Does Power Really Matter On GMRS & Ham Radio, Or Is A Good Antenna Better?
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- Опубликовано: 5 фев 2025
- You can learn about the SDR-Dongle that I used in this video here: amzn.to/3Gu9DkR
Many people assume that to get more transmission range and to talk farther on a GMRS or ham-radio you need to increase your power - but is this true? Will a bigger or better antenna on your GMRS or ham radio let you talk longer-distance than simply increasing your power output?
In this video I test which is better for talking farther on a GMRS or ham radio (70cm) - more power/a power amplifier or a bigger and better antenna in a good location. Note: Some people have commented that UHF frequencies go much higher than 500Mhz - but, nobody cares.
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#gmrs
I can do without the stud muffin pics, thanks. Stepping babes, okay.
If you think that anyone other than your mother cares about your opinion, you have seriously overestimated your place in this world.
I like it😊
Too enticing for ya?
Thats Chad
I rather enjoyed seeing “Chris”. Just because he doesn’t bat for *your* team, that doesn’t mean that other teams don’t appreciate a nice visual. Slow your roll and open your mind. Or not. 🤷♀️
Another important thing to remember is that communication is a two way thing; increasing your power doesn’t improve your ability to hear the other station, however improving your antenna affects both transmit and receive.
Agree 100% (Rule of thumb, your antenna system (antenna & coax) is 90% of your set-up) W9DLP
I have a ham friend who thinks he needs 1,000 watts all the time. Only a small percentage of hams use that much.
He was whining about his vhf radio having some noise on transmit and wouldn’t listen to me tell him to reduce power.
Im very glad a youtube superstar like yourself takes the time to explain the complexities to us commonfolk. Since watching this channel, I've obtained my gmrs permit, and I'm studying to be a sad ham.
I got my GMRS license before I got my Amateur license about 18 months ago. I recently got my Amateur Extra. I get a kick out of these deadpan videos. I was a CB'er for many years also.
I got my general class ham license last September. I just studied the questions for a week and I only got 2 wrong on the test. You can do it!
BTW - You would have more fun if you studied to be a Happy Ham instead
Happy HAMS have more fun. Been a ham since the 70's
Study to be a “happy ham” instead, there are too many sad ones.
Spot On! Improving the antenna is usually better than increasing power. But just as important: Improving the antenna helps you Receive better as well.
Congratulations! Very clarifying episode! I praise the NotaRubicon Institute for all this research! There is nothing better than the practical experiment.
Absolutely
Love your stuff man. I'm a complete noob, learning so I can enjoy this hobby with my son who asked if he could speak to the space station! Thanks man
I really like these real-life demonstrations instead of people just arguing about their opinions.
Wow! Is that the very famous Klaus Schwab on the background monitor? I'm pretty sure his message to Randy is: "You shall own NO RADIOS and be happy". Ready to give up all those radios Randy 😉
I've been bad tonight... I made and consumed beef chili. Forgot the insect frass... Oh gosh darn it!
I'm also going to throw a log in my wood stove, oh no! I'm being independent!
Klaus Schwab recently complimented China, the CCP as a model for the rest of the world. He doesn't have a clue about the suffering in China by the CCP. He really should open his eyes about the CCP. The WEF cannot get respect if it says things like that.
Do y'all know that the people of China used radios to hijack all the airwaves.
I'd have to agree, I was hitting a repeater almost 70 miles away on a mountain with 2 watts of power while on UHF digital mode. I was having a full blown clear conversation inside a building and it blew me away
What a great demonstration video Randy and Chris 9:38 @NotaRubicon Productions
Klaus Schwab is trying to look like Dr. Evil but is much more sinister.
Chris was very accurate 👍
I appreciate the “affiliate link below” to the sdr you used. I don’t mind if a few pennies get tossed your way if indeed it does in appreciation for your helpful tips.
However, I do wish your link was to an sdr WITH and antenna and not a “naked one”. If I’m not mistaken I believe there is one for 10 bones more! no?
…love your show
Yes, and probably a few other combos.. But dont worry, if you use my link and go to Amazon and by a slightly different product within 24 hours I still get credit.
So go shopping and thank you!
@@TheNotaRubicon Done and done.
Beautiful, well done! Pretty much the same in the world of home Hi-Fi music reproduction. 5 watts into a small bookshelf speaker gets background music. 50 watts in gets cleaner punchy background music. 5 watts into a huge refrigerator size corner horn speaker gets 2 ear bleeds. 50 watts into same speaker gets a visit from the local men in blue + the side effect of hearing loss! 🤪
Thank you for doing what you do. I absolutely love your videos even though I'm not really into GMRS, You have a way of conveying information in a entertaining way that says screw the haters and I love that.
