/diy/ - Do It Yourself

>Also, my radio is some cheap 40 dollar Uniden and it definitely doesn't have SSB. I assume SSB would give me more range? Would the person I'm talking with need an SSB radio to receive me?

SSB is a more efficient mode to amplify than AM. It takes up a lot less bandwidth, so you don't pick up as much "noise" on the receive. Also, since it's more efficient, it's less work electronically to amplify (if you feel like using an illegal amplifier). If you're doing trails, I wouldn't worry about SSB, since it's primarily used for long distance skip talking on 38 LSB (lower sideband).