BTech 50V2 power output

[WRTG549]

I've had one of these radios since last Christmas. I've been using it with a 5-element homebrew Yagi antenna. I have no complaints about the performance of the radio so far. The current SWR is 1.10 and I'm using it with a 13.8V @ 30A power supply. I'm using RG-58 coax. (I know, it's not the right one, but it's what I have for now). I recently hooked up a SWR/power meter and was surprised that the power output of the radio is 20W, even when it's set to "High". If you understand that the problem is the cable, I'll probably keep using it like that since I'm happy with the range and contacts I've made so far. I'd appreciate if any other colleagues who have had the same situation with this radio could share their experience. Thanks in advance.

[WSAM454]

Many of the radios advertise an 'optimistic' power output, but 20 Watts does seem low.   Yes, the cable would attenuate the signal, so if you were measuring the power with the meter at the far end (antenna end) of the cable, then 20 Watts may actually be what is getting to the antenna, but if you are measuring the rig's power output with the meter right after the rig's antenna connector, especially with a 1.1 SWR, then that is less than half the advertised output, and I would question the seller, although it is now about 2 months old.

[OffRoaderX]

I have had 2 or 3 50V2 radios and none of them output more than 32W (iirc) .. When I called BTech about it I was told the low power reading was because I was measuring the power with the antenna connected instead of with a dummy load.. So I purchased a dummy load and the power output reading was the exact same... When I measure my KG1000G radio(s), they all read 48-51Watts..

This is one of the reasons the BTech's are inexpensive- because they lie.

 

[WSEZ864]

Many/most of the GMRS radio specs I've looked at say "xx watts max" or "up to xx watts", making it impossible to know exactly what they should deliver..

[WRYZ926]

I've never messed with a B-Tech mobile so can't comment. But I have had a Midland MXT500 and still have two Wouxun KG-1000G radios. The Midland would only put out a max of 38 watts on high while both KG-1000G's put out between 48 and 50 watts on high.

And yes if you read the fine print in any radio specs, most will say up to a certain watt. Most of the time you will only see the maximum when the radio is connected directly to a SWR meter, you are using good low loss coax and your antenna SWR is 1.0:1 or you are using a dummy load. 

Higher SWR and lossy coax will cut down on the power output.

[wayoverthere]

I have the prior version (GMRS 50x1) and after a year or two of use, mostly monitoring with minimal transmit time, it no longer holds power on high. It'll start at 44-45 watts, and start dropping almost immediately, leveling off at 25 or so after around a minute.

It's currently living on the shelf.

[WRTC928]

On 2/10/2025 at 5:17 PM, OffRoaderX said:

I have had 2 or 3 50V2 radios and none of them output more than 32W (iirc) .. When I called BTech about it I was told the low power reading was because I was measuring the power with the antenna connected instead of with a dummy load.. So I purchased a dummy load and the power output reading was the exact same... When I measure my KG1000G radio(s), they all read 48-51Watts..

This is one of the reasons the BTech's are inexpensive- because they lie.

 

It's interesting they said that. I've never seen a difference in power readings between an antenna and a dummy load. Sounds like they were just making stuff up. In my experience, Baofeng -- and by extension, BTech -- always overstates the power of their radios. I have a several-years-old f8hp (nominally 8 watts), a UV-5r "high power" (nominally 8 watts), and an AR-5RM (nominally 10 watts). They all produce about 6-7 watts on high power.  

[GrouserPad]

17 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

It's interesting they said that. I've never seen a difference in power readings between an antenna and a dummy load. Sounds like they were just making stuff up. In my experience, Baofeng -- and by extension, BTech -- always overstates the power of their radios. I have a several-years-old f8hp (nominally 8 watts), a UV-5r "high power" (nominally 8 watts), and an AR-5RM (nominally 10 watts). They all produce about 6-7 watts on high power.  

If your antennas are tuned well and the system is working right, then most of the time an antenna isn’t going to reflect much wattage and will have similar output to what a dummy load would. But if you’ve got a shoddy system with a sketchy antenna tune you could easily lose watts before they get turned into rf as they simply wouldn’t make it out of the antenna but would return to the transmitter in the form of heat. 

[GrouserPad]

45 minutes ago, Socalgmrs said:

It’s just a cheap radio but if your cable and antenna are of good quality and high DB gain you can do a few hundred miles on 20w. 

Hahaha yeh if you lived on a lake or the desert. You gmrs users who speak like this make all of us who live in the more wooded foothills scratch our heads. We are lucky to get 4 or 5 miles simplex on a good day. 

[WRTG549]

Thank you all for your responses. I agree with everything you have written. In short, I get what I pay for. Once again thank you for taking the time to respond in a friendly, professional and respectful manner. 73's.

 

[WSGU500]

I must be lucky since my BTECH GMRS-50V2 is showing over 50 watts simplex (channels 15 and 22) and over 45 watts on the repeater frequencies. SWR shows 1.18 on the simplex channels and 1.42 on the repeater channels. I have a YNIBST GMRS antenna with 50' LMR400 to a lightning arrester then another 10' RG58 to my radio. More importantly, I am reaching a repeater that is almost 25 miles away and have talked simplex ~20 miles away in 2 different (opposite) directions. All contacts report that I am coming in loud and clear. I am very happy with the performance of this radio. Hopefully time will prove that it's good for the long haul.

[WSHL459]

On 2/18/2025 at 6:19 PM, WSGU500 said:

I must be lucky since my BTECH GMRS-50V2 is showing over 50 watts simplex (channels 15 and 22) and over 45 watts on the repeater frequencies. SWR shows 1.18 on the simplex channels and 1.42 on the repeater channels. I have a YNIBST GMRS antenna with 50' LMR400 to a lightning arrester then another 10' RG58 to my radio. More importantly, I am reaching a repeater that is almost 25 miles away and have talked simplex ~20 miles away in 2 different (opposite) directions. All contacts report that I am coming in loud and clear. I am very happy with the performance of this radio. Hopefully time will prove that it's good for the long haul.

I'm in the same boat with a J-pole antenna, 50 feet of RG8X coaxial cable to a lightning arrester, and another 12 feet to the radio.

[SteveShannon]

25 minutes ago, WSHL459 said:

I'm in the same boat with a J-pole antenna, 50 feet of RG8X coaxial cable to a lightning arrester, and another 12 feet to the radio.

With 62 feet of RG8x on GMRS frequencies your apparent SWR should look really good. 

[WRYZ926]

On 9/15/2025 at 6:23 PM, WSHL459 said:

I'm in the same boat with a J-pole antenna, 50 feet of RG8X coaxial cable to a lightning arrester, and another 12 feet to the radio.

Get rid of the RG 8X. RG 8X has 86% loss per 100 foot on GMRS frequencies. SO if you are running a 50 watt radio on high power and actually getting 50 watts out at the radio, you are only getting an ERP (effective radiating power) of 18.6 watts out at the antenna. 

I did the calculations using the https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/ . As you can see, I used 462.600 MHz with an SWR of 1.4 and an antenna gain of 1 dBd. Even if you have a perfect 1:1 SWR at the antenna, you would still only get an ERP of 18.9 watts.