MR

[Guest Dchamp]

brand new to GMRS  and hoping to communicate from Klamath falls Ore. To family in Sacramento using repeaters . Is this realistic and what antennae or other equipment is needed ?  Can a 5 watt hand held do this or do I need a base unit ?  

thanks for the help! 

[WyoJoe]

In general, this is not realistic. The only way it would work is if there is a repeater at each end and they are linked together.

The coverage area for most repeaters is 30 miles or less. Even with an exceptional repeater, with users at either end of its usable area, you'd generally be lucky to cover 100 miles between the two parties.

Maybe, if you got really lucky and were able to put the repeater on top of Mt. Shasta, you might exceed that distance, but certainly not all the way from Klamath Falls to Sacramento.

Back to the linked repeaters for a moment...

If you had a repeater in the Klamath Falls area, and another one in the Sacramento area, and they were linked via the internet, they could be used to relay the signal from one end to the other. I haven't checked, but I doubt there's a linked repeater system that would work for you in this instance. If there is, I'm sure someone else on this forum will chime in about it.

[BoxCar]

The only way this could be done is by using the Internet to carry the traffic between repeaters. As you would need the Internet, why not use programs such as Skype or one of the video terminals from Google, Amazon or  Facebook?

[MichaelLAX]

I have no personal experience with Zello-phones (other than using Zello on my iPhone to communicate through @OffRoaderX's repeater), but I think @WyoJoedoes and I see that Amazon is selling an HT model for $59.

[PACNWComms]

As others have noted, there must be some medium connecting to different geographical areas, with radio coverage at the end points for this idea to work. Every working day, I have to explain this, with a nationwide radio network that pieces together: Internet, intranet, Internet Protocol interface devices to Motorola P25 Phase 1 and Phase 2, Trbo DMR networks, and analog conventional networks. Each time, those at a particular site think their solution will work everywhere else. What is always missed is infrastructure, interoperability, and any mitigating circumstances. The one common denominator for success is to keep the solution simple. The simple solution has less points of failure, and room for error, but also addresses the problem. In this case, I would have to concur with the idea that a video application and/or social media method would work the best in this use case. 

[WyoJoe]

18 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

I have no personal experience with Zello-phones (other than using Zello on my iPhone to communicate through @OffRoaderX's repeater), but I think @WyoJoedoes and I see that Amazon is selling an HT model for $59.

That looks like an interesting device, but alas, as of now, I don't have any experience with Zello. I've thought about looking into it, but as of now, I've been too busy to do so. I'm starting to take an interest in DMR, and may dabble in that as time permits, but that's enough new tech to figure out for now... perhaps next year, after I get a handle on DMR and things settle down a bit, will be a better time to investigate Zello.

[MichaelLAX]

29 minutes ago, WyoJoe said:

That looks like an interesting device, but alas, as of now, I don't have any experience with Zello. I've thought about looking into it, but as of now, I've been too busy to do so. I'm starting to take an interest in DMR, and may dabble in that as time permits, but that's enough new tech to figure out for now... perhaps next year, after I get a handle on DMR and things settle down a bit, will be a better time to investigate Zello.

Do you have access to a DMR repeater so you can avoid a Hotspot for now?

[PACNWComms]

I have done some work with applications such as Zello, which works great if the end points are somewhere that is useful to the end users. I have found a few interesting sites in the middle of the California desert for example, connected via the Internet and the Zello application to radio. Works much like a hotspot, and in some cases you need to email the "provider" of the end point for permission to use it and transmit. Instead of a dedicated radio looking device as shown above, I used by Samsung Galaxy series smartphone loaded with the application. Reminds me a bit of the Motorola WAVE system that ties radio and telephone via the Internet.

[MichaelLAX]

So, in Zello, you can or cannot have point-to-point, direct communication, when both have internet access?

[WyoJoe]

21 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Do you have access to a DMR repeater so you can avoid a Hotspot for now?

I am not sure what repeaters near me support DMR, but between home and work, I'm sure there are several. Depending on my level of interest and available time, I may opt for a hotspot sometime soon, too.

[Lscott]

If he is going to use DMR he needs a Ham license. No DMR permitted on GMRS.

[MichaelLAX]

34 minutes ago, Lscott said:

If he is going to use DMR he needs a Ham license. No DMR permitted on GMRS.

His Ham callsign is WY0JOE

[gortex2]

So lets move this discussion to the ham forum.

[DownEastNC]

Dependence on the internet during a natural disaster or other calamity, rolling blackouts, denial of service, or whatever, is sketchy at best. If comms is critical I'd be looking elsewhere.

[axorlov]

1 hour ago, DownEastNC said:

Dependence on the internet during a natural disaster or other calamity, rolling blackouts, denial of service, or whatever, is sketchy at best. If comms is critical I'd be looking elsewhere.

Not many places to look. From the top of my head it's ham HF, ham SAT, and ham EME. Notice the "ham" as a prefix, that requires skill and determination. The EME is out of reach for most hobbyists, even determined and skilled. Ham will cover natural disaster, though, if you have operators on both sides of the disaster. Winlink over HF and HF APRS might be a solution, offering contact with non-ham emails and phones outside of the affected area. But in case of "whatever" the whole ham universe will be quickly shut down, just like it happened during WW2.

What we're left with are homing pigeons and bicycle couriers.

[MichaelLAX]

8 hours ago, kb2ztx said:

So lets move this discussion to the ham forum.

How would a Guest know to look in the Ham Forum for an answer to such a generalized question, as the Guest OP asked in this thread?

And usually Guest generated questions would require answers that may fall in many other Forums.

Best to keep the answers in the Guest generated thread than cause confusion  

The specific answer regarding DMR was pretty much fully answered until you brought it to our attention again. 

[Lscott]

On 12/22/2021 at 12:31 PM, axorlov said:

What we're left with are homing pigeons and bicycle couriers.

 Can send slow Morse Code by smoke signals.