[bergie]

For a single hop you can expect close to similar ranges as a VHF set. We saw 30NM distances on open sea when leaving Curaçao. Could be a lot more with antenna situated high up.

Where the magic potentially kicks in is the mesh hops. With those you can reach much further by jumping from one node to another.

It's not even close to satellite comms in reach or reliability, but it also requires no infrastructure, no licensing, and no subscriptions.