New ham

[KE8MVZ]

Good afternoon from the Buckeye state. I am a fairly new ham operator that pursued a license for the purpose of installing a mobile radio in my SUV for emergencies when I travel to locations with bad cell coverage. This was my original intent but after looking into the hobby I want more so I will be attending my first club meeting tonight to meet other operators in my area and learn from those that have been in this hobby.

Is there a mobile ham radio that you would recommend for a newbie that I could install in my 4x4 to use while traveling in those areas where cell coverage might not exist? I would like it to have crossband repeat for those times I am hiking or away from my vehicle so that I can use a handheld ham radio.

Thank you for any assistance.

[KD9KVS]

Good afternoon from the Buckeye state. I am a fairly new ham operator that pursued a license for the purpose of installing a mobile radio in my SUV for emergencies when I travel to locations with bad cell coverage. This was my original intent but after looking into the hobby I want more so I will be attending my first club meeting tonight to meet other operators in my area and learn from those that have been in this hobby.

Is there a mobile ham radio that you would recommend for a newbie that I could install in my 4x4 to use while traveling in those areas where cell coverage might not exist? I would like it to have crossband repeat for those times I am hiking or away from my vehicle so that I can use a handheld ham radio.

Thank you for any assistance.

First I’d like to say WELCOME!!! There is a plethora of information here from other users and you get to learn from some very intelligent people. Glad you choose to join us.

Onto your question about mobile radios...

What price range are you looking for?

Do you plan to do inter-vehicle communication, or to a “base”?

Is everyone else planning to get their license as well, or just monitor?

At what range do you intend to communicate?

At the moment this may seem a completely random string of questions, but there is a purpose to each. Again I say welcome and I hope you enjoy your time here.

[2E0JTP]

while traveling in those areas where cell coverage might not exist?

This will require a bit of research on your part.

You could check out the smartphone app RepeaterBook (I have it on Android, but I'm sure it's available on iPhone as well). Have a look at where you will be travelling, see what repeaters are in that area. Then determine what modes those repeaters use. There is no use buying a transceiver that wont talk to the repeater you need in an emergency.

www.repeaterbook.com

If you have analogue repeaters covering the area you want to visit, that's easy. Pick a good quality analogue transceiver from whichever manufacturer you like, and the world's your lobster. If the nearby repeater(s) in the area you are visiting are D-Star, Fusion, or DMR, then you need to make sure you have a transceiver that is capable of using that mode. No one radio does them all, more's the pitty.

Here's a simple list of transceivers that meet different requirements, but all have cross band repeat (except the Motorola or TYT models):

Analogue repeater coverage: Kenwood TM-V71 or Alinco DR-735

D-Star digital repeater coverage: Icom ID-5100 or ID-4100

Fusion digital repeater coverage: Yaesu FTM-400D or FTM-300D

DMR digital repeater coverage: Anytone AT-D578UV-Pro or TYT MD-9600 (or if you have cash falling out of your pockets, a Motorola...)

It's worth noting that all of the above digital models have analogue built in as well, so it's not a bad idea to find out which digital mode takes your fancy (or has the most amount of local use) and get one of them anyway. Best of both worlds.

Also, if you are really going somewhere that cell phone coverage is truly gone. You might need to consider HF, or buy a sat phone.

[brandon lind]

I would like it to have crossband repeat for those times I am hiking or away from my vehicle so that I can use a handheld

Does this mean you would like to use a crossband repeater from your vehicle such that your (presumably UHF) handhelds are re-transmitted at the vehicle (on VHF) to others on the trail? This would require the vehicle to have a portable antenna mast to get the antenna up higher than a typical handheld if the vehicle isn't centrally located on the hiking path.

Or, does this suggest you intend to use the crossband repeater to go from VHF/UHF to HF for longer distance communication (which would likely mean the others on the trail are also in communication with the distant stations as opposed to each other on the trail)?

I suppose some handhelds receive HF, but none of them do it well with VHF/UHF antennas.......