John wrote:
Can anyone tell me what the difference in performance would be between
(handhelds): a 5w GMRS vs. a 5w Marine VHF in mountain terrain
(ignoring legalities.)

Your comments are appreciated.


Hi John,

You will get many comments about legalities, and some about antennas,
and some about radios.

If they don't mention the fact that Marine VHF (150-170 MHz) and GMRS
(460 MHz) have very different abilities, then you should not pay a lot
of attention to what else they say.

Many times, VHF and UHF act very similarly, and over water, that may be
more so, but if people who answer your post don't mention any of those
at first, then it means (at best) they didn't read your post. That
means that you should give their post as much credence as they gave yours.

They probably didn't even notice that you were asking about mountain
terrain. That is a big part of the question. OK, maybe it's 99% of the
question to consider. All the other stuff is interesting, but it
doesn't answer the question. My 2c only.

All the best,

Dave


p.s. If you would like to exchange email about this, my posting address
here will be good for 6 days or so. I'd be happy to give you my regular
email address if you want to talk about VHF vs. UHF in mountainous
territory. I live in NH where the state cops still use 46 MHz (low VHF,
covers the hilly "Granite State").