handheld communication

[BenditoMonte]

Good morning fellas

I'm in the need of some sort of communication, it has to be handheld and cheap, I got t be honest here, I dont know nothing about the subject.
the main use will be communicating between 2 cars in a convoy and in cattle rides in a ranch, it needs to have at least a 20 mile radius to cover the ranch area, I will be buying 2 devices (2 cars, 2 cowboys).

what do you think it would suit my needs?
thanks

 

[Prerunner1982]

Some GMRS handhelds would work ok between cars in a convoy but within close range as the antenna would be inside the vehicle. An external antenna on each vehicle would be better however I am not sure if any of the current GMRS handhelds offer the ability to add an external antenna. They are allowed too but the radio itself may not have a removable factory antenna.

20 miles may be a bit much to cover with just a handheld, if one was a base station with an antenna at a reasonable height it would probably work fine. In VHF and UHF (GMRS is UHF) frequencies they are line of sight and antenna height it king.

 

[Craig Schueren]

Midland GMRS and get the larger antenna for the vehicles and you shouldn’t have issues. They are coming out with new handhelds and I would trust them.

With the stock antenna I have gotten 15 miles perfectly.

 

[TerryD]

Don't forget you need a license to use GMRS. Depending on the size of your operation and the amount of need you have, a GMRS repeater could really improve your range out there but that's quite a bit of added expense.

 

[WareWolf MoonWall]

Cobra has a GMRS / Marine HT which has the ability to attach a vehicle mounted antenna. This is because the device is not restricted by FRS regulations, and thus requires a GMRS license to operate. It's also around $100 per HT.

Since nobody touched on it specifically, one of the restrictions of FRS communication to get FCC type certified, is that the radio is fixed to the device.

 

[94Cruiser]

Pfft cheap baufeng uv-5r radios. You'd need a license for either gmrs or ham, so just go with the ham. I've gotten them to work in the 10 mile line of sight range, and they can also hit repeaters and are completely programmable. If you get external antennas, they'll go much further.