I was hoping someone could make a recommendation for me. I have a car rally that I will be helping with. I need a radio that can be used in a car that will be 5 - 10 miles away with mountainous terrain. I know that CB’s would be the best option but these radios will be used in Ferraris where no one will want to put an antenna on their vehicle. Is there something that will fit the bill? I was looking at the TriSquare radios but I wasn’t sure if that would work.
A handheld two way radio isn’t likely to get you even close to 5-10 miles. Even the powerful 4 watt models, like the Kenwood TK3202 or the Motorola AXU4100, are only good for 2-3 miles in a typical city environment. To get 5-10 miles with these radios, you would have to have line-of-sight with no obstructions.
Thanks for the information. As I said, I am kinda new to this. Would the handheld CB radios work? I was just on a rally this past week and we were using the Motorola talkabouts and they lost connection within 1 mile. Granted we were in trees and hilly areas. Would the UHF/VHF radios do any better?
I would rather go for a dual band radio which has full duplex capability. it would be very advantageous if you can listen and talk at the same time while driving the circuit. also it woun be nice if there’s a crossband repeat if the rubber duck is not sufficient to cover the whole tracks
I don’t know if you would see a huge amount of improvement from a handheld CB if you are using it inside a vehicle. The external antenna helps a lot. The 4 watt UHF radios would get you better range than the TalkAbouts, but probably not the range you need. If you’re getting 1 mile out of the Talkabouts, you’re probably looking at less than 2 with business models.
Sounds to me like you need a full power radio mounted in car using external repeaters. If you tell me exactly what you are trying to do, I can advise. I just need more information. Where there is a will, there is a way! I can’t stress this enough.