Survival and Emergency Preparedness

many small 144/440 portable antennas to get more range when out in the field... DIY types , not hard to make.

exp; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq5t9Nwjt-U

Just a quick followup on the Baofeng radio antennas.

Real world antenna test...

My son bought a pair of longer antennas for his radios. We tried them out at my hunting property. We were getting about a mile on the standard antennas (4 watts, on UHF) The longer antennas boosted the signal to about a 1 1/4 mile. So a little bit of gain. This was through heavily wooded, hilly terrain. Probably do better on flat open ground line of sight.

The antennas he bought were flexible, bendable ones similar to the link below. Not sure if these were the exact ones he bought but are the same style. We tried them both folded and extended. The extended did get a little farther.

https://www.amazon.com/HYS-SMA-Female-H ... eo&sr=1-16

I have built a 5/8 wl antenna for 2m from ladder line.... elevation is the key to range.
Easy to pull it up in tree and range is much increased , also easy to build and rolls up in backpack with 50lb fishing line I use to pull up.
cost to me was about $2 for bnc connector adapter, rest came from junk box.
( easy items to get at any radio/ham fest )

based on this; https://www.hamuniverse.com/2mladjpole.html

Just an FYI,

This thread got me looking around at GMRS repeaters. Back when I had my GMRS license there were no repeaters in the area either at home or near my hunting property. Looking around I found three new (within the last 2 years) repeaters near home and two near my property. One near my property covers about 15 miles which is within range of my house and all the ATV/ORV trails. That would be handy when out and about alone on my mini bikes or ATV. I could call back to my house in case of a break down.

Bottom line is that I just applied for a new GMRS license ($70/10 years). It covers everyone in my immediate family.

I have a number of handheld radios I could use. I also have an older (very good) Ham radio base station I could set up at the woods house, just need an antenna. I got the radio from my brother in law who got it when his dad died. It was top of the line stuff about 20 years ago. I also have a Ham Tech license so I could use any 2 meter repeater in the area as well.

here's a real good 2m/70cm antenna that also good for scanners
https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-X300A-Ba ... B00AR0ADUU

It handles over 100w with out issue ( I've used 140w on it via an older mfj 2m amp )

Just got notified this morning that my GMRS license is approved now I can (legally) access repeaters. Unfortunately my already programmed UV5Rs are up at my woods house and the other radios I have at home aren't hooked up to anything.

I did find a Puxing 777+ radio I've had for 10 years but never used. This is UHF 4 watt handheld and is one of the first Chinese radios that came out. It's a better quality radio than the Baofeng UV5R.
I bought the Puxing to use GMRS but then the cheaper UV5Rs came out. Unfortunately the 777 users manual is kind of in Chinglish and I am having a hard time manually programing it to hit the local repeater. Ah...there is always a learning/relearning curve .

Haven’t read through this thread but I’m fairly well acquainted w/ B-fengs. They are pretty good. The UV5r I believe broadcasts on 8W and receives on 5W, and then there are designated 8W handhelds as well. Living in the Appalachian mountains we learned that terrain will F you and your Comms. But that’s what repeaters and radio relays are for. You can make a repeater out of 2 hand helds, there is a way to do it.

B-feng also has an 25W amplifier but it’s not really portable on foot. Vehicle, home or static relay position.

If you buy the higher capacity B-feng batteries they can charge off of USB cable (about $8 for the cable). Why is this important? Well between solar phone chargers and vehicles it’s pretty easy to USB charge. I even have a small ryobi work radio that has a USB port to charge things.

They do make throat mics and antennas of every length up to 48” for B-fengs

I bought one a while back but with all the stuff going on with the renovations and moving and such I haven't had time to even read the directions yet.

Just remember... remove batteries from all devices if in storage.
Just last night, was sitting in living room heard this weird noise, sort of sizzle then pop/
Turned out a led candle we don't use had a AA cell pop and leak ( battery was dead TMK as the other one was )
Insides was a mess, took baking soda and water to clean out.
Have seen this in some li-ion cells too ( from china )

A bit of expanded experience. I have a box of "state of the art when purchased" emergency radios. Major mfgs. New. In the wrap with multiple copies of manuals and fresh batteries stored separately.

Until this month, I was unconcerned with charging a cell phone. My son set up a state of the art cell phone and sent it to me. I learned that there were hand crank radios with usb ports. My then "state of the art" hand crank radio does not have a port. So, I will order one and a cable for charging the phone.