The 9dB increase is actually 8 times the signal. Each 3dB is a doubling of signal. Thanks you for the video. Excellent illustration of watts vs good antenna in attaining the more fars.
Thanks! I found this video to be especially helpful! When you’re trying to decide which item to purchase to get the most improvement, a video like this helps clarify what would be the most beneficial.
Thank YOU!
"Penetration" at 3:55 reminds me of one of Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs episodes. The one where he was helping with calves being born.
Great video. Learning more and more from you every day! Nice to finally see Chris. Much better than the pictures I had in my head.
I always , ALWAYS get a chuckle after I view one of your videos. Thanks ❗️👍
I've FINALLY figured out how to follow Randy on all the technical stuff, which prevents me from asking anymore dumb questions (which Randy almost always kindly responds to, thanks for that) but NOW, im stumped trying to figure out what the hell a chris is........Thanks Randy, we appreciate you brother 💪
FYI
Under the right circumstances I can talk to the ISS (the International Space Station) with a BaoFeng HT radio.
- I have a dedicated finger to be raised for any Sad Ham who question this fact.
Great demonstration. I agree with the comments that the better antenna also improves the receiver side. Win win!
I use a 3db and a 6db. Depending on the terrain. Never needed a power boost. Midland makes a great bullbar antenna. Thanks for the great video once again brother!
Was hoping to see a sad ham pin. Will have to check back later.
I am waiting for some other sad ham to comment that at 02:23, the UHF frequency is really from 300MHz to 3GHz. Not 380 to just over 500.
Give it time. They can't help themselves.
@@JohnDoe-zg6fn I came this close to getting myself pinned with that comment . But then again, UHF from the LMR perspective is basically 410-512.
@@troy3456789 he doesn’t have to now, you just did!
I have heard too many people arguing about that. Thanks for setting them straight.
I'm a ham but because of this channel I went ahead and got a gems license. These videos are awesome!
- Bart
I'm glad i'm from Europe. One License to transmit them all!
Excellent "Real World" test. 😎 A quality antenna at a greater elevation works best.
I noticed similar results using a C/B radio crossing the country back in the "Smokey-and-the-Bandit" days of the mid-70s.
Used to be a microwave tech back in the day. Using 300 foot towers and dish/horn antennas we could easily reach the distant end on a 5 watt transmitter. That is certainly not real world for the masses... But it shown me that a good antenna can really make a big improvement.
Being old school tech, you are convincing me I just gotta stop procrastinating and get a SDR. Thanks
Thanks to Randy's great way of explaining the technical aspects of radio I was able to pass the test for the technician class license, Thanks
Chris sounds like a pretty smart fella!
I love your background that changes with every video!! Keep doing all you do!
Thanks for posting , i bought a 25 watt gmrs radio , and was pretty bummed out thinking I should have spent more money and got a more powerful radio . Looking at your comparison it is likely I would not even notice the difference.
I love both more power and nice antenna
Very good information that translates well to 70cm. There is a repeater 45 miles away (on a mountain top-Snow Peak near Banning, CA) as the crow flies from my location that I cannot hit with any power using a 1/4 wave unity gain antenna (unity is zero gain- but please sad hams spare us the exact differences and definitions). But a Browning 5.5 dbd high gain antenna can open the squelch at 5 watts and at 10 I can have a clear conversation. No need for 50 watts at all.
Randy... Please next video, the best GMRS antenna for home base‼️ Regards 🌴🌴🌴
I'm hooked on your awesome videos man. Keep up the good work.
The WEF lizard in the background is hilarious.
I just built a Jpole gmrs antenna out of 1/2” copper pipe. I’m new to all this and discovered that rg58 isn’t very good. I tuned to 465 and at 465 was getting 1.5 SWR and around 2.0 at 462 and 467. I had a 50’ run of rg58 while doing this test. I lopped of 40’ of the coax and now get 1.086 at 465 and 1.25 at both 462 and 467. Works for me.
And yes….Lets Go Brandon👍
BOOF WONG GMRS-9r here.
Rolling Appalachian’s of New England.
Rubber duck antenna test
7 miles over 2 rolling wooded hills, over a lake, to my buddy who’s elevation is slightly higher than mine, but no line of sight.
The talks is good.
The statics is negligible.
My larger antennas are more clear, but damn these simplex convos I’m having reach WAY further than I’d imagined they would with my terrain.
My ASMR enjoys the great sound quality of your tubes...
Dude you slay me... at the same time edgeUmakate me two!!! Keep up the good work. You really should have way more followers!
I bought a baofeng because of you and your channel. I got the uv-5g any videos and set up. Ie setting up for repeaters. Thanks I’m advance. Also love the channel!!! Makes my monkey brain hurt bad though
Thanks for bringing Chris back! You know I love ya', Randy.
