Thread 106332931

Really curious if there's some kind off walkie-talkie thing that can reach across a state. Or even something not portable, im not picky. Is it legal/possible to get a fill(?) on it too?

>>106332931 (OP)
There are lte radios that use public cell network.
Regular radios have 3-4km range in urban enviroment.

>>106332931 (OP)
Not really. That's not how radio works. You've basically got two types of radios. One is more or less line of sight, which means from handheld to handheld, you are looking at a typical max range or 3-5 miles, but realistically more like 0.5-2 miles, regardless of power. The other kind of radio uses much lower frequencies and requires an antenna the size of your house. You aren't going to be carrying that on a handheld, and even if you could, it wouldn't give you what you want. You can talk to someone one neighborhood over, or you can talk to someone on the other side of the planet, but you may be unable to talk to someone one town over. That's because these radios bounce their signal between the ionosphere and the ground, and the signal may just bounce over any medium range contacts you want to make.

To cover a state from a handheld you would need a network of repeaters (re-invent the cell phone) or you would need something like one repeater on a weather balloon.

>>106333028
>LTE radios
So just a cell phone?
>>106332931 (OP)
HF radios can reach pretty far but you need a license. If you don't have one, HAM boomers will report you to the FCC and you will get a bunch of glowie-looking motherfuckers knocking at your door. Keep in mind that you aren't allowed to encrypt communications, so anyone can listen to what you're saying.

>>106333115
>So just a cell phone?
No, >>106333028 is LTE radio. Looks and works like radio not phone.
>>106333115
There are multiple pirate bands on HF, no one will give a fuck. Amateur bands on HF are just tiny part of HF spectrum.

>>106333115
They wont do shit as long as you don't intentionally mess with anyone. There are people who actively jam hams every day and it takes months or even years for them to be fined.
But don't expect to find anyone to talk with without having a callsign.

>>106333177
>>So just a cell phone?
>No, >>106333028 is LTE radio. Looks and works like radio not phone.
Please don't be so intentionally obtuse. His point is that these "radios" require the use of cellular infrastructure and would be useless in a SHTF scenario where cellphones don't work, as well as requiring you to purchase a cellular plan, effectively making them nothing more than a cellphone in a "walkie talkie" skin.

>>106333177
>Looks and works like radio not phone.
So just a cell phone with a PTT button, right?

>>106333213
No my man. It probably shares baseband processor with phones but it's radio and does radio things with groups, select calls and all the usual stuff.
Radios these days out of shitholes like US are all LTE based, can work on both private and public LTE infrastructure.

>>106333266
shut your trap. it's a cell phone with a PTT button.

>>106333115
How hard is it to get a license? Is it as easy as getting a forklift cert online?

>>106333113
How hard would it be, cost and time, to get an antenna? I'm thinking of a whole ass radio tower so probably not feasible.

>>106333212
>SHTF scenario
Satellite phones, no one uses radios for that.

>>106333327
Zoning laws and HOA rules for the tower/antenna and FCC licensing for the use of it. HAM isn't a difficult hobby.

>>106333327
That's just like hobby not reliable form of communication.
You can get HF manpack radios with ALE that automatically try to establish comms between two radios but they're expensive and you need two and sat phones pretty much phased those out.
I have Codan one because I was into radio stuff back in the day but with will you do with that thing?
Just get starlink or something.

>>106332931 (OP)
for long range you need to get into short wave radio. Regular VHF/UHF radio might serve you well across a town, or a bunch of villages at best, unless you want to settle for workarounds like balloons or repeaters, same goes for mesh networks working on ISM bands.

>>106332931 (OP)
There was an Anon on here or maybe pol that said he had a radio that could reach Russia and the ISS so I would think so

>>106333571
A Baofeng can reach the ISS and any HF radio with proper antenna can reach Russia under the right atmospheric conditions. That doesn't mean you can reach one town over the horizon, nor does it mean you can reach ANYONE with consistency and certainty. Long distance radio is like putting a message in a bottle and throwing it in the ocean. You aren't in control of who, if anyone will get your message, nor are you guaranteed to be able to reach the same person again. You are at the mercy of the changing currents.

