Please post your FRS and GMRS range experiences

[mirayge]

And as I previously stated I am speaking of simplex operation which is what typical FRS and GMRS store bought radios utilize. Antenna height is almost always relative .I think we're getting off topic here . If I recall this was a discussion concerning statements made by mfgs of FRS/ GMRS and their range capability. Even I went off topic mentioning 4-5 watt uhf radios .

You have asked an unanswerable question, that is why there is no answer. Where are the manufacturers of these bubble packs information on the sensitivity and selectivity of their front ends (receiver?) Testing every unit is your only way. For example, my audiovox gmrs7001 units will work on FRS over a mile and a half if you get up a few floors above the ground scatter. However the more powerful, and illegal, baofeng uv-5r is completely deaf downtown because of RF noise. Would the uv-5r work better away from cell towers or after the zombie apocalypse? Absolutely! The point is nobody says how discriminatory their radios are.

 

[SCPD]

I had an interesting experience with the range of a couple of GMRS handhelds. I have two Motorola Sport 10X radios. I believe that is the model and I'm too tired to walk upstairs to check.

I gave my wife one of them to take to work and took one with me for a hike on the Sierra crest west of town. She was working in the town hall in an office fairly close to the front of the building. The portion of the crest I was hiking is relatively low in elevation, 11,000 feet. My wife asked me to check in with her a couple of times during the hike. I told her I doubted I would reach her as a ridge of about 10,000 feet is located between the crest and town. I would also be about 6.5 - 7 miles from town.

I called her and she replied with a crystal clear signal and I assumed she was talking from outside the building, but she was sitting at her desk. While the distance of 7 miles was not all that impressive the topography is substantial. I was using the rubber duckies that came with the radio.

The next year I was climbing a 12, 800 foot peak 10 miles from home. I was with some out of town friends on the day of our annual homeowners meeting. The owners had a question for me and my wife told me she would call at the appropriate time. The route up to this peak includes hiking about 500 feet below a the backside of a ridge. I was surprised when my wife called with a signal that was full quieting. I was able to communicate with people at the meeting as my wife had the radio on full volume and my signal was strong. The 10 mile distance is again not all that impressive, but the ability to bend over the intervening ridge was.

Both of these situations had the advantage of elevation, but each involved topography that blocked the line of sight. I've not had the opportunity to climb additional peaks located further from town to determine the maximum distance these can reach.

 

[Smaug]

Thanks for sharing those great experiences. I'm hoping to surprise my wife (who is still skeptical of this purchase) that it was a good one.

Last time we went hiking on the Ice Age Trail in Wisconsin, they would have come in handy. The 10 year old boy is always either wandering off or stopping to investigate something, totally oblivious to the fact that we kept walking.

It helps that there's topography there too; in an emergency scenario, I could climb a tree on a hilltop and almost be CERTAIN to be able to reach him.

Even now, I can let him go to the park a couple blocks away and just insist that he bring his walkie-talkie.

 

[KD8DVR]

I have used that for amateur stuff..... Tried it with FRS specs and it actually seemed to match with my experiences.

It is an online program that gets pretty close. Radio Mobile Online

Once you register, you can enter all of your data and it will plot the pattern. Make sure that you are using real numbers, i.e., line loss, feedline type, antenna gain, etc. If you fudge the numbers, the pattern can change significantly.

For bubble-pack radios, use 1M for antenna height, .5 Watts for power and -6dB gain (Handheld antennas at UHF will have 6dB loss, so make sure it is "negative (-) 6dB"). You will see that range will change depending on location.

 

[Project25_MASTR]

I have used that for amateur stuff..... Tried it with FRS specs and it actually seemed to match with my experiences.

SPLAT! is another good one (Linux based). I made this one for the 675 repeater in Lubbock for a receiving antenna 6 ft above ground level and outputted it to a .kml file.

 

[mike_gain]

Using a Midland FRS (non GMRS) from my home which is 700 ft above average terrain I had a very brief chat with a trucker 30+ miles away going up a mountain as he was talking with another trucker.

 

[PHRadio]

I have the Midland GXT1000VP4 bubble pack radios. I plan on getting something "better" but have not found what I wanted yet. These have done very well though.

In the car, on a 900 mile trip, we were able to easily get 1 mile between cars, and often a little more than a mile. When we were in Branson, MO, I could sit on my back deck and talk to her 3 miles away when she was at the grocery store in the parking lot. I didn't expect that.

We used them on two cruise ships the past few weeks and was surprised. We never lost the ability to communicate throughout the ship. At one point, I was on deck 9 aft, and she was on deck 1 midship, on the Holland America Zuiderdam. We talked with no problem, loud and clear, no static.

I have been very pleased with these. W initially ordered Motorolas, but one was defective, the volume was very low on one. We bought these and tested the two side by side, and the Midlands won.

I am now looking for a mobile unit for my car and have been looking at various Kenwood handhelds, but haven't found what I want yet.