Q: Ham radio in backcountry

It has been almost 10 years since I lived in the area and used them frequently, but other good high elevation repeaters (2 Meter) in addition to the K7PP system noted by Lowell used to be Grass Mountain (near Greenwater), Rattlesnake/ King County SAR (I-90) and Mount Constitution (Orcas, Island).  More than once I hit Constitution from Chinook Pass backcountry tours to communicate with family in Whatcom County on a 5 watt handheld Yaesu VX-7R.

Repeaters tend to come and go as funding and interest ebb and flow, but here's a link with a list to provide a sense for what is out there:


JP

Paipo mentions that your ham license opens up the world of efficient antennas to you. The antenna that comes with handhelds is inefficient. My go to antenna is a quad band Diamond SRH999. It is a quarter wave monopole on 2M, half-wave on higher freq's. Their radiation patterns are much more squashed to the horizon than the little rubber duck antenna. Probably almost no reflected power too. I should do the measurement on the rubber duck and the diamond someday.

If you really want to reach out, I can confirm this is a good recipe for a 3 element Yagi, and a brilliant design, although it is obviously more futzy to set up than the Diamond. It has about twice the gain of the Diamond (dBi scale). Be sure and hold it in the correct orientation! I almost brought it to Yellowstone to listen for radio collars but I found out that directional antennas are against Park rules. I wonder if the same rule holds for our NP's?

www.backpacking.net/makegear/yagi-antenna/

The way I see it:
1. Repeaters. Based on the current repeater availability (e.g. WA state), you should not expect to reach one reliably in backcountry. Hence - simplex communication.
2. Getting ham license is easier than you (probably) think. Here is one study to start with.
3. "Wilderness protocol". This seems to be a reiteration of the FCC frequency allocation for National simplex frequency (146.52). And not much more.
4. In order of priorities, my intended use is:
a. interaction within my group;
b. cross group interaction (e.g. you wanna warn another group of danger they may not see...)
c. interaction with emergency people (this is less important, because it is less reliable across realistic distances).
5. Some of the modern HTs (handheld transceivers) are capable of sending periodically (or on demand) their exact GPS location. Think - 'long' distance beacons.

-- Pavel

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationI also carry a small ham radio in the backcountry, and have been able to hit a variety of repeaters. The stock antenna won't let you accomplish much, but there are a bunch of great options that make a huge difference. Personally I've loved this slim jim antenna I bought off ebay, super cheap and you can just hang it from any nearby tree or pole.