I don’t think GMRS hand held radios are 5-watts when running on internal batteries. I would make a guess they are no more then 1.5 watts when battery powered. GMRS radios may be licensed to operate up to 5-watts by the FCC, but the power the radio would consume at 5-watts would kill a battery very quickly making them much less useful. So they balance the power output with battery life and you end up with a 1-mile radio on simplex.

I don’t think you can expect much more then 1-mile out of a pack radio, and the idea that anyone has their radio on within that range is unrealistic.

If there is a repeater within a few miles, (I don’t know if GMRS frequencies are covered by repeaters) I would think (assuming the repeater antenna is high in the air and in a good location) you could expect to get into a repeater from 5-miles. Hand held to hand held no more then 1-mile.


A ham radio hand held with a repeater guide would probably be a better choice. A 2-meter, radio would be the best choice as it’s the most popular and monitored more then other bands, and has more range then UHF radios.