Looking for advice on radios
Hey guys, looking for some advice on radios for my situation in Australia. I don't know much about radios at all.
I go hunting and camping in the Victorian High Country / mountains, and we usually camp down at the bottom of hills or valleys. We currently use Motorola handheld radios, but even when we’re not that far apart, the signal drops out badly because of the massive hills and terrain between us. Btw my radio is a motorola dp2600e
From what I understand, line-of-sight is the main issue with UHF radios in mountainous areas, so I’m wondering what setup would actually work better.
What would you recommend for:
Reliable communication in steep mountain terrain
Hunting/camping trips
Vehicle to vehicle + handheld use
Decent range when hills are blocking direct line of sight
Australia legal setups
Would I be better off with:
Better UHF handhelds?
Repeaters?
HAM radio?
Satellite communicator like Garmin InReach?
Also what antennas/gain setups work best in hilly terrain? I’ve read lower gain antennas can actually work better in mountains compared to high gain ones.
Keen to hear what setups you guys actually use in the Victorian High Country or similar terrain.
Cheers