3 ms·
A 5 watt handheld is only good for a few miles in normal terrain. I think mine caps around 4-5 miles around town (suburb with absolutely no buildings over 3 sto
by sliverstorm 13y ago
A 5 watt handheld is only good for a few miles in normal terrain. I think mine caps around 4-5 miles around town (suburb with absolutely no buildings over 3 stories), although that's with a factory ducky antenna
- mikestew 13y agoHuh, I wasn't aware that there was anyone that didn't order a gain antenna at the same time they ordered the radio. :-) I regularly hit a repeater 12 miles away. A bit fuzzy, but it works. But I'm using a gain antenna that's a bit longer than stock, you know, for street cred (street cred being very important amongst ham radio operators). Hook it up to the mag mount antenna in the car, and it expands to 20 or 30 miles (dunno exactly, haven't hit the limit yet). In an attempt to keep this on the topic at hand, anecdotal evidence would suggest (and solid empirical evidence confirms) that the antenna is important as well as power output. Combine wimpy power output with an antenna that has to fit in a 4" phone, and without cell towers or WiFi APs you might as well just shout to the person you're trying to contact.
- sliverstorm 13y agoWhat can I say, I'm a ham with zero street cred. Well, that's not true. I just don't invest much in ham equipment; I devote my radio funds to my emergency services band equipment instead.