I can receive well, but have limited output..can receive from drivers over 10 miles, but when I try to talk back I only have about a 1 1/2 mile range I got a new power mic, but it doesnt seem to help... also checked the intenna, and SWR's are fine...Any suggestions?

As a general rule handheld radios will talk up to 2 miles line-of-sight. Anything you place between the two radios will reduce range. Talking from inside a building to outside, you can expect 1/4 to 1/2 mile. This being said, a radio can talk as far as it can see, so if you were on a mountain top, you could conceivably talk many miles into a valley below. Height and placement of your antenna determines range. Holding your antenna upright perpendicular to the earth will give you the best range.

As a general rule handheld radios will talk up to 2 miles line-of-sight. Anything you place between the two radios will reduce range. Talking from inside a building to outside, you can expect 1/4 to 1/2 mile. This being said, a radio can talk as far as it can see, so if you were on a mountain top, you could conceivably talk many miles into a valley below. Height and placement of your antenna determines range. Holding your antenna upright perpendicular to the earth will give you the best range.

line of sight. The 5 watt radios I service could not talk 36 miles. Those 2 watt units could never. They are Uhf and Uhf are more line of sight than Vhf. There are NO GMRS or FRS radios in Vhf. Buy the best GMRS radios you can. The difference is not power output, but a better receiver as you go up in price. You get what you pay for or there would only be one brand.

A few things to check, and some facts about 2-way radio range:

1) Be certain you are using a fully charged battery.
2) Hold your radio upright perpendicular to the ground (antenna straight up) for the best range. Tilting the radio can reduce range significantly.
3) Face the direction you are wanting to transmit.
4) Wear the radio up high on your body. Height and placement of the radio determines range.
5) Double check you have the radios programmed to the exact same frequency and code. Sometimes on a "near" frequency you can transmit to another radio on a different frequency, but it would be poor and short distanced.

Facts:
2-way radios are line-of-sight communications. Anything you place between the two radios will reduce your range. Outside radio-to-radio in a flat area you should be able to talk up to 2-miles line-of-sight. If you were on a mountain you might be able to talk miles and miles into the valley below. (You can talk as far as you can see in most cases.) If you go inside a building and try to talk from inside to outside you might only get 1/4 to 1/2 mi. Your range will vary according to your circumstances/location.

Most TalkAbout radios are 1/2 watt radios and by comparison business radios are up to 4-5 watts, with some being aided by repeater/trunking systems which would enhance the overall range.

Best regards.

Handheld radios talking line-of-sight with no obstacles will communicate approx. 2 miles. When talking from inside a building to outside, you can expect 1/4 to 1/2 miles range. Holding the antenna perpendicular to the ground gives you the best range. Height and placement of the antenna determines range. If you were on a mountain you could talk many miles into the valley below. However, in real world applications, range is limited. It can even be limited by the body fluid of the person wearing the radio on their hip, or blocked somewhat by the metal of the automobile one is riding in.

Channels 18-22 are listed as GMRS channels and may have more power than 1-17. The FRS channels are limited to 1/2 watt. But don't be fooled wattage doesn't equal distance. Higher wattage may give you a little more distance, but mostly it will give you clarity in the fringe areas.

Here is a link to the user guide: http://www.motorola.com/web/Business/Products/ConsumerTwo-WayRadios/Talkabout-MJ270R-Two-Way-Radio/_Documents/MJ270.pdf

A link to Motorola's page about the radio: http://www.motorola.com/Business/US-EN/Business+Product+and+Services/Two-Way+Radios+-+Consumers/MJ270R_Talkabout_Two-Way-Radio_B2B_US-EN

And I see where they are quoting 27 miles*, and go on to say:
*How far can I expect my radios to communicate? The communication range quoted is calculated under optimum conditions, with an unobstructed line of sight. Actual range will vary depending on terrain and conditions, and is often less than the maximum possible. Your actual range will be limited by several factors including, but not limited to, terrain, weather conditions, electromagnetic interference and obstructions.

