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What the radio actually does, next to what the box said.
What are you using
Where you are
The box says
Packaging for this class of radio claims up to 36 miles. That figure is real — it was measured between two mountain tops with nothing in between. At ground level you will get 1–3 miles, and no amount of power changes that.
Why
VHF and UHF travel in straight lines. They do not bend around the earth, so the first hard limit is the horizon: about 1.4 × the square root of your antenna height in feet. For this setup the absolute ceiling — flat ground, zero obstructions, perfect conditions — is roughly 6.9 miles. Trees, houses and hills take it down from there.
Height is the lever, not power. Get the antenna higher and everything improves; turn the power up and mostly the battery goes flat.