Transmitting range of Motorola p50

[lojeti]

I just pick up two p50 and they appered to work ok but one i got home and tested them out, i discovered that they are only transmitting and recieving less then a 1/4 mile, I thought they were supose to transmit up to 5 miles, what can i do to get them to transmit more then 1/4 mile. I know there are 6 switches on the back of each and they both have the switches set in the same place. Will adjusting or playing around with these switches help. thanks

[Monty]

Hi:

In general, range of " Any " HT is proportional to Geographical Terrain,
Location, and obsticals.

In short, if you were over desert, line
of sight, one could esaily talk 5-10 Miles
( perhaps futher ) with a 5 watt HT

Take them into the City, and well, 1 mile
is considered pretty good, worse if one is
in a building, and the other outside.

So, make sure the batteries are fully
charged, try them over some flat surfaces
( Long Highways ) are good for this, and you
will get a feel as to how much range you
can truly expect.

Monty

[MT2000 man]

Yes, I also agree with Monty. Because when I first bought a pair of talk-a-bouts, I was very disappointed as to the range of them. I live in a city area, and the MOST I get (range wise) is about 1/2 mile if your lucky, sometimes further, but thats about it. Unless your running off a repeater, you can expect (in the city anyway) about 1/2 mile or so.

[patrol186]

In addition to the above the Motorola Radius came in 2 power types,
they had the 5 watt and a 2 watt unit

[wavetar]

In addition to all the above, the P50 is just about the crappiest radio Motorola ever put out, and I don't say that lightly. If you bought them used, there's a very good chance that something is wrong with one or both of them. You may want to get them checked out, especially if Monty's long highway test suggestion doesn't work out.

Todd


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: wavetar on 2002-02-02 09:58 ]</font>

[Tom in D.C.]

...and...I say AND, in addition, note that when a final amplifier transistor in a radio goes bad it usually just becomes a link in the transmitter chain, so the output of the radio, instead of being 2W or 5W, is actually only that of the transistor which drives the final amplifier. In such a a case one might get about a quarter of a watt, maybe half a watt, output if one is lucky.

Tom, W2NJS

[raymond345]

Just adding my two pennies from Canada.

I do a lot of training on batteries, antennas
etc for search and rescue.One note in the forest that I show is the time of year. I work a test for a fixed point A to be B.
In the summer Port. to Port. 16 kilometers
5 watts of power. Fall 2 watts , Winter
1 watt. Same radio same location.Over some
land we get up to 12 miles on 5 watt(7.3) portable
vhf 165.mhz. It is in the training.Always have a radio tuned to spec. But the ant/and battery make or break u.

Raymond eMail [email protected]

[jim]

Interesting note about range versus season. My PCS phone works fine at my shop in the winter, but when the moist leaves are on the surrounding trees in the summer, forget it! No signal.

[Jonathan KC8RYW]

On 2002-02-03 11:49, jim wrote:
Interesting note about range versus season. My PCS phone works fine at my shop in the winter, but when the moist leaves are on the surrounding trees in the summer, forget it! No signal.

Perhaps that's because PCS operates at 1900 MHz, which is in the microwave range. Tree foliage does an amazing job killing weak microwave signals.

Try setting up a weak 2.4 GHz data link between two points. If there is a tree in the line-of-sight of the two antennas, it just won't work.

[kens]

I have several P50 uhf's. In addition to checking power out be sure to check the tx frequency. I found that it was necessary to adjust all of mine. After it is adjusted let the radio cool a few minutes and go back and check it again. They seem to drift considerably when transmitting heavily.