Looking for a good hand held comm set up

[roughneckrob]

Hey guys I really need to up grade my communications set up and by up grade I really mean I don't have one. I am looking for an all around unit that could be used for everything from hiking, hunting, wilderness and urban survival scenarios. I am a virgin to comm units so please go easy on me. Any input would be of great help.:thumbup:

 

[mete]

Learn a bit about radio first. The small family radio types are limited to .5 watts power. That means under ideal conditions you might get 5 miles but in my area it's no more than half of that due to hills and mountains .Those high frequences used are basically straight line ! There are commercial type radios that can do better. Amateur radio is better also. My hand held is 7 watts which I think is the most powerfull of the type.
Think of becoming a HAM as the basic test is not very difficult and you'll get some idea of how radios work in the process.

 

[roughneckrob]

Learn a bit about radio first. The small family radio types are limited to .5 watts power. That means under ideal conditions you might get 5 miles but in my area it's no more than half of that due to hills and mountains .Those high frequences used are basically straight line ! There are commercial type radios that can do better. Amateur radio is better also. My hand held is 7 watts which I think is the most powerfull of the type.
Think of becoming a HAM as the basic test is not very difficult and you'll get some idea of how radios work in the process.

I have actually been looking at a local school for amateur HAM radio here in the city. I will go check them out. For the time being is there anything you could recommend for small hand held.

 

[bigbcustom]

I know this is an old thread, but I just saw it. I have a Yaesu vx-8dr with aprs and gps unit. It can transmit on 6m/2m/1.25m/70cm and receive from .5mgz-999mgz. You need to have your ham license to legally transmit, but that isn't too hard to get. The unit is waterproof to ipx-7 standards, small, and if you have a friend with the same or similiar unit, you can see each other's location and speed of travel. I love it! I can hit repeaters a long ways off, and talk w/o use of repeaters for a long way.