I have upgraded to a 1 watt radio, but even with good dipole antennas I am only getting around 800 meters through trees and buildings (much more when up in the air of course). Better antennas may help, but I am considering using more power and 5 watt amplifiers appear to be possible to connect to the 3DR/Hope transmitter modules. I am concerned about transmitting and receiving with one module though. Has anyone done this before and know if the receiver circuit could be disconnected from the transmitter and bypass the 5 watt amplifier, so that it could transmit and receive half duplex with one antenna?
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You guys are right. It should be MHz. I was typing fast and didn't think about it. I read something on the 3dr radio wiki about a company called Shireen that makes a 900mhz bidirectional amplifier with 12dB transmit gain, and 18dB receive gain that I may look into. I'm not sure how many watts that would be.
I would think that designing a better antenna would be more cost effective way to increase range... Its no secret that the rubber duckie antennas on both your HT on 440Mhz and the 3DR radios are quite poor and absorb most of the signal they accept. Even a simple wire dipole properly tuned should get a better range.
also a ham...
In the US the FCC frowns on that. If you have a valid FCC Ham license you can legally increase your power to 1.5 Watts. With the right antennas that should get you about a 5 mile range. But now you would be violating the FAA regulations. The fine now is $250,000.00 and up to I think 10 years in federal prison. ARS K7OOZ
Sandy
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