Top of a hill with my HT.

[JCNHB]

I hit just a few more repeaters with my HT from the hilltop than from inside my home.

A few channels are more clear.
But other than that, a decent work out getting there on my bicycle.

I've lived here 7 years and never had any motivation to ride my bike to the top of this hill. Until radio came along recently. I'll get on any hill now. To see how my HT performs.

Have a great day people!

James


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[profiledescent]

Just curious, where is this?

I love taking my HT on hikes in the mountains out West. My best simplex HT contact exceeds 60 miles, and was crystal clear. HT to repeater was around 75 miles. That was from a mountain top RADAR site in Wyoming, to Billings Montana. An FAA tech there told me the distance, as that is also the site of the longest distance between 2 microwave link stations in the FAA system.

Enjoy!

 

[JCNHB]

Wow 75 miles simplex from an Ht! Yeah that's gotta be a record.

I am located in Irvine, California.
The trail I am on is called Quail Hill.

I'm still new to radio so I'm hesitant to transmit because I don't know what to say.. Haha

I need to start doing some radio checks so I know where the repeaters are that I am hitting.

I programmed the frequencies from a list but I have no idea where any of the repeaters are located.

James



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[N9JCQ]

Height makes might...

 

[nd5y]

Wow 75 miles simplex from an Ht! Yeah that's gotta be a record.

Not even close.

 

[jaspence]

Top of hill

Height does wonderful things for 2 meters. I had a QSO from the Kalamazoo, MI area using a HT to a high rise on the lake shore of Chicago one night when we had a temperature inversion.

 

[phask]

Not even close.

Hii Hi - MIR w/ 5 watts into a 5/8 and MIR with an HT at 1 watt. Been there done that.

Also Packet several times at 5 watts.

It's just line of sight

 

[JCNHB]

I had to look that up. But ok, MIR is a space satellite. 233 miles up.

So there is definitely some range with a clear line of sight.

Man...

HT's are awesome now.. but back before there were cell phones, having an HT must have been something else.




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[Thunderknight]

HT's are awesome now.. but back before there were cell phones, having an HT must have been something else.

They were - especially when the repeater had a phone patch!

 

[fourthhorseman]

Those Boafeng's do perform!

 

[nd5y]

Those Boafeng's do perform!

Not as well as a real radio.

 

[JCNHB]

Wait ok. If I can get that much distance at 5w in line of sight, what is the reason for getting a mobile unit that does 50w. Assuming all other factors are the same


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[kayn1n32008]

But ok, MIR is a space satellite. 233 miles up.

MIR WAS a space station. It no longer exists, it de-orbited years ago.


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[kayn1n32008]

Wait ok. If I can get that much distance at 5w in line of sight, what is the reason for getting a mobile unit that does 50w. Assuming all other factors are the same


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Simply because all factors are not the same. While with LOS a 5w signal can travel many many miles, usually repeaters are on mountain tops/tall towers/tall buildings, with the mobile needs more juice to be heard simply due to un matched antennas. A 50w repeater, going into a 6db gain antenna has an ERP of 150w(not factoring duplexer or feed line losses) is much different from a 50w mobile into a 1/4wave or even a 5/8wave antenna(at best 100w ERP) I work a repeater that puts 12.5w into 350' of 7/8" hard line, and has an ERP of about 50w it gets out much farther than a 5 watt radio can transmit, needing more power to get back to it.

I have a TM-V 71a, I normally only have my power set to 10w, and only ever go to 50w when I get noisy. Even then I do not get more than another 10-15miles use out of the repeater before I can not be heard any more. Raw power is over rated when it comes to VHF/UHF your antenna system is where the most significant gains can be made.


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[JCNHB]

Thank you for your explanation. Helps my understanding a lot. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Basically how many more miles of range roughly you get from 50w vs 10w.

Is there a more significant difference between 5w and 10w?

Or is 5w really the most efficient use of wattage for the range that it gives?


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[KD8DVR]

Well, I had a QSO with an HT from Ohio to Montana.... Oh... yeah.. Had a Satellite in between us. 5 Watts. Yep.. works fine

 

[kayn1n32008]

Thank you for your explanation. Helps my understanding a lot. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Basically how many more miles of range roughly you get from 50w vs 10w.

Is there a more significant difference between 5w and 10w?

Or is 5w really the most efficient use of wattage for the range that it gives?


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Will 50w travel farther than 10w? Yes. Will it be significant? Depends.

Is there a more significant difference between 5w and 10w? No. It is only 3db. The average user will never notice a difference.


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