Long Range Radio

I see people do a lot search about long range radio communication. Maybe they want to buy two way radio communication and make their own research before they buy the radio. But are they now, how long a communication radio can establish is depend several things?

Sure the most important thing is the radio capabilities itself. The two way radio equipped with high power transmission is had better opportunity of long range radio communication. But sometime this factor is not the key. Lower power two way radio communication in some condition possible to make longer range two way radio communication.

Second factor is the antenna used. A directional and higher gain antenna commonly will result longer range radio communication rather than non directional antenna. But higher gain also mean higher noise you will create and higher noise you will get also on your radio receiver unit.

Third is the antenna position. The success key is "higher is better". On VHF and above bands, when a pair communication radio must can "see" each other, place the antenna on high level will give best two way communication radio result. But please be careful if you place an non-directional antenna at hill top or mountain top, your transmission can spread very wide to whole area. It's possible to add unnecessary noise to other radio communicatio service. So it's best to place a direction antenna system on a high place.