Ham Radio - still the best overall comms

The only reliable cell service is right by the sign at the North Entrance (the "T") using Verizon.

LOCAL REPEATER FREQUENCIES
FOTHL repeater:     146.700 Mhz, -offset, PL 110.9
     Important: our repeater links to Butte Co. SAR Comm. Reserve public repeater, which is monitored by the pros throughout the valley
FOTHL simplex:   146.100 Mhz
     This is the output frequency of the repeater.  If you use this as your localized "trail talk" channel, it does not trigger the repeater, but yet can be heard by all within range of your radio, and also allows you to hear other repeater traffic.  Before transmitting, you must determine if you want to just transmit local, or to hit the repeater.

The ham radio we can program for you - contact N6RCJ

YAESU FT-60R 5W handheld radio

Typical Radio Package:

• FT-60R     Yaesu 5W handheld ham radio, usually comes w/ AC charging stand)
• SRH77CA    Diamond 1/4 wavelength antenna for handheld (instead of stock 1/8)
• SDD-13     Yaesu 12V dc charger
• FBA-25     Yaesu battery case for AA’s (carry as spare)
• SSM-17A    Yaesu speaker mic on coily cord
  
• N6RCJ’s programming (High Lakes, Rubicon, Johnson Valley, MURS, Rugged/PCI, FRS)
  

Optional:

• Challenger II    Rugged Radios earbuds (or <$AlphaBuds, or PCI)
• RBag-XL        Rugged Radios handheld radio bag
• spare $18 earbuds Plugfones on Amazon, but they have a longer cord
• the MARS/CAP hack to open the radio to frequencies of GMRS, FRS, Rugged & PCI
  

To add gain, mounting an antenna in a rig:

• Diamond NR770HB        fold-down “no-ground” antenna, ~1m, UHF connector, 1/2wl 3db gain on 2m, 2x5/8wl 5.5db gain on 0.7m
• Comet NCG 3D4M antenna UHF mount, 5/8” hole, 4m cable to UHF connector
• Comet NCG HS-05    coax jumper cable, SMA (Yeasu) to SO-239 UHF Female, 0.5m
  

Easy place to buy ham radio gear is from Ham Radio Outlet - www.hamradio.com

Choose One - Choose All
Because of the remoteness from population, and lakes are not usually on ridges, for emergency (and non-emergency) communications in the High Lakes, there are just a few options. All but cell take planning ahead.

• cell service - the closest cell tower (Verizon) not line-of-sight blocked by a ridge is eastward toward Quincy. You have to be on top of one of the ridges to hit it, and it is fairly reliable from the north entrance "T".
• satellite communicators (Garmin InReach, Spot, Zolio etc) allow you to pay a modest monthly fee to send and receive text messages, some for free, some for a minimal fee. The coverage is anywhere you can get a clear view of open sky. Only downside is this is an additional dedicated device you do not use for regular communications, and sometimes the text messages can be sloooow.
• ham radio has been the solution since we installed the repeater in ~2009. The advantage of ham is it is not just line-of-sight and radio-to-radio (simplex), but radio-to-tower-(to-tower)-to-radio. The High Lakes tower is up on the top of a ridge and blankets the area, reaching both into the Philbrook watershed and into the High Lakes canyons. It replaces the old simplex-only CB radios for trail talk, yet through our repeater link to Search and Rescue Comm Reserve's Bloomer Hill tower above Lake Oroville, accesses all sorts of valley listeners outside of the High Lakes, many who are trained to respond to emergencies. Ham radio operation requires a FCC license (easy test given monthly by local ham clubs, and they give you the question pool), and once a radio has been "opened up", you can use it for race channels like Rugged Radios or PCI, GMRS, FRS (cheap walkie-talkies), as well as the ham repeater channels. FOTHL sponsored early classes and now has dozens of frequent users in the area.