emergency trap

[Guest Shawna]

Good morning. I am completely new to radios, I've never used one. I've been desperately researching for a way to be able to reach my daughter in case of an emergency with grid down. She lives about 15 miles from me in an urban area of western NY.

I've seen CB, HAM, VHF, UHF, FLT,and GMRS. After hours of research, watching reviews, and reading comments I believe my best options (for a newbie) to reach her are the Boefeng UV-9G (GMSR) or TRC 216/217. If I'm wrong or there's a better way please lmk.

Even with these I'm not sure they'll transmit that far. I saw something about repeaters and ended up here!

I read the whole website and many of the posts but I'm still not sure I understand how they work. I do understand that hitting a repeater, changes it to a new frequency and sends the wave farther. I hope I said that correctly... what I'm not sure about is how, or if, I can use a repeater to ensure a handheld will enable us to communicate.

Ie. If we're on the same channel and I press button to speak to her, IF we're too far away, do I get routed to a repeater, have to route myself through it to her, need to get my own repeater, or am I completely off base?

Mind you, if you tell me one of the above is correct, I would have NO IDEA how to do any of them. So, please explain everything.

Thank you in advance!!

[Socalgmrs]

For 15 miles a hand held is not going to to do it unless you have perfect line of sight with no trees or anything else. In my area a hand held will easily do 30plus miles but I’m on the edge of a huge valley over looking it in the flat desert       While I always recommend every one own a hand held with a 771 antenna and I do very much like the poofwang uv9 and use them every day i highly recommend you both have a base station of Atleast 20watts and good coax, power supply and antenna up as high as you go.    Unless you have a good repeater in between you both.   The repeater would need to have a back up power supply such as battery’s, solar, or generator.  Or even a combo.  In a grid down scenario which happens often where I live, your base stations will also need battery or other back up as well.    You could try the hand helds with an adaptor and good coax and good exterior antenna first and see how that does. It’s how many people start out. 

[nokones]

You probably would have better luck with smoke signals providing it's not windy or use a carrier pigeon. During a castistrophic event such as grid down situation there are  going to be a gazillion people trying to do the same thing at the sametime. It will be radio chaos and with 15 miles of distance between those two points, you might as well double that gazillion factor of radio users.

[808Beachbum]

Unless the map on this site shows one or more (active and "open") repeaters in a location and at an elevation that would provide essentially "line of sight" from you to the repeater, and from repeater to your daughter, it is highly unlikely any GMRS, or most other radio options will RELIABLY get you useful communication. I'm located in an urban area, on the fourth floor, and my limitations are at about 2.5 miles unless I relocate to a MUCH higher elevation, using a pair of typical, inexpensive, Baofeng GM15 Pros. I am on the fringe of the "urban" area, and testing was into the heavier urban areas with more obstructions. Taking a good look at your 2 locations on googleearth can give you a much clearer picture of the straight line distance, and obstructions (with their elevations) actually between you.

If, OTOH, your locales are linked with a quality HAM VHF/UHF repeater system, it would be easy to maintain comms, assuming those systems have typical standby power. However obtaining the proper license is more difficult, and the equipment is generally much more expensive and more complicated to operate than GMRS.

[RodB]

A CB running SSB would possible work,  otherwise a reliable repeater near the 1/2 way point.  Handhelds won't work that far unless it's desert or water or one side is at a great height

[BoxCar]

7 hours ago, Guest Shawna said:

Good morning. I am completely new to radios, I've never used one. I've been desperately researching for a way to be able to reach my daughter in case of an emergency with grid down. She lives about 15 miles from me in an urban area of western NY.

I've seen CB, HAM, VHF, UHF, FLT,and GMRS. After hours of research, watching reviews, and reading comments I believe my best options (for a newbie) to reach her are the Boefeng UV-9G (GMSR) or TRC 216/217. If I'm wrong or there's a better way please lmk.

Even with these I'm not sure they'll transmit that far. I saw something about repeaters and ended up here!

I read the whole website and many of the posts but I'm still not sure I understand how they work. I do understand that hitting a repeater, changes it to a new frequency and sends the wave farther. I hope I said that correctly... what I'm not sure about is how, or if, I can use a repeater to ensure a handheld will enable us to communicate.

Ie. If we're on the same channel and I press button to speak to her, IF we're too far away, do I get routed to a repeater, have to route myself through it to her, need to get my own repeater, or am I completely off base?

