CB Radio - How many watts is required

[dan]

I am going to be purchasing some walkie talkies in the next week or so, for security purposes.

They will be used in suburban areas in and around houses, they will also be used in surrounding streets (to aid with surveillance), upto a few hundred meters away.

How many watts is really required for this kind of work? I have looked at two different models:
http://www.uniden.com.au/AUSTRALIA/p_uh047sx2_index.asp - $199
http://www.uniden.com.au/AUSTRALIA/p_uh060sx2_index.asp - $299

The first is 1 watt, the other is 1.5watts. What sort of performance difference would I notice with these walkie talkies, seeing as they say they have 6 and 8 kms line of site distance? Bearing in mind there will be complete houses in the way from the houses to the walkie talkies on the street?

Thanks..

[vk6hgr]

I am going to be purchasing some walkie talkies in the next week or so, for security purposes.

And you're using CB? Bear in mind that it is completely insecure and is open to evesdropping and interference from other CB users.

It would be a good idea to talk to a commercial communications company to see if they can set you up with some encrypted commercial two-ways. They will cost more but you will have secure communications.

To that end, if you really have to use CB, then there won't be much difference at all 1W vs 1.5W in the sort of distances you're talking. The 5kms they quote is a best guess. In an urban environment the distance will be much less.

[dan]

Evesdropping isnt really a problem (its nothing mission critical, or overly interesting either!!).

If I were to get the 1W ones, which says the range is 6kms line of site.. What am I likely to see in an urban environment? All I require is a few hundred meters. Will these do that easily?

[vk6hgr]

If I were to get the 1W ones, which says the range is 6kms line of site.. What am I likely to see in an urban environment? All I require is a few hundred meters. Will these do that easily?

Yep, should do that easily.

[Pty]

Hi, i recently purchased these .7w :



And i'm not overly happy with them. My old .5w uniden kicks their arse. I get 2-3klm with my old one but i can only manage 1.5klm with these 0.7w ones.

The security company i hire use uhf cb handhelds and they don't seem to have any issues but i would suggest utilising CTCSS as they often have to change channels due to interference. The distance they cover is about 3-400 metres and through the buildings 1w ONLY just covers it sometimes. They use headsets for discreet use.

I suggest getting the 1.5w if you're out on the streets and need distance more than 1klm. Otherwise the 1w ones should cover up to 1klm easily, even in buildings/built up areas.

[PRC-495]

I am going to be purchasing some walkie talkies in the next week or so, for security purposes.

They will be used in suburban areas in and around houses, they will also be used in surrounding streets (to aid with surveillance), upto a few hundred meters away.

How many watts is really required for this kind of work? I have looked at two different models:
http://www.uniden.com.au/AUSTRALIA/p_uh047sx2_index.asp - $199
http://www.uniden.com.au/AUSTRALIA/p_uh060sx2_index.asp - $299

The first is 1 watt, the other is 1.5watts. What sort of performance difference would I notice with these walkie talkies, seeing as they say they have 6 and 8 kms line of site distance? Bearing in mind there will be complete houses in the way from the houses to the walkie talkies on the street?

Thanks..

A 1 watter should do that job easily mate. If not a 5 watt deffinantly. I reccomend you get something that can do low and high power. i.e 1 watt low 5 watt high. Then run it on 1 watt and you will save alot of battery and it wont get chewed up quickly = hours of constant use.

Good luck, hope you find something to do the job.

[auntys_eyes]

Good luck, hope you find something to do the job.

PRC-495 - Do you bother to look at the dates that posts were put up??? Many of the posts that you have replied to of late are quite old. This one for example is nearly 2 years old (5/12/05), and this person (dan) hasn't posted since 14/12/05

Me thinks you're wasting your time

[PRC-495]

Good luck, hope you find something to do the job.

PRC-495 - Do you bother to look at the dates that posts were put up??? Many of the posts that you have replied to of late are quite old. This one for example is nearly 2 years old (5/12/05), and this person (dan) hasn't posted since 14/12/05

Me thinks you're wasting your time

Everyone is welcome to their opinion
If the person asking the question can't benifit from my responce maybe another reader browsing the forum can.

[Lucas_arts_182]

the point of this beeing a public forum is that anyone can read it , so if another person comes along with the same problem later they can read it and if 495 is gonna give correct information on the topic , who is going to stop him??