Communication (1 Viewer)

[Bambino840]

Had a talk the other day about communications in the bush.

FRS - no distance, sketchy
HAM Class- never been more bored in my life and never bothered to aquire

So! I'm throwing a cb in . If you have one, great. If not thats fine too. Why? They are cheap, easy and supposed to have decent distance. Plus communication is nice and phones don't work well in the bush. So hopefully Scott puts his in and on the next run we give them a test. Maybe they suck but maybe not. I hope not.

What do you think?

 

[ericbirk]

CB is great for trail communication, range is quite good if the antenna is placed properly (mine isnt) and tuned.
I also have a portable HAM for longer distance if required.

 

[alberta mac]

I would think something else rather than a cb. My experience is that they were useless in the bush when you have terrain. Being cut off a short distance away. ie: 10 trucks wheeling. or only hearing one other truck. The wheeliing I did over 10 years I ended up never needing a cb.
What is the purpose of you having a cb ?

 

[mano002]

CBs are required at other TLCA events, so I have had one in my truck for a while. It has the same range as an FRS, and is basically only good for line-of-site. As soon as you can’t see them, you can’t hear them.

Maybe one of those aliexpress ham radios that has FRS channels with way more power would be better? Probably no more legal than using a ham radio without a license, not that I would do that.

 

[decoco]

I've thought about getting my license. I think it would be useful to set up my own aluminum foil hat clandestine Italo Disco radio station when the world crumbles... but I have not had time.

After the last winter trip I saw some use in having communications. So I asked Peter- who gave me some good advice based on his research.

I ended up getting a Boafeng Radio; it's dual band. Well reviewed, but cheaply made, and cheap.
I purchased it with the extra antenna and some other items; intended to take the course and be set.

At this point all I know is how to turn on the radio. So that's a start.

Am curious if you do get to do this; maybe we can get together and figure this out.

 

[cruiserpilot]

BF-F8HP - BaoFeng

https://www.amazon.ca/Headset-Earpi...1542230701&sr=8-2&keywords=baofeng+bf-f8hp+8w

I've got the earlier version of these. No license required. You can program all the forest service freq's.
Coastal Cruisers just posted all the freq's used in BC.

I used mine up in Omineca area last July with all the logging traffic. My travelling partner has been working
up there for 35 yrs and as soon as we got home he bought two of these for himself. He was completely impressed
with ease of use and the range was very good with the longer range antenna that I got. Battery life was really l
long, like a week. I'm going to say these models I posted are examples. I'm not sure exactly which model he got.
Hope this helps you out a bit.

 

[Bambino840]

Nice, good start. Essentially we want to chat but can’t. I love the comments so keep going. Maybe pirate HAM?

 

[ericbirk]

You cannot compare a CB setup to those garbage handheld FRS radios... CB is still line of sight but I have never had an issue wheeling with it for general truck communication.

I have that Baofeng unit for HAM as well. So far so good.

Having call road/LADD channels is a definite plus. As a former service tech, it is a huge pissoff when on a call road there is a big convoy without any radio. I had plenty of close calls with hunters...

 

[arnott1t]

Buy a baefong. Way better than any cb
I’ve ever seen and cheaper