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Amateur Radio In the Backcountry?
bartle writes "I spend a lot of time hiking in the Colorado Rockies. Cell phone reception is very unreliable and I'm curious if carrying a small amateur radio would make any sense at all. I don't want to add too much weight to my pack; from what I gather, a radio weighing a pound would give me at most 5 to 10 watts of transmitting power. I have no idea if this is enough to be effective in a mountainous region, and I'm hoping some experienced Slashdot hams could give me a clue. I'm only interested in acquiring a radio and license if it is a lot more effective and reliable than the cell phone I already carry. Otherwise I'll just wait for Globalstar to bring back their duplex service and buy a next-generation SPOT messaging device. (I know some Slashdotters will want to suggest a modern SPOT or Personal Locator Beacon; these are suitable for the worst kinds of emergencies, but I'll point out that reliable communication can help prevent small crises from becoming big ones.) Are small amateur radios effective in the field, or are vehicle rigs really the only way to go? Or am I better off just waiting for satellite?"
Most frequently you're going to be talking to a repeater, so it depends somewhat on where you are in relation to the repeater. Having said that 5-10 watts is a lot of power compared to a cell phone.
KA0ZRW - now in WA
and don't work well in the mountains unless you and the other guy are both within line of sight of each other. Repeaters can help work around the LoS problem but there probably aren't many in the area you are considering.
jacking up your power can only help so much. it's not like the higher power blasts through the mountains. Higher antennas can help, but if you're already in mountains, you are probably outgunned in the height department.
Some form of satellite is probably going to be your best bet. Or some lower frequency (LF/HF) that will cover variable ground terrain better.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Communicating in the mountains is tricky. The low conductivity of rock means ground wave (low frequencies) isn't very good. The mountains themselves block line of sight making high frequencies problematic. Amateur satellite communication is low bandwidth. Shortwave skip works but is unpredictable. Your best bet is to put a repeater on top of a mountain (expensive and difficult).
Amateur radio probably won't replace your cell phone. Talk to the local hams and find out what they're doing. Maybe they already have a repeater for instance. You should get to know them in any event because you may find that your life depends on them.
Inmarsat. It works in the mountains of Afganistan.
Ham radio is a HOBBY for people interested in communicating by radio, and the technical development of same.
It is not a replacement for your cell phone. It is not a replacement for ship-to-shore-email services. It is not a replacement for wi-fi.
We are not the Police/Fire Reserve. We are not the DHS Auxiliary. We are not the NOAA Field Agents. We are not an emergency communications service.
(We -can- do this stuff as a matter of Last Resort, "When All Else Fails", but that is not our primary purpose! Many people forget this!)
If you are not interested in communication by radio or the technical development involved in doing so, DO NOT waste your time with ham radio.
You will only disappoint yourself.
Short answer is that it depends.
Are you going to learn morse code? It's not required for a license anymore, but a QRP (low power) rig on 40 meters can work hundreds or thousands of miles with a decent antenna if the atmosphere is right. QRP rigs can be extremely small and light, too.
Yaseu has the FT-817 all-mode all-band radio that comes in at about 1.2kg (just more than 2.5lbs) including the antenna and battery. It's about 5"x6"x2" as I recall, with about 5W max output. It definitely gives you options.
Sig??? I don't need no stinkin Sig!
...no.
There's no amateur radio transceiver that weighs in at less than a pound that would give you the kind of power or reliability you're looking for. Also, unless you're willing to put in the effort to obtain at least a general class amateur radio license, you'd pretty much be limited to the VHF/UHF segments of the amateur bands, which are not good in mountainous terrain unless you are certain you'd be in range of one or more repeaters during your trips. If you were willing to learn Morse code, you would have access to a small portion of the 40 meter band with an entry-level (technician) ticket but then you'd have to carry some sort of long wire antenna and be able to get it up into a couple of trees if you want a realistic hope of making any sort contact.
I'd say that either use a vehicle mounted amateur radio rig that can put out 100W or so--there are several neat little units available, but they don't come cheap, around $1000--or just enjoy the outdoors without worrying about communication. Hell, I packed into the Sierra Nevada for years without a cell phone (they hadn't even been invented at the time) or any other sort of link to the outside world. I liked it that way.
73,
de KJ6BSO sk
This ain't rocket surgery.
They're here now, although they are a little expensive.
