Mobile Radio

[WSCU736]

Whats a decent mobile to use for a base station. I know a lot has to do with preference etc. But what is better 40 watts or 50 watts? What wattage gives me the best chance of reaching repeaters 40-50 miles away? I have a  CA-712EFC about 15 feet off the ground.

[linx]

The 10w is not going to make much of a difference, antenna and height matter more. People talk on my repeater over 100mi away on 40w, because they have a good line of sight to my repeater. I can talk on the repeater with a 5w HT from at least 30mi just from what I have tested.

[WRYZ926]

You won't notice much difference at all between 40 or 50 watts. AS far as reaching a repeater 40-50 miles away, that will definitely depend on your location, local terrain, structures, and foliage. If your antenna and the repeater are both on tall hills with nothing in-between them or you are in the wide open desert then 40-50 miles will be no problem. If you live in a hilly/mountinous area or heavily forested area then you would be lucky to get 35 miles.

[Socalgmrs]

20,40,50 not going to matter much. The antenna coax and line of sight is much more important.  From my place my 20w with a 712 does 200miles.  So line of sight is key. 

[AdmiralCochrane]

Line of sight also trumps coax type. Even if you lost 90% of power, if you still have actual line of sight, you should make contact.

[WSCU736]

Well my goal is to reach repeaters that I hear clear as day on my HT.

[nokones]

I believe a 10 watt difference in power is less than a decibel. That is miniscule and not even measureable in the Farz. If you can't reach the repeater with 40 watts more than likely you will not even reach it with 50 watts.

[Socalgmrs]

25 minutes ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

Line of sight also trumps coax type. Even if you lost 90% of power, if you still have actual line of sight, you should make contact.

Only to an extent.  If you have 100’ of a cheap junker coax and you’re loosing 90% of your power and you don’t have a good antenna then no you’re done for.    
 

line of sight antenna and coax and a 20w radio will do more then 200miles.  
It’s all about line of sight and radiated power from your antenna.  
 

I seam to get more fars then most people using gmrs  because of my location I’m called a lier at least once a day.   however if I hook up a 50w radio to crappy coax and a crappy 3db J pole antenna I won’t get 10miles.   However if a hook a 5w hand held to 20’ of Lmr400 and a 12db antenna the radiated power climbs  to 70watts.  Much higher then the 50w radio loosing most of its power in the cheap line and low gain antenna. 

[Socalgmrs]

2 minutes ago, nokones said:

I believe a 10 watt difference in power is less than a decibel. That is miniscule and not even measureable in the Farz. If you can't reach the repeater with 40 watts more than likely you will not even reach it with 50 watts.

This if all other things are equal.  

[WSCU736]

11 minutes ago, WRXP381 said:

Only to an extent.  If you have 100’ of a cheap junker coax and you’re loosing 90% of your power and you don’t have a good antenna then no you’re done for.    
 

line of sight antenna and coax and a 20w radio will do more then 200miles.  
It’s all about line of sight and radiated power from your antenna.  
 

I seam to get more fars then most people using gmrs  because of my location I’m called a lier at least once a day.   however if I hook up a 50w radio to crappy coax and a crappy 3db J pole antenna I won’t get 10miles.   However if a hook a 5w hand held to 20’ of Lmr400 and a 12db antenna the radiated power climbs  to 70watts.  Much higher then the 50w radio loosing most of its power in the cheap line and low gain antenna. 

I have about 40' of 400 coax..

[WRYZ926]

4 minutes ago, WSCU736 said:

I have about 40' of 400 coax..

You will be good to go with 40 or 50 watts with LMR400 and the Comet CA-712EFC as long as you have a clear line of sight to the repeaters you are trying to reach.

The following information is from: https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/

LMR400 has a loss 2.869 dB per 100 foot of length.

The CA-712EFC is rated at 9 dBi or 6.85 dBd - calculate uses dBd

For a 50 watt radio and 40 ft of LMR400 you will have an EPR (effective radiating power) of 172 watts

For a 40 watt radio and 40 ft of LMR400 will will have an ERP of 137.6 watts

That is not enough difference between the two to tell the difference in farz or to hear the difference in signal strength. 

[WSCU736]

15 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

You will be good to go with 40 or 50 watts with LMR400 and the Comet CA-712EFC as long as you have a clear line of sight to the repeaters you are trying to reach.

The following information is from: https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/

LMR400 has a loss 2.869 dB per 100 foot of length.

The CA-712EFC is rated at 9 dBi or 6.85 dBd - calculate uses dBd

For a 50 watt radio and 40 ft of LMR400 you will have an EPR (effective radiating power) of 172 watts

For a 40 watt radio and 40 ft of LMR400 will will have an ERP of 137.6 watts

That is not enough difference between the two to tell the difference in farz or to hear the difference in signal strength. 

Thank you very much. Any advice on a 50 watt mobile radios?

[WRYZ926]

One of the most popular (and most expensive) is the Wouxun KG-1000G Plus. The Midland MX500 and MX575 will cost about the same but do not have all the bells and whistles and are sometimes known to be under powered.

I have two KG-1000G radios and like them a lot. One is my base station and the other is in my vehicle.

[WSCU736]

3 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

One of the most popular (and most expensive) is the Wouxun KG-1000G Plus. The Midland MX500 and MX575 will cost about the same but do not have all the bells and whistles and are sometimes known to be under powered.

I have two KG-1000G radios and like them a lot. One is my base station and the other is in my vehicle.

Those are a little out of my price range.

[AdmiralCochrane]

1 hour ago, WRXP381 said:

This if all other things are equal.  

Goes with my comment as well, but you changed other factors for your argument alone.

[WRYS709]

2 hours ago, WSCU736 said:

Well my goal is to reach repeaters that I hear clear as day on my HT.

I have found my Radioddity DB20-G in my home with my 2nd story rooftop antenna gets amazing range simplex and on repeaters that are just too far for me to hit with an HT.

It is a mini-mobile, 20 watts (18 UHF), 500 channels, cigarette lighter plug into my AC to 12v power supply, many controls on the handheld mic and for the Hams in the audience, easily opens to 2 meters/440 MHz.

It is also sold as the Anytone AT-779UV

$99-$109; and I put a 2nd one in my car!