"Kyle Boatright" wrote in message
...

My recollections from physics 20+ years ago is that radio wave strength is
determined by the cube root of the transmitter strength. So, a 10w radio has
twice the power of a 5w radio. The cube root of 2 (twice the power) is 1.26,
meaning that the higher powered radio should have 26% more range than the low
powered radio.

Another way of saying the same thing is that to double the range, you must
quadruple the power.

I think Kyle has stated the theoretical difference. The actual difference
is that you likely won't notice any difference caused by the difference in
output power. The antenna and the modulation quality probably matter more than
the output power.


One thing to consider is that a 10w radio will have an easier time
overpowering a distant signal, so your transmissions get "stepped on" less.

That is a small (but valid) consideration. Another valid consideration is
that the higher power radio will cause more interference. Particularly when
transmitting on Unicom channels that are reused by nearby airports.