Ham radio?

[Hamradioop]

The repeater systems in general work on 2 metres and 70 centimetres, There are others on 10 m, 6m and 23cm plus Amateur Television repeaters. VHF and UHF signals are typically line of sight ( there are exceptions) so the terrain affects distance as does the power out put and antenna height and type. HF typical works by refraction off of the ionosphere which is why it is better for longer range but not as good for local working. A good approach would be 2 meters for Local and 40Meters for intermediate distances. For example for local stations in the north wilts area I would use two meters to contact friend in south wales I would use 40 Meters. The use of a repeater will extend the range of 2 Meters out to about a 30 mile circle of the repeater on average again terrain has its effects. so if I was in the centre of say Swindon with a 2 meter hand held radio I could use the local repeater GB3WH to talk to anyone that could hear the repeater which could be Oxford, Chippenham, or Maerdy in South Wales( terrain between Swindon and Maerdy). However in a shtf GB3wh would last about 4 days before the batteries were exhausted. so I am back to local 1 to 2 miles on VHF again depending on antenna height.

Hope this helps.

a Free downloadable course can be found at http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk/ The course is good but the syllabus is out of date and all reference to the Radio Agency should be read as OFCOM