The 2 meter band (144-148 MHz) is by far the most popular ham band in the US. The 70 centimeter band (420-450 MHz) is second. Six meter is not so popular; you can get longer range but it doesn't always have great propagation and not as many people use it. There is no 4 meter ham band in the US. See http://www.arrl.org/files/file/Hambands_color.pdf for more information about amateur license privileges.

I'd suggest a Technician license and a 5 watt dual-band (2M/70CM) HT. Add a longer antenna to it and you're likely to find someone to talk to. I bought inexpensive ones (http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/5547.html) for my wife and my daughter when they passed their Tech licenses. There are certainly better HTs out there but this one works well with good audio, it's hard to beat for the price. Note that you'll be much happier if you buy a programming cable for it (I have an aftermarket USB cable for programming Kenwood HTs that works perfectly).

I've been to some reasonably remote parts of CONUS that had good coverage from active 2M and 70CM repeaters.

A two meter mobile rig with 30-50 W of power and a good antenna can give you significantly improved range, and they make man-portable and mobile HF rigs that will let you talk to someone in China if conditions are right. Keep in mind that you need at least a General license for the best HF privileges.

Take a look at http://www.kb6nu.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2010_Tech_Study_Guide.pdf to see what you need to learn to get a Tech ticket.

I'm a member of the ARRL, a General class radio amateur, and a customer of Universal Radio, Kenwood and Wouxun. Otherwise I have no affiliation with anything mentioned here.

Its helpful when taking long trips on the highway. You can hear the talk about a traffic jam usually before you get to it. I drive from Ohio to WV via PA a lot and PA will decide to repaint the lines on a holiday weekend so traffic will back up for miles.
So I keep the CB on and and when I hear a lot of talk about traffic backed up I can start looking for a detour.

Great question Wileycoyote.

I thought CB might be a good method to reach out to neighors (spread out, in the country) in an emergency.

For example, last winter power, phone lines and cell service was down due to heavy snow and wind.

I thought CB might be a more affordable means of communications for those near by such as senior citizens and the single parent up the road.

Might a portable Midland be satisfactory?

Thank you all for responding.

Blake

www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

that does help to understand your questions.

do folks have CBs like we did back 40 years ago?

what about FRS/GMRS two way radios? they sell for as little as $10, with "long range" units for under $50. they're simple, easy to use and available everywhere. at those prices you can almost hand them out to folks you're worrying about.

and from info on this page, if there's an open repeater nearby, you get much greater range: Extra Long Range GRMS Radios

folks around here all seem to have 'em for hunting, mushrooming, firewood gathering, snowmobiling/ATVing and moving cattle, but it's rare to see CBs anymore.

I've never found an open FRS/GMRS repeater that was actually operational (I do have a GMRS license). I am constantly finding amateur radio repeaters.

i know little about this subject, so please expand chaosmagnet - do these "amateur radio repeaters" offer an uneducated user anything? if they do, could Outdoor_Quest build one to help to what he wants to do? and would it assist in anyway for him to contact nearby neighbors (who don't own serious radio gear)?

also: with your knowledge, for a low-cost/simple solution for this need, would you suggest he try CBs or some other kind of FRS/GMRS-type walkie-talkie, or would he be wasting his time?

VHF and UHF communications is largely possible only with stations that are in line-of-sight or slightly over the horizon.

A repeater is a radio capable of receiving on one frequency while simultaneously transmitting what it receives on another frequency. It's common to find repeaters that have advantageous placement (high up on buildings, terrain features or antenna masts), high-gain antennas and high-wattage transmitters. Some repeater systems expand their range with passive listening stations connected by point-to-point links to the transmitter; hams developed technology for the listening stations to determine which one would send the incoming signal to the main antenna for retransmission.

Modern wireless telephony technology was developed from amateur radio repeaters. Many radio systems used by law enforcement, fire/rescue and businesses use this technology.

A good repeater expands even a handheld's range "footprint" from a few square miles to hundreds or even thousands of square miles. Most VHF and UHF amateur radios are easy to program with a repeater's "offset", so that the radio is tuned to the repeater's transmit frequency but shifts to the repeater's receive frequency when transmitting.

Most amateur radio repeaters are "open," meaning that any licensed amateur can use them as long as they respect good amateur practice. "Closed" repeaters may not be used except with the explicit permission of the owner. There are some closed amateur repeaters out there, but they're few and far between. The vast majority of GMRS repeaters are closed.

Some amateur radio repeaters are linked (or can be dynamically linked by DTMF commands) to others over the Internet, allowing someone with a 5W handheld transceiver to talk to folks thousands of miles away.

Outdoor_Quest... while waiting for a reply on Wiley Coyote's question, a comment on what I used back in the late 70s...a simple two section mast about 40' high with a Shakespeare "Big Stick" 1/2 wave fiberglass antenna... regulated 12v power supply and an Cobra automobile transceiver (not "peaked" for maximum power)... good ground rod, and a 1:1 tune on the antenna... I was able to reliably talk to similar setups out to 10 miles (which at the time was the distance from most of the population centers in the area)...a little farther to ships in the Gulf....the single vertical antenna did not wind load very much,wasn't very noticable, and was a common setup along the coast...

chaosmagnet, thank you for that explanation. helpful.

i've read that Outdoor_Quest is an amateur ham radio operator so probably has the gear to communicate with other hams all over, but what should financially-strapped simpltons like myself use in cases like he suggested: "...to reach out to neighbors (spread out, in the country) in an emergency...".

here in the sticks i've purchased a couple of "36-mile" FRS/GMRS that are only barely useful, even a few miles away, if any hills block the line-of-sight signal. i tried CBs to many years ago. then "SRM truncated" radios 25 years ago, which didn't work either. neither do cells most of the time.

some ranches invested in somewhat-expensive Motorola Spirits for their buckaroos, but they're only slightly better yet overall cost and licensing adds up fast.

i don't need ham so i can speak to folks across the USA, i just need to talk with my neighbors on the next hill over, much like what the OP wants to do in emergencies. please keep in mind that everyone then has to buy a unit, with some folks balking at even a small investment. fancy set-ups are a no-go.

Take a look at http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/ and figure out if there are any amateur repeaters covering where you live. Repeaters aren't free to own and operate; if they exist it's probably because someone is using it. If there's coverage, there's hope that you'd be able to communicate with your neighbors.

FRS is not going to work for your needs. It's too limited in antennas and output power.

GMRS allows for better antennas and power, but is in my experience rarely useful beyond a couple miles, even with high-end "36 mile" radios. A sufficiently advantageous terrain feature can help out a lot. A GMRS repeater might allow for coverage that meets your needs, but that's a huge expense for you to shoulder.

You could potentially put up a big antenna for CB and perhaps get better coverage with it.

Amateur radio will definitely have the best chance to give you that "next hill" range you need...as long as you have someone to talk to with the right gear on the right frequency. Between amateur and CB, for you, it likely boils down to what the people you want to talk to are using.