Batboard

My wife and I are both licensed hams, but it has been some time since we played around much on 2 meter simplex. Anyway, since we are getting into ATVing a bit more this year I am thinking about another radio for areas that are out of range of either GSM or CDMA. If I were to get a pair or Motorola MT1000s, HT1000s, or something similar and just set them up on 146.580 with an analog PL tone, can somebody give me an estimate of reliable range in an outdoor wooded environment. Yeah, I know that it varies, but just given a typical wooded area, not particularly hilly, portable to portable with OEM antenna. I seem to recall that the MT1000 is 5 watts on VHF, but it has been a while since I looked into that.

It really depends on your locations, the treeline, phazes of the moon, planet alignment, among other variables.
I know at some of my SAR exercises, we started to loose comms at about a .50-1.0 miles on mostly flat terrain in the woods. Now, if you're in the mountains, things can get much more interesting. Really, the only way to know is to get it the woods and get on the air.

As far as Motorola radios; if you're just using it on the ham band and don't need many bells and whistles, then I'd look for some old-school Sabers. They go for the fraction of the cost of other surplus radios these days, and they're built like a tank! The 120-channel full keypad radios can be had for a fraction of even most HT1000's. Either way, once you go Moto, you'll think most amateur HT's are just toys...

If you're going to be on ATVs get mobiles for them, like Icom or Vertex or Kenwood,
that run something like 30 watts, and carry HTs as well. You should have enough power on the ATVs to handle the load. Propagation of simplex RF signals in the woods usually stinks, plain and simple, and much more so in the summer when the leaves are on the trees.

Jim,

We do the same thing when riding our ATV's. Like the others have said, it varies greatly on many factors. Sometimes we can get a couple of miles, other times a half mile is all we get.

Here are some things we learned over the years, some the hard way...

We are mostly using Yaseu VX-170s. Helmet speaker/microphones really help a LOT, and I'd strongly recommend it. It helps cancel out some of the background noise, and gets the speaker close enough to your ears that you can clearly hear what the other riders are saying. We used speaker mics for a while, and while it works, it's really easy to miss something. Getting separated on some of the trails we ride can really be a problem, so we've found that the helmet systems really work well. I've had good luck with these guys. Not the best, I'm sure, but they have worked well over the years, and have stood up to beating well. http://www.ixcessory.com/ Nice thing is you can buy spare parts for them, rather than having to buy whole new set ups.

We also are using 19" long after market antennas. It makes a bit of a difference, but sometimes that is all you need.

Handle bar mounted PTT buttons that come with the headsets works well. Makes it safer since you don't have to take your hands off the handle bars.

We try to always carry the radio on our person. If you flip, roll, or otherwise wipe out, you want the radio to call for help, not be trying to crawl to wherever the ATV landed. This saved me last year when I rag-dolled it over the handle bars and busted my hip and cracked my pelvis. I would not have been able to call for help if the radio had been on the ATV. I don't ride crazy, just easy logging roads, but one rock in the wrong place and you can go flying.

The VX170's are pretty durable, as are the HT1000's and Sabers. You really want that as they will take a beating. Between mud, rain and the dust, you want something that will take it. The submersible VX-170 makes it easy to just wash the crud off it when you are done.

If you can, have a back up repeater to contact the other riders. It's easy to get out of range.

We tried a mobile vhf radio in our Yamaha Rhino, and we had too many issues. You really need a loud speaker pointed at the driver, or you need it wired into the helmet headset. I still haven't given up on the idea.

I've also been really tempted to try 6 meters to see if that would work any better.

Oh, almost forgot,
I sometimes use a VHF HT1000 when I ride. It works and is plenty loud with a speaker mic up close to your ear/helmet, but not ideal. The radio has stood up to the abuse very well. I've also got a UHF MTS2000 that I use when we need a UHF repeater or for GMRS for riders that don't have a ham license. It works well, sometimes UHF tends to work better than VHF in the canyons.

I agree with some of the others and would use one of the Yaesu portables that are also submursable. Either way if you are in the boonies I would keep my radio in carrier squelch mode and forget the PL. You will be able to hear noisy signals better when at the limits of your range.Even in Los Angeles simplex ham channels are not full of activity.

Jim;

I use an HT-1000 hunting in the mountains. My hunting partner also has one. We can easily talk 1 mile, with temperatures as low as 10 degrees. Terrain is heavily wooded, and typically laden with large rocks in between the 2 of us.

I can easily hit a repeater 10 miles away from the same hunting location, without having to find a "higher spot". I use them on the liscense free MURS frequencies for hunting.

I use a speaker mike, and standard battery (used).

73s

Bobby

either way mount a gain antennae on the atv's, any height would be well worth it, another 2 foot of height on both will probablly gain you at least another 3/4 mile. or you can just buy the 2 ways from best buy that can do 8 miles, now you know they wouldn't be lying about that?

license free MURS repeaters

As far as I know no such beast exists. License by rule MURS frequencies are simplex only. Repeaters operating on now-current MURS frequencies were grandfathered in and require licenses (and coordination).

MURS stations are prohibited from operating as a repeater station or as a signal booster. This prohibition includes store-and-forward packet operation.

http://wireless.fcc.gov/services/index. ... =multi_use

When we go hunting/camping I always take my trusty Astro Saber IIR with me wherever I go. That radio will take anything and everything you could ever dream of throwing at it, and still looks like new lol. The other people in my group generally hate the "bigger radios", so they take the MTS2000's/HT1000's. We've never had an issue with them either. I've never thought of rigging up a mobile radio in an ATV though. That's a good idea (going into thinking mode) But, on the portables, we generally get about .5 miles, to almost a little over a mile on simplex. Not that great of a range, but VERY useful, since most of the places have NO cell reception at ALL.