I just ran into a large quantity of both of these radios and I want to use them to communicate with my crew at work and the wife at home. I don’t have any kind of repeater. The 300 is a 2 channel and the sp50 is a 10 channel, what set of radios are going to give me the best results.
How far apart is home from work? Realistically - you’re pushing it at half a mile. If you need to cover a wider area, then a repeater is essential with decent aerials. The radios will need reprogramming and licensing, of course. Radio to radio is severely limited by train, obstacles and where the radio is used - as in held up in the open, or used in the pocket with an external microphone.
At work I need to go about 3 miles, A test showed that It goes about 200 yards maybe once it gets through the cement wall. So that is not going to work. At home I need to go about 80 yards. And both radios seem to do ok at home. So I’ll have to scrap the idea to use it at work. But now I’m wondering which one of the two will have more reliable communication, from the kitchen to my shop in the backyard.
Are yours VHF or UHF? VHF will go a little further in built up areas? I rather like the GP300 series- basic tough heavy and reliable but they’ve been around for twenty or so years now. Performance wise I suspect you will find no difference at all. I’d use the ones I’m best condition!