Distance in the real world

[WRHS218]

My son-in-law just got a GMRS license assigned today. He ordered a KG-905G which is what I have. I live at around 3300 foot elevation and he lives around 2600 feet elevation 3.72 miles away. There is a ridge between us that tops at around 3220 ft. Where the ridge is, it puts about 80 feet of land/rock/trees in the way of being direct line of sight. We are able to talk to each other on high power (5w) at full quieting. He has a FRS/GMRS bubble pack radio that I think is 2w and I could hear him with static while he could hear the 5w with no static. He was outside while I was on my couch. A certain YouTube hobo has shown the couch makes the difference. When my son-in-law went inside there was a little static but we were both easily understandable. I am thinking he doesn't have a GMRS couch. There is a place in the high country at around 7500 feet elevation that is a little over 12 miles from my house and is clearly visible with no obstructions. Next time I am up there I will give it a test, although I am sure 5w will cover that easily.

Sean

[pcradio]

I hit a repeater about 34 miles away using a 5w handheld. The range is great if nothing is in the way.

[WRHS218]

I can hit repeaters from way out too, although there aren't any close to me. I was just pleasantly surprised that I could make the 3.7+ miles simplex contact with a hunk of mountain in the way. Simplex in the mountains can be a bit more troublesome especially when driving.

[WRFP399]

That high ground you're looking at will give you great coverage. Basically if you can see it, you can hit it with your radio. I have an RT97 on a mountainside here in Alaska. Its putting out around 5 watts. It's about 2000 AGL and so far I have talked into it from 31 miles away with no issues, but that was with good line of site. I also just was using it at 17.5 miles with no line of sight when hiking last month. Heavy obstructions, 5 watts from my Vertex VX-231. 

Height really is king. 

[EARL5555]

On 9/1/2021 at 8:47 PM, pcradio said:

I hit a repeater about 34 miles away using a 5w handheld. The range is great if nothing is in the way.

How is it possible to hit a repeater 34 miles away with 5 watts? Is it that the repeater has "more sensitive hearing" than another handheld would have at that distance? Sorry if that is a dumb question - I am new to this stuff. Thank you. 

[OffRoaderX]

6 minutes ago, EARL5555 said:

How is it possible to hit a repeater 34 miles away with 5 watts? Is it that the repeater has "more sensitive hearing" than another handheld would have at that distance? Sorry if that is a dumb question - I am new to this stuff. Thank you. 

It is very easy to hit a repeater 34 miles away with only 5W as long as there is nothing between you and it.. I hit a repeater from my couch that is 69 miles away with  any one of my low-cost 5W handhelds..   
 

And yes, most repeaters have large, well-tuned antennas, so that does help.

[wayoverthere]

9 minutes ago, EARL5555 said:

How is it possible to hit a repeater 34 miles away with 5 watts? Is it that the repeater has "more sensitive hearing" than another handheld would have at that distance? Sorry if that is a dumb question - I am new to this stuff. Thank you. 

It's a combination of factors; better antenna is one of them, "more sensitive hearing", as you put it.  the second big one is height, "height is might", as the saying goes.  many repeaters are sited high above the surrounding terrain; in the flatter parts of the midwest, some of them may be a thousand or so feet up a commercial tower, while in the hillier parts of the country, they may be on top of a mountain.  with the right antenna, even talking to satellites on 5 watts becomes possible, and it's sometimes doable on less that perfect.  California has a huge number of repeaters down both sides of the valley on top of the mountain ranges; i know of half a dozen, both gmrs and 70cm that i can hit from my patio on a 5 watt handheld, and most of my mobile work was done with handhelds and a mag mount antenna, which only helped both sending and receiving.

on the other hand, handheld to handheld on flat ground, you're looking at something around 6 miles before just the basic curvature of the earth becomes an obstacle.  now if you and a friend were on top of hills, with line of sight between you? 30 miles between handhelds isn't impossible, and there'd likely be a lot of false advertising lawsuits on some of the radio manufacturers (one in particular) if it wasn't at least possible for their "up to 30 mile range!" in ideal conditions