GMRS or HAM?

[G-forceJunkie]

I'm sure some of you radio guys can give me a perspective on this. Looking to add emergency communications with two other households in emergency situations.
House "A" are house "B" are 5.2 miles apart with a ridgeline aprox 300-500' higher than the altitudes of house A and B. House "C" is 3.5 miles from house "B" with an aprox. 200-300 ridgeline seperating them. Basically, no line of site and no real access to the ridgelines.
Question: What rig would be suitable to get decent coms between house A and B and B and C? Will GMRS do it? What wattage and antennas necessary? If GMRS will not do this, is it an easy job for ham? Proper licences would be obtained either way. Thanks.

[m98]

Is it heavily wooded in between? Gmrs is cheaper but i think without repeaters it wont be reliable. Better bet goes to ham or maybe cb?

[nukechaser]

Amateur radio, by far. More bands, more modes (voice, data, video, etc.), higher power if needed and more spectrum. The license is free and valid for 10 years.

Also, hams are big on disaster communications, so if "bad things happen" you can still communicate even if you are not at House A, B or C with other hams. GMRS is a nice radio service, but has more limitations as compared to ham radio.

[XYZ]

Amateur radio, by far. More bands, more modes (voice, data, video, etc.), higher power if needed and more spectrum. The license is free and valid for 10 years.

Also, hams are big on disaster communications, so if "bad things happen" you can still communicate even if you are not at House A, B or C with other hams. GMRS is a nice radio service, but has more limitations as compared to ham radio.

FYI, the exam for a ham license is $14 or $15 for a tech and if you pass that day you can take the general exam for free. If you wait awhile and upgrade to a general license the test will still cost you.

OP - if everyone will be getting a license then ham radio is the way to go. CB is limited to 40 channels and GMRS has it's own limitations. You can get a mobile rig with 50 watts and you should be good.

[GrizzlyGuy]

GMRS operates up at 460 MHz so it is unlikely to be effective with those ridges in between. The higher the frequency, the more susceptible the signals are to obstacles in between. Similar ham radios are available at 144 MHz (2m). That is a lower frequency and might work but I doubt it (at least not without high power). Using a repeater is likely the only way to go for VHF/UHF. If each station has line-of-sight to the repeater, then no problem.

If all of you aren't interested in getting ham licenses, then try CB radios. They operate down at 27 MHz and might be able to handle the terrain obstacles (although signals would be weak). The best possible solution (assuming no repeaters available) would be for everyone to get ham licenses and HF radios (General class license minimum for HF phone). 75/80m with low dipoles at each station would provide a reliable link 24/7, with signal levels up around S9 + 20 dB (i.e. 'loud and clear'). The idea of a low antenna is to get a high radiation angle which is optimal for short distance communications (we call that NVIS which is Near Vertical Incidence Skywave).

Yet another way to go if everyone intends to get licensed is to setup your own repeater on one of those ridges. If it is only necessary for B to be the "hub" and communicate with A & C, and A & C don't need to communicate directly, then B could setup a remote base on one of the ridges and use that. You said that you don't have access to these ridges, so these wouldn't really be options for you.

[woodsman]

I have them all. Jeep and truck have CB and ham mounted with Handi-talki and GMRS backup. Also have Handi-talki and GMRS in BOB's.

Bottom line is that a good ham unit blows the rest of them away.

Quality of audio and distance is astoundingly better with ham when comparing same locations.

I have had crystal clear communication on a VX7R using simplex with 1 watt over 60 miles distance. YMMV depending on weather and terrain.

[Timbob55]

I'm a ham, so I'm somewhat biased. Having said that, why not get both? Throw a CB in there too. GMRS and CG's are inexpensive.

[mej16489]

FYI, the exam for a ham license is $14 or $15 for a tech and if you pass that day you can take the general exam for free. If you wait awhile and upgrade to a general license the test will still cost you.

All costs associated with getting an amateur radio license (or lack thereof) are imposed by Volunteer Examiners and their associated Volunteer Exam Coordinator. The license itself is free (unless you request or renew a vanity callsign)

[meaty-btz]

I currently run GMRS, but I am a flat-lander so they go and go and go.

One thing I have noticed in recent years is a massive fall off on CB/GMRS traffic in general. Anyone else notice the airwaves going quieter?

[redrex]

Our solution is this.

GMRS for the Tribe. That is I have enough radios for the family and friends. We use them all the time. Right now a license is $85 for 5 years but there is a recommendation to do away with the license.

