Required Radio Equipment for Different Ranges and Purposes.

[gil]

The one question that comes to my mind regularly is: What bands and radios should I have to cover all possible emergency situations? The answer would be easy assuming a ?bug-in? situation. Taking mobility into consideration turns it into a whole new ball game. Not to mention cost. So, let's see what needs to be covered in terms of range and how it affects transceiver and antenna choices. I divide communication needs in three ranges:

• Local: Within the family, group, or neighborhood.
• Regional: Within a 250 mile radius.
• Long distance: State, country and worldwide.

Local and regional ranges need to be absolutely reliable. Long distance, well, that's another story..

Local: A couple pairs of FRS radios will do fine. Your neighbors might have some too. Reliable range is limited to a couple miles (don't believe the ads), but they are light and small. It is more likely that someone could be listening in on your conversations, so you would have to keep that in mind. When splitting a group, even for short times and distances, you need to remain in contact. Anything can happen, and you do not want to lose anyone, especially family members!
A couple 2m handhelds could be very useful as well, to extend your range. Look at the Slim Jim antenna article I wrote in the antenna forum. You can hoist it up a tree, and it is portable.. You could count on a reliable 30 mile range. This would allow you to pick-up chatter from other groups, and learn about the situation around your position. Emergency Ham organizations would be using that band. Valuable information could be gained by scanning those frequencies.

You might also consider marine and aviation band handhelds. They cost about $200, and are pretty small. This adds gear to carry however, so plan wisely. You don't need a marine radio in Kansas..

We are up to already two or three handhelds, and we need to keep things light and small..

Regional: Two possibilities here, HF using NVIS (Near Vertical Incidence Skywave), or VHF using troposcatter propagation. For HF, you would need an 80m or 40m radio, with a pretty long dipole close to the ground. While a wire antenna packs easily, it takes a lot of space to install, and requires some kind of support, trees or poles. In a vehicle, you can have a base-loaded antenna up front, bent backwards and attached with a string to the rear bumper. The short antenna requires more power to get out, but you have a car battery for that. On foot, the antenna issue is more of a problem, especially on the move. See hfpack.com for information on portable HF.
One band that is probably under-appreciated is 2m SSB. Ranges of up to 250 miles can be obtained using beam antennas such as the Yagi-Uda type, which remain small and portable. I bought myself the MFJ-9406 6m SSB transceiver, but I might trade it for a 9402 model on 2m. That way, I can use the same antenna (assuming a wide enough tuning range) as my 2m FM one. Arrow Antennas (http://www.arrowantennas.com) has foldable Yagis at good prices..

Some thoughts about 6m... It is a great band that can use almost all modes of propagation, sometimes behaving like HF or VHF. If I could have only one radio for everything, that would be it. Like a seaplane is a bad boat and a bad plane, 6m has it's quirks, especially for long distances. Without solar activity, it is a local/regional band only. A 6m beam antenna is much bigger than a 2m one.. If everyone used it, it would be great, but it isn't the most popular band. 20m and 2m SSB radios will do everything 6m does, only better. Sure, that's two instead of one, but reliability is increased a great deal, especially on 20m.

Finding someone to talk to on HF is easy. On 2m SSB, it is another story. If you have relatives or friends within 250 miles, I would suggest setting them up with 2m SSB. That band only requires a simple Technician license, which anyone can easily get.

Long Distance: This means HF, and bouncing signals off the ionosphere. A CB radio can do that, using SSB, but only during the high part of the sun cycle (we are in it right now). If that's all you have, great. For more reliability, I am thinking of 20 and 40m. HF radios, but for a few exceptions, tend to get heavier and bulkier. Antennas get much longer, especially under 7mHz. There is however one mode that offers very small radios, low power consumption, and the best reliability, that is CW (Morse code) transceivers. My Elecraft K1 is the perfect example, with 20 and 40m bands. It uses only 55mA of current on receive, and packs in a small box. You can go extra small with a Rock-Mite from smallwonderlabs.com. I have one in my bug-out bag, with an end-fed wire antenna. You can transmit on 40m CW with a Technician license. Though a license would mean little in a real life-threatening emergency, practice makes perfect.
A small SSB single-band transceiver would work fine, if you don't want to learn Morse code. I like the MFJ-9420 and 9440 models. Be careful with MFJ products though, some are quite junky, but their transceivers work great. The BitX20 would be great too. It comes in kit form. See qrpkits.com.

There are radios that cover all the bands I mentioned. The best example would be the Yaesu FT-817ND, which amazingly covers from 160 to 2m I believe. It is very small for what it does. I am sure I will eventually get one. One reserve however: If your radio goes dead, you lose all means of communication. Buy two or have other radios as backups.

Short Wave reception: You might want to have a good Short Wave receiver for information gathering purposes. With the capability to receive both amateur lower bands and commercial broadcasts, you can be sure to know what is going on. I have my eyes on the MFJ-8100K, which seems like an affordable nice week-end kit project.

We now have two or three handhelds, two small transceivers, a Yagi-Uda or Slim Jim antenna, and an end-fed 20/40m (I have a PAR end-fed) wire antenna. Not bad, and not too heavy.. What else do we need?

Power of course. All these radios run on 12vdc. I use a 2.9Ah gel-cell battery to power everything (not at the same time). My next purchase is a flexible 10W solar panel (http://www.powerfilmsolar.com) and small charge controller (http://www.buddipole.com/sobaco.html). Don't forget EMP protection, get Faraday bags for each of your radios. I am also planning on getting a Pelican 1400 case for my K1.