It’s nice to have the power and good antenna. I live in southeast Ohio . So good antenna & the full 50 watts are needed
But what is a “good” antenna? I’m in a hilly, forested area of Vermont and would love to know.
A suggestion for one of your very informative RUclips shows. I don't know if you have done a comparison between radio to radio, and if so just point me to your videos.
Often, I am asked about what is the real differences between radios from a cheap model to an expensive model? A good example is to use 2 Baofeng radios head-to-head. In other words, do a test with 2 Baofeng radios in the field using just what came with the radio nothing more. Then use 2 other types of radios together from the same distance thus showing the difference in quality from a cheap radio to a better model and so on. Part of the test can be the quality of audio to just how far in a real life a cheaper radio will be heard to a better quality radio.
What about an amp vs repeater on a good antennae? Very helpful demo!
I was just perusing the Signal.Stick website and I came across this GMRS notice: “GMRS: The typical Signal Stick will probably work fine on GMRS - many people use it already and report good results. That said, if you want to be 'mathematically correct' you could in theory make the antenna about 1.1 inches shorter to make the dual band (19″) signal stick match GMRS better (and also MURS). The 440 antenna should work fine as-is, but in theory about a quarter (1/4) inch could be cut off to make it match better in theory. In practice it’s likely that you’d add more variance by moving your arm across your body, so it seems silly to us, but that’s what the math says.”
The same thing he said about MURS. It would be great if someone compared a Signal.Stick with a Nagoya GMRS antenna. I've always thought Nagoyas were overrated, but I'd like to see it tested by an expert who was sitting atop a large hill, was into GMRS and had the time and resources to conduct such a test.
Anyone know where I can find such a person?
Great video... and I'm still laughing at the "face shot" from the boofwang.
The Voyager 1 spacecraft that's now almost 15 billion miles away, is still communicating with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, CA.
The transmitting power of the Voyager 1 is 23 watts... how can that be? Super great antennas on both the transmitting and receiving sides. To me that's a great example of antenna versus power.
I just found your videos. Watched quite a few. Entertaining and informative. Subbed. I’m trying to set up comms between my 83 year old (prepper) mother’s house and my place, about 4 miles away. We live in southern Vermont so there are rolling forested hills here, hundreds of feet in elevation variance, not thousands. I really want to use GMRS but don’t know if we even stand a chance of making it work. I’m considering two Midland MXT500’s, a power supply for hers and mine truck mounted. I’ve seen antennas from 2-7dB and am really confused as to which will be best. I understand line of sight and the advantage of antenna height but really don’t know what to try. I don’t want directional antennas as I will be moving in my truck. I’d love any insight you can give me.
BTW, Midland does not take phone calls. Not even regarding sales. I sent them an email but haven’t heard back from them yet. They are having a 20% sale today and tomorrow that will save me over $200 if I can decide and pull the trigger. Thanks.
I love how you have a picture of Klaus Schwab in his supervillian outfit on your wall.
Awesome.
Power is a sledgehammer, Antenna quality and placement is a scalpel.
Well said I've always found good results with experimenting with antenna's
Great video and I enjoy how you present the information in common sense terms that the masses can grasp. Just our of curiosity, did Chris get any SWR readings from the short antenna versus larger antenna? I'd be curious how much of a difference the results would be for the same test at 5W for a tuned vs non-tuned antenna. All the SWR videos I have seen on RUclips seem to be presented from the standpoint of the person transmitting, but I think it would be helpful to see how much of a difference it makes from someone receiving the signal as you presented in this video.
Along the same concept if you plan to do a follow up video, I have often wondered when an antenna manufacturer advertises a +db gain, in the real world how much difference does that really make? This video sort of showed that when increasing the power on the small antenna, the positive db gain between 5W and 50W didn't sound like all that much. The reason I ask this question is I have been looking at the Midland MicroMobile MXTA26 (+6db gain) vs MicroMobile MTXA25 (+3db gain) and now I am wondering if the +3db gain would really be noticeable in real world results?
I know this video is old, and maybe someone mentioned already, but i would like to know how much of the improvement was due to a "bigger" antenna, and how much the added elevation contributed to the improvement. Some how elevating the small antenna to the same elevation as the big one would be helpful.
I just buy whatever you tell me ;)
Learned a lot from you and I appreciate it
SOC radios often require shorter antennas in order to receive without front end overload. In such cases, more power could compensate for using a shorter antenna on transmit.
Love your videos! I can tell we're like minded based on what's usually on the flat screen behind you and by your t- shirts. Keep up the good work. If I ever run into you here in SoCal, I can't say that I won't go fanboy on you. 🤣😂
Fars. Love it. I’m incorporating this into my tech terminology. This should be a thing.
Hurray for Chris, the true star of the channel!! 🎉🍻😅
I didn't hear a word you said. I just want that T-shirt.
