PMR446 50+Km range yesterday

[Lightspeed]

Yesterday I tried a little hill topping with teh PMR446.

Managed a 53 Km ( 30 mile) chat with a guy usine simple equipment on another hill.

A station almost 100Km also heard me, but I was not able to chat with him as I was drawing a little more attention than I was comfortable with.

I was using a stock Cobra MT800 by the way.

So distance can be achieved, but you have to climb quite high, as does your recipient.

LS

[Paul]

Yesterday I tried a little hill topping with teh PMR446.

Managed a 53 Km ( 30 mile) chat with a guy usine simple equipment on another hill.

A station almost 100Km also heard me, but I was not able to chat with him as I was drawing a little more attention than I was comfortable with.

I was using a stock Cobra MT800 by the way.

So distance can be achieved, but you have to climb quite high, as does your recipient.

LS

Good Dxing LS, 30 miles is impressive as a (PMR446) Cobra MT800 Band UHF/FM only gives out 1/2 watt (500mW).

As LS says, he was on a hill top and that's something that PMR446 peppers should be careful about.
Round town, these little radios aren't so good. 3-5 km they say is a typical range but not in real life, not reliably anyway.
The problem is down to the very high frequencies they use and the blocking effects of buildings, trees, vehicles, or even loads of people.

SWMBO and me use PMR 446 when shopping.
All down to me wandering off which drives her .
(Wonder why us husbands do that??)

In our local town, the shopping centre is only a mile wide yet we can only reliably work the radios a couple of hundred yards.
Luckily for me that means when she goes into Asda (a traditional steel warehouse design) she can't nag me to join her inside.
That's only 300 FEET!

Looking at that performance as a prepper, if you needed to contact someone over any distance during an emergency it can be a little hit or miss. Even if you upped the power it doesn't really help.
There are alternatives though.
At last I've got something good to say about ham handhelds, 2m models work so if you and the wife both get trained, there's no escape for you guys!
Handheld CB's work well too so NR with his Intek 520 wins a prize too.

[Skean Dhude]

In my plans I intend to use them for very local work, keeping teams together and recce.

Currently use them round the shops but only over 500yrds or so.

[The Local Ned]

[Lightspeed]

[The Local Ned]

Roger that LS.

I was thinking of picking up an old army surplus radio harness - we used them for the clansmen ( 351 ) which was a bit of a lug but manageable.
But as you say - it could easily be done with any 'framed rucksack.

Worked out correctly - there could be space for a small battery in the backpack with power lead running into a backpack sidepocket mounted handheld unit , with a patch lead end fed to the external whip mounted on a pivotable plate.

Throatmic/earpiece could be run through backpack and out an MP3 player type hole , unless a standard handmic is used which can be jacket mounted.

Battery ? motorcycle battery ? - RC type battery ?
Solar panel trickle charge possibility maybe ?

This is if course interchangeable with CB radios / HAM equipment.
Range may still be problematical when geography starts coming into play , but whats new there ?

[Lightspeed]

[Paul]

[The Local Ned]

[Lightspeed]

TLN going to 5w on PMR446 will put you in illegal operating condition under curent regulations. If you are going that route the I reckon the UV 5R is the cheapest and most flexible way to achieve it as it will give you switchable 1w / 4w power, external antenna capability, as well as very broadband coverage including Ham VHF and UHF, marine VHF and a whole load of MOD owned UHF space( soe be careful how you use it!)

Of course ther will be an imrovement over the Binatones, especially if you get a pair of them. but you should realistically expect a doubling of range or there abouts.

If your CB operatins were from your current location you can compare what you used to achieve to PMR and make yor decision acordingly. As paul wrote the Intek that NR purchased will get you CB in a handheld package that can also connect up to external antennas.....and this will be entirely legal to use as well.

Good luck with your choices.

LS