We have an emergency CB in both cars and at home. These are never really used, for just-in-case.

Ham. I have not yet gotten around to this but in the not so distant future I'd like to get my license and have a couple hand sets and a couple base stations. The idea. Groups can go out with one hand set and they can communicate in the group via GMRS.

GMRS is just cheaper then Ham, easier to use and it works great. I've gotten clear signal between two moving cars in the interstate that are 3 miles apart and I've also used it inside a very large concrete and steel building to a distance of about 200 yards. Believe me, you would be hard pressed to find a situation that had more interference.

[XYZ]

All costs associated with getting an amateur radio license (or lack thereof) are imposed by Volunteer Examiners and their associated Volunteer Exam Coordinator. The license itself is free (unless you request or renew a vanity callsign)

Well if you want to get technical . Bottom line it'll cost you to earn a license.

[G-forceJunkie]

Thanks for the comments, It won't be as easy I hoped for

[ExtremeX]

Amateur radio, by far. More bands, more modes (voice, data, video, etc.), higher power if needed and more spectrum. The license is free and valid for 10 years.

Also, hams are big on disaster communications, so if "bad things happen" you can still communicate even if you are not at House A, B or C with other hams. GMRS is a nice radio service, but has more limitations as compared to ham radio.

+1

I was an FRS guy for too long, and dabbled in CB too. Ham radios are the most flexible, powerful, and IMO a very very high end solution for us consumers. If you can get over the hurdle of the exam, its well worth it.

The only other option you have is MURS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service

I adopted MURS instead of FRS/GMRS because most of my friends or family cant/wont be bothered to do the Ham licence thing, nor are some of them interested in radio communications from a technical standpoint. You have to be a little bit of a nerd to really appreciate what hams can bring to the table.


With the distances you mentioned, MURS will work for you, because of the flexible antenna setups the FCC allows. 2 watts max, but im sure any ham will tell you, you can do A LOT with a little power if you have a decent antenna setup. The only other downside is you cant... legally, use ham radios, you must use a Part 95 type radios, most of this has to do with frequency bandwidth, like those commercial Motorola radios you might see police or costco employees using. Most of these radios are programmed and left alone, so you don't have the ham type flexibility.

http://sites.google.com/site/mursradio2/mursradiocertificationforpart95

I have a few of each types of radios... but I know one thing... with my Ham radio, I can MONITOR all bands, and depending on which radio I have with me, multiple frequency's simultaneously. Transmitting out of band is illegal, which is why I have more than just a ham radio. And even thought I try to avoid them like the plague, I still have an FRS radio in my pack, just because they are common.

Edit: Asside from buying the correct radios, there is no licence or cost to using the MURS bands... So, I have about 4 radios in a pelican case for friends / family. Often used for camping and road trips, but its a fool proof setup. High startup cost, but these radios are built like tanks if you buy something decent.

Radio:

https://www.hamcity.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=61&idproduct=2250

More Options: Some will need to be programmed

https://www.hamcity.com/store/pc/viewCategories.asp?pageStyle=m&ProdSort=0&page=1&idCategory=61

You can use a home or car mounted antenna to extend range.

[GrizzlyGuy]

With the distances you mentioned, MURS will work for you, because of the flexible antenna setups the FCC allows. 2 watts max, but im sure any ham will tell you, you can do A LOT with a little power if you have a decent antenna setup.

MURS radios operate at 151 and 154 MHz so OP's intervening ridges will affect them in virtually the same way as they would a ham 2m radio at 144-148 MHz: they are unlikely to work over that path without using a repeater.

[G-forceJunkie]

Thanks. I initially excluded CB just because the usual bs that seems to dominate those airwaves. The 5 mile strech between house A an B includes going over Interstate 5 where the trucker traffic is always heavy. But if the frequency is within a range, I may give it a shot. I doubt household B or C would be interested in getting a ham licence. My requirements are not to call out for help, but inital communications between households say directly after a natural disaster. "Are you guys ok, what do I need to bring over" that sort of thing. We went through the 1994 Northridge earthquake without outside coms (and power or water or ability to extract due to collaposed overpasses and bridges) for several days. We now have 3 households with differing levels of equiptment, rations, etc. House A is the armory, House B is the rally house, usually has the greatest cache of food and water and best defendble position, and house C is the least prepped and has 2 toddlers. As of right now, imediate action plan after a disaster is house A travels to B (via duelsport motorcycle) for info while B travels to C. Coms would simplify this situation.