Thanks for your response as well as Ward, Pete, Schwert and blkjeep. We are getting some knowledgable responses from people in the know. I don't know that much about ham radio. That might be the way to go. I was just going on the info I heard that at any given time, there are about 60,000 flights in progress over the United States. That sounds excessive to me but that's what I heard on TV news. If true, there is an unlimited number of "good samaritans" buzzing back and forth over you all the time.

Keep the responses coming and hopefully we will come to a consensus of the way to go. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Joe

The first tool is always a stout knife, then often fire making, then protection from the elements ( poncho, etc.) or water/ water gathering...

A radio is an execllent idea, but $219 buys a lot of prevention...add the radio after you've packed your kit and taken some time to train.

TRO

I agree, a good knife, a way to make fire and hydration of course

Even better than a good knife, good boots.

And better than good boot? A good brain. Books hold up better than computers, but if you loose your mind... well, you're pooched anyways.

Cedfire, which HAM radio do you carry and which do you recommend? I have considered the Yaesu VX-2R.

Actually right now I am temporarily "radioless". I had an Icom V-8 2M handheld. Worked really great but it had an internal interference issue on some ham frequencies. I'm considering a Yaesu VX-150 which is built on Vertex's (Yaesu's commercial name) tough radio chassis. The V-8 was also built on a commercial chassis, but it's Icom's.

The Yaesu VX-2 is a neat little radio but not much use in the field, in my opinion. It has a lot of bells and whistles and doesn't put out much transmit power (I think it's a max 1 watt, if that). There is no "AA" battery pack option. I used to have a Yaesu VX-1 (the precursor to the VX-2) and it required waaay too much opening of the manual.

If you're going to be in a rural area or out in the sticks, a 2M (aka 144 MHz VHF band) is a good bet. The 70cm (440 MHz UHF band) radios aren't bad, but if you're going to go that route I'd buy a "dual band" radio (2M and 70cm). That plain ol' VHF will, all other things being equal, reach farther than a UHF signal. VHF also, again all other things being equal, performs better in mountainous areas and in trees.

If you are interested, check out www.eham.net for user reviews of various radios.

I agree with the other members of the forum -- a radio is nice but it shouldn't come before the basic survival gear. It has the effect of a cell phone, temporarily luring you into doing what you probably shouldn't be doing in the backcountry.

Besides, money aside, I'd rather carry a PLB over a radio any day. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

As a pilot, I always have a handheld aviation tranceiver in my flight bag, to talk to ATC in case the airplane radio goes belly up (30 year old airplanes tend to have 30 year old radios in them). It occurs to me that I might want something more capable for emergency use. I've seen these multi-band tranceivers, but it looks like they only transmit on some of the bands. Is Aviation one of the bands they transmit on? That might be a lot more useful- if I can't raise someone on 121.5 or an ATC freq I know, HAM might be the next try.

The specs on the Icom IC-A5 Sport states that it will transmit and receive on all 760 channels from 118.000 kHz to 136.975 kHz in 25 kHz tuning steps. It is strictly an aviation radio only. As I said earlier, the price is $219.00. Output is five watts. The link to the radio is on my original post if you want to take a look at it. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

That is correct according to my past research on HAM licensing

Someone always answers "you brain" to these questions so I will skip that one and go right to tool number two which for me is the knife.