Portable GMRS radio for wooded area, under $300?

[suzukigs750ez]

Hello. I’m looking to purchase my GMRS license but would like to first find the radio. I’m looking to be able to communicate on a 90 acre property of heavily wooded peaks and valleys. I know GMRS has its limitations but it’s what I can do, for now. I would prefer to be able to communicate hands free. I started a thread pertaining to another radio which was not appropriate for my needs so I thought I’d start a new one. Thanks I’m advance.

 

[K4EET]

Hello. I’m looking to purchase my GMRS license but would like to first find the radio. I’m looking to be able to communicate on a 90 acre property of heavily wooded peaks and valleys. I know GMRS has its limitations but it’s what I can do, for now. I would prefer to be able to communicate hands free. I started a thread pertaining to another radio which was not appropriate for my needs so I thought I’d start a new one. Thanks I’m advance.

For starters, which of these layouts, if any, approximates your property of interest? Then, can you roughly place the hill(s) and their approximate height above the average ground elevation?

 

[suzukigs750ez]

It’s a rectangle for the most part, front to back long sides. Side to side short. Elevation maybe 20-30 feet in most areas. It’s very hilly.

 

[K4EET]

It’s a rectangle for the most part, front to back long sides. Side to side short. Elevation maybe 20-30 feet in most areas. It’s very hilly.

We Need some approximate numbers to work with. If the property is only 10 feet wide, then for 90 acres it would be 392,060 feet deep. At that depth, end to end, comms is going to be tough with HTs no matter how you slice it.

 

[suzukigs750ez]

Pardon my ignorance, but if I’m working within GMRS parameters, is one radio going to reach better than another? And if so, wouldn’t that be the radio I want? I’m going to upload my GPS data from today in a few and I’ll give an approximate. Thanks for the help thus far!

 

[Wauk620]

GMRS UHF frequencies don’t play nice in wooded areas, hills and valleys, even if you’re running 50W simplex from both sites. Before investing in GMRS, you may want to explore MURS. No license is needed and VHF has better propagation in the environment you describe. Even though you’re limited to 2W, a base station can increase its height and type to maximize efficiency. Good luck. 73’s

 

[suzukigs750ez]

Give or take half mile by half mile. It’s a funny shaped property but that’s the best I can do

 

[suzukigs750ez]

GMRS UHF frequencies don’t play nice in wooded areas, hills and valleys, even if you’re running 50W simplex from both sites. Before investing in GMRS, you may want to explore MURS. No license is needed and VHF has better propagation in the environment you describe. Even though you’re limited to 2W, a base station can increase its height and type to maximize efficiency. Good luck. 73’s

The property isn’t mine and it’s literally just a field and wooded area in the middle of nowhere. Is MURS better in woods than GMRS? I don’t mind which one, just need quality reception. If that’s the case, what is a quality MURS radio? Not Chinese… if that’s possible lol

 

[K4EET]

I'm going to guess that you "heard" the land that you could hunt on was about 90 acres and to your best recollection it is a "funny shaped" square, roughly 3/8th mile (1,980 feet) per side which works out to be exactly 90 acres. So the furthest you need to communicate is diagonally from opposing corners of the square or about 2,800 feet (0.53 miles).

If the radios are in a valley 1/2 mile apart with 1 or more 30 foot AAT (Above Average Terrain) hills in between, using a MURS HT, I would venture to say that you have a 100% probability of not hearing each other. Given the exact opposite scenario, the two MURS HTs are on 30 foot hills, 1/2 mile apart, with a valley in between, you would have a decent chance of hearing each other. How clear it would be depends on receiver sensitivity, amount of foliage the signal passes through, path loss, etc. Unfortunately, being retired now, I no longer have the tools needed to make those calculations.

Bottom line? Regardless of the radio service, if you are talking handheld HTs at head height that need to transmit/receive through heavy foliage as you described earlier over a path approaching 1/2 mile (worst case given the numbers we are looking at here), even if those 30 foot hills did not exist, you are asking a lot for "good" communications from low power HTs. I would suggest picking up a pair of MURS HTs and do some field testing. Get a better feel for what you are up against. Who knows, you may even be pleasantly surprised.

 

[CaptDan]

Foe what it's worth

 

[popnokick]

mmckenna responded with MURS radio suggestions in the other thread you started in this forum regarding FRS, GMRS, and your need for hunting radios -

MURS is a good solution for short range communications. It uses VHF that will work better in rolling terrain. It is not interoperable with anything other than MURS radios. Icom makes some really nice MURS radios: V10MR Multi-Use Radio Service (MURS) Transceiver - Features - Icom America
So does Ritron:
-only- the NT-152M model: NT Series, MURS/VHF/UHF, Ritron 2-Way Radios

Those will give you what you need and get you away from the kids with FRS radios.

