Cobra 2 Way Radios/Walkie Talkie

At the ranch cell phone reception is about non-existent.

Have been considering getting a set of Cobra radios and see they come in various mileage ratings and have NOAA radio weather on them. Kind of like the weather option idea.

Getting tired of walking back to the house when a vehicle or tractor gets stuck.

Thoughts, likes and dis-likes.

I don’t know if community repeaters are available in your area but that’s what you need. Check with the local radio shops for availability.

How big of an area are you hunting on? Are you planning only to use the radios there? Do you want vehicle mounted or handheld?

If it's just your family, I'd try it. But if it's a bunch of different guys, you'll never keep them charged, someone will leave one in a blind or in their truck and head home, etc.

They will work best with line of sight. Spotty if there are large hills. Cobra is a good brand. I'd just get a couple and test them out. Good luck!

I go to our place for the peace and quiet and no cell service, no way I would carry a walkie talkie.

We had CB’s in our jeeps back in the day before cell phones. They came in handy all the time. But we were hunting some giant property. You don’t have much to loose by buying them if you don’t get cell phone reception.

Same when we had the farm, small base in the house and CB's in the trucks and tractors, far outworks a average walkie talkie but not as portable unless you get a Hand held CB as well. They also have a weather channel if you look for that.

Some of the newer handheld radios allow you to text on them too, which can be handy if you're in the blind.

we have tried a number of different brands, makes, models, ranges, etc. and haven't found any that work very well, especially in hilly terrain, mostly line of sight. Additionally, most of the batteries are garbage and only last about a year or less on holding a charge between uses.

I'm a licenced Extra class ham radio operator. If I were you and you didn't want to go the whole 9 yards and get your amateur radio licence, I'd look into a set of GMRS radios. The whole family can operate with one licence and there is no test to take. You can use higher wattage radios including base stations and mobile radios to increase your range. A lot of areas have GMRS repeaters as well. The licence is $70 and is good for 10 years.

With a mobile radio in your vehicle and a decent mag mount antenna, you can communicate for many miles, particularly to another mobile or home base. If you tap into a repeater, you can communicate over most of your county.

https://midlandusa.com/why-do-i-need-a-gmrs-license-how-do-i-get-it/

We use them often on our 4000+ acre place in Val Verde and they work great. Not sure what brand we have, but I'll find out

Cell service is not good at my lease. We did use walkie talkies years ago. As someone else posted. It always seemed like one would get left in a stand or be run down and left behind. I had one tripod on a high point for the entire area. Flipping across channels I was surprised to find that a lot of hunters around us where also using radios. Some interesting conversations interrupted. We decided it was more trouble than it was worth when they needed to be replaced. The technology has gotten much better over the years so I have considered it again. The only one that really interested me is the Dakota Murs so I could put a sensor on a feeder or two that would signal on our 2 way hand helds. I have not pulled the trigger yet, so can't help on distance and quality. But might be worth looking into.
https://www.dakotaalert.com/store/murs-alert-products/

Thanks to all.

The wife gets uneasy knowing the cell phones do not work, especially when working with the tractor..

Will let her read these comments and then do some research.

I've seen the makers of some of these units touting ranges of 20 miles or more, which I suspect could only be achieved over open water at best.

What could someone expect when using them on land without a lot of hills?

Not sure on flat land, but ours work in clear fashion around the 5 mile mark with various 300 foot elevation changes

That's about right. Trees, buildings, hills, can all reduce your range. You can extend your range by getting up high. If you can hit a repeater, your range can be greatly increased.

If you're calling from your tractor to your house, you could also set up a mobile CB in the tractor and a home base CB at the house. That will give you some pretty good range if your home base antenna is high enough. Hand held CBs are only good for very short distance communication.

If there is no cell signal at all ever than this will not work but if there is even the weakest most useless signal than a cell signal amplifier for the tractor will work. It can take the weakest useless signal and clean it up and amplify it to a completely usable signal.

I'm a learnin sumtum today.