Comment by cbfrench | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cbfrench | Hacker News Reader

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The better question might be: What is your imagined use case for this radio? A VHF/UHF handheld is more or less limited to LOS transmission, so you would either need to be within reliable range of a repeater or another person with an HT tuned to that frequency. If you’re looking for something you can use in a backcountry emergency, you’d frankly be better off just plunking down the money for a satphone, which is going to be much more reliable. An HT radio is unlikely to be of much use in that scenario, unless you know there’s a repeater nearby that is regularly used and that you can hit from your location. OTOH, if you’re looking for a new hobby and a gadget to play around with, get a license, pick up an UV-K5, and have fun!

If you want to get a license just to play on the radio, it is super easy. A Technician license will allow you legally to use any VHF/UHF radio with full access to those bands (plus all of 6m and some access to other HF bands).

It’s extremely simple to get licensed. Put the HamStudy app on your phone, run through the question pool/practice exams until the info is in your memory, and then sign up for a remote exam on HamStudy.org. I studied for my Technician license for like a day and a half and aced the Tech exam. I aced my General and Extra exams within a week using the same method. I have no background in tech or EE. So, yeah, it’s easy.

I agree in general, that if someone has a short amount of time, a small amount of money, and any kind of ability to memorize some rules, then getting a Tech license is a breeze! And if you're actually enjoying it, getting a General is not difficult, either.

In my humble opinion, the rules on antenna and transmit power for FRS are annoying - garbage range and prone to interference. I wouldn't want to risk pissing off the FCC or a ham with too much time on their hands by running hot on FRS constantly...

But for occasional backwoods travel with friends or to use in an emergency without clogging up ham frequencies, it's totally possible to reprogram certain Baofengs and these radios to transmit on FRS frequencies with low wattage. In fact, I think FRS was modified to allow higher power now, so the low-end of these radios fits. It's just the antenna reg that they break now.

Yeah, definitely agree 100%. It’s not a popular ham opinion, but the general follow-up to “Is this illegal?” should be “Will anyone care?” Lots of practices in the radio world are, strictly speaking, illegal, but no one cares. See all the guys running multiple kW amps on CB, which is limited (laughably) to 4W AM and 12W PEP on SSB.

If you modify a bunch of Fengs to run on FRS/GMRS freqs to talk up and down the mountain out in the middle of nowhere, sure, it’s illegal, but if no one hears your transmissions other that the people on the mountain, it’s not an issue unless you take the FCC regs as moral edicts. But if you’re looking for a way to get a signal out in an emergency, a satphone is still going to be your best bet.

Less for emergency use (in a life or death situation I'm less worried about upsetting the FCC), more for "hey dude, wanna meet up for lunch" or "FYI I'm heading back to the car".

Ideally something that doesn't require everyone to have a license (eg I can just hand a friend a without advance prep) but with a couple miles of range without LOS (maybe I'm underestimating the Toys R Us walkie talkies but I'm assuming they don't reach that far).

I've also seen LoRa based solutions like Meshtastic but not sure how practical it is

Yeah in that case, you’d probably be better off just picking up some decent GMRS handhelds. Spend a little more on some antenna upgrades, and you should have no issues. If you really want to stay on the right side of the law, you can have everyone in your group (who isn’t related to you) throw $35 at the FCC for some GMRS licenses. But, depending on terrain, you should be able to stay in reasonable contact with everyone with 5W if you’re within a mile or two.

I'm pretty sure you can find the same radio hardware platform but FCC certified for GMRS (or so the label says anyway). Maybe they added filtering to get it to pass? That means a $35 GMRS radio with USB-C charging, swappable antennas, and higher transmit power.

He's already seen Meshtastic, which is something I definitely want to play with for his exact use-case: coordinating with friends while skiing.

The BC Link is a commonly used GMRS radio for backcountry enthusiasts.

https://backcountryaccess.com/en-us/c/bc-link-radios/

Any decently made GMRS radio should be fine for coordinating around the ski resort. I've had mixed results with FRS as the range is quite poor. This is amplified by the fact that the other party could be on a different face of the mountain as well as covered by trees. It's also convenient that many GMRS and FRS frequencies overlap, so if someone in your party only has an FRS radio or doesn't have a license, they can still communicate with GMRS users, assuming they're within range.

As another commenter pointed out a satellite communicator would be preferable in an emergency situation, as FRS/GMRS cannot be relied on to request emergency or rescue services. I keep a Garmin inReach Mini for this purpose.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/765374

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