I currently have 2 Audiovox GMRS 122-2 radios. I have no idea what the power out is.
I live on a bluff overlooking the Tennessee river about 800 ft above it. I am looking for some better radios to keep in touch with the wife when she is across the river shopping.
Looking own there is the river about 1/2 mile from the bluff, then an Island then more water then the mainland. We are able to communicate about 4 miles but not real reliable with these radios. I would need to get about 8-10 miles range from up here. I have a small business and a license is not a problem.
Small size is important because the wife has to carry it in here purse. Also price of course.
Why no talk about Audiovox? Mine seem to be good radios.
Eight to ten miles would be impossible in normal circumstances, but it sounds like your situation is ideal for two way radios. If you are up high, looking down upon the area that you need to communicate with, then you have the potential for line of sight and maximum range.
Still, 8-10 miles is a huge distance for these types of radios and is unlikely to work well even in the best of conditions. I would recommend either the Midland GXT710 or the Motorola T9500XLR. Both of these models have relatively powerful transmitters (the Midland is more powerful) and longer antenna’s than most consumer radios, which will help with range.
You may find yourself needing a full 4 watt busines grade two way radio, such as the Kenwood TK-3202L to get the job done. We can program this radio to GMRS frequencies if necessary.
Regarding the Audiovox radios, I don’t hear much about them. We carried their line four or five year ago, and dropped it because the defect rate was too high.
I installed a mapping program and it looks like the Audiovox got about 3.5 miles. They are 1 watt. It also looks like I can get away with about 6 miles. So I guess the question is if I get 3 miles with 1 watt can I get 6 miles with a 5 watt radio?
I also have 2 RCI-1000 Ranger VHF 2 ch radios that need new battery packs. Do you think they would be as good, better or worse than the GMRS 5w radios?
Based upom what you want to do, you need a radio called a “Black Box”. These are very good radios for the money. They are very inexpensive and you get plenty of features.
Give Hot Tempered Products a call they have really good prices, here is their Ph.# 1-866-487-4784. Their web site is http://www.htpradios.com. If they don’t list it, just give them a call
Typically the rule of thumb is that, all other factors being equal, you have to quadruple the wattage to double range. The problem is that the Midland’s have a 5 watt transmitter, but the actual output power of the radios is 1.6 watts.
If your Audiovox’s are truly 1 watt, I would not expect the Midland radios to get you the 6 miles that you are looking for. Where did you get the 1 watt number? If you got it from the product packaging or from the company, the it is probably over-inflated just like Midland’s. If you can post the FCCID from the radio (usually printed on the back or in the battery compartment) we can look up the actual wattage from the FCC report.
Regarding the VHF radios, do you know the power? VHF signals travel farther outdoors than UHF signals, but they won’t work as well if you are going to be inside of buildings. If both radios are outdoors, I would expect them to out-perform the GMRS radios unless they are very low powered.
General RCI-1000 Frequency Range 148 - 165 MHz Channels 2
Frequency Installed GB or RB Operating Temperature Range -30ºC to +60º
Size ( Inches - H x W x D ) 4.9" x 2.4" x .9" Weight .59 Lbs.
DC Voltage 4.8 Vdc Transmit Current Draw 600 mAh
Receive Current Draw 100 mAh Receive ( Squelched ) 17 mAh
Antenna Impedance 50 W Channel Spacing 25 kHz
Battery Capacity 700 mAh Operating Time Between Charges
(standard duty) 8 Hrs - Cycle: 90% - 5% - 5%
Transmitter RF Output Power 1 Watt Spurious & Harmonic Emissions - 60db
Frequency Stability (- 30ºC to + 60ºC) ± 5 ppm Maximum Frequency Spread 3 MHz
Audio Frequency Distortion <10%
FCC Transmitter Type Acceptance Part 90
FCC ID HTL-RCI-1000-1 Canada ID 1137 203 225
Receiver Sensitivity (max) for 12 db SINAD 0.35 µV
Squelch Sensitivity 0.30 µV Selectivity ( EIA SINAD) - 60 db
Inter-Modulation Rejection - 60 db Image & Spurious Response - 60 db
Hum & Noise - 50 db Audio Output ( 8 Ohm ) 0.3 Watts
Frequency Stability (- 30ºC to + 60ºC) ± 5 ppm
Maximum Frequency Spread 3 MHz
Looks like your Audiovox is .745 watts, so that means that the Midlands have twice the power and a slightly larger antenna. You definitely should get more range from the Midland’s but I don’t think you’re going to get double the range.
The FCC’s site is showing that your Ranger radio was approved in 1994 and the documents that I usually look for are missing. One document that does show up has the watts at 1.5, but this isn’t a test so it’s hard to say if it’s the real number. If it is truly 1.5 watts (and the radio is in good working order) I would expect better range from the Ranger than the Midland - if both radios were being used outdoors. I would definitely expect that you would be getting better range outdoors from the Ranger than the Audiovox. Is that not what you’re seeing?
I haven’t tried the Ranger yet. I have to order some batters to make up some new packs for them and they only have 2 channels and no privacy channels.
I will order then tonight to try them or sell them.
Its pretty interesting that the 1w audiovox is about 75% of the rated power and the Midland 5w is only 30% of rated power.
Could you please check the output of the Audiovox GMRS2572CH
Maybe the FCC ID is PDHGMRS257 If it holds it may be higher output than the Midlands
Thank you
I found this from the online manual:
RF Output power 3.5W max.on High
Receive sensitivity -119dbm
The FCC ID that you listed wasn’t in the database. I scrolled through all of the Audiovox products and didn’t see anything that looked similar to a model GMRS2572.
If Audiovox is like the other manufacturers, you can’t trust the power numbers that are provided in the manuals.