distance

[Guest Patrick]

Afternoon,

I am looking for the best solution on how to reach my kids while they are at school.  One is 68 miles away and the other is 128.  Using repeaters can GMRS reach that far?

Thanks,

Patrick 

[Guest]

Yes and no.  Do you have very strong repeaters 1/2 way in between?  Will they be able to put up a big antenna and have a 20-50w base station with a good power supply?   Do you have great line of site?   My furthest repeater I hit is 234 miles away and I do it with a 20w base unit.  BUT! I have perfect line of site.  I’m going to go out on a limb here,  with out knowing your exact situation, and say No probably not going to work.  It is technically possible with simplex or a repeater if the stars align 

[WRUE951]

Line of site, no obstructions, is the key to GMRS frequencies..  i.e. There is a repeater near me that sits on a ideal location,,  it sits at 4,500 feet  It has line of site advantage in  300 degrees that can and has reached over 100 miles.  Location, location, location..,   

[WRQI583]

Height is might. The higher up you go, the farther you will get out. What you are looking to do is a stretch. If you have a repeater that the both of you can get into it can be done but it will be limited to base to repeater to base. You wont be able to do mobile. Where I live, I can hit the Mt Washington 440 Ham repeater from my house. The distance is around 102 miles away from my place to the tower. The distance you get out of a repeater is going to depend on height of the tower where the repeater is and the terrain around it. Usually 30-50 miles is typical but sometimes much less. If you have more than one repeater and the two are linked, then you can get more distance.

[BoxCar]

Plan on not being able to make contact with them via VHF/UHF frequencies.

[WRXB215]

If you have a repeater near you that is linked to a repeater near them, it's easy. Otherwise it's very doubtful.

[WRYZ926]

Even having a repeater with its antennas at 400 feet above ground is not a guarantee o getting out really far. Again terrain and height of your antenna with a clear line of sight matters. Our GMRS repeater antennas are at 400 feet and the range for those using 50 watt mobiles with good antennas on their vehicles is only about 30-35 miles depending on the mobile's location. We have lots of rolling hills and river valleys along with forested areas around me.

Now I can easily get into the repeater with a 5 watt hand held using my base antenna that is on my roof. The base of the antenna is 18 feet above the ground. Again line of sight and a clear path matters.

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Guest Patrick said:

... reach my kids while they are at school. ...

 

As a teacher, I am wondering what the utility of this would be ?!?

In the case of a "communication outage", schools are a good place to be - FEMA and other agencies will check on those right after they checked on hospitals ...

In the case of "suspicious activity", silence is golden and overt radio traffic might attract unwanted attention ...

[marcspaz]

Man... hard to answer without more info.  Are you talking about as close to guaranteed as you can get for emergency communications or non-critical recreational?  Are they in college or secondary school?

 

If you are looking for non-critical recreational communications, I would lean away from UHF or even VHF communications.  It's possible, but not likely in a vast majority of the country.  Your most affordable and reliable would be to all get your general class amateur radio license and us HF.  With proper antennas at all locations and adjusting the frequency used based on the time of day, you would be able to talk directly for 12 to 15 hours per day, with blackout periods during and surrounding mid-day.

 

If it needs to be discreet and it just has to work, get a Garmin InReach Mini 2 or InReach Messenger and a Recreation or Expedition plan for each person.

[nokones]

Unless there is a GMRS system/infrastructure already in place and the kids had good quality portable radios and you have a base station unit, I doubt that you will have a direct communication connection. If both locations are within cellular service coverage, cellular telephones and/or Motorola Wave devices would work but those would require subscription service for each device.

Another service to consider is the Garmin inReach but that would require a subscription service.

There is no legitimate reason for a parent to have direct communication contact with the kids throughout the day when they are in school and under the school's supervision. Parents need to have trust in the school officials.

During that time, the kids should be focusing on their studies without disruption from the home front.

Give them a break and let them be so they can learn and enjoy interaction with other kids during recess and the lunch period.

Parents have no business interfering during school hours. Don't over parent.

[marcspaz]

2 hours ago, nokones said:

There is no legitimate reason for a parent to have direct communication contact with the kids throughout the day when they are in school and under the school's supervision. Parents need to have trust in the school officials.

 

2 hours ago, nokones said:

Parents have no business interfering during school hours. Don't over parent.

 

I like you as a person and don't want to have you think less of me, and I definitely don't want to spark a political debate, but as a Constitutional Conservative with a few Libertarian leanings, I could not disagree more.  I'll skip the politics part for now, but we haven't even identified if the "kids" are adults in college or not.  I'm a grandpa and my offspring are in their 30's, but I still call them "my kids". LOL  This drastically modifies what is considered acceptable behavior for all parties, if they are grown-ups.

[nokones]

No worries on my part. I don't let politics dictate my lifestyle or sway my views and opinions on the issues. Politics definitely don't influence me on how I vote, I vote on what "I" feel is the best for the greater good.