help choosing a grms or frs or murs radio for 2 to 5 miles or more

[Akuriko]

Thanks and I'm working on my experiment currently I bought a gsrm radio that's 5 wt to see if it will reach the handheld as well if not I will try while waiting to get my ham license a 15 wt then 40 then 50, then I should have my ham license before then, I won't give up on my experiment.

 

[Akuriko]

So just a update the 5 wt i bought here

Amazon.com

with a ground plane didnt work, so i have to figure 15 watt gmrs or 40 or 50 with ground plane will work, but being these are line of sight radios they didnt work well for even 2 to 5 miles, seems unless the hand held is boosted to 5 wt, the other the base station wasnt reaching it from my end to them once they got out of range, midland claims i need to buy 115 watt, if i do that then it fails they will just tell me to try a 40 or 50 watt, i think they want to just sell radios, i will keep you all updated if you all wish.

 

[mmckenna]

Throwing more and more RF power at the issue is just a waste of energy and money. It's the antenna that matters.

You need to have a good antenna up as high as you can safely get it. If the two antennas can "see" each other, you should be able to communicate. If you have antennas in poor locations, it is never going to work the way you want. Spending more money on radios without addressing the antenna issue is just a waste of money.

I know the antenna is the challenge, but don't fall for the newbie mistake of thinking "more power" fixes everything.

 

[Rebel9958]

I have the Wouxan KG1000G and I use it as my GMRS base station. It works up to 50 watts.