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That's pretty impressive distance! I guess once I have a grasp on radios in general, and the GMRS radio I have, then I'll definitely need to dive into HAM.Given that GMRS frequenc are in the UHF area, the transmit distance isn't going to be great...so go with as much power allowed and a quality antenna and feed line to get the best performance.
If you're wanting more distance, go with Ham radio on 2 meter. At my location with 50 watts I can talk straight into 40+ repeaters.
South to Bend, east to LaGrande, north to Wenatchee, over into Corvallis and Portland.
Location is key, but you're able to use an amplifier to increase power as well...couple that with a beam antenna, and the distance increases dramatically.
Tried and true! Haha.I seem to recall that smoke signals can get over the mountains….
The old ways are still the best ways.
I didn't see anything about portable antennas. That would be good to run on that type of supply, like a Jackery generator. That's what I use when boondocking it at night out in the forest. Good point about Starlink still not being peer-to-peer. I would assume those base stations probably take quite a bit of energy to operate? I wonder if they have generators there and how long those would last? It would be like the diesel type generators at cell towers I'd think.They are - probably sometime in 2024. At first it will be just SMS/et. al., then voice, then general 'net access as they go along. Starlink will also be coming out with new consumer antennas, one reportedly is a smallish portable (as in man portable) antenna about the size of a laptop and run on "portable" batteries (probably 12-24V power supply). The small antenna will limit bandwidth, but probably be plenty for general usage.
Of course, once they get the cellular links up and running, a cell phone is much more portable and the battery will last longer. Having cell reception most everywhere will be a boost in comms - as long as it remains up. SMS is quite adequate for SHTF, especially if RCS (along with read receipts - which will be important in a SHTF situation) is supported - texting is preferable.
Starlink is not peer to peer (theoretically it could be, but it isn't, and it likely never will be). Nor would the cellular part be peer to peer. So if the grid goes down, so will Starlink & cellular. But as long as the Starlink base stations are up and the 'net is up, comms will be a lot easier than RF.