"Jeff" wrote in
news:a5mdnWJc9fAnblLZnZ2dnUVZ_uWdnZ2d@velocitywest .net:

I will be buying a Midland Two way radio (18 mile version)

You will never, ever get 18 miles. The claims by Midland are very
deceptive.

They lie and say they are 5 watt radios, when in fact their power output is
only slightly over a watt. They lie and say they have full legal power,
when in fact power limits for GMRS far exceed 5 watts.

Go here.... read up the whole site, explore links and get the real story:

http://www.geocities.com/gmrspage/

On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:53:41 GMT, John
wrote:

"Jeff" wrote in
news:a5mdnWJc9fAnblLZnZ2dnUVZ_uWdnZ2d@velocitywes t.net:

I will be buying a Midland Two way radio (18 mile version)

You will never, ever get 18 miles. The claims by Midland are very
deceptive.

They lie and say they are 5 watt radios, when in fact their power output is
only slightly over a watt. They lie and say they have full legal power,
when in fact power limits for GMRS far exceed 5 watts.

Go here.... read up the whole site, explore links and get the real story:

http://www.geocities.com/gmrspage/

Never, ever is pretty strong. It would take only a few milliwatts
between two mountain tops 18 miles apart. I agree that from a
practical standpoint, that is completely unrealistic, even for a full
5-watt transceiver. I have two excellent GMRS 5-watt HT's, and I'm
lucky to get even one mile in typical terrain. Now, if I had a really
good antenna, that would be a different story.

Dick - W6CCD

Dick wrote in
:

On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:53:41 GMT, John
wrote:

You will never, ever get 18 miles. The claims by Midland are very
deceptive.


Never, ever is pretty strong. It would take only a few milliwatts
between two mountain tops 18 miles apart. I agree that from a
practical standpoint, that is completely unrealistic, even for a full
5-watt transceiver. I have two excellent GMRS 5-watt HT's, and I'm
lucky to get even one mile in typical terrain. Now, if I had a really
good antenna, that would be a different story.


I stand corrected. I did of course know that. I didn't want to go into
the "you have to be in outer space" type deal.

In article , wrote:
Dick wrote in
:

On Wed, 02 Aug 2006 14:53:41 GMT, John
wrote:

You will never, ever get 18 miles. The claims by Midland are very
deceptive.


Never, ever is pretty strong. It would take only a few milliwatts
between two mountain tops 18 miles apart. I agree that from a
practical standpoint, that is completely unrealistic, even for a full
5-watt transceiver. I have two excellent GMRS 5-watt HT's, and I'm
lucky to get even one mile in typical terrain. Now, if I had a really
good antenna, that would be a different story.


I stand corrected. I did of course know that. I didn't want to go into
the "you have to be in outer space" type deal.

I did not find the power level. Generally the .5 watt FRS are
advertised as 2 mile. 2 watt would be 4 miles. 4 watt would be 8 miles,
and 8 watt would be 16 miles. This just equates to signal level.
I bought a set of the lower budget units without the volume knob.
I was sorry. One feature I do not like, when it scans, it only locks onto the
channel for so long, then it continues to scan. There is no option in my unit to change this.
I have gotten 4-8 miles on my FRS, not much of a problem line of sight.
They go over a hundred miles under optimum conditions.
It would be better if the GMRS and FRS units came with longer antennas,
of course the FRS transmit power would have to be decreased in that case.

I used to measure field strengths of my old FRS radios. A lot
of variation seen.

greg

You probably wouldn't get that far anyway. In order to remain within
the law, most GMRS/FRS radios can't use external antennas in
order to make the 500 mW erp rule. So, if you reduced power to FRS levels
and use the built in, not removable antenna on the FRS channels. it is short
(really short) range.
Option 2 is to go and get your GMRS license. Then get a handheld
that puts out the FULL 5 watts AND has a removeable antenna. Read over the
rules as to power output (EIRP) allowed. Set up an external antenna with a
max height of I think 20 feet above an existing structure(again check rules
on this figure) Take into account antenna gain, cable loss and ACTUAL
transmitter output to figure ERP. This is considered to be a Small Base
Station according to the rules AND is fully legal to interopreate with FRS
radios. The higher external antenna is almost guaranteed to quintuple your
coverage area from base to FRS handheld.
2 base stations with directional antennas(again watching erp) would be
really reliable.

Chris
KC2BZH