9/11 Eyewitnesses to Explosive WTC Demolition 1 of 2
I'm involved in wilderness search and rescue in remote areas of Arizona. We have no cell coverage in most of the areas we work in, and only have sheriff's radio repeater coverage in about 50%. Amateur radio repeaters cover most of the rest. My commercial VHF radio is programmed with all the regional ham repeaters in addition to the sheriff's frequencies and every other wilderness public safety frequency used in the region. If I'm going into certain areas with especially bad coverage, I'll also carry a quad-band handheld (VX-7R) and an external 25W VHF amplifier. No matter what gear you have, location matters most. It is often necessary to climb the nearest ridge to make contact with a repeater, since valleys are usually completely dead spots. The only effective way to communicate from a deep, narrow valley is with HF, or at least 6M with over 100W of power. We use low-band VHF at 120W between vehicles and do fine in very rough terrain. So yes, carry radio gear. Know your area's repeaters well, though, and be prepared to seek higher ground in order to communicate. A SPOT locator is a very good idea in addition, though, and serves a completely different purpose from other communications gear.
I am a geek attorney, but not your geek attorney unless you've already retained me. This is not legal advice.
If you get your ham license, a 2 meter handheld might fit the bill. Look at the ARRL (arrl.org) repeater handbook and see if there are 2 meter repeaters in the vicinity of where you hike. Hams like to place repeaters on the highest mountops when they can so you may find there are signals available. Amateur hand helds are very small and light. A technician class amateur license is easy to obain. There are also personal emergency locater beacons (PLB's) similar to the EPIRBS carried by ships and aircraft that are available for hikers. You can't communicate on these devices however, if you get lost or stranded you can activate it the satellite receivers relay the coordinates of your location to air force search and rescue teams.
Most importantly though, don't rely on technology to get you out of a jam. Avy beacons fail, GPSs die, radios don't reach people on the other end. They are all wonderful, life saving tools but odds are you won't need any of that stuff. Read the Wilderness First Responder medical book, read Freedom of the Hills, etc. Go prepared. A vast majority of the time, you'll be able to get yourself and other people help without 'calling' anyone.
--Let's hack root on 127.0.0.1 --panZ
As I understand, you need the radio for a purely utilitarian purpose - to talk to specific people. You are not a ham yourself (not yet, at least) and likely the people you want to talk to are not hams either (otherwise you'd ask them, not Slashdot.) This means none of you can legally (or effectively) use ham radio. This can be corrected; ham license exams are not complicated, I took three on the same day, from no license to extra, but I have radio background and I'm not new to ham radio (I was first licensed around 1980, I think.) A man from the street will have lots of problems with higher level exams unless he understands things like the theory of linear circuits, complex impedance, and such.
You certainly can go ahead and get a ham radio license for yourself, if that is interesting to you in any way (there is more than one way to enjoy ham radio.) But you probably can't tell your friends, parents, or whoever is on the other end, to go and get a license - that's probably beyond most people's abilities, just like it is for me to learn classical dance :-) People are all different.
However if you only want communication then getting a ham radio and license doesn't make much sense. If I want to fly from SF to Paris I don't want to study for a pilot license; I buy a ticket, and a professional pilot will do all the flying for me. It is cheaper, simpler, safer, and lets me do things that I want to do - not what I have to do.
Technically, ham radio in emergency is the absolute best way to make a contact with another ham. Even satellites are not as reliable. Ham radio depends primarily on equipment that you (and the other guy) have. No need for expensive satellites that may or may not be in the sky or otherwise operational. There are many ham bands, and you can always find a band that works at the time of need. HF bands will work for short range communication pretty much at any time (using the ground wave.) In mountains NVIS makes sense. V/UHF is not likely to work there because distances are large, terrain - rough, and repeaters would be scarce. To be well prepared for an emergency you need to have an HF rig, and if you can do CW (at any speed) it's even better.
An experienced ham would probably take a small transceiver with him into mountains; either HF or HF+VHF. He wouldn't need much of an antenna - any long wire would do fine at his elevation. In good conditions he'd be able to communicate with the whole USA with mere 5W; in bad conditions he'd be able to contact a local ham to report an emergency (and he'd have his GPS coordinates.)
