A group that I deal with is setting up a shooting range west of town. At the actual firing line area cell phone connections are spotty at best being down in the valley. The range is less than 2 miles from the center of town [300 people] and there is a small hill couple of hundred feet tall in between. Putting a land line in is not an option at this time. When the range is open we will have a ‘staff’ member [RSO] running the show. There will be several people available in town to listen to the radio and have access to the phones in case of emergency. — Later on when we get buildings out there we will need to set up a security system.
Looking forward to hearing your discussions on this.
Thanks
Rich
Discussion points for the range communications systems.
Ideally a cell tower would be put in so that everyone could use their own cell phones. The cell companies do have available trailer mounted nodes that they can deploy in disaster situations like after tornados. Realistically the cell companies cannot be expected to set up a dedicated system expansion just for us.
Land lines can be run to the firing line / future clubhouse. The most expensive part would be trenching to the service head point and the wire is the next most expensive part. The other stuff will not be cheap though. The site location[s] would need to be WELL thought out. We would have to measure the actual distance involved as a first step. I think that we would need 2 weather proof and lockable call boxes to provide good coverage. The first call box from the road would be at the top of the ridge and the 2nd would be down in the valley at the middle of the firing line.
Just for completeness we will discuss a satellite phone. On the up side for this system is that as long as it has power and clear line of sight to the satellites out in space the phones will work nicely. On the down side the last time that I checked into these phones the most economical ones that I could find ran around $3,000.00 for the unit and then $5.00 a minute for airtime. I doubt that most of us want to spend that much.
Radio communications are most likely the best and most economical area to look at. The all-around best choice in this section is to see if the Sherriff will loan the club a few hand held or vehicle mounted VHF radios for use during range times. The biggest advantage to this route is that we would have a direct link to the dispatcher if we needed EMS or help from law enforcement without having to relay info.
The rest of the discussion on radios all require at least 2 people to be ‘on duty’ when the range is open. The RSO actually on the range and then someone else with either a land line or cell phone signal to relay info when help is needed. Any radio system that we go with other than the Sherriff’s will need several support bases set up. This is to ensure that at least one of them would not be in the bathroom when the RSO calls for help.
11 meter [CB] radios do not need a license to operate AND may provide good communications from the range to the relay person without a repeater. We would have to set it up and actually test it to see if it will work [as we will have to do with ANY radio system that we go with. A side benefit of this system is that the truckers driving the interstate would be able to hear and maybe help although this is NOT something to be counted on. Mobile units can be had for under $100.00 each and the base set ups for under $300.00.
2, 6 and 10 meter radios require each person to have licenses to operate but they would work without needing a repeater just like the 11 meter.
FRS / GMRS do not have the real range to deal with the situation. The advertised ranges of 20 to 40 miles are only under perfect line of sight conditions.
The MURS radio system [with a repeater] would work well for this situation AND the biggest plus for this system is that when we are ready to, we can put in an alarm system to any buildings and gates which would not have a monitoring fee as it will transmit to all of us who have the radios.
What are your thoughts setting up communications systems?
cross ref http://www.preparesurvivethrive.us/cb-radio/
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