…… BEST long range walkie talkies?

[Butterfly]

Is there a walkie talkie that is reliable for 50 - 100 miles? I have only found one that routinely range to 32 miles.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Hfcomms]

No. Your portable units are strictly line of sight only. Might get a few miles out of them in flat terrain with little foilage. The portables that go a long distance are using repeaters. Public service and hams use repeaters on tall towers that the portable can reach and rebroadcast that on another frequency. In Michigan there was a ham radio repeater network where you could transmit from the Michigan/Indiana border and transmit into the upper peninsula using a network of repeaters to cover the distance. A couple of handheld portables might get you anywhere from a quarter mile to a few miles again depending on terrain and foilage.

 

[Thunderbird]

The claims of being able to communicate with walkies for more than a a few miles are pure hopium.
2 meter Ham radios depend on repeaters to achieve any distance. The FRS GMRS radios are severly antenna limited and are only slightly better than strictly line of sight.

 

[Barry Natchitoches]

If propagation is favorable, your best bet would probably be 6 meter radios.

However, you have to get a Tech level ham radio license to legally operate 6 meters in the US. Both you and the person you would be talking to must get the license.

Getting a Tech license is pretty easy. I have trained groups of kids at my church - ages 10 thru 17 - and every one of them passed the FCC licensing test on the first try. (It was a week long radio camp, held in the summer when the kids were off from school. Pre-Covid, of course).

If an average 10 year old can get the license, surely you and your partner can.

 

[Tiamat214]

if you are interested in ham radio and what it can do for you. here is what i used to get my tech. www.hamstudy.org