Having just read 60+ posts of general hatred in the "can't use ham to replace cb" thread, I'm a little leery of making this my first post on this board, but here goes nothing....
I'm looking for some advice from folks who have real-world experience with 2m/70cm rigs on extended backcountry trips. My "main" hobby is off road expedition type travel -- extended durations in remote locations, sometimes hundreds of miles from the nearest town let alone 2m repeater.
Primarily, I want a rig that will allow me to communicate clearly with the other vehicles in my group, since we have not had good experience with CB. The theory tells me 2m FM simplex and low (5W) to medium (20W) power should do the trick for this use. I am also very interested in APRS capability, since being able to track the lead or tail vehicle's location would be huge, as well as being able to meet up with other people in remote locations that are far from having cell coverage.
This is all leading me toward the new Yeasu FTM-350, since although it's pricey, it looks like a very solid setup with very nice APRS integration, and frankly I like the looks of it a lot more than the Kenwood offering.
However, another huge reason I'm considering going down the ham path for my vehicle is the potential for use in an emergency situation. If I'm, let's say 100 miles from the nearest town in the middle of the Mojave desert somewhere, do I have a reasonable chance of being heard on a 2m rig at "high" power (typically 50W)?
In that type of situation, the theory tells me HF is the way to go. I picked up an Extra ticket, mainly because I just find the theory interesting so I read all three study books. I could conceivably see myself using HF under non-emergency circumstances, but I have no idea what kind of traffic is even out there.
I could go with a rig like the Yeasu FT-857D, but I lose the dual band capability and all the nice APRS goodness of the 350. It's a little more expensive, but I'm already talking about dropping close to a grand on this setup, so I'd rather just do it right from the get go.
Anyone have thoughts or real-world experience that pushed them one way or the other?
(btw, I really appreciate this forum compared to the other radio forums out there, just in terms of the overall civility of the members -- please take it easy on me here, as I'm new to this stuff. Thanks in advance!)
I'm looking for some advice from folks who have real-world experience with 2m/70cm rigs on extended backcountry trips. My "main" hobby is off road expedition type travel -- extended durations in remote locations, sometimes hundreds of miles from the nearest town let alone 2m repeater.
Primarily, I want a rig that will allow me to communicate clearly with the other vehicles in my group, since we have not had good experience with CB. The theory tells me 2m FM simplex and low (5W) to medium (20W) power should do the trick for this use. I am also very interested in APRS capability, since being able to track the lead or tail vehicle's location would be huge, as well as being able to meet up with other people in remote locations that are far from having cell coverage.
This is all leading me toward the new Yeasu FTM-350, since although it's pricey, it looks like a very solid setup with very nice APRS integration, and frankly I like the looks of it a lot more than the Kenwood offering.
However, another huge reason I'm considering going down the ham path for my vehicle is the potential for use in an emergency situation. If I'm, let's say 100 miles from the nearest town in the middle of the Mojave desert somewhere, do I have a reasonable chance of being heard on a 2m rig at "high" power (typically 50W)?
In that type of situation, the theory tells me HF is the way to go. I picked up an Extra ticket, mainly because I just find the theory interesting so I read all three study books. I could conceivably see myself using HF under non-emergency circumstances, but I have no idea what kind of traffic is even out there.
I could go with a rig like the Yeasu FT-857D, but I lose the dual band capability and all the nice APRS goodness of the 350. It's a little more expensive, but I'm already talking about dropping close to a grand on this setup, so I'd rather just do it right from the get go.
Anyone have thoughts or real-world experience that pushed them one way or the other?
(btw, I really appreciate this forum compared to the other radio forums out there, just in terms of the overall civility of the members -- please take it easy on me here, as I'm new to this stuff. Thanks in advance!)