Questions about a Retevis 10 watt repeater...and a 25 watt repeater

[WSLH454]

Looking at one of the Retevis 10 watt repeaters and saw the actual output is roughly 5 watts. Well if my HT is already 5 watts and used either one to transmit from my house, what do I gain here? 5 watts is 5 watts last time I checked. If the repeater was 1 mile or 1 1/2 miles up the road on a pole, I might see the point of having it. Maybe if you have a large farm etc... it would be useful. Or am I missing something here? Seems like if someone got a repeater, get the 25 watt version and you get about 22 watts out of it. Then even if its at your small property you'd gain something. Maybe I need to buy 5 acres lol. The 10 watt seemed like a possible waste of $$$ Thanks

Edited yesterday at 12:49 PM by WSLH454
added text

[LeoG]

Well in general repeaters are put in places of advantage.  High hills, tall masts, higher gain antennas.  With UHF power isn't really everything, height is. 

If you are going to use a unity gain antenna 10' off the ground with the repeater then it will act more or less like another HT.  But if you can put it on a 50 foot hill with a 20' mast and a 7dBi gain antenna then it will perform much better than the HT ever could.  More power to punch through some kinds of obstacles such as a line of trees, some buildings is always helpful if they are there.  But if you have a mountain in the way no amount of power is going to help you.

[WRTC928]

It's about the location. A 5 watt HT is by definition at ground level, whereas a repeater antenna can be in a much more advantageous location. Additionally, a fixed-location radio can have a much more effective antenna than a handheld. People will typically put the repeater on the highest point of the property they want to cover and then use as long a mast as possible to get the antenna up high. That definitely provides an advantage over just using HTs on simplex. In theory, 25 watts might provide some advantage, but it depends upon your use case. If you only need a modest range and have a high point to place it on, a 5 watt repeater may work just fine. 

[WSLH454]

1 hour ago, WRTC928 said:

It's about the location. A 5 watt HT is by definition at ground level, whereas a repeater antenna can be in a much more advantageous location. Additionally, a fixed-location radio can have a much more effective antenna than a handheld. People will typically put the repeater on the highest point of the property they want to cover and then use as long a mast as possible to get the antenna up high. That definitely provides an advantage over just using HTs on simplex. In theory, 25 watts might provide some advantage, but it depends upon your use case. If you only need a modest range and have a high point to place it on, a 5 watt repeater may work just fine. 

I'm thinking 25 watt might help here, but 5 watts not so much. We're on a hill but the only true line of sight is to our south and southwest. The rest is a pretty thick line of trees

[WSIF574]

4 hours ago, WSLH454 said:

Looking at one of the Retevis 10 watt repeaters and saw the actual output is roughly 5 watts. Well if my HT is already 5 watts and used either one to transmit from my house, what do I gain here? 5 watts is 5 watts last time I checked. If the repeater was 1 mile or 1 1/2 miles up the road on a pole, I might see the point of having it. Maybe if you have a large farm etc... it would be useful. Or am I missing something here? Seems like if someone got a repeater, get the 25 watt version and you get about 22 watts out of it. Then even if it’s at your small property you'd gain something. Maybe I need to buy 5 acres lol. The 10 watt seemed like a possible waste of $$$ Thanks

I think a better question to ask yourself is the use case of the repeater?  My reason for the choice of getting a repeater was to be able to contact family when I get away from the house into town about 5 miles up the road. My kid could be anywhere in the neighborhood and my wife is not in the garage where the base station was.  Each could have a hand held and TX/RX out to me from anywhere in the house and neighborhood. Homes in my area are difficult to get through so it gives anyone the height of the repeater antenna. I did go with the 25 watt as any help is good.  Money was not the deciding factor in my decision. If the HT is reaching where you need it to and the location of the HT is not an issues why get the repeater at all. Just get a good antenna for the roof/attic or pole ?

