Radios for the back country?

[Brusso89]

A few hunting buddies and I are thinking about adding some radios to the gear list. I know very little about radios except for my brother in law uses Motorola CP200’s and says theoretically, you have to have a license to use them but there is no enforcement in the back country so he uses them all the time. My main hunting buddy has it in his head we should get some “BTECH GMRS-PRO IP67” radios instead of the Motorolas due to we can charge them via usb type c, off our battery packs. Apparently, we can text each other using these radios, they have location sharing and they are quite a bit cheaper. To me, if they have all those functions AND are cheaper, something doesn’t seem right. I already have a zoleo but they do not so radios that can text each other seems intriguing but again, I know very little and feel like a caveat to that texting function. For those of you that use radios, what specs or functions should I be looking for? What is the realistic range of these type of radios in the backcountry? Any models that we should be considering? Thanks for any input/advice you guys have for me.

 

[Hoghead]

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[Krieg Hetzen]

I have a used a couple different handheld radios while hunting or going on a side by side ride. I would avoid the cheaper radios that use AAA or AA batteries, they will die in less than a day every time. We have some Cobra brand 32 mile range ones we use that can charge via micro usb or a charging station (also micro USB). Depending on your state and the regulations you may not be able to use radios to assist with hunting. If that’s the case then the audible tone with an incoming transmission is okay. If you can use them and have some directing you through a stalk then the equivalent to a text tone going off is a big consideration. I would establish what your particular use case is going to be and go from there. We are putting VHF in our SxS this year with the handhelds for when they are needed. Likely sticking with the Cobras as we know they work and the alert tone is fine because we can’t use it to facilitate the hunt.

 

[Geologist]

2m or 70cm amateur radios are what we use... 100 mile + range if you are up high and using a good antenna to hit remote repeater. In deep canyons, it doesn’t matter what radio or antenna you have, you need to be more or less line of sight. Over rolling terrain with our 5 watt handhelds we routinely achieve 5+ miles simplex, and waaaay beyond that using repeaters. The 80 watt dual band radios in the truck regularly get 100+ miles over rolling terrain.

 

[Dirtwigle]

I've been using a pair of Icom ID51A+ hand helds with an Icom 5100 mobile radio doubling as a repeater in the truck with good results. Getting a GMRS license is easy, HAM cert takes a minute.

 

[snowymtnwolf]

Talk ridge to ridge. Or line of sight. In the backcountry, comms can be difficult because of varying terrain.

If I were you, I’d have a plan A and B which when we go out is Radios and Sat Comms (zoleo).

If you go there every year, then if radios work, voila, use that going forward. But don’t 100% count on radios, have a backup plan for sure. Just temper your expectations with the radios (or be super smart how you employ, i.e. ridge to ridge, line of sight.


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