basically you simply sign a form acknowledging you understand what the channel use requirements are within certain geographic areas, and you're then allowed to talk on them under Rugged Radio's license (but like with GMRS, I suspect a majority of people just buy the radio, stick it in their vehicle, and start talking on them without ever incurring repercussions).

Finally you have MURS, also VHF (151-154 MHz). MURS tends to get little use because there are no (legal) hard-mount mobile units available, but if you want to not be bothered by others talking on the same channel, MURS might be the ticket. MURS (like CB) is license-free (licence-by-rule).


I agree with what was said above though... If you want something that is truly reliable in an emergency, a Garmin In-Reach seems like the thing to have. In-Reach is text & email only (no voice), but this might not matter as much in an emergency as simply being able to contact someone. I believe the In-Reach also transmits your GPS coordinates with each communication too, so should make it easy for someone to find where you're at if you need help.
In-Reach requires a subscription, but they have different plans available (one of which I believe was pay-as-you-use).

Not quite sure if you're asking about a hand-held unit (a.k.a. handie-talkie (HT), or "walkie-talkie" of old), or a mobile unit (truck mountable). All mobile units do come with a hand-held mic, so maybe that's what you're looking for?

If you want quality, look for brands like Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood. These tend to be the most-reliable units.
If you want more value for your $, then look for brands like B-Tech, Anytone, Wouxon, TYT. These cost a bit less and work well too, though they tend to have a bit higher failure rate (and warranties generally are through the sellers, not the MFGRs, which can make it hit-or-miss getting a broken unit repaired/replaced).

As for using the same unit across various radio services (ham, GMRS, MURS, FRS, race-radio channels, etc.), technically (by letter of the law) this is not legal to do. That doesn't mean you can't use it on the other radio services though. Depending on what radio you buy, it'll need either a small hardware modification, or will need reprogrammed via software such as CHIRP or downloaded from the radio MFGR website. A quick Google or DDG search should find the relevant info you need (note that the previous information was for entertainment purposes only ).

 

I don't. CB Radios & CB Antennas - Cobra, Uniden, Wilson, President & Firestik – Right Channel Radios is where I got my GMRS.

Ham and GMRS are not likely compatible, but I'm not well versed on the subject.

 

"Legally" no, realistically nearly every 2m or dual band radio will work with modification

the FCC has laws about what radio transmits on what frequency which are separate for GMRS and HAM, but at the end of the day as long as you are respectful and turn down the transmit power on the proper frequency you won't bother anyone.

 

I've been running CB Radio since about 1978.
I've been running FRS/GMRS since 2000.
I've been running MURS since 2005.
Ive been running Ham Radio since 2012.

All of these technologies suffer from one problem - line of sight communication. If you have a radio in your hand and someone has a radio in their hand, you can talk to them if they are within about 2 to 5 miles from you. Those same radio waves go off into space for hundreds of miles but between 2 and 5 miles the earth curvature will pop up between you and your target. We'll come back to that in a bit.

Radio has changed over the time that I have been in it.
In the beginning CB was great. But it died off. There's an overwhelming number of truckers who don't really use it any more. They turn it on when they get close to a fuel depot or something but CB is largely dead.
FRS Radios are fine in a convoy on flat ground.
MURS is about the same.

The two I think you should look at are GMRS and Ham. The reason why goes back to the example above where Line of Sight is the issue. Both Ham and GMRS make use of Repeaters. A repeater is a radio / antenna mounted on a tall tower, building, or mountain. Because it is high up, you are no longer limited by the 2 to 5 mile horizon. Now you can hit a repeater that is up to 20 or 30 miles away. Out here in Arizona where we have repeaters on a tower that is on a mountain, we get an 85 mile radius. That really punches up your ability to talk to a repeater that is 30 miles away and it can talk to someone who is 30 mile to the other side of it giving you 60 miles of distance.

Looking near the Ocala National Forest on www.RepeaterBook.com I plugged in 29.115988, -81.792802.
It shows me that you have 0 GMRS Repeaters within 20 miles of that location
And it shows there are 30 repeaters with in 20 miles of the middle of the Ocala Nat Forrest.


My advise would normally be to start out in GMRS since it requires no test to get involved. Just a $35 license fee to the FCC but in your case, I think you'd be disappointed.
Ham also has the ability to do Auto-Patch. This is the ability to make phone calls from your Ham Radio to any telephone. You can call your wife from the trail. You can call for help.
You have 4 repeaters with in 20 miles of the forest that can do that.


Go for the Ham Radio. You can get Chinese Radios that (when unlocked) will do GMRS and Ham. Looking at the TYT 9800 as an example. If you check out the YouTube Channel "Not a Rubicon" he does a lot of radio reviews. He's a GMRS Guy but he points out radios that will do Ham and GMRS. And he makes a lot of fun of the crust old unyielding inflexible Ham Community that can be less than inviting at times.

Best of luck!

 

What did you end up getting?