[tcp2525]

4 hours ago, WSLH454 said:

Looking at one of the Retevis 10 watt repeaters and saw the actual output is roughly 5 watts. Well if my HT is already 5 watts and used either one to transmit from my house, what do I gain here? 5 watts is 5 watts last time I checked. If the repeater was 1 mile or 1 1/2 miles up the road on a pole, I might see the point of having it. Maybe if you have a large farm etc... it would be useful. Or am I missing something here? Seems like if someone got a repeater, get the 25 watt version and you get about 22 watts out of it. Then even if its at your small property you'd gain something. Maybe I need to buy 5 acres lol. The 10 watt seemed like a possible waste of $$$ Thanks

The biggest misconception is everyone focuses on output power and forget the biggest portion in the equation, it's your recieve. If you can't hear it's game over. When one wants to deploy a repeater they need to focus more on squeezing every fraction of dB out of their feedline and antenna. Also a properly tuned duplexer is key. And as others have said, altitude and and location then should be considered. 

[WRTC928]

2 hours ago, WSLH454 said:

I'm thinking 25 watt might help here, but 5 watts not so much. We're on a hill but the only true line of sight is to our south and southwest. The rest is a pretty thick line of trees

That may be correct. Terrain and vegetation are always factors. I don't know your property. I doubt you'd regret buying the 25 watt repeater if it's within your budget.

[WRYZ926]

Pine and cedar trees are the worse when it comes to blocking UHF.

There are plenty of places where either pine or red cedar trees are growing next to the road here. I have no problem using the 2m repeater in those spots but I can forget about using the 70cm or GMRS repeaters as they are dead zones.

[WRZK526]

I always say get the best you can afford because you may want to use it in a different place some day. As for watts I agree with what most people say that it is a small factor compared to location. I have a handheld repeater capable that I can hit a repeater 50 miles away with. That is when I stand in certain places but if I move just a couple of feet I lose it. This is handheld dedicated GMRS that probably puts out less than 5 watts. 

[WSLH454]

On 2/13/2026 at 11:15 AM, WSIF574 said:

I think a better question to ask yourself is the use case of the repeater?  My reason for the choice of getting a repeater was to be able to contact family when I get away from the house into town about 5 miles up the road. My kid could be anywhere in the neighborhood and my wife is not in the garage where the base station was.  Each could have a hand held and TX/RX out to me from anywhere in the house and neighborhood. Homes in my area are difficult to get through so it gives anyone the height of the repeater antenna. I did go with the 25 watt as any help is good.  Money was not the deciding factor in my decision. If the HT is reaching where you need it to and the location of the HT is not an issues why get the repeater at all. Just get a good antenna for the roof/attic or pole ?

My situation is similar to yours. Wanting to get a hold of friends and family nearby within a reasonable distance. Closest repeater is barely within reach. Have you checked the overall range of yours? I'm still weighing all my options here

[beerftw]

On 2/13/2026 at 5:54 AM, WSLH454 said:

Looking at one of the Retevis 10 watt repeaters and saw the actual output is roughly 5 watts. Well if my HT is already 5 watts and used either one to transmit from my house, what do I gain here? 5 watts is 5 watts last time I checked. If the repeater was 1 mile or 1 1/2 miles up the road on a pole, I might see the point of having it. Maybe if you have a large farm etc... it would be useful. Or am I missing something here? Seems like if someone got a repeater, get the 25 watt version and you get about 22 watts out of it. Then even if its at your small property you'd gain something. Maybe I need to buy 5 acres lol. The 10 watt seemed like a possible waste of $$$ Thanks

With uhf which gmrs uses, output watts mean little except for pushing through weaker signals and pushing past obstacles, and uhf is fairly limited in it's ability to push through obstacles.

 

  With clear line of sight in a good position 5 watts will get just as much range as a 25 watt, if you were in a heavily wooded area 25 might get more range but would still not be that major an advantage except to push through local obstacles. 

 

  This is simply why anyone who plays with gmrs says height is might, power is good but only in certain situations. Learn the best spots to put a repeater, and ensure line of sight. To determine power output you need to determine what if any obstacles would be present and whether or not extra power would help.