VHF rural radio communication system

August

2026

22:20

УКВ

25 August 2026 22:20

I looked at a story on the Finnish site Yle.fi, which talks about a rural VHF radio communication system.

The website of the Finnish television company YLE is blocked in the Russian Federation, but I was able to read the article and translate it through Google Translator.

The article states that residents of a remote Finnish community Parikkala experienced problems with mobile communications from cellular companies: “one person has an operator, others have different operators and there is no connection.” People independently united and created their own village network of portable radio stations.

All residents have analogue radio stations. Perhaps they are tuned to the same "emergency" frequency. This allows information to be transmitted to everyone, not just “one or the other” who can be heard at the moment. To ensure complete coverage of the populated area, “8 repeaters were turned on,” which sounds incomprehensible and strange. Perhaps we are talking about reserving repeaters in case of a power outage or about warning system transmitters?

What else is interesting in the plot: the use of elongated antennas for VHF radios. They are not like the fake Nagoya-771, they are thicker. I came across a mention of some "Finnish frequencies", to which the antennas of portable VHF radio stations sold through the online store are tuned.

In Finland, work in the frequency range 67-72 MHz is allowed for athletes, rescuers, hunters and fishermen!

Hunting radio station is a type of radio designed for communication between people during hunting, livestock farming, forestry, agriculture, outdoor activities, hiking, etc. Everyone who selects the same radio channel can hear each other and communicate as if you were sitting at a table and talking. This can be practical in many situations, and sometimes is absolutely necessary for safety.

Hunting radios work completely autonomously from mobile networks and without a monthly fee. The signal is transmitted directly between them. This means that in forests and wilderness areas there is complete coverage for radio-equipped comrades within range of your own radio. Technically possible radio communication distances vary depending on the terrain and the radio equipment selected, and are usually several kilometers. The range depends largely on the design and location of the antenna. The greatest range is achieved with a high antenna location and a good view of the horizon.

Radio stations for hunters and fishermen: Wouxun and Hunter.

Model of the radio station in the Yle.fi story (identified from a photograph) -Wouxun KG-RHA68.

My own experience

In the Pskov region, where the house of my second wife, who recently died, is located, many years ago we vacationed together. Base stations (towers) of cellular communications were then located only in the regional center; due to the directional pattern, they did not reach the house in the village, which was located 9 km from the regional center. In the village, I conducted an experiment on communication at 446 MHz (PMR band, channel No. 1 at 446.00625 MHz) between the “base”, i.e. the rural house where we lived, and the car in which we drove to fetch water from the artesian spring. This was in the 2010s... Communication was provided reliably over a distance of 2 km, when the antennas were at the same low height of human height.

Later, 10-15 years later, in the same village I saw an electricians’ car with a VHF antenna installed on it. (Electricians were cleaning up the consequences of broken wires after the hurricane). The straight line distance to the base is 9 kilometers. Nevertheless, the connection on VHF was reliable. But the controller's antenna on that side is above the roof at a height of about 8 meters.

VHF radio range formula

Line of sight range:

D = 3.57 * (√H + √h)

where D is range, km;
H, h - installation heights of the transmitting and receiving antennas.

In the case of “dacha-car” or “dacha-pedestrian”:

D = 3.57 * (√2 + √2) = 10 km

Radio communication range on VHF, taking into account refraction:

D = 4.12 * (√H + √h)

Refraction is the deviation of the path of VHF radio waves from the direct direction downwards or upwards, depending on the properties of the troposphere. During the summer months, there is often positive refraction (radio waves are bent towards the ground), which increases the range of a VHF radio.

In conditions where there are obstacles on the radio wave path in the form of vegetation (forests) and rough terrain, the line-of-sight distance or VHF range taking into account refraction seems to be overestimated, because There may be no direct line of sight or there may be strong signal attenuation due to vegetation.

The use of lower frequencies 67-72 MHz solves the problem with radio communication in the forest.
In old books on television reception it is written that forest for radio waves:

in the range of 30-100 MHz can be considered transparent,
in the range of 130-200 MHz - transparent,
in the range 400-900 MHz opaque.

Conclusions:

1) since the use of the 4 meter (70 MHz) and 6 meter (50 MHz) bands is prohibited in Russia, since they were not allocated for radio amateurs or private citizens by the State Commission on Radio Frequencies, instead of them in the forest or in the country, in the village you can use the license-free CB band (Ci-Bi band -27 MHz, in the permitted area 26.965-27.405 MHz). To improve the quality of communication, instead of ineffective shortened whip antennas, you can use full-size antennas with the ability to throw onto a tree: the “inclined beam” type or the 1/2-wave inclined dipole - “sloper”, which have a pronounced vertical polarization of the radiation in the direction of the slope and are compatible with other vertical polarization antennas: the GP type ("Ground Plane") and car (mobile) CB radio installations, which are quite widespread, are located are freely available and do not raise questions among law enforcement agencies.

2) The use of Low Band 30-54 MHz by citizens is illegal and there is practically no equipment for sale in this range.

3) The 50 and 70 MHz bands are not allowed in Russia. In addition, the ranges are narrow, only 200 kHz.

4) In the civilian “hunting” range of 68-72 MHz, the use of high power channels of 25 W in Finland is prohibited closer than 10 km to the border with the Russian Federation. In Russia, there are still working transmitters of the “Soviet” OIRT radio broadcasting standard at 65-74 MHz.

5) The use of the 144 and 433 MHz bands is possible subject to passing the exam for the fourth category and registering an amateur radio call sign, receiving documents for the call sign identification and registration of the radio station. Radio amateurs can legally use directional antennas or collinear ones with high gain, but they must comply with radio traffic rules.

Sources:
*https://yle.fi/a/74-20241116,