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Old April 29th, 2004, 02:23 PM
Jeff Durham
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Default Wattage and distance of GMRS two-way radios

(Hopefully, this does not get posted twice as last night, it didn't seem to
go...)

Hi all,

In looking at a couple of different GMRS Radios, one of the main differences
seems to be the wattage output and hence the claim of distance. For
instance, the Motorola T5950 outputs 1 watt where the Midland G-300 outputs
3 watts. That is definitely a difference in power and I am sure that makes
a huge difference in battery life.

Here is my question -- on lake surrounded by woods where you do not have
line of sight to another person, how much distance can you really get
between the two units? If 1 watt gives you two miles through that terrain,
would the three watt give you four miles? Anyone have any direct experience
with the different wattage units? My neighbor and I hunt and fish on a lake
that is about 6 miles long. I am curious if one unit or the other would
actually let you cover that difference. I doubt the one watt would do that
because it only has a claim of 5 miles under optimal conditions where as the
3 watt unit claims 10 miles.

Thanks,
Jeff