A new ham most likely won't be able to fully utilize the spectrum that he has access to (depends on his license.) He'd bring a UHF HT with him, and he wouldn't be able to hear anything. Also repeaters are tricky sometimes, they require PL tones and you need to know them in advance to elicit a response from a silent repeater. So you must come prepared.
In your situation it would be safer for you if you rely upon commercial methods of communication. They are better supported and they require hardly any experience. If you need the radio only to report an emergency then you can get a beacon for that. If you want to talk to your friends from the top of a mountain then you need a satellite phone (and lots of money to pay for it.)
Original poster indicated that his primary area of focus is coverage in the Colorado mountains. I do not have specific first-hand knowledge of the coverage area for amateur VHF/UHF in Colorado, but this repeater map could be a good reference, though it is dated 2006. It's authors indicate that a 2009 version is for sale in print.
A preliminary skimming indicates coverage in several mountain cities. I'm no radio engineer, but I would imagine that the Estes Park repeater would probably do him pretty good in Rocky Mountain National Park -- at least in the highlands...
Hi, dawson,
I'm a ham, and I'll say that the answer depends. Sorry. If you carry a small handheld transceiver with 5 watts and a rubber duck antenna, it's mostly line of sight. So if you're in sight of a repeater (not literally in sight - it could be many miles away from your mountain perch), you'll be able to hit it and probably find someone listening (but not necessarily). Handhelds work in VHF/UHF frequencies which are short range to begin with, your radio will not have a lot of power, and that rubber duck antenna is notoriously deficient.
I have two suggestions: a Yaesu FT-817, which is an HF 5-watt radio, and a good external antenna which will get you out on HF bands which are world-wide. See http://blog.makezine.com/archive/author/diana_eng/ for videos and instructions from a ham who does backcountry radio work with antennas and such.
Or second, a satellite phone. The last time I checked into satphones, Globalstar satellites were being wrecked by radiation, and their service was not useable. If I understood correctly, they needed to replace their entire galaxy of satellites, but they were moving the working ones around trying to maintain coverage. Be sure to check into that before you get a satphone. I've rented satphones for a week when I've camped in Death Valley, and that was a cheap and effective way to get local weather information on what roads were closed by snow before I headed out to a dead end. I've also arranged for tows for other campers.
If you want communications for an emergency, I'd go with satphones. I've taken my hundred watt TS-480 to Death Valley, but I'm car camping. I have to say that you get lots of answers when you call "CQ AF6WI portable from Death Valley" :->
I find it distressing that so many posters here have talked about VHF/UHF only, and in relation to repeaters. There's more to ham radio than that, there's more to portable ham radio than that. The satellite option was at least interesting. The antennas don't have to be large (look up arrow antenna), the problem is calculating where the satellite will be and when, and then getting through the massive amounts of traffic on said satellite.
Repeaters are great, but they only work when you're in range. If you're going to be in the rockies, there will be a lot of times when mountains will block reception. When on hilltops, you may get TOO MUCH reception, from far away, that makes it difficult to use the one repeater you're trying to.
If you buy a more expensive HF rig, you can get communication even from down in a ditch. Usually, HF communication uses large antennas and the curvature of the earth makes the signal bounce off a layer of the ionosphere far away, and because of the angle, land even farther than that, sometimes bouncing off the earth back to the atmosphere, etc. But the problem with this is it tends to be unpredictable. There are predictions that can be made, but they're only general. A bigger problem, for the backpacker, is that these signals are almost always far away. the NVIS method, "Near Vertical Incidence Skyway", involved signals that go nearly straight up to the ionosphere, and then almost straight back down again. The result is hopping over mountains and fairly predictable communication with low interference. An advantage is that the antenna doesn't have to be high off the ground, in fact it's REQUIRED to be close to the ground...but stretch out horizontablly, not vertical like a walkie-talkie antenna. As the antennas tend to be larger for the HF band, you'd have to make camp and set up your hunk of wire a few feet above the ground before getting on the air. There are other issues with NVIS, the only one of importance being that the frequency which you tune to, in order to facilitate communications, varies throughout that day. But it does so in a predicatable manner.
If you get the Yaesu FT-817, you get a small radio that's just a little bigger than a walkie-talkie, that covers both HF bands, VHF, and UHF...so you can use repeaters or NVIS as available. The battery and charger than come with the FT-817 are crappy, go for the aftermarket W4RT produced models. There's an aftermarket antenna called "Miracle Whip", that is much better than the antenna included with the unit, is small and easy to use. You might also want to buy a portable solar panel. The ones made by Brunton are nice. Get the 12 Watt version, the six watt one isn't enough to charge your radio quickly.
