I know less than nothing, would like advice.

[Srs1776]

Hello, new member here and would like some recommendations.

I have a piece of ground 8 miles (as crow flies) from my house. It has zero cellular service nor electricity, hence my wife's constant worrying when I go there.

Is it possible for a cb radio to work well enough that I can use it to check in and keep her updated? If so, I would love to hear what I would need, but if not, perhaps there is a different setup that could work?
Fyi, I have tried to understand some of the 101 type cb discussions, but it seems I need to find one for dummies lol.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions and help you can offer

 

[Dog]

Anything is possible with a large enough budget. lol

It is possible but it might not be economical depending on the layout of the land and how high you would need to go with an antenna.

 

[doctordialtone]

Is it possible for a cb radio to work well enough that I can use it to check in and keep her updated?

It's possible depending upon a clear line of sight between the two locations and good antennas.

Of course this assumes the radios are working very well too.

 

[prcguy]

When the CB band is quiet with no skip and you have a good base antenna at home it should reach 8mi to a good mobile antenna. But skip conditions come and go which will prevent you from talking that far with stock radios. I would find another solution like a GMRS base to GMRS mobile. There is no interference like on CB except for other users and antennas will be much smaller for GMRS

 

[slowmover]

CB is do-able, but the expense may be higher and less of a guarantee of success.

A vertical antenna in a tree at the property is my first thought. Hook the vehicle CB to that.

If CB for home and all family cars is desirable (IMO, a necessity), then home-to-property is a sub-set of a larger goal.

.

 

[chief21]

I have a piece of ground 8 miles (as crow flies) from my house. It has zero cellular service nor electricity, hence my wife's constant worrying when I go there.
Is it possible for a cb radio to work well enough that I can use it to check in and keep her updated? If so, I would love to hear what I would need, but if not, perhaps there is a different setup that could work?

Assuming that you are in the US, it seems that a GMRS setup could work for you. GMRS is a licensed personal radio service that uses several shared UHF-FM frequencies. UHF-FM frequencies are much more reliable and much less affected by "skip" than CB frequencies. A GMRS license allows users to operate radios with up to 50 watts output. Depending on the local topography, a quick check on a Line-of-Sight calculator suggests that a 25'-30' high base station antenna can communicate reliably to a 6' high mobile station over a distance of 8-10 miles. Of course, if there are any substantial hills between the stations, all bets are off. In the event that you have any large hills or high buildings on your property, it might be more advantageous to operate a GMRS repeater. These are typically used to increase the operating range between radios.

 

[Srs1776]

Thanks for the help so far, I very much appreciate it. I am in the US, and there is a ridgeline that runs perpendicular to my piece of ground that is around 400 ft above line of sight.
It wouldn't be hard to install an antenna on my roof at house, and its possible to do something at my cabin. I am assuming the antennas would need a power source, is that correct?
The gmrs radio mentioned above, is that what's considered ham?
And the expense people are mentioning, is that 2000$? More or less?

 

[Wolfpit]

I would think it would be possible with a SSB cb radio. Uniden 980SSB or similar. Especially if you have a base setup at home.

 

[Srs1776]

I do plan to set up a base unit at my home, though the type needed and antenna is unclear so far

 

[mmckenna]

Thanks for the help so far, I very much appreciate it. I am in the US, and there is a ridgeline that runs perpendicular to my piece of ground that is around 400 ft above line of sight.
It wouldn't be hard to install an antenna on my roof at house, and its possible to do something at my cabin. I am assuming the antennas would need a power source, is that correct?

The radios need power, the antenna does not. For a small system, you won't need much power. If commercial power isn't available. a 12 volt battery and a means to charge it would be easy to do. Even a solar panel with solar controller would be easy.

The gmrs radio mentioned above, is that what's considered ham?
And the expense people are mentioning, is that 2000$? More or less?

GMRS is not ha radio. GMRS does require a license, but it's $35 for 10 years, no test required. One GMRS license would cover your entire family.

As for expenses, it depends on what you want. No way it should cost $2000, unless you were installing a repeater system.

 

[MUTNAV]

To look for natural obstructions, try this site.

RF Line of Sight - SCADACore

RF Line-of-Sight provides radio path information for mapping long distance SCADA radio communications by using antenna height and topography.

www.scadacore.com

You have to scroll down a little to see the map initially...
Then drag the dots to your home and your little peace of land (zooming in as needed)

It should give you a relatively good idea of the antenna heights needed.

