Off-road communications

The Garmin has the help button (broke a CV axle) and the SOS (broke my back) buttons. The SPOT is much cheaper but only has the SOS option.

 

^^^Agree wholeheartedly...

 

Ive been looking at the Garmin InReach because when I told my dad what my plans are as far as overlanding/exploring, he freaked out because if something happens, 'I will be all alone in the middle of nowhere, up shit creek.' So I figured if I just get a Garmin, he can track me and not stress out. He old and I don't need him constantly worrying about me when I'm on vacation trying to have fun.

 

My mother-in-law was the one who always told my wife and I to just let her know when we got *back* form a climbing trip so she wouldn't be sitting there worrying about us falling off some 1000 foot cliff for a week.

I guess we're getting into the territory of the "going it alone" sticky, but I really like the idea of the Garmin, too since you can actually send messages ("send beer") and not just an emergency SOS.

 

Buying a ham radio and not actually using it until an emergency is like having a firearm that you never practice with.

Just get the inReach. Best tool hands down.

 

Not sure where your getting our info. An average VHF/UHF "mobile rig" is 50 watts, and in clear conditions, can reach 50+ miles.

Bad advice. NO unlicensed person should EVER transmit on the HAM bands.

Not exactly. VHF is more prone to "ducting" than UHF, but UHF is a little more impervious to obsticals/barriers than VHF.

73 de N8WCT

 

Okay, more than a "few miles", but just making a point that your typical HT, which is what I was referring to, has only around 4-5W (typical) and without a repeater, you are NOT going to reach out that far!!! My Yaesu 2m mobile is 55W max itself. And, I very much agree with the UHF comment!!!

Btw, I'm not "giving advice" as that is what people are going to do regardless of what I say and I'm NOT about to go up to someone and start some fight, especially while out on a trail!!! You can, I'm not!!!

 

Negative. I can talk station to station across the world without a repeater on the HF (High Frequency) bands.

 

LOL, again, I understand all of that... Again, I'm mainly talking about repeater type setups and not talking about skip as, that I'm aware of, most people won't be doing regarding the off-road community.

 

Copy, but you said "hundreds of miles". Not sure why the "...off road community." would have to have, or need that capability.

73.

 

Yeah, really "my bad" and I do apologize for that!!! But TRUST ME, I really do do my very BEST to try to get these guys NOT to TX without a license, but, again, I don't have control over someone and on top of it, some of these guys are pretty damn BIG, LOL!!!

Finally, I was talking about the off-road community dealing with "skip" on HF. Most of the people I've met in the off-road community don't deal with RF stuff other than what they use on the trails. Personally, I'd rather use CB on a trail!!! You don't have to need to bother with all of the rules of HAM and what not. Just get on the radio and talk about whatever needs to be said while you're doing the trail to make sure people know what's going on up ahead and/or behind.

Again, sorry and I apologize for the confusion. I can say that I'm learning some new information about InReach and other forms that I'm not used to and/or even know about. Pretty interesting I must say!!!

73
clear

 

As an inreach owner, they're amazing. I've used mine from Alaska down to Patagonia, with no issues. Messages go in/out well, people at home are able to track you via website, and you can even get forecasts via inreach ( http://wx2inreach.weebly.com/ )
I have also had to hit the 'summon the chopper' button, and can verify that it works. Was on the side of Castle Peak (here in CO) when we witnessed (and were first responders to) a hiker taking 100-ish foot sliding fall with a suspected head injury (ended up being a severe concussion - was SUPER lucky). Got in contact with SAR via the inreach, and ended up 5ish hours later with a helicopter evacuation of the patient. We were able to reliably get messages in/out every 5-10 minutes, despite being in a bowl with only views of ~40% of the sky. Cell phones were useless, it was a 5 hour hike out to good reception, sherrif's deputy (first professional to arrive) couldn't get tx out with his radio, and the first SAR folks on the scene had very limited luck with their satphone.

 

Like I was saying in an earlier post, I'm definitely learning something here!!!

 

Stories like this are definitely leaning me in the direction of getting an inreach. I generally balk at the whole subscription service for things I only use occasionally, but with my Taco build moving along (not a daily driver anymore) I will be spending more time in the dirt away from cell towers.

I really think this is the future of communications, anyway. As more/better satellites are launched, this will likely replace cell phones in the not too distant future.

 

That is scary AF. I agree with pretty much everything @WileECoyote has pointed out. But the biggest HF rig in the world won't help you much in a situation like that. Reading this has me thinking about completing the trifecta of comms, cell phone, HAM, satellite.

 

Yeah, thinking about where we were, it probably would have been at least another two hours for someone to re-climb Castle to get cell coverage, or 5 hours to hike out to cell coverage, and then all they'd be able to say is 'someone took a fall'. There was no way we were walking the patient out (learned later I shouldn't have even moved them as far as we did, very thankful we didn't do any damage to them).

Back to the OP's question, I don't know much about radios (learning from this thread myself), but I've always felt comfortable in the backcountry with a cell phone and an inreach. It hasn't let me down yet. I do keep a set of FRS/GMRS radios in the truck, but have no expectations of using them in an emergency situation, more just for convenience and coordination on the trails.

 

Regarding FRS/GMRS radios, technically, you need a license to use the "GMRS" freq channels. From my understanding on how to obtain the GMRS license is, you just pay the FCC for your call sign, there is NO TEST, and it is good for about 5yrs or so. Also, from my understanding is that there are actual "GMRS repeaters" as well that you can use to "extend your range". Those radios are only 0.5W max output power and you are NOT going to get very much range even though they claim 20mi, 36mi, etc. I know on mine, because I actually had to use it on a trip, I was able to actually reach at least 1.5mi... approx. All I know is that I could no longer see my sister in the car ahead of us. Now, keep in mind that when TX'ing from within the vehicles cab itself, you're killing your TX range!!! From my personal experiences, this goes for any HT (i.e. Hand Transceiver), whether it is a HAM HT, CB HT, GMRS/FRS HT, etc. Mind you, this is strictly radio-to-radio and when you start involving repeaters and such that work by picking up weak signals and re-transmitting, it is slightly different, but in either case, you're still not TX'ing as far if you are inside your vehicle. I hope this all made sense so far? The FRS freq channels are NO LICENSE required at all.

I'm NOT recommending this, but you can communicate to a FRS/GMRS radio using a HAM radio and vice versa if your HAM radio has been "hacked" to outside TX channel freq ranges. I'm bringing this up also to let people know that, even if they already knew this, it is, again, technically illegal to TX to a non-family type radio device. Meaning that, radios (communication devices) are "categorized" and if the communication device is not in the same category/classification to/from the other radio, then it is technically illegal to do such transmission.