VHF & UHF Repeater Ranges

[RESlusher]

Greetings all...

I've got way too much free time on my hands and unlimited internet access. So I'm playing around with Google Maps and it got my wondering about something.

What is the general range of VHF and UHF repeaters? I figure it depends on wattage, surrounding terrain, etc. Is there a good rule of thumb? I did find a posting in an eHow document saying that UHF repeaters average around 60 miles.

Forgive me fort what's probably a silly noobie question. I'm just curious!

73!!

 

[mancow]

30-40 miles reliably

 

[RESlusher]

Thanks for the info!

73!

 

[nd5y]

30-40 miles reliably

Repeater range depends on too many factors to quote a specific distance like that.

I have seen repeaters that were useless at 5 or 10 miles away or less. Especially when the users have belt-worn hand helds with speaker mics.
When I lived in El Paso I could stand out in my yard with a hand held and work a repeater in New Mexico that was over 100 miles away.

How high is the repeater antenna? How high are the users' antennas? Do the users have hand helds or high power mobile radios with good antennas? What type of terrain is the repeater in? Is it a well engineered system or a POS?

You can only get a general idea of coverage range if you know the antenna height at both ends. Then you can use the radio horizon formula to figure the approximate line of site distance. Line-of-sight propagation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[RESlusher]

I'm using an HT right now myself. I call it my "training wheels" radio. It's a Wouxon KG-UVD1P dual bander.

I'm looking at getting the Yeasu 8900R soon though.

Thanks for the info, Tom!

73!

 

[nd5y]

If you really want to calculate radio coverage you can use Radio Mobile. Radio Mobile WEB Site

 

[UPMan]

I referrd to this in another thread earlier today, so here it is again:
http://forums.radioreference.com/general-scanning-forum/115818-how-far-can-i-receive.html

Doesn't account for reflection from structure or terrain but gives a very quick "line of site" plot that will be a pretty good estimation for VHF/UHF. The assumption is that power and sensitivity are adequate to "break squelch" at the extremes (else you'd need to factor in RSSI)

 

[mancow]

Yes, but he asked for a general idea. Generally an average repeater will reach 30-40 miles reliably while operating mobile as most users do. I would say it's fair to say an average repeater of any average quality will cover a normal sized county plus 25% of the surrounding counties. That is for average terrain. Mountains excluded.

Repeater range depends on too many factors to quote a specific distance like that.

I have seen repeaters that were useless at 5 or 10 miles away or less. Especially when the users have belt-worn hand helds with speaker mics.
When I lived in El Paso I could stand out in my yard with a hand held and work a repeater in New Mexico that was over 100 miles away.

How high is the repeater antenna? How high are the users' antennas? Do the users have hand helds or high power mobile radios with good antennas? What type of terrain is the repeater in? Is it a well engineered system or a POS?

You can only get a general idea of coverage range if you know the antenna height at both ends. Then you can use the radio horizon formula to figure the approximate line of site distance. Line-of-sight propagation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia