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Old April 29th, 2004, 03:21 PM
Jeff Durham
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Default Wattage and distance of GMRS two-way radios

I just found this website that gives some potential distances based upon
terrain and wattage.

http://www.southernce.com/cgi-bin/So....htm?E+scstore

I think this general rule of thumb from that website helps explain wattage
and distance:
General "Rule of Thumb" for Radio Range
All other factors being equal: To achieve twice the range, 4 times the
output power is necessary. If the antenna height is tripled then you have
the potential to double your range. These concepts are very broad "rules of
thumb" and your results may vary.

Jeff


"Jeff Durham" wrote in message
...
(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