Mind you, if you tell me one of the above is correct, I would have NO IDEA how to do any of them. So, please explain everything.

Thank you in advance!!

Shawna,

There is a lot to unpack in your message and I'll try to answer most of the points I see. First off, I agree with the statement you will not be able to connect to each other using hand-held radios WITHOUT going through a repeater. In an urban area the average range for one hand-held connecting to another is about 1/2 to 1 mile because of all the obstructions blocking the signal.

Secondly, the radio service with the most likely success will be Amateur or ham radio. This is primarily because of the maturity of the service. Amateurs will have several VHF and UHF repeaters scattered around the area that can be used. The primary drawback to using amateur radio is the requirement to pass a 35-question test so you understand both the general rules on using radios in this service and you understand some of the theory about radios in general. The material is not overly technical and easy to understand with a middle school education. Local clubs often teach classes covering the licensing material so you can be prepared for the exam. Local club members are also a good resource for assistance with selecting radios and helping with operating them. As there are most likely several repeaters within your and your daughter's area, hand-held radios will work and the Baofeng UV-9 (ham version) is a good choice.

Repeaters use a dedicated pair of frequencies in operation, you transmit on the repeater's input frequency and listen on the output frequency. A repeater immediately transmits what it hears on input over its output frequency so there is no time differential allowing a normal conversation where one radio is transmitting to the repeater and the other is listening to the repeater. Repeater operation is the same, regardless of the service it is used in. No, you are not automatically routed to a repeater, you have to have the repeater's frequencies in your radio and selected.

Can GMRS work in your situation, perhaps. As the service hasn't been around as long as amateur radio there are fewer repeaters, but more are being installed every day. The disadvantage is there are fewer frequencies available for GMRS and the probability of congestion and interference is greater. The primary advantage is no test required even though the license cost is the same. 

If you have additional questions, you can click on my user name and send me a private message.

Best of luck.

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, BoxCar said:

Shawna,

There is a lot to unpack in your message and I'll try to answer most of the points I see. First off, I agree with the statement you will not be able to connect to each other using hand-held radios WITHOUT going through a repeater. In an urban area the average range for one hand-held connecting to another is about 1/2 to 1 mile because of all the obstructions blocking the signal.

Secondly, the radio service with the most likely success will be Amateur or ham radio. This is primarily because of the maturity of the service. Amateurs will have several VHF and UHF repeaters scattered around the area that can be used. The primary drawback to using amateur radio is the requirement to pass a 35-question test so you understand both the general rules on using radios in this service and you understand some of the theory about radios in general. The material is not overly technical and easy to understand with a middle school education. Local clubs often teach classes covering the licensing material so you can be prepared for the exam. Local club members are also a good resource for assistance with selecting radios and helping with operating them. As there are most likely several repeaters within your and your daughter's area, hand-held radios will work and the Baofeng UV-9 (ham version) is a good choice.

Repeaters use a dedicated pair of frequencies in operation, you transmit on the repeater's input frequency and listen on the output frequency. A repeater immediately transmits what it hears on input over its output frequency so there is no time differential allowing a normal conversation where one radio is transmitting to the repeater and the other is listening to the repeater. Repeater operation is the same, regardless of the service it is used in. No, you are not automatically routed to a repeater, you have to have the repeater's frequencies in your radio and selected.

Can GMRS work in your situation, perhaps. As the service hasn't been around as long as amateur radio there are fewer repeaters, but more are being installed every day. The disadvantage is there are fewer frequencies available for GMRS and the probability of congestion and interference is greater. The primary advantage is no test required even though the license cost is the same. 

If you have additional questions, you can click on my user name and send me a private message.

Best of luck.

Shawna,

The quoted message from Boxcar is one of the best posts I’ve seen on this forum. It doesn’t over promise but it’s accurate. If you can get in with one of the local ham clubs and learn about emergency messaging, which is an important aspect of ham radio, you’ll have a better chance of getting through to your daughter if something bad happens. 

[WRQI663]

35 dollars for a 10 year license for either service - not bad --- cell service can also be iffy at times.....but there is no monthly bill for using the radios.

[Lscott]

48 minutes ago, WRQI663 said:

35 dollars for a 10 year license for either service - not bad --- cell service can also be iffy at times.....but there is no monthly bill for using the radios.

No phone numbers to remember either.