Excerpt: OUR SMARTPHONES CAN already do so much, but one area where they fail is off-grid communications. Journey beyond the reach of a compatible cellular data network or a capable Wi-Fi signal, and your access to the vast telecoms infrastructure disappears.
Going off the grid doesn’t even require a trip into the boonies. You can find yourself without access in areas where you have either Wi-Fi or cell coverage, but your connection falters because there are too many users congesting the network—a common occurrence at concert venues and big conferences.
A new product from the Bozeman, Montana-based company Beartooth provides direct off-grid communications between smartphone devices. The pocket-sized transceiver pairs with your smartphone via Bluetooth and allows you to talk to your other Beartooth-carrying friends without having to rely on external infrastructure like Wi-Fi networks and cell towers. The simplest explanation: it turns your smartphone into a texting and push-to-talk (PTT) style voice walkie-talkie. But unlike a walkie-talkie, you get to keep the computing power, touchscreen, and user interface of the smartphone. So while you may be cut off from the Internet in the woods, you’ll at least be able to communicate with your friends in familiar ways.
I recall one of Gransee’s original ideas for improving the Arc flashlight was to add voice encoding and decoding — aim the flashlights between friends at distance and talk through them.
Pity that didn’t happen yet.
A company in the UK bought out something similar, although it was about 15 years ago before mobile phones were smart. Never really caught on and disappeared without trace, the range was only about 2km in line of sight and it didn’t offer anything more than a pair of £20 walkie talkies could, probably less.
Plus so few were sold the chances of actually being able to use the feature to communicate with another person with a phone with the same capability within 2km was very slim.
So unless it was added by manufacturers to every smart phone sold, much like Bluetooth is,I can’t really see it catching on this time either
The only real advantage this has over a voice-radio device is texting capability. A GMRS repeater will run rings around it in a voice role and is designed for a much higher duty cycle.
Ham radio (which is absurdly easy to get licensed for nowadays) runs rings around both in performance and has texting ability as well, plus may even be able to be tied into a nationwide network if there’s an APRS digipeater in range which there often is even in remote locations. And that offers geo-location as well.
You’re smartphone isn’t very smart without internet access and it’s a poor choice for a stand-alone communications device. This seems like just another re-invention of the wheel to me, an answer in search of a question. YMMV.
I try carrying my HT as often as possible; unfortunately not all life situations allow this though. Unless I have a suitcase or some bag in a meeting I wouldn’t be able to have it in that case.
While driving, biking, traveling - yes, absolutely.
Even the compact HTs are a bit bulky when on your body/in your pockets.
Especially when I’m not close to home I have a Ham rig handy within reach if not always on my person. My carry rig is very ruggedly built and goes way out of the Ham bands if I need that capability, plus it has an AA cell pack for back-up and will run with NiMh cells just fine. They don’t make them like this one anymore. We’ve got a state-wide repeater system here with back-up power and microwave links should the internet which usually connects them fail, and it can be user-linked to more distant systems too so I’ve always got multi-state coverage even with the HT, plus I can make local land-line phone calls with it through an auto-patch even if all the cell towers are dead.
I don’t go far without a good light, a Ham rig, and a PDW closeby- that’s been policy with me for decades and that policy has saved my bacon more than a few times ;) I’ve been in many places in the hills around here where cellphones and police radios don’t work but my ham rig always does it’s never let me down.
Well, you have to turn your power down to 2 watts to use that.
I’m sure you understand this and don’t step on people, but for the record — for others reading — it’s worth spelling out the problem with this radio and MURS.
As that link explains, there are several other options that won’t overpower other people.
So if anyone’s brand new to this area, the problem is:
If you operate the 5-watt radio at the default power in MURS bands, you “step on” people over a wide area, but people who are operating within the 2-watt limit won’t be heard by you.
“Step on” means talk loudly while others are also talking on the same band. It basically happens when people over-power their transmissions and don’t hear others trying to reply.
It’s the old CB problem back again. That’s what gets complaints filed with the FCC — people overpowering a shared band by using a radio that’s outside the limits, who can’t hear the people yelling back at them using limited power.
Seriously, it takes half a day at most to get your first ham radio license in the US, and you join a community that understands how the airwaves are shared without complaints arising.
Ham equipment is not approved for non-Ham band use. That is not to say that it does not happen, but you are supposed to use only type-approved equipment to transmit on MURS, FRS, and VHF Marine bands. My HT is programmed to “listen” to all that and more. And what my base will do almost scares me >-)