Thanks
Joel

 

[mmckenna]

GMRS is not ha radio.

Sorry, that should have said "GMRS is not ham radio".

 

[mass-man]

We used CB on the family ranch for years! At the extreme edges of the property we put up ground plane antennas usually 25-30ft high, left the coax dangling in a protective bag and would pull up, unhook the mobile antenna, hook up the ground plane and talk back to the house!
Just an idea…

 

[KANE4109]

Just one example, this is a 40 watt Midland GMRS for $199 right from Amazon. You can find may more on here by just looking for GMRS 50 watt
Came back to add.... since you would be using this between you and the missus... it's nice to know that GMRS uses FM (frequency modulation) and will be much quieter.... generally a more pleasant experience.
Real radio hands.... can deal with the noise. But when the Mrs wants you know you are okay.... that quiet FM rules the day!!!!

https://www.amazon.com/Midland-MicroMobile-Two-Way-Repeater-Channels/dp/B01N0X0LHF/ref=sr_1_7_sspa?keywords=gmrs+radios+50+watt&qid=1677103722&sr=8-7-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.08f69ac3-fd3d-4b88-bca2-8997e41410bb&psc=1&smid=A33O82Y9CWW4GL&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyNTRNTVNGTFQ2RUFFJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMTE4NjcyWkhYNE4zMEFXN1owJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA1MDU0NDcyNTcwV1JPN0Y1WUxUJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfbXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

 

[ladn]

I agree, GMRS is probably your best and most cost efficient solution. Better voice quality, less interference, higher power and smaller antenna sizes.

While CB isn't what it was in the 80's, it's still subject to interference from atmospherics and ass hats running massive amounts of power on adjacent channels. Effective antennas are really large and you're limited to only 4 watts AM output.

 

[mmckenna]

A note about GMRS, or any radio service for that matter:

It. Is. All. About. The. Antenna.

You can spend hundreds of dollars on a radio, but if you hook it up to a crappy antenna system, it's going to work like a crappy radio.

You need to understand before you purchase any equipment, it really is all about the antenna, and the antenna will make or break the system.
While the Midland mentioned above might be a suitable radio for your application, DO NOT buy their antennas. You can do much better.

 

[slowmover]

We used CB on the family ranch for years! At the extreme edges of the property we put up ground plane antennas usually 25-30ft high, left the coax dangling in a protective bag and would pull up, unhook the mobile antenna, hook up the ground plane and talk back to the house!
Just an idea…

An excellent idea, in fact.

The PRESIDENT Randy with this kind of set-up would be an easy start.

A KENWOOD KES-5 ($15 eBay, first responder & mil-spec) mounted under drivers seat and firing into footwell can be heard 40-yards away.



Here’s possibly a better one:

Radioddity CS-47 CB Radio

.

 

[AC9BX]

Hello, new member here and would like some recommendations.

I have a piece of ground 8 miles (as crow flies) from my house. It has zero cellular service nor electricity, hence my wife's constant worrying when I go there.

Is it possible for a cb radio to work well enough that I can use it to check in and keep her updated? If so, I would love to hear what I would need, but if not, perhaps there is a different setup that could work?
Fyi, I have tried to understand some of the 101 type cb discussions, but it seems I need to find one for dummies lol.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions and help you can offer

8 miles is not much of a challenge for a well working CB setup (27MHz). You ought to expect twice that.

 

[niceguy71]

sad people always asking questions and I know so many nice people here willing to help.... but sad they never come back and let us know what they did... I like to read the old questions and try to learn from them... I'm going to assume most people ask questions and once they see all the work and expense, they give up on the idea.... this guy never said if he's in a vehicle or walking around the property ( shooting hunting mowing farming???? ) 8 miles away for a mobile to a base station is do-able.... but if he is thinking a handheld... I doubt it... by the time he bought a base station/ power supply a base antenna all the coax and grounding and mast and did all the work???? it wouldn't be worth it.... someone said about leaving a base antenna up in a tree with the coax hanging was brilliant! he could hook a randy up to that on FM so the channel would always be clear and probably not being used... but she could never reach him unless he set up something like every hour he would check in... but buying two set up and two radio's.... it would be cheaper for his wife to just go check on him if she got worried.... or if a old pager would work?... but I guess we will never know