Users in your group are repeaters to extend the range up to 50 miles is what it is saying.

lets say you and team Sgt and myself are in the woods. you and I walk 3 miles we both can talk to TM Sgt.
I stay put and you walk another 3 miles you are now out of range of TM Sgt on your own but because I am only 3 miles away it will use me as a repeater for text and it will send to TM Sgt and he will see it after it gets retransmitted from my device. it's 256 bit encryption also.

I was thinking that was the process,, but it means you need a "team" with a structured rules for times available, locations, and traffic patterns.. Something most people will not have knowledge of.

I think I would rather up the game, get the education for a Technician Class License, with privileges above 30 MHz, then use 2 meter handhelds and a base with a good tower antenna..

If you go for a General or Extra class License you get access to just about every freq you can buy gear for.

http://www.arrl.org/getting-your-technician-license

http://www.arrl.org/upgrading-to-a-general-license

http://www.arrl.org/upgrading-to-an-extra-license

When I was a kid, my dad had Extra class and would QSO QSP the world. He could Key at 30+. Learned it in the navy WWII.

I remember sometime in the early 70't when there was an earth quake in Peru, he, and friends, acted as relays for families in the US trying to contact "home".

I sat for the General test at 12, pass the technical, but could not Key worth a shit. Back then 95% of the traffic was Key driven.

I've likely mentioned this before in a couple of other threads but if you are going to the bother of studying/taking the Tech exam, study & bang away at the online practice exams for the General - Puh-LEEZ, in the name of all that is holy in the Ionosphere. About 50-60% of the Tech info you will see again on the General, maybe just phrased differently. There is no extra fee at a testing session, you can keep progressing up the ladder till you don't pass one. (The Extra is a different animal.) But go for the General - pass the Tech, get up, go to the bathroom, have some coffee & a donut, then sit back down & pass the General. If you have any inkling that you might want to do some HF for local or regional comms sans repeaters, you can thank me later.

And no, there is no longer a code requirement...
even though it's really cool to know & still works when the solar cycle is in the shitter.
:lifter

Good advice, thanks. I started going through Tech practice tests this weekend, scoring around 70% consistently without even studying the material. I can see how people spend two to four hours with the materials and pass the test.

Pretty much the way I did mine. Totally painless and the HF freqs available to the General licensee are well worth the minimal extra investment. It's not long term/long range emergency comms if you're depending on somebody else's repeater.

Right on!
 

What they said! :)

My wife (who is very intelligent but has difficulty identifying a radio vs a rutabaga) took a 1-day course and passed her tech exam with over 90%. I suspect she could have done General as well.

73 DE Hartley
W1OQ

Get your foundation studying the old-fashioned way. Of the couple primary ham-oriented sites this one has the better practice exams, imo, based on the feedback you get. Like most things, the real learning starts later & then continues if you let it.