sevansounds

Hey guys, Thanks for all of the responses. Some good info for sure to be learned. I currently have a Baofeng UV5R and a Yaseu VX8, both using aftermarket antennas. I've been doing a lot of reading just to understand the RF world better but there is still plenty to read and learn. In regards to my initial curiosities. The gentlemen I was talking about up on the mountain was also using a Baofeng UV5R. Our elevation was around 5000 but what really blew my mind was that he said he can make contact with his brother who lives all the way in Florida. Now I understand with a decent path to a repeater you can really reach out and get some distances (when I camp up at those elevations I can hear all kinds of chatter all over the place from pretty decent distances) but how in the heck is he able to, through the use of a repeater, reach his brother who is all the way in Florida?? Were talking roughly 500 miles from where he and I were standing in North Carolina to where he said his brother lives. Now at the time I should have been more inquisitive to ask how he was doing it but that now brings me to this forum to learn how he may have. I mentioned "repeater skipping" as a term I just pulled out of a hat, i've never heard of it but I wondered if that was how he was accomplishing those distances. Transmit to one repeater say 20 ish miles away, that repeater transmits to another, and to another and so on till you reach a destination but I'm sure its a pretty bogus idea. So with that being said. Lets say I'm on top of a mountain in North Carolina using a 5 watt HT and I want to make a connection with my dad who lives in Florida who, for the sake of conversation is on a mobile or base unit). What kind of power/setup/connectivity would be needed for us to be able to transmit and receive to eachother?

Hello all, new to the amateur radio world and have a few questions. Not too long ago I received my GMRS license to get my feet wet with amateur radio. I plan to later get my HAM license as well but want to use GMRS as more basic learning grounds. I've monitored GMRS freqs in my area (Longwood, FL) and rarely, if ever, hear any chatter. I've tied into some local HAM repeaters just to see if I'm setting up my radio correctly and have been able to hear local chatter and also hit some of the local repeaters....one question is that I assume GMRS isn't used very often? I also have a general repeater question....can you "repeater skip"? I was up in the mountains in North Carolina during the fall and met a guy up on a mountain who also had his GMRS license, maybe his HAM license as well and mentioned that occasionally when up on the mountain that he can talk to his brother over repeaters who lives here in Florida! I believe he said he was doing it over GMRS frequencies but it could have been Ham freq's...I don't recall. Either way I have a friend who lives in Naples, FL which is about 200 miles from me (much shorter than the mileage the guy on top of the mountain) who has also recently gotten into amateur radio and received his GMRS license. I'm curious if him and I would be able to communicate with eachother via GMRS repeaters?? If so...how do we accomplish this? If its not possible via GMRS, is it possible (or likely) feasible via HAM frequencies like 2m or 70cm? I'll start with those questions and hope for some responses to work off of. Thanks in advance for everyones time! Shaun WQWT707 in Longwood, FL