You have to take terrain into consideration. The ideal terrain is over flat water. Even water that is constantly churning causes issues.  A great example would be the Gulf of Mexico. There are usually no waves unless there is a storm out at sea. Also the angle of the antenna. Is it angled down so it hugs the curvature of the earth or is it just horizontal with no down tilt. It's not up the the manufacturer of the radio to give you "how far" the signal will travel, but the math should be done by the antenna and tower designer / installer. The power output of the radio is a very, very small factor when calculating these distances. Every situation is very different from the next. I have seen repeaters with the same power out and same gain antenna on the same tower. One was UHF and one was VHF and they behaved completely different when it came to coverage and usability.

Also don't believe the gain figures that you get from the antenna manufacturers. They are known to grossly over inflate these figures. Especially the Japanese and even cheaper Chinese multi-band knock offs. The only Ham antenna that I would use for a tower repeater or base antenna is the Hustler G7-144 for 2 meters, the G7-220 for 1.25M and the G6-440 for 70CM. I even don't like their dual band antenna. I tend to stay primarily with single band antennas, but that's a different story. If you really want a banging omni signal consider a commercial grade antenna like a dipole array or a Hustler Spirit series. But mind you they are quite expensive compared to the ham grade $100.00 antennas. I had a Hustler Spirit for 2 meters on a 30' tower in Florida and was able to easily get 50+ miles from base to mobile with only 50 watts. But again I was on the coast and the terrain was flat.

Welcome to the hobby/engineering of radio

I have to laugh when I see those hand held FRS radios on Ebay that the seller claims 30 mile range. They must have tested these out in outer space and using line of sight.

Jaime-KA3NXN

I would love to see one with 6M, 2M, 1.25M, 70Cm, 33Cm & 23CM. That would be awesome if it was FM/SSB to boot.

Looks like Alinco is coming out with the first handheld with 900MHz for the ham band.

Jaime-KA3NXN 

As stated by other in this forum heat is your enemy, not age. In fact one old trick we used to use to "tweak" a resistor is to heat it up using a soldering iron to change it's resistance. This worked very well, but you had to be careful of not burning the resistor or worse yet yourself.

Jaime-KA3NXN

As a member whose first and primary language IS NOT English, I have to agree that I will not respond to a posting, or worse, a seller's ad that cannot at least use spell checker.  Many times I read ads that are from hams with U.S. call signs that are atrocious.  Heck, our own president can't even pronounce the word nuclear. It's N-U-C-L-E-A-R, not nucular.

I would be embarrassed posting things like I have seen.

I rite engrish goodly, no? 

Jaime-KA3NXN

We have one jerk up here in central va that builds amps and he is constantly going for bigger. He is usually on CB channel 6 and usually running 20-30KW. Yes 20,000-30,000 watts. If only he could apply his knowledge to this hobby. But again he is very reckless. From what I have heard he is riddled with cancer and the rumor is that it is due to excessive RF exposure. he has one heck of a following and I guess enjoys being the king of the hill. Problem is that he bleeds us all the way up through the 440 band because of the splatter boxes he builds. And he has been doing this for years, and never been visited by the FCC.
 

What about the repeater ID? Can you hear the repeater? If you can, it should ID in either CW or a computer generated voice. It has to ID when it's in use. If you can't hear it than I wouldn't worry about trying to access it with an HT.

Jaime-KA3NXN

Check out Alan's website-K0BG. He has dedicated it completely to mobile operation and pesky noise problems. It might help you out. I know it helped me solve my issues and I have an extensive mobile setup from 80M-1.2cm all mode. He even has sound files of actual automobile caused noise and identifying it. What may sound like ignition noise could also be from another source. Just a suggestion.

Here is the link.  http://k0bg.com/

Good luck
Hope this helps

Jaime-KA3NXN

Priceless!!! I'd like to hear his opinion of the South American & Mexican stations that come in on CB channel 12 when the band opens up.

Heck yea!!!

When I was younger and poorer I used an old extension cord to make a 6M dipole. I used it with an old Icom IC-502 six meter portable rig that only put out 3 watts PEP. I worked all over the US when the band opened up with this set up.

Enjoy!!!

Jaime-KA3NXN

W4PC
What happened to NT 3.5?

Every since they produced vista I went the way of Linux and Mac. You thought that MS would have learned from that abomination that they produced 10 years ago called me. Apparently not. No more ms products in my home.  In fact I the only windows in my house are the ones that keep the cold weather out. Hi Hi!!! I have 4 Macs & 4 Linux boxes including our IRLP node. I love it. I have not seen anywhere, where I couldn't do anything that I wanted to do with the systems that I have. No more windoze in our home.

Jaime-KA3NXN

Before you go and spend money on an 800MHz yagi, make sure that you know what band your phone uses. Some phones like Sprint phones are on 1900MHz

Jaime-KA3NXN

Hey, our own president can't spell or pronounce the work nuclear. It's nu-cle-ar not nucular. This is one of my main pet peeves. Really pathetic!!

I refuse deal with an individual who can't spell. I won't buy a duel band rig. I want to talk on it not fight with it.
 
My first language is not English, and you should be seriously embarrassed when I have to correct your spelling and grammar. 

I speek engrish goodly, no?

Jaime-KA3NXN

Aren't all hams that are licensed now-a-days no code hams no matter what class license they hold? Take it from I guess what would be considered an old timer, even though I'm only 46, but have been licensed for almost 30 years. The real old timers will eventually die off and the bashing will be a thing of the passed. Just hang in there and don't let it get to you. There are way way too many different things in this hobby that you can do and you can stay away from the bashers.  This can be a very clique oriented hobby and unfortunately if you are different than any of the closed minded others than you are not as good as them. WRONG!!!!!

What ever you do stay away from the ADI AR-247. They were riddled with problems. I owned several and so did some of my friends. Every one died from similar issues with the display and power amp.

Hey folks,

I'm just inquiriung on why
these infernal
commercials have so
much more louder audio
than the program that we
are watching. I did a
search in Google and
found that this is a big
complaint by the masses.
There is even a gadget
out there that some
company is selling that
hooks into the audio of
your HDTV and acts like
and AGC. Anybody ever
try one of these gadgets
and do they work?  
Suggestions? Other than
just keep hitting the mute
button every time a
commercial comes on?