Getting 50 watts actually out of repeater

[WRYD530]

So 50 watts is the maximum allowed to transmit on GMRS.  If i setup a repeater with 2 radios  a duplexer and separate antennas for each radio and the best cable i may still lose about 10-20 watts correct? So is there a way to boost the 50 watt radios to actually get the 50 watts out of the transmission?

[OffRoaderX]

not really.. you have to push all the power before the duplexer, and cheaper/smaller duplexers eat a huge %% of the power. So you will either need to push more power into the duplexer (if it can handle it), or get a better duplexer that doesnt eat so many RF electricities.

HOWEVER - the difference between ~20 watts and 50 watts is probably not going to be noticeable.. I have tested my base setup at 40 watts vs 110 watts, and people at the outskirts of my range (around 60 miles) can't even hear a difference between 40 and 110W ..

[WRXP381]

I agree with randy. you’re not going to notice much change.  Heck I get 200miles from a 20w base station and a good antenna.   The key is the antenna and height and line of site  more then the wattage. 

[WRWE456]

Heck the furthest report I have heard with a hand held GMRS radio was 127 miles. That was hill top to a repeater at 7500 feet line of sight. KG-935G with a Nagoya NA-771G 15"whip. 5.5 watts.

[BoxCar]

10 hours ago, WRYD530 said:

So 50 watts is the maximum allowed to transmit on GMRS.  If i setup a repeater with 2 radios  a duplexer and separate antennas for each radio and the best cable i may still lose about 10-20 watts correct? So is there a way to boost the 50 watt radios to actually get the 50 watts out of the transmission?

You can't boost the output of the radio to overcome losses downstream from the radio. The FCC limited the radio's output to 50 watts so you have to eat the losses.

[Sshannon]

11 hours ago, WRYD530 said:

So 50 watts is the maximum allowed to transmit on GMRS.  If i setup a repeater with 2 radios  a duplexer and separate antennas for each radio and the best cable i may still lose about 10-20 watts correct? So is there a way to boost the 50 watt radios to actually get the 50 watts out of the transmission?

If you use a separate antenna for each radio you don’t need a duplexer. The reason for the duplexer is to allow you to simultaneously transmit and receive using a single antenna.
Using separate antennas can be done but requires enough separation between the antennas to achieve a level of RF isolation. That’s usually done by separating them vertically.  I’m not recommending that you do that, just explaining that it can be done. It is one way to overcome the losses incurred by using a duplexer.

But everything Randy (@offroaderx) said is correct.  Better quality duplexers result in less loss and chasing those last several watts makes very little difference. As someone else said in a similar thread recently, many repeater owners run their transmitter outputs at reduced output to ensure long life. 

[WRYZ926]

1 hour ago, Sshannon said:

But everything Randy (@offroaderx) said is correct.  Better quality duplexers result in less loss and chasing those last several watts makes very little difference. As someone else said in a similar thread recently, many repeater owners run their transmitter outputs at reduced output to ensure long life. 

That is how our club does it. We are using a Bridgecom repeater and running it at a lower power. We do the same with our 2m and 70cm repeaters. Running a busy repeater constantly at full power will shorten the life of the repeater. 

Another thing to look at is the duty cycle of the radios or repeaters. The higher the duty cycle is the better.