GoogleMike:
Amateur radio service would be great in an "ideal" world. However it is
unrealistic to expect that everyone in your family will want to learn
code or study the theory. (two entry level options). And unfortunately
for the ham service, many in the ham ranks tend to turn off many
potential hams. CB service is, well just awful and painful to monitor
for days on end.

There is another such service that the family can enjoy without getting
a "Ham" license. It is called GMRS, a private UHF FM radio service where
up to 50 watts and repeater operation are permitted. Don't get this
confused with low cost FRS/GMRS (FRS is family radio service), those
units are low power and good only for a few miles. Check "google" for
"GMRS, PRSG (Personal radio steering group) and other GMRS links and you
will learn from what is available on the web. The last I checked there
were over a dozen GMRS repeaters listed in the PRSG repeater guide (red
book). Whether or not any of these are in operation is anyones guess.
Check with PRSG for repeater operators in your area and see if any exist
with coverage that will suffice for your locale. If not, you might want
to install your own if you have access to mountain top property. At each
house you install a "control station" with a yagi antenna so that all
homes are linked to the repeater. With proper selection of frequency and
squelch code, only those in your group will hear each other. But don't
be mistaken, this is still radio, so someone with a scanner can tune you
in. The advantage is that you won't have to listen to garbage on the
channel beacause of the tone squelch code,

You can also search the FCC database for other GMRS users in your area.
Unfortunately the FCC doesn't keep track of repeater installations
anymore, but you can still seek out others in the community with such a
system.

If the cost is out of your range, you can forgo the repeater idea and
install base stations at each of your relatives houses, and rely on the
limited range (a sort of cellular approach) and hope you don't get a
flat tire in the dead spot between Billy Bob's house and Sally Mae's place.

Here are some basics:

Mobile radios $500-1200 new, (portables same range, but far less
effective coverage)
Control or Base station, similar to mobile, add power supply $125 and
yagi or omnidirectional antenna $100.
Repeater station $2500 to $9000 new (or cost share with a group)
Antenna tower for repeater or base station, $500 to $3000 and up
depending on ... everything.
FCC License $75 for 5 years (covers entire family, even in the south)
Telephone interconnection - Not permitted
Secure, Encryption - Not permitted

If this won't work, your other choice is to hook up with a commercial
land mobile repeater operator. Certainly someone in your area is
providing coverage for joe the plumber. One hitch, these services are
for business users, so keep that in mind for FCC license eligebility as
well as when considering monthly expense.

Joe K4SAT, WPXM352 (GMRS)

AKA The RFI-EMI-GUY

If you want more info look up my real e-mail address through my ham
license via :
http://www.buck.com/cgi-bin/do_hamcall


Google Mike wrote:

Is there such a thing as a portable, affordable, two-way radio system
with 10 mile coverage or better?

What about something that is slightly secure?

Here's the need that is driving this:

I can't really afford cell phone bills. I live near 5 families of
relatives in South Carolina USA, each within 1 mile of me. Each
morning and evening, I travel a long 40 mile road with no cell phone
tower in sight -- zero coverage, even if I bought a cellphone. I would
love to have a device that each of us keep in our cars, always turned
on, as well as in our homes, and it would only provide communication
among myself and my relatives. I would prefer to have something that
could not be eavesdropped very easily, but I would take whatever I
could get.

BTW, I don't know much about HAM radio, so please forgive my
ignorance.




--
Joe Leikhim K4SAT


"Jazz is not dead. It just smells funny." -F.Z.