 

[suzukigs750ez]

mmckenna responded with MURS radio suggestions in the other thread you started in this forum regarding FRS, GMRS, and your need for hunting radios -

Correct. Not trying to be a pain, my head is just spinning with UHF, VHF, MURS, GMRS, FRS. If I go the MURS route, is the icom v10mr about the best quality wise I can get in a handheld (compared to the ritron NT-152M)If so, would you be able to suggest a quality mic for it? I’d like something unobtrusive like an ear bud style with a mic. Do they make Bluetooth adapters for these radios by chance?
Lastly, I know it was suggested not to use (and after being educated here I’m staying within legalities now that I’m educated on it, I also don’t own the radio or plan to) would the baofeng bf-f8hp be able to communicate with the icom?

lastly, if MURS is only five channels, why does the ICOM state 16 and the RITRON state 225?

 

[nd5y]

lastly, if MURS is only five channels, why does the ICOM state 16 and the RITRON state 225?

Probably because they are based on another non-MURS model.

There are only 5 MURS frequencies but you can program the same frequency multiple times with different PL or DCS tones.

I'm not familiar with those radios but it might be possible that you can program frequencies outside of MURS as receive only.

 

[mmckenna]

Correct. Not trying to be a pain, my head is just spinning with UHF, VHF, MURS, GMRS, FRS. If I go the MURS route, is the icom v10mr about the best quality wise I can get in a handheld (compared to the ritron NT-152M)If so, would you be able to suggest a quality mic for it? I’d like something unobtrusive like an ear bud style with a mic. Do they make Bluetooth adapters for these radios by chance?

The Ritron is a pretty nice radio. My brother in law used those for his tower crews. The benefit to them at the time was they were the only 'real' MURS radio on the market (other than a few low end Chinese junk radios). They also have a nice LCD display that is useful in some applications.

Some of the better audio accessories you can get are right from the manufacturer.
But keep in mind that things like speaker mics, headsets, ear buds, antennas, batteries are all considered "expendable" items.
There are other manufacturers of really good audio accessories, but they get really expensive fast.

There are after market bluetooth adapters for those radios. Trouble is, you need to have a bluetooth device that will support the Push To Talk function. Most consumer devices will not do that.
Pryme is a decent company that makes some affordable audio accessories as well as bluetooth devices.

Lastly, I know it was suggested not to use (and after being educated here I’m staying within legalities now that I’m educated on it, I also don’t own the radio or plan to) would the baofeng bf-f8hp be able to communicate with the icom?

Capable, if programmed correctly. Legal, no.

lastly, if MURS is only five channels, why does the ICOM state 16 and the RITRON state 225?

Right, only 5 frequencies are assigned/legal to use under the MURS rules.
The additional channels can allow you to set up those 5 channels with different squelch codes. Not very useful for most users, but as ND5Y said, these radios are built off commercial radios that have more channel capacity, so it's included.

 

[suzukigs750ez]

The Ritron is a pretty nice radio. My brother in law used those for his tower crews. The benefit to them at the time was they were the only 'real' MURS radio on the market (other than a few low end Chinese junk radios). They also have a nice LCD display that is useful in some applications.

Some of the better audio accessories you can get are right from the manufacturer.
But keep in mind that things like speaker mics, headsets, ear buds, antennas, batteries are all considered "expendable" items.
There are other manufacturers of really good audio accessories, but they get really expensive fast.

There are after market bluetooth adapters for those radios. Trouble is, you need to have a bluetooth device that will support the Push To Talk function. Most consumer devices will not do that.
Pryme is a decent company that makes some affordable audio accessories as well as bluetooth devices.



Capable, if programmed correctly. Legal, no.



Right, only 5 frequencies are assigned/legal to use under the MURS rules.
The additional channels can allow you to set up those 5 channels with different squelch codes. Not very useful for most users, but as ND5Y said, these radios are built off commercial radios that have more channel capacity, so it's included.

So does ONLY icom work with icom headset wise? Does ritron only work with ritron or are they all interchangeable?

 

[mmckenna]

So does ONLY icom work with icom headset wise? Does ritron only work with ritron or are they all interchangeable?

The pin spacing and contact assignments for the microphone/speaker jacks are NOT standardized. You would need to make sure the audio accessories you purchased were compatible with the radio you purchase.

In other words, just because you can jam it in the hole doesn't mean it's right.

 

[nd5y]

If you use a speaker mic with the radio on a belt or in a pocket or something with the antenna close to or touching your body then don't be surprised if you have poor performance and are not able to talk very far.

 

[K4EET]

If you use a speaker mic with the radio on a belt or in a pocket or something with the antenna close to or touching your body then don't be surprised if you have poor performance and are not able to talk very far.

@suzukigs750ez, take note of that post. That is why I said earlier when describing comms possibilities that I stipulated “handheld HTs at head height” as the operational scenario. Like @nd5y stated, with the HT on your belt or in your pocket, comms is going to be severely degraded.

 

[suzukigs750ez]

@suzukigs750ez, take note of that post. That is why I said earlier when describing comms possibilities that I stipulated “handheld HTs at head height” as the operational scenario. Like @nd5y stated, with the HT on your belt or in your pocket, comms is going to be severely degraded.

More than likely it will be strapped to my backpack in some way.

 

[mmckenna]

More than likely it will be strapped to my backpack in some way.

That's what I do on my dirt bike, it's in the hydration pack. Improves performance noticeably. The farther you can move the antenna above/away from the body, the better.