I am looking at buying a frs / gmrs radio for camping etc. I realize many of the radios have distances advertised like 32 miles or 40 miles etc however from my research it seems that the usable distance might only be in the range of one to two miles. Based on that fact does it really matter then if I look at a radio that has say has a 20 mile range or 30 mile range versus one that has say 35 mile range or better. I live in Canada and would love for any suggestions on brand or type I should order. I would also love to have a weather channel option. I see that some radios same SAME and others say NOAA. Not sure if that means the same service or not.
The differences in the advertised ranges between models is based largely on the wattage of the radios. The radios advertising 20-30 miles are generally lower in power than the radios advertised at 40 miles or above. However, the wattage is only one factor when it comes to range, and isn’t necessarily the most important one at that.
Other factors such as terrain, atmospheric conditions and the antenna can be more crucial to range and performance than the power alone. The type of antenna is crucial to range. Unfortunately, most FRS/GMRS radios have fixed antennas, so it is one factor that cannot be adjusted when using them.