Handheld Transceiver greatest range?

[wheresthetubes]

Hello, I recently spoke with someone who said that his Realistic TRC-209 probably had the greatest range of any hand-held transceiver he's ever used, purely based on its 5 watts output. I think this was one of the old am sets. Reckons he can get about 7 miles to another handheld. This got me thinking about range/distance possible to ther handsets. I was surprised after a cursory check on the web that about a 7 miles range from portable to portable is about the best one can achieve, even with high-end models.

My question is, was it possible to achieve greater distances with the older type handheld transceivers before legislation kicked in sometime in the 70's-80's (handheld to handheld). It seems that one can buy these secondhand 20-30 year old transceivers for a snip of the price one has to pay for a modern equivilent, yet there is little difference in performance (output power/reception).

[Sean Williams]

Of course if you were a licensed amateur, I can remember when Schools contacted the Mir space station on a handheld, this would have only been about 5 watts......

From a CB point of view,

Handheld range will always be limited - mainly due to the innefficient antennas fitted to the sets - not many people would want an antenna around 9 ft long on a plastic brick....

It is true that FM stuff seemed to have a shorter range - this is due to the way the system works - you need a fair bit of recieved carrier to detect FM, whereas AM the slightest sniff of a carrier is enough - the MK1 Ear is suprisingly good at weak signal stuff...

Sean

[Steve_P]

It depends on a lot of factors. Atmospheric conditions, buildings in the way, curvature of the earth, AM or FM, location.

I got from Winter Hill to Holme Moss on a 5 Watt Maxon portable often, and from Moss to Pontop Pike on a good day. This was on FM. 169 Mhz or thereabouts.

Cheers,

Steve P.

[MichaelR]

Originally Posted by wheresthetubes

My question is, was it possible to achieve greater distances with the older type handheld transceivers before legislation kicked in sometime in the 70's-80's (handheld to handheld). It seems that one can buy these secondhand 20-30 year old transceivers for a snip of the price one has to pay for a modern equivilent, yet there is little difference in performance (output power/reception).

They are not pricy because they are illegal. A lot of these sets were imported from the US who have different regulations.

Mike

[Station X]

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