I have been asked by several people about HAM radio and its use offroad. In years past, CB radio has been used, and more recently, we as a club have been using FRS radios for trail communications. The limitation to FRS is the short distance available due to the frequency used, as well as the limitations of most "bubble pack" radios. This past weekend, I heard that the San Diego Land Rover Club has moved to almost exclusively use HAM radio for trail communications, allowing for better communications over longer distances. It opens up the ability to use repeaters in many places, thereby extending one's range by many miles, and with some repeaters, worldwide.

Expedition Portal just published a great article on the use of HAM radios for overland offroad travel.

Link to Expedition Portal HAM article

After our LandOps adventure, some of the drivers indicated an interest in obtaining a HAM license, and the use of HAM for offroad, or as a hobby. I'm glad to answer questions about HAM, and would encourage you to explore obtaining your license. For around $100, one can get a basic radio which can, under the right conditions, reach miles away, and improve your safety while offroad. Feel free to drop me a PM for more info.

Jim, thanks for bring the subject up. Getting my HAM license has been on my "to-do" list for a few years now.
I still even have the paperwork on my desk of the gentleman and his wife that teach classes in Orange County.
I can inquire about a group class for SCLR if we get enough interested.

I'm in the process of getting my US HAM license now, I've been using the HamTestOnline site and it's pretty good. I also joined the LandOps group, I had a lot of fun this past weekend and will defiantly do it again.

Jim, what handheld HAM were you using last weekend?

Jim,

I saw the article this morning.I ended going over to hamexam.org and taking a practice test. With no studying I got a 60%. The site has flash cards for the test and it looks relatively simple, for technician at least. They have question pool as well so it should be an easy one. I too had a great time on the Land Ops run. We will be singing up for that soon too.

Jeremy

Hi Jim, being new to this I hav to do some research about HAM, but I can tell you that I had a CB radio onboard my Cherokee, I sold it to get the Range Rover and now I ordered yesterday a 40 channel CB radio to install in my Rover, it saved me and some other people a couple of times, I am interested in learning more about HAM and getting that certification also....


Regards

German Silva

Thanks for the website.. Great site!! I took the exam without studying and got 80%. Woohoo!
I think this is a great route.
The test questions were all around electricity which was a little overkill for my application to just use it to communicate in my Rover.
Seems like the test questions are more for if you're building a compound in your basement for the next epic event.