Ran across 2 of these Standard brand handhelds with quick chargers for free. They power up but don’t communicate with each other. How old are these radios and are they very powerfull. The only other radio experience i have is with my hand held Midland i use on the river. The river is full of bends and i loose signals all the time. How big should i upgrade my radio to eliminate this signal lose…Tom
A bigger antenna will help your signal, not a bigger radio.
- which Midland radios do you use?
- you say ‘when you go around the bend’… how far spread are your party members and how big is the river / bends?
The Midlands i use are not that powerful, maybe a 2-3 mile range and the river ( at Cinn. Ohio area) bends at every 1/2 mile or so
which model radio? This matters.
Radios distance is primarily limited by terrain, not by distance. This is the most important thing to understand. A radio signal will go VERY far through open space (that’s where the 35mile range claims come from), but they won’t go through geographical formations (hills, mountains, etc) at all. It’s generally accepted that portable radios will get 1-3 miles of range and not too much more, you can ignore the manufacturers specs.
Another thing that matters (at least somewhat) is transmit power. Transmit power WON’T punch through a mountain, but it can help push the edges of your range out a bit, depending on what’s limiting it.
My theory is that perhaps your range is being clipped mostly by trees and such around the river bank- in which case upping your transmit power might help you.
Thus the question. If you aren’t already using 5watt radios, you may consider trying the Midland GXT1000s. I used a set of them on a ski trip this winter with great success, the 5 watts of power made a useful difference over the old 1/2 watt radios I used to use.
If you are already at 5 watts, there are a few things that can be done to increase your range a bit, but they get expensive- I’m thinking moving up to professional grade radios programmed for GMRS, with better antennas (perhaps aftermarket antennas). You can’t replace the antenna on a FRS-compatible radio so you’d need a pro radio programmed for GMRS.
I know Jeff (or one of the other buytwowayradios guys) could help you pick out a few good ones and program them…