In the latest episode of The Two Way Radio Show, we talked about the new Leixen NOTE handheld transceiver. This radio is capable of transmitting at a maximum of 25 watts, and we debated whether or not it was too much power to hold so close to the face.
You can hear the entire discussion in TWRS-104 - How Much is Too Much Power For a Handheld Radio?
What do you think? Is 25 watts too much? Would you buy one of these radios, and, if so, would you want to transmit at full power while holding it in your hand?
It would, for me, be about cumulative exposure - so 25 Watts on a commercial net would be fine, because it would perhaps be 5% TX, 20% RX and 75% nothing. Not sure if it would be good for somebody running a net where the duty cycle was biased to transmit. Mind you, if you used that radio for that purpose, the battery would be flat long before any damage was caused, wouldn’t it?
Well regardless 25 watts would run your battery down quite fast I think… But the power being that close to you might also not be good either… (Even if ya had the radio plugged in)
Quite frankly, any handheld that needs a cooling fan is too much power so close to my head.
I also considered it when wearing a speaker mic. When I look down at where my handheld is positioned on my belt while wearing a speaker mic (slightly in front of my left hip) I shuddered slightly at its proximity to other important parts.
I would also like to know how much extra range is gained by quadrupling output power anyway. In most of the frequencies I use, it is pretty much antenna dependant anyway.
(I get about the max range of any UHF or VHF handheld with my DTR and DLR radios, and they are only 1 watt RF power.)
