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moneypitfeeder
Member
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# Posted: 30 Jan 2021 20:44
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Wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions for walkies that can function in heavily wooded areas and that don't eat batteries like crazy. We have Uniden model GMR4040-2CKHS, they claimed up to a 40 mile range, but we are barely getting 1 mile, if that. And with that poor range, they go through battery life really quickly. They are nice in that we can get the weather on them, but they really aren't trustworthy when going out for a wander or fishing. We might not be heard or the battery just dies.
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 30 Jan 2021 21:19
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Quoting: moneypitfeeder they claimed up to a 40 mile range, but we are barely getting 1 mile
That's LOS. Line of sight, best case. Hills, trees, power stations, power lines, power transformers, microwave towers, buildings, etc. will degrade signal. Nothing will work well in the woods except a SAT Phone, and you still need a clearing for it to work. (Operation Red Wings) In town in Arizona, my 4 watt CB (K40) got about a mile. Up on the mountain about 12 miles LOS to the town, clear comms.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2021 06:23
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Prety much any radio that's hand held is going to be line of sight. All these claims of mile range are just a marketing gimick. There all going to basically put out the same wattage. The fact is your just not going to blast radio waves through hills and trees.
I have a pair of FRS motorola radios that this hunting season I had one fail in the field. I carry a cheap chinese uv5r radio and that did not fail.
I would say keep useing what you are and get better batteries. Adding an external antenna may help that dosnt look easy on that model and you will prob not gain much if any.
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FishHog
Member
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2021 07:07
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Gave up on them years ago once cell phone texting because a much more reliable option
Never found any that would work well
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moneypitfeeder
Member
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# Posted: 31 Jan 2021 07:28
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Thanks! That confirms what I thought. We got safety whistles as back up, they seem to have as good or better range (only really need to know if one of us is in trouble). We do have very limited texting up there, some very spotty cell signal showed up a couple of years ago and we use that at times too.
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