Practical comms fixes.

[Ogri the trog]

I guess my query is aimed at Lightspeed, though I am happy if anyone else has something to throw into the pot. I have read the forum articles and I am really trying to understand what I need to do to improve both myself and my kit. I'm a stubborn old goat, getting a bit long-in-the-tooth to learn lots of new stuff and I'm not really in any position to buy loads of new kit just for the occasional weekend playing!

Last weekend I was out in the Mountains, trying to get comms with a number of mates - we were all using either Baofeng or Retevis hand-held units on PMR channels with a variety of aerials, some static and some roving. Distances varied up to about 6 miles but we were among some pretty big hills.

The major problem as I saw it, was that at no time did everyone get comms together - some had contact with others and some could hear but not reply (rather the reply was not being heard by the first transmitter) and others barely heard anything all day.

We know that locations were not always ideal - some were close to steep mountain sides and some were away from crests of high ground, but they were generally open in the direction we wanted to transmit & receive. One location was using a 6 meter mast with an Omni directional (I think) aerial - barely made any difference when they changed to using a hand-held unit.

We had a laugh and messages got through by either relaying via one or two others or mobile phones (when they had signal), and we are all wondering what we could do to get better at it.

So, if you'll humor me...
Could we have done better if we had made some Dipole aerials and slung them into the trees? If we did, how can we be sure that they are all "tuned in" to the same channel/frequency?

Is there any element of "bend" to the radio waves to go over hill tops or is it straight line and nothing else?

Is there a range of frequencies that would penetrate the hills and dense woodland any better than others without us all having to pay someone to sit an exam and then forever being on someones "list".

Should we just resort to developing telepathy as a more rugged communication system?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

Ogri the trog