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30 Miles? The Truth About Range

Midland GXT2000 Two Way RadioYou may have noticed that most of the consumer two-way radios you see around advertise a range of up to 30 miles. The truth is, consumer FRS and GMRS radios will not even provide close to the advertised "maximum range".

The range that a two-way radio advertises is the range that the radio should get in "ideal" conditions. Ideal conditions are line of sight, such as from a mountaintop to a valley below -- no interference at all. Most likely, you will not be using the radios in these circumstances! You will probably want two-way radios for things such as hunting, skiing, malls, car trips or vacations. Under these normal conditions, the range of the radio will be limited because of obstructions, such as trees, hills, or buildings. These obstructions block the signal and dramatically reduce the range of a two-way radio.

So what type of range can you expect from your radio? Usually half a mile up to two miles, depending upon your terrain and the power of your radio. In the same environment, a 2 watt radio with a long antenna would provide considerably more range than a half watt radio with a short antenna.

When choosing a radio, it is very important to consider both the amount of range that you need and the environment in which you will be using the radios. Naturally, you wouldn't have as many obstructions in a football stadium as being in the middle of a heavily wooded area. For use in a stadium you would likely be fine with a small, one watt radio. In a wooded area, however, that same radio may not provide sufficient range. These are things that you need to take into consideration when choosing which two-way radio is right for you.

Related Resources
GMRS Radio Range Chart
Getting The Most Range From Your Radio
The Two Way Radio Show TWRS-05 - Radios in Range
The Two Way Radio Show TWRS-45 - The Truth About GMRS Radio Range
Radio 101 - The truth about FRS / GMRS two way radio range
How To Optimize Range for Motorola Talkabout Two Way Radios

118 thoughts on “30 Miles? The Truth About Range”

  • regaldo

    I ADQUIRED TWO MOTOROLA 2WAYRADIOS TO USE IN THE RANCH OF MY PARENTS I DONT KNOW IF THIS WILL WORK THERE ,BUT I TESTED THIS IN THE URBAN LOCATION AND ONLY HAD OF RANGE 1/4 OF MILE AND ARE OF 5WATS ,MAYBE ANY PERSON GIVE TO ME ANY BETTER SUBJESTION ,THE PUBLICITY OF RANGE IS NOT THRUE.

    Reply
  • Karin

    We are a group of 4 who would want radios at the Coachella music festival in Indo/Palm Springs ... that's a rather small radius for the festival area, but lots of people and other potential disturbing factors...
    Do you have any recommendation what might work best?
    In an ideal world, I would love to use these for skiing in the Rockies as well, but from what I see above in the thread, that may be a different requirement, asking for a different device? Any tips and hints welcome!
    thanks

    Reply
  • Nice thread, the claims of long distances on frs and gmrs radios are so very misleading. It is true that between two mountain peaks they may reach these long distances but truely thats not what the average user will use them for. I needed to reach 8 miles into a heavily wooded area, no cell towers, no ham repeaters, no gmrs repeaters and no private land where I could install a repeater in between. I installed a tower on the one side and still could not reach it from the wooded area. Dont forget gmrs requires a license as well, and we wanted to have 3 handhelds out in the woods and a base , we might have used the base as a repeater but since the handhelds couldnt reach it anyhow it wouldnt work. One solution would be to put up a temporary repeater in the woods but goodness thats surely alot of hassel, we even looked into a simplex repeater on a handheld but couldnt get the heigth up high enough in an easy fashion. CB on ssb works ok but the handhelds then are much larger not to mention the antenaes. We were able to use the largest truck with a mobile in it on a hill as the unit that could talk to the base (CB band SSB) and then all the individuals used the cheap handhelds (frs band) to talk the half mile to each other , then in case of emergency someone would have to go back to the mobile in the truck and call the base.....
    Kinda of not what we wanted, but better than nothing at all. Perhaps if we all were ham operators we could set the truck up with a repeater but then everyone would have to be licensed. Anyhow thats how we handled the situation for now.