Thanks to the recent trend of ?QRP? Ham Radio, it is now possible to cover most useful bands with small and light radios. My Rock-Mite, one FRS and a 2m handheld live in my bug-out bag, along with an end-fed wire antenna for 20/40m and a power cable with alligator clips. The rest of my radio equipment goes into another bag, meant to be carried in a vehicle or on a cart. Right now, my HF radio is the Elecraft K1. My 2m is a Yaesu FT-270R. I have a pair of FRS radios. My SSB CB radio would go in my vehicle bag as well, with another wire antenna. This makes for a heavy bag, with the other stuff I plan on putting in it, camping gear, some clothes, and other useful items. This second bag should be light enough to be carried on foot for short distances. The bug-out bag would never leave my back, wherever I go..

Your thoughts and comments would be appreciated... Thank you.

Gil.

[rockymtnsurvival]

I have found that a redesigned military AS 2259 antenna, a military designed NVIS antenna is useful on 40M or 80M.  As re-designed by adding some coils to the legs of the antenna, it is also harmonic on the 2 meter band without a tuner.  The range of the antenna is best for about 350 miles, and is non-directional. Since it still bounces off the ionosphere, it is difficult to find using direction finding equipment and thus has greater security than other antennas. The legs are about 20 feet across, and the height is 16 feet above ground level.  No radials are needed. 4 ft  military tent or camo poles are ideal for the mast, and it can be errected and disassembled in less than 10 minutes.

[gil]

Very interesting, thank you. I have never looked at surplus military antennas, but that is a great idea.

Gil.

[Ca Hoss]

Hi Gil,

I am Hoss an new member. I have been doing some research in the one radio fits most. One of the closest things I have seen lately is the CRE8900 . These are available now in the USA. The fellows over at cb radio magazine have done a good review on size function and performance. Take a look.

Looking is free.

73's
Hoss

[gil]

Illegal in the United States. I would suggest anyone wanting to buy a CB radio to get a legal one...

Gil.

[Scott]

...or mod your own HF gear for a just-in-case scenario.

40W 11m output is plenty to drive a 10m amplifier with the band pass filters removed.

[Frosty]

I'd suggest a scanner being on the required equipment list.  I've had a Uniden BCD396XT scanner on my wishlist ever since my state agencies went to APCO-25 a couple years back.  Feel like I've been out-of-the-loop ever since with only an old SportCat scanner. 

After that, considering a 10-12m set maybe, the Yeticom Optima caught my eye.  Don't have any regional/long distance capability currently, not much need nor desire for it now, but might be good to have in the event of an emergency.  I'll admit I'm a little curious what goes on above CB and below 10m too.

[gil]

Hello Frosty,

I used to be into CB in the 80s, not anymore. I do have a CB radio, but it is barely used.
The HF bands are much more interesting, and "civilized." I am leaning towards 40m as my favorite.
I am also learning morse code, which I consider to be a must-have skill for anyone using radios.
Listen to 40m, you might like it better than 10/12 or anything else for that matter.

Gil.

[Ca Hoss]

Hello Gil,

I am with you on the legal part. Did not know that radio was FCC approved for 10 meter.

It is not,you are correct . So I am out. Good looking out

Thanks

73's
Hoss

[Jim Boswell]

Different times and different purpose sets what you use. Most of the time nightime HF will require 80 and 40 meters. Daytime, you will use 20meters and the higher bands if they are open. I use a scanner and CB just to hear what is going on in my general area. Yes, 2meters would be my constant companion.
Suggestions, work some 2meter simplex, you may not want everyone to hear what you are doing. Lots of people use scanners for the repeater freq. yet 146.55 may fit your needs great.
73'S  KA5SIW

[tinker]

Our local group has been experimenting with 80 meter vertical antennae and the results so far have been very solid and repeatable. Our moto is 100 cubed = 100 watts, 100 miles and 100 percent of the time.
Some of the results have been posted conservatively - -
http://www.nparc.on.ca/gwen/index.html

Have a look and tell me what you think.

Cheers,
73 de Ian VE3ERL

[gil]

Interesting Ian, thanks. That would definitely work. Even with less power I suspect. What do you guys do for radials?

Gil.

[tinker]

Radials are not an issue if you have good ground conductivity such as a salt flat or close proximity to ground water in a shallow water table.
At my location, we experience varied results because of the moisture content in clay over landfill (swamp) when our sub-division was built. This was improved by just bonding directly to the water pipes in the basement with #6 AWG stranded (a requirement for my FT-101E anyway)
Some of the guys are using the butternut vertical with the 24 radials supplied with more consistant results.
I'm glad you looked at the site. Keep up the great work with this forum.
Cheers,
73 de Ian

[gil]

Well, I am just about ready to build an 80m end-fed antenna (File attached), so 80m has my interest right now. Not for my house, I don't really have the space, but for camping. I am also thinking of trying it attached to a 5ft. weather balloon...

Gil.

[tinker]

Hi Gil:
The members of the GWEN net locally have been asked to document their antenna experiments carefully so the results can be posted on the site for the edification of other hams that have interest. Be sure to check back regularly for the updates when pictures and specifications are posted.

Myself, I have a design that is tested on another band with better than average results for a vertical end fed gamma match with a cap fabricated from ordinary tin cans soldered end to end beyond the coil to produce a wider range for resonance (similar to the theory of the 'fat' dipole). I will try to duplicate my results for 80m and post diagrams and pictures during the test process.

Is it acceptable if I share your tank circuit values with our resident guru and one of the originators of the GWEN project locally (cs - ve3bbn)? Thanks for your thoughts.

73 de Ian (100 cubed)