The storm has hit – Power is out and Cell towers are out. Your caught on the wrong side of the bridge which is now flooded, or your home is cut off from getting out due to trees being down. What do you do?
In most cases, if your unharmed and safe where you are you can stand by and wait until someone comes to check on you. But – what if you cannot wait?
For Ham operators the solution is simple – we pick up a radio and we can usually reach out to someone within 20 or 30 miles, or if we have a HF radio capable of reaching hundreds or thousands of miles, we can call out for someone to relay an emergency message for us. But – What if you are not a Ham radio operator? Do you have options?
Yes you do. There are two types of radios that will work that will get you ranges from a few miles to hundreds of miles depending on your planning with the radio and your location. Here they are:
GMRS Radio, otherwise known as General Mobile Radio Service, is a newer service around just the past 20 years or so. These radios range from the small pocket radios often purchased for hunting or camping which do have very limited range, or to higher quality and capable handheld radios limited to just 5-watts running from $60 to under $200 miles. Examples of these include the Baofeng Tech GMRS-V1 radio which can accept a better quality external antenna which runs just $65 or so, or the Baofeng Tech GMRS-PRO radio which is a more capable handheld radio. These GMRS Radios will all work in a 2-5 mile range in a radio-to-radio mode, or if you are fortunate enough to have a GMRS Radio repeater nearby, you could communicate 5 to 20 or so miles depending on the location of the repeater and the repeater antenna height.
For more power, you can move up to a mobile-style GMRS Radio that can communicate with up to 50-watts of power. Coupled with a well placed antenna, you are extending your radio-to-radio range from 10 to 20 miles (Depending on location) or to a repeater then 20-50 miles, again depending on repeater location from you.
Now – GMRS Radio DOES require a license to operate. But – unlike a Ham Radio license which requires studying and testing, you can get your GMRS radio license and call sign for $35 from the FCC online with no testing needed. With the license, it covers all immediate members of your family, so the fee is actually very inexpensive. The license lasts for 10 years by the way.
CB Radio
The second radio option is the good old CB Radio, but with a twist. Traditional and older CB Radios usually operated on just 40-AM band channels. These have a power output of just 4-watts, and often when mounted in a vehicle with a basic antenna and not tuned, you may be looking at one to three miles. Very limited, but there are ways of greatly extending this range.
Many newer CB Radios are capable of operating in what is referred to as a SINGLE SIDEBAND mode. This is where the output signal is modified to transmit only a portion of the signal. This results in some quality loss, but is still easily understood and also allows the radio to now broadcast with 12-watts of power.
To further optimize your radio, you can use a high quality external antenna connected with low-loss coaxial cable and the antenna tuned for low signal loss. If properly configured, you now have what most hams will also have – a radio capable of transmitting on HF frequencies (27-MHz range) which can perform signal skip through the atmosphere. Also – for local communication on regular AM transmitting mode, a well placed antenna now can boost your range, probably 10 to 20 miles if optimally configured. In SSB (Sideband) mode and talking on radio channels 32-40 which are heavily used for skip radio, your chances are good to reach someone farther out that can provide a radio relay message for you. This is where someone, say a hundred miles away, takes your information and will then call authorities for you. You see – radio skip is using propagation that can be very random. This means very often your second communication party is not near you, and with the changes in how the atmosphere is during the night, you may not catch the same contact on a repeated or regular basis. But – just catching someone who can forward your message could be the difference between life and death.
CB Radios can be purchased inexpensively. A good SSB Radio along with a good antenna and coaxial cable will run you in the $200 to $300 range. For my use, I mount portable radios in pelican-style cases that can be portable, and easily connected to a 12-volt battery as well as a well placed antenna (The higher in the air the better).
As for a License, with CB radio there will be NO LICENSE NECESSARY. This has kept CB Radios popular still among skip radio operators though CB has lost popularity for road-traffic radios.