Mobile radio question

[KN6LMK]

Hi, I’m brand new to amateur radio and had a question regarding mobile radios. I’m wanting to be able to establish simplex comms with another station roughly 30miles away. I live in a densely populated area but there aren’t a lot of tall buildings or obstructions between us. Im also wanting a mobile radio to use when I’m off grid 4x4ing. My question now is... is there a good mobile radio that I can use as a base station to enable the simplex comma I mentioned above (with the aid of an antenna I could use some suggestions on) and when I need to go 4x4ing I can easily take the radio with me?

Thanks for the help!

KN6LMK

[Tempstar]

Most base radios share the 50 watts of VHF and 40 to 50 watts of UHF that mobiles do. Using one as a base and taking out in the vehicle would be easy, just buy a mobile to begin with. As to 30 mile simplex, that gets tricky on V/UHF. The radio horizon for those frequencies is around 14 miles or so line of sight, so simplex comms over 30 miles will require an antenna at a substantial height, probably on both ends. To see what I'm talking about, lay a pencil on a golf ball: Every thing the pencil touches will be covered, every thing not touched will not. Raising the back of the pencil allows coverage farther around the ball, just like raising an antenna.
I would suggest something with cross band repeat like the Kenwood TM-V71a as it will give you the option of using a handheld radio with it and extend the range of the handheld.

Welcome to the hobby!

[KN6LMK]

Thank you! I was actually hoping to get the height from putting a small antenna on the roof of my two-story home and, if needed, one on the other roof. Is there a simple antenna option that would work with that Kenmore radio you mentioned?

[K6CPO]

Any particular reason you want to use simplex rather than going through a repeater? Given the conditions you describe, a repeater is going to be the better bet. And I'm sure there are plenty in that area you could use to talk to the other station.

[KN6LMK]

The open repeaters in my area that I have found to work between the stations are usually pretty busy

[K6CPO]

The open repeaters in my area that I have found to work between the stations are usually pretty busy

That's a bit of a switch from the usual complaints I see about repeaters being dead with little or no traffic. I'm south of you in San Diego and our repeaters are all pretty busy too.

You can try simplex, but I think it's going to be iffy. my club conducts a simplex net on 2 meters once a week and there are those I can hear loud and clear and others I can't hear at all. And most of the members are around ten miles away over mostly flat terrain.