Longer range handheld options

[Photobug]

I recently had a need for a long range communication. I was sailing across a lake on a tiny boat without any power or built in radio, phone reception was spotty. My wife and I managed to get enough phone reception to direct me to the campsite she had driven up to. I have a handheld VHF with 5 watts, but expect only 3-5 miles of range with it. What are my options for small handhelds with better range? I am also considering something like an In-reach but that would not help if the other receiver does not have cell coverage.

 

[samer0214]

You might want to look at a Baofang handheld, as some of their models are rated up to 8 watts.

If I'm not mistaken though, those are not completely legal because the FCC only allows 5 watts max on a handheld. Your other option would be a mobile unit which can legally go up to 50 watts.

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk

 

[dreadlocks]

was sailing across a lake on a tiny boat without any power or built in radio .. a handheld VHF with 5 watts, but expect only 3-5 miles of range with it.

Yeah this is not a problem of wattage, but the horizon.. 50W aint gonna get VHF over the horizon: https://www.qsl.net/w4sat/horizon.htm


Unless you put an antenna on a mast, a handheld nor mobile is not going to do much for range despite how many watts you dump into the lake.

 

[Photobug]

Unless you put an antenna on a mast, a handheld nor mobile is not going to do much for range despite how many watts you dump into the lake.

This boat only 14 feet has no room for a mast or even a battery, i could buy why? Isn't there a GMRS radio that might give us better range?

 

[highwest]

Your 14’ sailboat doesn’t have a mast?

That is a very small boat to have a mast-mounted antenna, not impossible though...

Was your handheld VHF’s antenna in the up/down orientation when trying to reach your wife at camp? That’s the one that I often forget about.

 

[verdesard0g]

5 watts over water should give you plenty of range, make sure both transmitting and receiving antennas are in the same orientation, preferably straight up.

 

[BigDaveZJ]

Two InReach units can talk to each other without cell coverage. It's slow, but it works. Radio range is very line of sight dependent. More power won't necessarily do anything for you.

 

[BritKLR]

Are you both licensed? That would help to direct you to the right radios.

 

[dreadlocks]

This boat only 14 feet has no room for a mast or even a battery, i could buy why? Isn't there a GMRS radio that might give us better range?

Once your over the Horizon w/out Line of Sight, you will loose communications on VHF, UHF, and everything but HF that you skip off the earth's atmosphere.. You literally put the planet between you and the person on the other end, you aint gonna get a signal through the earth unless yo butt so big it causes earthquakes

The reason the cell phone worked is because someone put the tower up high that both of you could see it.. it woulda failed to work too had it been over the horizon.

 

[alanymarce]

We've made contact with others using UHF within 5-10 Km as long as we're not both in a valley. More than that sometimes, but as others note, it's about line of sight. I've made contact using VHF as far as 50-60 Km BUT we had a base station with a tall tower. In more remote areas we've been able to communicate up to 100+ Km with HF.

We use our UHF handhelds for convoy comms and for alert/contact with others who may be travelling in the same offroad area, to avoid surprises. For guaranteed emergency comms - satphone.

 

[dreadlocks]

I can use a handheld to talk to a repeater ontop of a mountain 20 miles away.. with 5W, so its completely capable of long range communications.. once you put one end a few thousand feet higher than the other end.

Ive been driving up a pass talking to my brother on a 2W GMRS handheld >10 miles behind me, the moment I crested the summit he was gone til he crested it.. when we got into the flat valley, he hadda catch up with me to get back in LoS

 

[come2elmo]

Opinions vary on the effectiveness and I have never tried it myself but you could try a tiger tail (counterpoise)?

HT Antenna Modification - Get Better Performance From Your HT Antenna

www.hamuniverse.com

 

[DaveInDenver]

Yeah this is not a problem of wattage, but the horizon.. 50W aint gonna get VHF over the horizon: https://www.qsl.net/w4sat/horizon.htm
View attachment 606357

Unless you put an antenna on a mast, a handheld nor mobile is not going to do much for range despite how many watts you dump into the lake.

Line of Sight (LOS) shown visually. VHF RF actually bends over the horizon so you can communication slightly further than you can see.






Taken from here if someone wants to dig into propagation more: https://www.nutsvolts.com/magazine/...Workbench_Waves-and-Propagation-Radio-Horizon

 

[dreadlocks]

I think QSL is using the radio horizon, not the optical horizon.. If you put in 5ft, it shows 3 miles..

antenna height is the limiting factor on range here, not power, and since he's on the water its not like he can go climb a hill to gain some elevation.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I think QSL is using the radio horizon, not the optical horizon.. If you put in 5ft, it shows 3 miles..

antenna height is the limiting factor on range here, not power, and since he's on the water its not like he can go climb a hill to gain some elevation.

LOL, I just meant visually as in graphically. The QSL calculator I'm sure uses radio horizon as you say. Yes, generally with VHF and up the limiting factor is antenna height. Even with towers and mountain tops 5W is usually sufficient practically. It's only when you really want to test DX, e.g. summits on the air, that you'd break out the Yagi and more power.