UHF CB or PRS Radio Q & A

Getting the Best Antenna Performance

This is a genuinely tricky question with several variables at play, but the guiding principle is simple: height matters more than raw radio power. Mount your antenna as high as possible on your vehicle and try to get at least 50% of it above your roofline.

Handheld Range and How to Extend It

Handheld radios usually run in the 1-2 watt range, sometimes up to 5 watts (though higher power drains batteries faster). Lower-powered radios might give useful coverage at ground level over about 1km if one or both users are inside buildings or structures. Outside, with relatively few obstacles, coverage may exceed 2km.

For a longer link, say 15km, a 5 watt radio can get there in optimal conditions, no obstacles, clear atmosphere. A telescoping antenna on a handheld can meaningfully increase usable range over the short flexible antenna most handhelds ship with. Installing an outside antenna at one end of the link is another option, and if one end sits well above the other and clear of obstacles, you might see 10-15km or more.

Repeaters: Going Beyond Line of Sight

If you need genuinely longer range, a repeater is the answer. It's a dedicated receiver and transmitter pair that picks up signals from low-power handheld or mobile radios and retransmits them using a better antenna and more power, extending the range of a typical handheld by a considerable distance.

The actual distance depends entirely on the system design and location. A repeater sited high atop a mountain can put you in touch with another station well over 100km away, a genuinely different proposition to talking direct.

VHF vs UHF: What's the Real Difference?

VHF and UHF simply refer to different parts of the radio spectrum. VHF covers 30 MHz to 300 MHz and includes many public safety and business systems, FM broadcasting, and aviation radio. UHF covers 300 MHz to 3 GHz.

As demand for radio spectrum has grown and technology has improved, many applications that once used VHF have moved, or are moving, to UHF. In practice, VHF's longer wavelength suits open ground and water, while UHF's shorter wavelength handles buildings and dense terrain better, which is why farms and marine users tend toward VHF and construction or urban users toward UHF. For a deeper dive into the physics behind this, see our guide to radio frequency explained.

Radio vs Mobile Phone, and How Much Power You Need

A mobile phone is ideal for one-to-one calls, but it's not built for short-range, point-to-point communication where you need frequent, quick contacts. Dialling and waiting for a connection adds delay every time. With a handheld radio, you push the talk button and speak without delay, and if several people need to talk at once, you simply put them all on the same channel, everyone hears each transmission.

How much power you need depends on how you're using the system. As a general rule, use the least power necessary, it reduces interference for other local users. Handheld radios typically run 1-5 watts. For genuinely higher-power needs, licensed commercial mobile (vehicle-mounted) systems can run from 5 watts up to 50 watts, a different category entirely from PRS, which is capped at 5 watts by law. The right power level depends on your terrain, your licensing, and what you're actually trying to achieve.