RadioBanter - View Single Post - best setup for vehicle to base communication seperated by 100 to 500miles?

Tim Wescott · July 29th 09, 12:52 AM posted to rec.radio.amateur.homebrew

On Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:16:56 -0700, wrote:

Thank you for all your excellent and useful responses!

To clarify my purpose:

1- I've been waiting for an excuse to get into Ham radio. I'm very
interested in learning RF circuitry (Experimental Methods in RF Design
is enroute as we speak), and this is a perfect opportunity, because I
actually need it! So Im up for getting a license.

Go for it, then! You'll find that building stuff is definitely something
that's only worth it if you have fun -- the days of building stuff on the
cheap from dead TVs are long gone.

2- The purpose of the radio is for emergency and for the cool factor of
being able to talk to home from 100+ miles away in the desert and tell
them about all the sand and rocks i see. Exciting for them!

Hey! What about the rest of the world! You can talk to them, too.

3- The CB does sound better for emergency. So now, lets change the
purpose of the ham radio to just "cool of taking to home 100+ miles
away". And I will get a CB for emergency.

I had been leaning toward 20 meters since it has been described
everywhere as the DX band of choice. Now I see that it may not work well
so "close" as 100 miles. But wouldnt 80 meters have even more of a
problem? I am still not clear on which band to use...maybe some more
help please?

Nearly all modern HF rigs cover 160 to 10 meters, so what you operate on
out there is pretty much limited by your antenna. What band is good is
mostly determined by the state of the ionosphere, which changes with the
day, time of day, day of the year, and the state of the sun. So I'd
recommend that you get or make an antenna that's good on a lot of bands,
and find what works best for you.

The only real caveat to that is that longer wavelengths and small
antennas don't go well together, so the system tends to be much lossier
for 40m and longer with your average car-mount antenna. That doesn't
mean it can't work, it just means that you have to take more care with
the antenna, or plan on packing a BIG antenna that you can put up when
you stop.

--
www.wescottdesign.com