Unfortunately, we are seldom in idea conditions. Radio-to-radio is going to get you 1/4 mile to 2 miles in real conditions.

Best regards.

Line-of-sight you can talk as far as the radio can 'see'. In the real world, with obstacles and curvature of the Earth, this will vary according to your location. General rule of thumb, outdoors with few obstacles, you can talk line-of-sight up to 2 miles. Talking in and out of a building might reduce your range to 1/4-1/2 mile. There will be circumstances when you could achieve great range such as talking from a mountaintop into a valley, you could potentially talk 25 miles.

Height and placement of the antenna determines range. Holding the antenna perpendicular to the ground will give you the most range. Tilting the radio can reduce your range by as much as 2/3s.

Best regards.

Assuming you have purchased a "bubblepack" type radio, you have a have joined many being mislead about the claims of distance on these type radios. Typically FRS/GMRS Radios claim the have 10, 12, or even 15 mile range. In the fine print however, you will see that it is dependant on conditions such as terrain, buildings, weather conditions and so forth. Most of these high distance ranges can be obtainable with no objects or terrain interfering with a direct path from one radio to another. The transmit power on these radios are also limited to 1/2 watt to 1 watt. Not a lot of power to get very far with less than ideal conditions.

A radio with at least 5 watts output may be more ideal depending on the intended use.

Advertising on these models is much like reading about a car's MPG, it must be in perfect conditions. Handheld radios generally will talk "radio-to-radio", "line-of-sight" up to 2 miles. Once you start putting obstacles in between the radios you will shorten your range. Even the body fluid of the person wearing the radio on their hip will absorb some of the range. Talking from inside of a building to outside you might expect 1/4 to 1/2 mile. Good rule of thumb: Height and placement of your antenna determines range. The higher the antenna, the further you can talk. If you are talking from on a mountain top to a valley below you can talk as far as you can see. Increasing Range: Hold your radio perpendicular to the ground, not slanted like you would hold a phone. This problem alone could decrease your range 2/3s. Face the direction you are wanting to communicate. Don't shout CB-style, shouting reduces talk-range. Lastly, use good batteries. This will ensure your transmit capability.

In reality, handheld radios will talk line-of-sight up to 2 miles. When talking in and around buildings, the range can be reduced to as low as 1/4 to 1/2 mile. For optimal range, be certain to hold your radio with the antenna pointing straight up (perpendicular) to the ground. Height and placement of antenna determines range.

All that being said, many radio manufactures make claims of 5, 10, 18, 25 miles. These claims would be true if one radio can see another, such as talking from a mountain top to a valley. In the real world, we deal with curvature of the earth, hills, buildings, etc.

TalkAbout radios and the other FRS radios operate on 1/2 watt FRS, and 1-2 watt GMRS frequencies. Business radios on the other hand operate on up to 4 to 5 watts of power. The power does not always equate into extra range, it does however, provide much greater clarity in the fringe areas.

Hope this answers your question.

Hi Mark,

I understand your concern with the actual range of the Motorola T5000. Being UHF radios, they are severely limited by any obstruction in between, be it trees, buildings, hills, foliage, terrain and any others that would block "line of sight". Additionally due to the inherent design restrictions imposed on these radios, the FRS channels are limited to pushing out 0.5 watts making the GMRS channels better choice since the radio will be transmitting at 1 watt. To my knowledge, channels 8 - 14 are FRS only.

Possible things you can try to improve transmit distance are:
1. use AA Alkaline batteries instead of the rechargeable ones;
2. disable or minimize settings of interference eliminators, Quiet Talk, noise filters, coded squelch or CTCSS;
3. replace the stub antenna with a Larsen Quarter wave. You may need to install a BNC mount to accommodate the Larsen. Incidentally, this will also improve the receive range and not only the transmit.

Hope this be of initial help/idea. Pls post back how things turned up or should you need additional information.

Good luck and kind regards.

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