GMRS: "not impressed" or "we musta been doing something wrong"

[M Rose]

I've gotten 2-3 miles in open country using GMRS handhelds in vehicles on a road trip. I don't use the bubble pack radios though. Instead I get commercial Part 90 type radios, program them for GMRS, and use GMRS specific antennas. By contrast, I usually get about a dozen miles on 2m simplex (vhf ham band) in open country using my mobile radio and externally mounted antenna. GMRS would do the same +/- a few miles depending on terrain and vegetation. 2 meters will theoretically work better in thick vegetation as the wavelength of GMRS is close to the size of leaves and such and gets absorbed faster.

Radio is not good at penetrating ground or rock and it sounds like you were driving through terrain that obscured line of sight. As other have mentioned, neither CB nor GMRS will perform well in those circumstances as they are both LOS dependent. Very low frequencies in the HF band (such as the 80m ham band) have several miles of useful ground wave propagation (like an AM radio station). When you see rigs in the Australian Outback or Africa with the fat antennas mounted on the brushguards that is what they are using. Sadly, those setups run into the thousands but they also work for hundreds or thousands of miles on skywave.

How many watts are you running on 2m. I get about 90 miles on simplex 2m with a huge mountain between me and my friend W7OIL on 75 watts.

 

[OkieMountaineer]

I'm looking at buying a good quality hand held GMRS with a decent range, can you recommend any particular model?

if you are looking for purely a handheld these look pretty sweet. External mag antenna and a pigtail to take the stress off the antenna jack and you could have a decent system. I started in GMRS and it got me into the HAM world. Daughter is still young so GMRS works for her well out in the wild.
Gmrs Review

 

[Old Tanker]

I'm looking at buying a good quality hand held GMRS with a decent range, can you recommend any particular model?

The Wouxun KG905 is a solid model. For range, you can swap to a longer antenna - not sure a 15 inch antenna is that workable inside a vehicle though.

Wouxun KG-905G GMRS Two Way Radio

Features. Performance. Power. The Wouxun KG-905G takes the best for the GMRS and puts it right in the palm of your hand! Designed with the serious prosumer in mind, the KG-905G lets you take advantage of all that the GMRS has to offer and more.

www.buytwowayradios.com

Authentic Nagoya NA-771G Handheld GMRS Antenna (15.3 Inch)

The authentic Nagoya NA-771G is a GMRS antenna and is specifically tuned for 462MHz frequencies on the GMRS. The NA-771G works with GMRS two way way radios, including the Wouxun KG-805G.

www.buytwowayradios.com

 

[Wandering_Wolverine]

How many watts are you running on 2m. I get about 90 miles on simplex 2m with a huge mountain between me and my friend W7OIL on 75 watts.

I typically get about a 12-14 miles on 2m simplex from my mobile in the flat conditions of my AO. You can get much further from mountain to mountain. My mobile runs 50 watts.

Gary

 

[M Rose]

I typically get about a 12-14 miles on 2m simplex from my mobile in the flat conditions of my AO. You can get much further from mountain to mountain. My mobile runs 50 watts.

Gary

You need a better antenna with more gain. My Baeofeng can do 18 miles all day long every day on the flats.

 

[M Rose]

HamRadio 2.0 is doing a review on best GMRS Hand Helds 1/10/2022 at 3:25 PAcific.