Does Power Really Matter On GMRS & Ham Radio, Or Is A Good Antenna Better? 

I can do without the stud muffin pics, thanks. Stepping babes, okay.

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.

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 😉

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.

Spot On! Improving the antenna is usually better than increasing power. But just as important: Improving the antenna helps you Receive better as well.

Klaus Schwab is trying to look like Dr. Evil but is much more sinister. Chris was very accurate 👍

Congratulations! Very clarifying episode! I praise the NotaRubicon Institute for all this research! There is nothing better than the practical experiment.

"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.

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

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.

I love your background that changes with every video!! Keep doing all you do!

I always , ALWAYS get a chuckle after I view one of your videos. Thanks ❗️👍

Love this guy’s content. It’s amazing and hilarious at the same time.

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

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

I really like these real-life demonstrations instead of people just arguing about their opinions.

I'm hooked on your awesome videos man. Keep up the good work.

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.

Thanks for bringing Chris back! You know I love ya', Randy.

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! 🤪

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. 🤣😂

Very helpful! And, have I said recently how much I ❤️ you guys!

Been waiting for this one!! Thanks!

What a great demonstration video Randy and Chris 9:38 @NotaRubicon Productions

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.

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!

Great demonstration. I agree with the comments that the better antenna also improves the receiver side. Win win!

Well said I've always found good results with experimenting with antenna's

Thanks, Randy, very informative video.

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 RU-vid 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?

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.

Great and easy to understand demo!

I have heard too many people arguing about that. Thanks for setting them straight.

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 💪

That was a good experiment. I appreciate that test.

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.

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👍

Excellent test Randy, thnx!

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!

Great content. You win the internet today!

Great test. Solid info for the average Joe just getting into this stuff

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

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.

This is very good info! 😊

Fars. Love it. I’m incorporating this into my tech terminology. This should be a thing.

Love this ch, is there away to get the most out of ur large antenna and extra power?

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?

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✌

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 buy whatever you tell me ;) Learned a lot from you and I appreciate it

Lol the squirt your the best bro keep me laughing

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.

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.

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.

Chris sounds like a pretty smart fella!

Was hoping to see a sad ham pin. Will have to check back later.

Being old school tech, you are convincing me I just gotta stop procrastinating and get a SDR. Thanks

I love both more power and nice antenna

I'm a ham but because of this channel I went ahead and got a gems license. These videos are awesome! - Bart

What about an amp vs repeater on a good antennae? Very helpful demo!

Nice test !

Awesome. Power is a sledgehammer, Antenna quality and placement is a scalpel.

Love this channel haha

So size DOES matter! Well done.

Love the videos.

Very nice presentation.

You are funny. I enjoy every time you have a new video. You always make me laugh.

Randy... Please next video, the best GMRS antenna for home base‼️ Regards 🌴🌴🌴

A suggestion for one of your very informative RU-vid 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.

Good video/demo.

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.

Great content man.

It’s nice to have the power and good antenna. I live in southeast Ohio . So good antenna & the full 50 watts are needed

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

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.

Thank you!

No amount of antennas or power will matter when we are in our pods and eating the bugs.

Thanks for the info.

Good job!👍

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

Lol! So friggin funny ! Thank you for the video ! Love it !

Love the jokes. Great content, keep up the great job. LGB

Love your show! Would you mind putting "Fall Guy" Colt's hot tub on your monitor.

Okay, I am convinced. Do you have a bracket to recommend to mount a base station antenna onto my Jeep ;)

Watch the Sad Hams freak out. Popcorn in hand.

Excellent!

Good video!

I haven't laughed🤣 this hard while learning in a long time.

Gracias amigo

Thanks!

Hurray for Chris, the true star of the channel!! 🎉🍻😅

Phenomenal cosmic power!

As many hams have said: you can work the world on a good antenna with low power.

I didn't hear a word you said. I just want that T-shirt.

The Let’s go Brandon over the radio was absolutely priceless 😂 Your videos are amazing especially for us simpletons…..

Ahh, the power to step on people 😂. Gotta love it! CB logic for GMRS. Gets no better! Get that Penetration!!!

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.

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.

I love how you have a picture of Klaus Schwab in his supervillian outfit on your wall.