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What Antenna is best for 100w UHF (PMR446) - House is located between small hilly area full of tall trees.

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tmknzozo

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Hi everyone.
I have bought a 75W QYT KT-980Plus and I am only interested in using PMR446 Frequencies RX & TX and looking for the best antenna to give me the longest range to be able to connect to a town 5 miles away. I plan on installing it on the roof but there is lots of small hills and tall trees around.
I don't mind building one or even buying one.
Thank you
 
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chief21

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Aren't there significant wattage limitations for PMR446? If I recall correctly, PMR rules limit radios to an ERP of 0.5 watts. Depending on the gain of the particular antenna, a 75-watt station in conjunction with a Yagi antenna could have an ERP approaching 1000 watts... a level very likely to affect users on nearby channels (and possibly attract the attention of the authorities, as well).
 

jwt873

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You don't have your location listed in your profile.. If you are in North America, there is no PMR446. The 446 Mhz channels use frequecies that are allotted to the amateur radio service. As such a ham license is required to use those frequencies.

For unlicensed UHF in North America, you'd need to go with the Family Radio Service (FRS). There is also a General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) that allows for higher power, but you need a license for the radio.

Since 446 Mhz is a popular amateur frequency, there are quite a few vertical and Yagi antennas on the market for those channels. If you are outside of North America, one antenna that comes to mind is the Comet CA-F72GF UHF antenna.

Unless there is a big hill in between you and the town, you should have no trouble talking 5 miles. A few trees won't make that much difference.
 
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WB9YBM

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75W and 5 miles sounds like shooting fish in a barrel--could almost cover that distance at that power with a dummy load :). From experimenting I've done here, a very rough rule-of-thumb approximation indicates about 1 mile covered from each watt of power (144-460 MHz--like I said, rough estimate i.e. not calculated down to the nearest quarter inch and milli-watt of power).
 

w2xq

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Sitting in a tree-laden hole surrounded by hills, you should probably think about a tower with decent low-loss feedline. Just saying...
 

jaspence

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1 watt per mile with a lack of trees, building, hills , or mountains or from mountain top to mountain top maybe, but from HT to HT is not dependable. From a HT to a repeater with good antenna height it is reasonable.
 

alcahuete

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I haven't been to Europe since 2018...rules might have changed (I don't think they have), but PMR was limited to 500 mW ERP, no external antennas, and all equipment had to be Type Accepted. You would be violating all 3 of those rules using that radio and an external antenna.

The frequencies are all around 446 MHz, so any 70cm ham antenna, or commercial antenna that covers that one MHz of bandwidth should be fine. 5 miles is not that difficult to achieve.
 

WB9YBM

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Sitting in a tree-laden hole surrounded by hills, you should probably think about a tower with decent low-loss feedline. Just saying...

Trees still aren't as bad as buildings (with metal infrastructure) or vehicles (like trucks)...
 

w2xq

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Trees still aren't as bad as buildings (with metal infrastructure) or vehicles (like trucks)...
FWIW trees can be bad for me. I am surrounded by 60-100 ft pitch pines. Their needles are about a 70cm wavelength and really absorb and limit coverage. And my ~45 holly trees don't shed leaves in a manner like the maples and maples. :rolleyes:
 

WB9YBM

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FWIW trees can be bad for me. I am surrounded by 60-100 ft pitch pines. Their needles are about a 70cm wavelength and really absorb and limit coverage. And my ~45 holly trees don't shed leaves in a manner like the maples and maples. :rolleyes:

Yeah, but shrubbery is considered "radio opaque" especially when wet, not "radio blocking" like actual metal.
 

w2xq

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Yeah, but shrubbery is considered "radio opaque" especially when wet, not "radio blocking" like actual metal.
Shrubbery isn't my problem, but whatever. Drifting off topic here. The OP apparently is in a tree-laden hole surrounded by hills. The choice of antennas I'll leave to others, but I'll stick with my thoughts about a tower and low-loss feedline. Carry on...
 

WB9YBM

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Shrubbery isn't my problem, but whatever. Drifting off topic here. The OP apparently is in a tree-laden hole surrounded by hills. The choice of antennas I'll leave to others, but I'll stick with my thoughts about a tower and low-loss feedline. Carry on...

In this case shrubbery included trees.
 

paulears

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If everyone is in a town 5 miles away, then I'd be sticking up a beam - some nice UHF ones that are pretty tuneable - with gamma matches and you should be able to use the polar pattern to get pretty good coverage at that kind of distance - and get between 5 and 10dBd practical gain. Of course, this in the UK would be an official non-starter, but you have the radio, and the potential to do what you want, if you don't mind the implications. even better, these antennas are, to the unknowledgeable, TV antennas. Nobody will even notice them, even though they're vertical , not horizontal.
 

bill4long

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I have bought a 75W QYT KT-980Plus and I am only interested in using PMR446 Frequencies RX & TX and looking for the best antenna to give me the longest range to be able to connect to a town 5 miles away. I plan on installing it on the roof but there is lots of small hills and tall trees around.I don't mind building one or even buying one.Thank you

What you're attempting to do is illegal in Europe, Canada, Austalia, and just about everywhere else, and also the United States (unless you have a ham license.) If you are in the USA, then go the GMRS route, which allows high power and external antennas. Otherwise, hams will notice you on their frequencies and report you to the FCC. If you live in Europe or somewhere else, I have nothing else to say and couldn't care less. :sneaky:
 

paulears

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He said PMR446 frequencies, so that is UK and Europe. He's aware he can't do this, but is determined. To be fair - it's actually more pointless than he thinks because most users of PMR446 have trouble doing 200 metres, so there's not really anybody to talk to. With his power, they'll probably hear him, but it won't be reciprocal and just unreliable. He must have a reason to want to use this band, but I just cannot think of anything you could do with it, apart from talking to other people running silly power - and if your ethics allow you to do it, then you could get more privacy by being illegal somewhere less public? Just go up 200KHz and hear the silence.
 
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