Last piece of advice: don't just wait until you're out in the field to get familiar with the equipment. Get practice using it, with all its accessories in various configurations, BEFORE you go camping. It will be well worth the practice.
FT-817, W4RT battery, charger, Miracle Whip, solar panel -- package can be acquired for under $1000 (much less, in my case).
They work in some areas and not in others. If you're on a mountain top, you'll probably be able to hit a repeater. You can use the repeater on the space station with 5W and a handheld YAGI.
Check out these links:
Colorado repeater association: http://www.w0cra.org/
Colorado connection repeaters: http://www.colcon.org/
Here's a coverage map. http://www.colcon.org/fig/colcon_coverage.gif
With an FT-817 and an HF dipole thrown into a tree you can talk all over the country depending on conditions.
So the answer is that coverage depends mostly on where you are for VHF (hills are good, valleys are bad). I carry my HT when I backpack and try to get a repeater contact every once in a while. I've built up a mental map of what areas that I hike in have good repeater coverage and what areas don't. Nothing is going to be a 100% solution. Sometimes I backpack with the FT-817 and I can usually get somebody with a little luck and patience. Sometimes, when conditions are good you can make amazing contacts.
Get a Technician license and an 2m HT and give it a try. Carrying some thin coax, a roll-up J-pole antenna, and something to get it into a tree will help tremendously. There are also folks that make very lightweight backpacking Yagi antennas. Antenna gain is amazing.
N8YY
(1) It is possible to rent a satellite phone, a lot of places. Why is the OP "waiting" for a satellite phone? They are not any more expensive than a lot of ham radios. The airtime charges are expensive, but presumably limited to important or emergency situations.
(2) Remember that some personal locator beacons can be used to send a simple non-emergency message to a pre-defined email address. Usually "OK" and your lat/long coordinates. Would this solve your problem? Personal locator beacons are the greatest backcountry safety device to come along in years. Get one, and then do everything you can to make sure you never need to use it.
(3) For hiker-to-hiker communications in the US, why not FRS/GMRS radios? These are cheaper than ham radios, and about as likely to give line-of-sight communications in the mountains. Licensing requirements are none (FRS) or trivial (GMRS).
Computers obey me.
[citation needed]
No citation needed because what the GP claims (HF DF done by criminals) is impossible and unbelievable. HF DF requires huge installations ("elephant cages") and this technology is not available to many nations, let alone vagrants. VHF DF is theoretically doable with a man-portable equipment, but in practical terms it isn't. Besides, any DF in mountains will result in tons of multipath, so you need to be in an airplane if you want to perform DF with any hope for accuracy.
It is true that there may be danger present when you are out there. There may be danger from weather, from [lack of] luck, from poisonous plants, from dangerous animals ... and from people. People would be the last on your list, unless you hike in Central Park of NYC. Criminals are not entirely stupid, they don't wait for people in the middle of nowhere; and hikers aren't likely to have their diamond rings and thick wallets with them. Some hikers may be armed. The most dangerous place for a hiker is probably the sidewalk in front of his home.
HamSatDroid (for Android) only needs a internet connection to update the keps (keplerian elements) file and that is not done automatically.
I thought comm satellites were geostationary.
Not amateur radio satellites. It costs a lot of money to up a satellite in geosynchronous orbit, far more than even a bunch of hams could come up with. As a result, amateur radio satellites are usually piggybacked on commercial launches with a bit of spare capacity and end up in a much lower orbit.
You can go to the Amsat Web site for more details.
This ain't rocket surgery.
It's the latter. I did a little research and it turns out I was mistaken about requiring an Internet connection.
This ain't rocket surgery.
send email using APRS to one of many available satellites, although you may only get a few good passes each day-
http://www.amsat.org/amsat-new/information/faqs/aprs.php
including the international space station-
http://www.ariss.net/
many APRS handheld radios are available-
yaesu vx-8r:
http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=111&encProdID=64C913CDBC183621AAA39980149EA8C6
kenwood th-d72:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/3072.html
Rent one when you're going out. Return it to the vendor when you get back. ;reception is appropriate ; available for rental without too much difficulty.
