Which Freqs work best in built up areas

[NorthernRaider]

TH think of the UV5s as short range at crowded street level perhaps a few hundred yards, to perhaps a few miles on a good day line of sight, You see the sort of radio used by building site workers on new estates, quarrymen, security guards in HUGE malls, anti shop lifting patrols in central London. Its very difficult to quantify but the more tall steel and concrete around you the shorter the range. I can easily get 4 miles in the rural area with UV5s on PMR 446 frequencies (no licence needed) but only a few hundred yard in the middle of Durham city centre. BUT using the SAME radios on HAM frequencies ( licenced) technically if repeaters are available in the area you can send / receive over great distances. According to the Comms gurus if you put a much better antenna onto a UV5 instead of its rubber duck thingy you can reach miles rather than meters for the same power outputs. oh and UV5s are only bout £35 each but CB hand sets are about £80 and physically much bulkier.