[TenTec] OT so please contact offline

[Kim Elmore]

I'm looking for some comms advice and I know some of you have a fair 
bit of experience in this area.

I'll be part of a meteorological field project next year (I'm a 
research meteorologist, not a comms engineer). The project will study 
severe weather and will occur within about a 50 x 50 mi area that 
will be decided upon each operational day. Many observing sites will 
be mobile and moving around within the box, but the box itself is 
unlikely to move much once set. The issue is comms (mainly voice or 
low-bandwidth data) between the control center and outlying field 
personnel, and then between the various field locations: how can we 
maintain reliable comms and do it cheaply?

I considered a NVIS system, but I suspect that lightning noise would 
play havoc with that, even if we could obtain enough bandwidth for 
NBFM. Even though we'll be in the southern plains, terrain may be an 
issue in places like the Texas caprock. Outside of satellite comms or 
some kind of balloon-borne repeater, I'm stumped. I'm open to enlightenment!

Kim Elmore, N5OP