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Some of us refer to it as: "desense!" Picky, Picky, Picky!

Increasing the transmit power of a UHF radio signal does not directly affect its ability to refract, diffract or scatter beyond the horizon. Though, it increases the PPM of photons that are refracted, diffracted or scattered, increasing the ability for receivers to pull the signal. Again, transmit power does not fundamentally change the propagation mechanics of UHF waves, but it can improve the reception of signals that are already being refracted, scattered, or diffracted.

i run a copper J-Pole (Home Brew) on my portable Maxon repeater (40W), in my RV mostly up in the Sierras near and around Crawley Lake and Mammoth. The last weekend of last Sept i talked with Terry on his base station in Tonapah while relaxing at my RV , about a 90 mile hop. When i switched to medium power he lost my contact. On high power he hears me loud and clear. So im gong to debunk those that say power does not mater. Yes it does!! And BTW,, the copper J-Pole is a nice antenna, they perform well.. KB9VBR gave me some tips on getting one to work aside from what the calculations tell you..

Unfortunately a lot of people spend their money on RF output power at the radio and then waste it by using lossy coax and cheap antennas.

I can give one example where 50 watts helped compared to 20 watts. Otherwise I have to agree with everyone that antenna height and quality coax makes more of a difference. My shack setup as far as the antenna goes is; Comet CA712-EFC with the base at 22 feet above the ground, 30 foot of LMR400 from antenna to the wall pass through and a 15 foot LMR400 jumper inside. There is a repeater that is 50-55 miles away. I can get into it with my Wouxun KG-XS20G but there is quite a bit of noise in my transmission. I get in to that repeater and am heard clearly with the extra 30 watts from my WOuxun KG-1000G. Going from 20 watts to 50 watts did not change how far I can talk but it did make it so that I am heard better at the longer distances. Now getting my antenna up another 10-20 feet and away from all the trees in my yard would make a big difference over actual output power of my radios. To answer the original question. YES you will see an improvement when going from a 5 watt radio to a 20 or 50 watt radio. You are quadrupling the power going from 5 watts to 20 watts. This is when everything else is equal such as connecting both radios to the same antenna and coax.

I brought this up in a ham meeting to a guy that is very anti-Baofeng. I said "you got to get one now!" He just stared at me in silence like I had two heads.

i have both versions of the J-Pole, both home brew and favor the Copper J-Pole over the Twin Wire J-Pole.. I use the copper j-pole for a portable repeater while camping. Getting the SWR's to perfection on the Copper J-Pole is a major PITA so i came up with a method for adjustability (see pics). Not shown in the attached picture, i had to grind down 1/2 inch on one side on each of the adjusters. The adjusters are made from a modified crimp on copper splice (Home Depot) and removing the internal rubber gaskets, cutting the splice in half then tapping for the set screws. It works great, i'm able to get 1:2 - 1:3 on my repeater channels (18)... The Copper J-Pole has talked roughly 90 miles, I've gotten about 60 with the Twin Lead version.. Both better than my home Base Laird FG-4607 and i can't figure out why on that one..

And they were purchased from a huge warehouse operation that doesn't specialize in the sales of quality two-way radio products.

This is true. We see people go cheap with Amazon chinesium coax or the wrong type of coax. Or they buy the cheapest (and lowest quality) antenna they can find on Amazon. No amount of power out of the radio will overcome lossy cable and/or a craptastic antenna. I had to say something to a guy that lives 300 yard down the street one time about this subject. He accidentally swapped his coax cable on his HF and VHF antennas. He had the RG58 hooked up to his VHF radio and wondered why it wasn't working like ti use to. So his answer was to hook up a 160 watt amplifier. All the amplifier did was cause me grief since we are so close to each other. I told hm that ne needed to swap the coax cables back around. But I have no idea if he did it or not. At least he isn't running the amplifier anymore.

Go For The 50 Watt Radio. Proved It Time & Time Again. "Height & Might Rules" - A 3db Gain Increase In Transmitter Output Power Is Substantial......

99 & 99/100% agree. Pretty sure there are more 50 watt models available than 25 or 30. Most people are buying 50's because that's what is mostly available above HT power, not because they didn't want a 30.

My favorite low-profile antenna has always been the Comet B-10 NMO. It is about 12" tall and performs very well on 2m and 70cm.

Did anyone else notice the Baofeng radios used in "Godzilla X Kong". Seems like a high tech operation would use something a bit Higher End than a $20 Baofeng radio for their operations.

Way back (Early 90's) I purchased this high power RadioShack GMRS radio that lead me to getting my GMRS license: And now i have a few H3's that sparked my interest in radio again, as well as the KGQ10: It's truly incredible how far we have come, yet still work off the same principles. Wish I could get the old RadioShack running again, I lost the charging cable but have an adjustable charger. But that battery simply won't charge enough to transmit or light the display for long as I am sure if I could it would work just as it did on day one.

Holy moly - it never crossed my mind that "username" for the repeater info is actually the call sign rather than my email address I use to log into the forums. I just tried my call sign instead of email address and it totally worked. I'm in! yay!

Other aspects to consider about antenna gain A higher gain antenna does not create more power than the radio produces on its own. Antenna gain increases or decreases signal directionality. Looking at antenna charts demonstrates the signal pattern of an antenna. Notice, the higher the gain the more directional its signal pattern becomes; think Yagi antennae. Consider your location of use, then chose the appropriate antenna. Using an example of an adjustable lens flashlight (torch) such as the Maglite: Remove the adjustable end exposing the bulb only, notice the produced light may fill a dark room; think low gain antenna. This why a lower gain antenna is much better in an urban area, in areas with much more obstructions, in forests, and the like. That is why many folks in locations with buildings, many obstructions, forest, and the like, when switching to low gain antennae have better TX and Rx signal reports as well. Now connect the adjustable section and its lens to the flashlight, adjust it. Notice it is now concentrating the light in a much more directional beam. Now the light does not fill a room with light; it performs better pointing into the room; think high gain antenna. The higher gain antenna performs better in less obstructed areas, such as open roads without obstructions, mostly flat landscape and the like. Thus, in considerably more open unobstructed locations switching to a higher gain antenna will increase its reach. Keep in mind, the radio is outputting the same power to the high gain antenna as it does to a lower gain antenna. The difference is the high gain antenna is creating a more directional signal. Yes, the above is an odd example, however I hope it makes sense.

They are obviously very fiscally responsible and realized that the Baofeng does everything they need at an excellent price-point and it would be foolish to spend more money for something with less capabilities..

That’s the receive frequency. You must transmit on 467.650 MHz.

From you location you probably wouldn’t get much more range, but your transmissions will sound clearer with less background noise.. You might be able to get into the forests better and the receivers in the mobile radio might be better. On the other hand, a better antenna is always better. Gain works in both directions. Having more gain means your transmitted signals and received signals are both amplified.