Weight is appropriate (I met an RAF mountain rescue team trialling an early one about 15 years ago ; eminently packable, though hardly light weight) ; dimensions are appropriate
Cost is the biggest reason for not owning one. Which is why there is a reasonable market for them for rent. Do roadworks in the middle of nowhere (cellphone-reception-wise, that can be almost anywhere) and it very quickly gets to be a justifiable business expense.
But frankly, I'd look at the human factors first. If you're on your own, what are you doing that you can't face the thought of crawling on a broken knee for a few days to get back to "civilisation" ? ; if you're in a group, why don't you have confidence in the ability of your group to get assistance and get you off? ; if you're leading a party, why don't you have confidence in yourself to get your party to safety while managing casualties. If you've not addressed those human factors, then you can be guaranteed that your technological fix will short a circuit (or have a flat battery) at precisely the wrong moment.
Murphy's Law : if it can go wrong, it will.
Extended Murphy's Law : if it can go wrong, it will go wrong, in the most inconvenient possible way, at the most inconvenient possible time.
Murphy was an optimist.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
Summary answer - it depends. There will be situations where a ham rig is the only thing that works, and situations where nothing works. Regardless, the up-thread comments about being prepared for a back country trek apply first, last, and always. A few suggestions re: radios for back country:
All: Especially at VHF & UHF frequencies, altitude is your friend. Several thousand feet of elevation and a clear shot at the horizon can compensate for limited power & antenna.
All: Look for something that will do more than one thing for you - a radio that receives NOAA Weather Radio frequencies, AM & FM broadcast, and can monitor local ranger & S&R channels (assuming you have that info) may be more useful than a radio that is FRS-only or 2 meter amateur only.
All: With antennas, bigger is usually better.
All: battery life vs weight - lithium rechargeable provide the most oomph but you need to recharge eventually. AA batteries are ubiquitous (at least at stores near trail heads) but have a weight penalty.
By service:
- FRS: +higher user density, cheap, no license. - limited power, limited antenna = limited coverage.
- 2M amateur: + reasonable probability of local assistance **if** a repeater is in range. Strong benefit from altitude. Reasonable weight for a 5W radio. Some have GPS & APRS built-in.
- limited range, battery/power consumption, the stock "rubber duck" antennas usually suck.
- HF amateur: + reasonable chance someone someplace will hear you, followed by lengthy set of phone calls while they locate the appropriate authorities and convince them they are not a nut (followed by high probability you'll get written up in a future issue of QST). There are a huge number of trail-friendly radios/kits available; almost all are CW (Morse code) only. Several radios are about size of an Altoids tin, antenna can be 2 pieces of wire about 33-66 ft in length (7MHz band).
- limited performance if voice (SSB) is required, antennas can become bulky/tedious to deploy.
If I were doing it: I'd look at 3 radios, depending upon my specific needs & interests:
- VHF/UHF + all-band reception: Yaesu VX8 (I have one) with built-in or add-on (2 models) GPS and 2 aftermarket antennas - a long flexi whip, and a roll-up jpole with feedline (can make or buy). Will give you good performance, Weather band, broadcast band, and public service reception, GPS location/elevation, limited APRS. Weather-resistant packaging. If I wanted smaller/no GPS, I'd look at the other Yaesu radios with weather-resistant enclosures. Limitation - no or very degraded operation with AA batteries; either carry spare pack or make up an external battery pack that uses AAs.
- HF "all mode". Only 1 choice - Yaesu FT817. Get 2M & 70cm as a bonus, but no public service or weather radio reception (I think - mine is a much older model). long whip and roll-up jpole for VHF, wire for HF. Wire antenna will have to be cut to operating frequency or you need an external tuner as the radio lacks one. Can use internal AA batteries or 3rd party NiMH or lithium packs, or external power. Downsides are size, weight, and power consumption - better than many factory radios, but not up to trail-friendly standards.
- HF CW. One of the Altoids-size single band CW rigs. I'd opt for 40M if I could have only one band. For factory/better-kit built, look at the (Chinese) HB1 (I think that's the model), TenTec sells same as a 2-band radio, the Elecraft KX1, or the PFR or ATS series. HB1, TenTec, and KX1 are multi band, reasonably wide frequency coverage, designed for low power consumption, have built-in tuner. The company that sells the HB1 (check ebay) has recently a