Best Radios for Farming & Ranching
In farming, ranching, or forestry, people, crops, equipment, and animals are spread-out over long distances. The need to coordinate supplies, people, and equipment, keep owners/managers informed, respond to rapidly changing conditions or emergencies, all depend on constant communication.
In remote areas, you may not have reliable cell phone coverage. Not to mention your monthly bill if everyone has a cell phone. With two-way radios, there is no monthly service charge to access the airways.
If you are running a small family farm then you might consider a FRS or GMRS radios. However, FRS radios are limited to 2 watts and a small stubby antenna making their range limited. MURS radios are also 2 watts but they can have a 6" whip antenna and they are VHF making their range better. If you have a family farm that is spread-out over longer distances or heavily wooded then you probably need either GMRS radios, or business-grade radios, since they have stronger signals that can travel further.
For commercial or government uses we recommend professional grade two-way radios. Rural applications usually operate best on VHF frequencies, unless they are being used in heavily forested areas (in which case UHF maybe a better choice for heavily forested areas). Rural users need radios that are: Rugged & Waterproof, Easy to operate, and Affordable. We have based our recommendations for two-way radios on the needs of the rural user.
These are radios selected by us for their tough durability, easy operation, and popularity among farmers, ranchers, and forestry professionals.