Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronan
What kind of range do i need to get?
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Range is deceptive. There is a relationship between range and power output, but, terrain is king. For FRS and GMRS freqs which don't bounce (like AM) you need line of sight. If you have line of sight you can make a standard GMRS radio go 10km easily (2 watts presumed), but if you have terrain blocking you your SOL. Further to that if you have flat terrain but significant foliage then having more wattage (ie: more power, like the ham sets at 5 or 6watts) you can use the power to help 'punch' through the foliage but your range will be reduced.
In all cases line of sight is king, which is why if you're playing a game where you're on a team and doing comms, you always put your battle HQ and comms on the highest point in the field so that your comms officer has as much unfettered line of sight to all team members. I would always take a 1 watt radio with a line of sight position over a 6 watt radio with no line of sight. You can't really buy anything that will give you line of sight except perhaps a whip antenna, but then you're talking lower freqs that your not licensed to transmit on and can truely get into trouble for because it goes further, bounces, is easy to trace and will interfere with a lot of standard equipment (ie: people will notice you).
GMRS and FRS bubble pack radios wattage is set by the FCC and the CRTC, so pretty much all bubble pack radios have the same output power.