>>106333115
there are radios that literally use cellular service as a backhaul but he sounds like a retard and probably means those silly Sonim phones and their knockoffs that are just cellphones with PTT buttons. thoughbeit dedicated trunk radios that have dedicated backhaul systems exist (usually in the 800mhz area) but still present the same problem of "what if the network is down" and if it is, basically they become normal uhf radios with normal uhf radio limitations

>>106333310
you pay the government like 80 bucks
idk about the US and its retardation but here in canuckistan you can do certain certs online iirc. for the more restricted licenses its literally like a forklift license in that they just maintain a list of accredited schools and some of them offer online courses or instant test challenging also online

>>106332931 (OP)
in a walkie talkie form factor not really. even MILITARY GRADE big chonkers like picrel only go a few miles. power limitations please understand. base stations that can draw more power can go much further though, and it only takes like 25w to go worldwide on hf if the people at each end aren't retards and you can feasibly power those things off a car 12 or 24v rail. the size of the antenna is also a limiting factor and while you could carry a backpack radio with a huge antenna, do you really want to? but again, you can bolt one to a car no problem

something like >>106333386 pic is theoretically man-portable but you'll be lugging a car battery with it everywhere and an 8 ft pole stuck to your back, essentially, you could do it but why

>>106334189
>pic is theoretically man-portable but you'll be lugging a car battery
Nah it has batteries built in, got it for relatively cheap from local equivalent of craigslist, paid 1k€ for it. it's fully self contained manpack.

>>106334189
>power limitations please understand
It has nothing to do with power limitations, retard. A fucking gigawatt isn't going to punch through the Earth and give you an over the horizon contact on UHF or VHF.

>>106334273
true but the >IMPLICATION was also using HF. the unit i posted can do HF.

>>106334297
Yes, and HF has blind spots which IMPORTANTLY happen to be exactly where OP is wanting to communicate with people at medium ranges which are beyond the horizon but not on the other side of the world.

why are techbros so obsessed with recreating the internet by walkie-talkie? do you really need to post your latest meal to the 'gram when your meal is a pigeon you hit with a rock?

>>106333336
KEK
I remember misspelling "coomer", looking for 30 yo memes on google and getting this image

>>106334307
depends on the frequency and conditions, when i was in the military i had fine luck communicating the equivalent of a province/state over all the time over HF

depends on the geography too, if you're somewhere nice and flat it should be trivial and most prepper nerds are in desert or plains states

>>106332931 (OP)
use case?

>>106334326
He specifically said across a state. That means from city to city. That's the worst possible scenario because you don't have line of sight and your skywave is going to sail over their heads.

>>106334307
>beyond the horizon but not on the other side of the world.
are you in the gulf where the air is full of rusty sand or something? skill issue

>>106334343
nobody asked for your retarded take

>>106334343
OP isn't looking to make random QSOs to add to his log. He's looking for reliable communication with a coverage the size of a state. That doesn't exist without cellular infrastructure, a satellite, or the tallest fucking repeater you've ever fucking seen.

>>106334338
NVIS

>>106334420
Ok, smartass. Figure out a way to get NVIS working in a handheld radio. I expect 99% reliability at any time of the day and in any weather. Get to it. Chop chop.

>>106334442
Not the other anon but you talk like a fag dude.

>>106334442
> Or even something not portable, im not picky.
With a slow digital mode and a moderate amount of power it might be possible to have 24/7 coverage up to a few hundred miles.

>>106334554
And yet you actually are a fag.

>>106334626
if it's possible then there's probably a patent for it, if not a military product. if neither exists, then it's just crazy speculation.

>>106333212
There was no indication in the OP that he was framing his question regarding radios in a SHTF scenario.

>>106335184
Don't be fucking retarded. Nobody is looking for a "walk-talkie" that can "reach across a state" if cellphones are an option. He was obviously looking for communications solutions that don't require pre-existing infrastructure, and that aligns with SHTF as well as clandestine activities.

>>106333386
There are ALE programs for computers which work with compatible receivers too. So as long as your radio can work under serial control, you can use ALE. There are some ALE ham resources out there but it doesn't appear to be extremely popular among amateurs.

>>106332931 (OP)
if you connect your radio to a big enough antenna on a high enough antenna tower anythign is possibleop

>>106339141
your tower only needs to extend to the flight ceiling of the U2

>>106334653
What is patented? The idea of using a slow bit rate? Don't be silly.
To be fair as far as I know there aren't REALLY slow digital modes (for example 1 bit per minute), the slowest I know is WSPR, but it's easy to code one in Python. Or you can do QRSS or have your own codes that you decide manually by integrating the spectrum (frequency bins) over a long time and detecting peaks.

>>106334378
This. It is LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE to maintain communications on an Alternative Internet without LORA.

>>106332931 (OP)
Theoretically meshtastic. But not sure about states

>>106341100
>meshtastic
It would never work. You need LORA and repeaters every 20 feet.

>>106341116
Lora 433 and node every 5 kilometers. Works as charm in Europe