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Comment by sliken | Hacker News Reader

Or just take the multiple choice test, get a ham radio license, and buy a $30 radio and a $10 antenna.

I'm an extra and a VE. I take a radio with me on all of my back country camping trips and have a solar+battery repeater set up in my 4x4. I've ended up many places where neither radio could get out to anyone simplex and no repeaters were in range. Amateur radio works great when you have a communications plan and know you'll be in range (like when you're working with a group) but for small groups/solo back country and new areas I'll be picking up either a PLB or an inreach for this season. Others mentioned HF, I don't think you can expect to be able to string a wire dipole up and transit if you break your ankle or something ~ assuming the solar conditions allow you to get out anyway.

Also I meet lots of people who have taken the test and bought the $30 radio but don't know how to use it. Practice, practice, practice. I look at group camping trips as an opportunity to practice wilderness protocol and usually come back with a bunch of notes on what worked/didn't.

There's a fairly recent story about a ham using satellite communications when he and his son got their vehicle stuck in mud out in the wilderness. I can't find the link at the moment, but they were practiced at it beforehand and I'm guessing very happy that they were.

A ham radio is good to have, but in many remote places will be useless if you can't reach a repeater. I would definitely take a PLB and not rely solely on my HT if I was going somewhere remote.

With some elevation (like standing on your car) and a cheap 6 foot antenna (made of PVC for $10 or so) I've hit repeaters 100s of miles away. But sure if you are in worse terrain you might need a HF radio instead of a 2M/440cm HT.

The radio is a nice thing to have, but it isn't a realistic substitute for a PLB when you leave civilization. Even if the satellite beacon is received only intermittently and can't get GPS fix or doesn't have GPS the system will figure out where it is in maybe an hour or so anyway (Doppler measurement) and any single message is an unambiguous call for rescue.

How much does such a set up weigh? The InReach is small and has excellent battery lifetime.

Well an HT with some skill/training and a directional antenna can use various satellites as repeaters for 100% coverage world wide. Granted the windows are short and not that many times a day. HF rigs are a bit bigger, about the size of a small (single DIN) car radio or CB. Examples like the yaesu ft-891, ft-818, or icom ic-7100. So easy to have in a car, not so easy to carry hiking.

Others radios focus more on being portable and include batteries for hikers and SOTA (Summits on The Air). Things like the KX2, Xeigo X5105, or the new Icom IC-705 (announced but not shipping). The IC-705 actually uses the same battery as their HTs.

HF radio use (at least in the USA) requires the general license, which is a a bit harder of a multiple choice test. The easiest license is a tech which gets you privileges on the 2M and higher bands.

The digital modes give even a very modest radio amazing range. A friend demo'd a (5 watts) FT-817 in a poor location (building patio surrounded by trees, crappy antenna (random 20+ foot wire attached to the antenna port with an alligator clip, terrible antenna placement (thrown over a 8 foot tall tree branch) and was able to reach people in Ohio from California.

That's a whole lot of work to go through to avoid carrying a 4 ounce satellite PLB.

Keep in mind that if you're using a PLB, there's a good chance you have broken an arm or leg and won't be able to set up a large device.

One of the advantages of an inReach is that you could activate it with a single button press even with major injuries.

The basic Technician license in US is not limited to 2m and higher - that's merely where you have all the privileges. But you also get SSB and CW on 10m, and CW only on 15m, 40m, and 80m; all of these up to 200W PEP.

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