    Reply
  • Gharbin Maxwell

    please my company known as CESSCO Ltd would like buy radio phones but we would need some education on the varieties you have as well as their area/distance coverage. Please send us pictures of these varieties and their price list.
    Thank you.

    Reply
  • Jeff

    Sorry, but two miles is about the best they will ever work at.

    Reply
  • vamsi

    hi, iam from india i got midland gxt635 from usa .. when i purchased in the store they've advertised it has 22 mile range. but here in india i can able to acess my radios only up to 2miles kindly suggest me how i can boost my radios signals.

    Reply
  • Jeff

    You can get that kind of range through specialty communication equipment. Two repeaters with large antennas will cover 30 miles or more: https://www.buytwowayradios.com/products/icom/ic-cy6000.aspx You will then need repeater capable radios (such as these): https://www.buytwowayradios.com/products/icom/ic-f4011-41.aspx and a license from the FCC: http://www.fcc.gov/

    Reply
  • hi, I need to buy a set of radios for my wife and I, possibly a few other members of my family, we live within a 30 mile radius. Are there any radios , or equipment including radios that I can purchase that can guarantee me communication? How much am I looking at if this can be accomplished? Do I need any type of licensing? if so, how do I go about obtaining it? Thanks

    Reply
  • Jeff

    Probably not. What frequencies are the CP200s using? There are also limitations as to how GMRS frequencies may be used for business purposes.

    Reply
  • Charlton

    I have a midland gxt 720. Is it possible to use this radio on a business network that uses motorola radius cp200s?

    Reply
  • Jeff

    The antenna is fixed and cannot be removed. They had to do this because radios capable of using the FRS frequencies are not allowed to have removable antennas.

    Reply
  • Kitty Hawk

    I really like the Midland GXT-1000-VP4. Can these hand-held radios take a much shorter antennae when you don't need the extra power and then have the longer antennae when you do?

    Reply
  • Jeff

    A GMRS radio might get six miles. If the line of transmission is unobstructed by other building you should be able to communicate. If there are a lot of buildings though, your range will be about 2 miles.

    Reply
  • Brian

    My church wants to set up an emergency communications network from a building that is 6miles apart from the farthest buildings. Land is fairly flat, but heavily populated. Would GMRS be ok, or do we need to go to a Ham radio set up?

    Reply
  • Jeff

    I would give these a look: https://www.buytwowayradios.com/products/cobra/cobra-cxr700.aspx They are compact, and have small antennas.

    Reply
  • Mike

    We are looking for small radio for hunting use in steep terain. Is there a compact, maximum power, unit available that would fit in a shirt pocket? One with a folding antena would be ideal.

    Reply
  • Jeff

    GIve these a look: https://www.buytwowayradios.com/products/midland/midland-gxt-1000-vp4.aspx They have 5 watts of power so you will have good range. They also have a battery saver mode, and selectable power levels to help conserve the batteries. Please remember though that the battery life is dependent on usage.
    Another option is this Motorola, it can be recharged with a USB cable: https://www.buytwowayradios.com/products/motorola/motorola-mr350r.aspx You could recharge this in the vehicle and do not need to use a charger.

    Reply
  • jim beard

    I am driving along with 3 other vehicles from San Diego to 800mi into Baja. I am looking for two radios(first and last vehicles) which will allow for communication during the trip. First day will be 12 hours driving, so battery life for 12 hours is necessary. Which Midland radio sets do you recommend, and why?

    Reply
  • Jeff

    I am afraid without the use of a repeater (a rather expensive bit of equipment) you will not find any two way radio that is able to communicate that far.

    Reply
  • susan

    a friend and want to keep in touch from our house. we live about 19 miles away seperated by a busy highway, houses, buildings etc. is there any brand of walkie talkies that will have the range and power to accomplish this?

    Reply

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