Disclaimer: I may use wrong words or words wrongly. I'm learnin'. š¤”
Been gettin the itch to play with some comms. Really just for somethin to mess with, but such things might can be useful. I have no assumptions outside of thinking this is prolly do-able. Haven't really messed with anything besides CB at the hunt club since being a 31M10 in the military. None of which has really carried over. But I'm signed up for ham classes starting next month. @Mrs Hawgbonz is already a ham. I know I could prolly just study the test questions but I want to take the classes. Immersion helps me understand things. Still not so sure ham is what I need but kinda seems like. I've got time and resources. If they're willing to share, I'll listen. That said, I currently have zero interest in talking to peeps all over the world. Pretty much concerned with just those in my regional AO and immediate group for now, at least.
The situation available for me to play with:
My residence is a rural 7 acres on a decent hilltop (~690'). No HOA or any other impediments to doing pretty much as I please concerning things pointing skyward.
My "playground" is ~45 miles away and has several nice hilltops on it aligned mostly N/S with home being in a NNW direction. One hilltop (~470') of which may well be able to overlook the main Southside bots of the playground which is <1.5 miles at the furthest point. The entire place is ~5 miles across N to S with a ~515' hilltop in the middle. Although that may effect coverage in the Southside bots that are, IMO, very important. No options for grid power at the playground.
Questions:
Can a reasonably affordable system be assembled where HT(s) can communicate with a temporary, portable, non-public, personally owned "repeater" or some such on top of one of the hills that in turn can reach back ~45 miles to the house? The "repeater" would need to be powered via solar/battery/inverter type of setup. I'm generally down there for a few days at a time and it could be somethin fun to play with as long as it doesn't get too far out in the weeds nor overly deep in the pocket.
Izzit possible to have an omni-to-directional type "repeater" or relay setup that would cover the concerned local area and mebbe use the directional to "phone home"?
I currently only have a lil assortment of Boofengs (ala NotaRubicon) to piddle with just until I can figure out what my "big boy radios" may need to be. Relax, no xmit. Just tryin to see if I could hear anything. They've been setup with CHIRP to what local info I could find that was publicly available. Took one with me to the VA in Salisbury yesterday with scan going and got excited when I actually briefly heard talking a coupla times. š š¤£ For the most part it was just static and series of R2D2 type noises I assumed to be digital signal beyond the Boofeng's capability. But I dunno.
Anyways, while I'm lookin into this it would help to mebbe get a clue as to what kindof gear to start sniffin around about that could get this done.
Constructive input would be appreciated. š¤
Been gettin the itch to play with some comms. Really just for somethin to mess with, but such things might can be useful. I have no assumptions outside of thinking this is prolly do-able. Haven't really messed with anything besides CB at the hunt club since being a 31M10 in the military. None of which has really carried over. But I'm signed up for ham classes starting next month. @Mrs Hawgbonz is already a ham. I know I could prolly just study the test questions but I want to take the classes. Immersion helps me understand things. Still not so sure ham is what I need but kinda seems like. I've got time and resources. If they're willing to share, I'll listen. That said, I currently have zero interest in talking to peeps all over the world. Pretty much concerned with just those in my regional AO and immediate group for now, at least.
The situation available for me to play with:
My residence is a rural 7 acres on a decent hilltop (~690'). No HOA or any other impediments to doing pretty much as I please concerning things pointing skyward.
My "playground" is ~45 miles away and has several nice hilltops on it aligned mostly N/S with home being in a NNW direction. One hilltop (~470') of which may well be able to overlook the main Southside bots of the playground which is <1.5 miles at the furthest point. The entire place is ~5 miles across N to S with a ~515' hilltop in the middle. Although that may effect coverage in the Southside bots that are, IMO, very important. No options for grid power at the playground.
Questions:
Can a reasonably affordable system be assembled where HT(s) can communicate with a temporary, portable, non-public, personally owned "repeater" or some such on top of one of the hills that in turn can reach back ~45 miles to the house? The "repeater" would need to be powered via solar/battery/inverter type of setup. I'm generally down there for a few days at a time and it could be somethin fun to play with as long as it doesn't get too far out in the weeds nor overly deep in the pocket.
Izzit possible to have an omni-to-directional type "repeater" or relay setup that would cover the concerned local area and mebbe use the directional to "phone home"?
I currently only have a lil assortment of Boofengs (ala NotaRubicon) to piddle with just until I can figure out what my "big boy radios" may need to be. Relax, no xmit. Just tryin to see if I could hear anything. They've been setup with CHIRP to what local info I could find that was publicly available. Took one with me to the VA in Salisbury yesterday with scan going and got excited when I actually briefly heard talking a coupla times. š š¤£ For the most part it was just static and series of R2D2 type noises I assumed to be digital signal beyond the Boofeng's capability. But I dunno.
Anyways, while I'm lookin into this it would help to mebbe get a clue as to what kindof gear to start sniffin around about that could get this done.
Constructive input would be appreciated. š¤
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