Will this radio work in 2 miles city limits cobra the manufacturer MR HH350 FLT - 6 Watt
Hi Mike, the Cobra HH350 FLT is a marine radio and operates only on marine channels in the VHF band. It is not legal for use as a land based walkie talkie. Two way radios operate by line of sight, so although it can cover a lot of area over open water, it is not likely to have much range in a city. It wasn’t designed for that purpose.
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Sorry I am new to this so what would you recommend for a 1.8 to 2.0 miles range for two ways in a suburban area
Thanks
It doesn’t really work like that. It’s about topography, geography and the objects in the way.
Some radios have higher power, but concrete with rebar is a great barrier to RF, and the curvature of the earth itself is a huge barrier. Your radio, being marine, is a great example. If you are in a canoe, the horizon is about 2.5 miles away - and all you have in the way is the water, with perhaps the occasional boat to reduce it further. If you have a VHF or UHF radio, then from your upstairs to a friends upstairs with nothing between could be workable over 3 or 4 miles. Go downstairs and it doesn’t work. If your house is on a small hill and so is your friends, but there is a valley between - then you might be 10 miles apart and it works great. Here, I live on a hill - well, it’s in a harbour town and I’m about 200 ft above the water. My office is 1 mile away, and I can just get from there to here, as the office is in the harbour area.
See the problem? Even worse, a radio in your pocket with the antenna up against your body soaks up the RF too - so while it might work on the desk, it wont perk up if the person the other end calls. Licence wise, or licence free I can’t advise on because I’m in England - but most countries have free systems available or paid for licenced ones, and the main difference is a change in power level and freedom from other users interfering. The low power ones have less range of course - often measured in metres/yards, not miles.
2 miles in an urban area is going to be challenging for any portable handheld radio. As Paul said, obstructions are a huge factor in range, and in an urban environment, there is too much concrete and steel in the way for straight radio-to-radio communications across a radius of 1.8 to 2 miles. A suburban environment is better, but not by much. You will likely get a lot more with a mobile or base station radio and a strategically placed antenna, but results are still not guaranteed. This is why most two way radios rely on repeaters to get across a city.
Our Radio Range Chart can help clarify the issue.