Randy, another entertaining and informative vid! Dig it. Where do you have your antenna mounted on your Jeep? I picked up the same Midland and have it mounted outside the driver side pillar. My JK also has an antenna bracket just above the driver's side taillight that was installed by the previous owner.
The Let’s go Brandon over the radio was absolutely priceless 😂 Your videos are amazing especially for us simpletons…..
I laughed out loud when I heard the “let’s go Brandon.” Good stuff!!
Made me curious if the amount of Brandon in a transmission correlated to any increase of Fars.
My guy
“The type of power that squirts out of your radio…” 😂😂🤣
Makes you wonder if squirt cam reach e-island.
Been waiting for this one!! Thanks!
Humm, as a Ham and GMRS user... I have to know... Does it make a difference if the cookie sheet has been used to cook with? And, what kind of cookies 🥠...What about if you cooked pizza 🍕 on the cookie sheet? So many determining factors...
Great and easy to understand demo!
Very helpful! And, have I said recently how much I ❤️ you guys!
Depending on the circumstances/environment a better/more suitable antenna is always better than more power.
For the ones who doesn’t know, google the differences between 3dB, 6dB, 9dB, antennas and buy the best antenna/-s for your use.
How can I transfer to the NotaRubicon Institute next semester?
Love your show! Would you mind putting "Fall Guy" Colt's hot tub on your monitor.
Thanks for the awesome vid! Can you do a Walmart GMRS walkie talkie in the car vs outside of the car? The reason I ask is that I would like to tell my friends that, if they can't reach me when we're on adventures in the woods, they might try stopping the and getting out of the car to transmit. I don't know if this will matter, but I bet it will.
No need for a video.. A car is a big metal box that does a very good job at blocking GMRS/FRS signals. Getting out of the car will improve the farz of the radio signal.
@@TheNotaRubicon Yeah, that's what I figured as well. Okay, thanks for the confirmation and the fun and informative videos! Maybe the radio in my car will be the only radio to survive an EMP attack, right? 🙂
Thanks, Randy, very informative video.
So size DOES matter! Well done.
Do you have any 1/4 wave GMRS antennas vs other GMRS antennas videos? Specifically I'd like to know how they compare in fars. Thanks for making learning fun.
Excellent test Randy, thnx!
Great test. Solid info for the average Joe just getting into this stuff
That was a good experiment. I appreciate that test.
since you are the king of GMRS on youtube and love flipping off the HAM posers which seem to be everywhere , how about a video with the Retevis RT-29 with and without a smiley antenna range test at full 10 watts in and outdoors, I'm curious because to know how fars it goes in the real world. this spring, summer and fall I will be doing some team hiking and keys to cars will probably happen but range test will be happening. I plan on hiking Red river gorge in Ky and smoky mountains TN/NC so I should get a good report. It would be nice if there was a 10 watt version of btech gmrs pro in the ham bands that could go out to gmrs but I don't see it
Love this ch, is there away to get the most out of ur large antenna and extra power?
Great content. You win the internet today!
Yeah basically the entire point of having more power in your radio is to cut through interference also as you demonstrated it can help if you have a less than desirable antenna however having an antenna in an ideal position will give you much better results but having that extra power is nice on the off chance you need it to use it
Very nice presentation.
Smiley triband antenna is what works best on my kenwood thd74 radio and the thd72 radio.
The president randy II cb radios do fine with the stock antenna.
Okay, I am convinced. Do you have a bracket to recommend to mount a base station antenna onto my Jeep ;)
Nice video, I wonder if you mount an LNA with external power to a Baofeng UV5R radio will it help the reception of the signal with visible results? You can make a video about this if you run out of ideas✌
I’m I first? Anyways, since I can’t afford power, I always prefer a very well made tuned antenna, and try my best to shove that antenna as high in the air i possibly can.
Will you please do a video on UV-17R
Just got a UV-5R, it was already opened up. Put a nagoya 771g and can hit the repeater 40 miles away! Had no idea how small the radio actually was, but for 20 bucks wow quite a cool little device
This is very good info!
😊
As many hams have said: you can work the world on a good antenna with low power.
Love the jokes. Great content, keep up the great job. LGB
Nice test !
What about in heavy rain? Does more power help then?
Ahh, the power to step on people 😂. Gotta love it! CB logic for GMRS. Gets no better! Get that Penetration!!!
I run a rugged 45 watt on a mag mount on a medle file cabenet works grate 10 miles to my mane tower
Good job!👍
You are funny. I enjoy every time you have a new video. You always make me laugh.
Love this channel haha
Didn't hear what Chris sounded like on the 50 watt big antenna vs the 5 watt.
Back when I was messing with CB, an elderly gentleman had a bunch of stuff for "tuning" a base antenna, would something like that help with GMRS and roasted pork?
I haven't laughed🤣 this hard while learning in a long time.