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less than 10 paragraphs and no big technical-sounding words, so you did good!

You are seeing loss from the coax and/or the antenna. Using quality coax and a good antenna with some gain will help overcome any loss. A dummy load will show a perfect match of 50 ohms, there won't be any loss with the dummy load. @OffRoaderX was that a simple response? I know I have a ways to go to catch up to @SteveShannon

Most folks seem to have no idea what GMRS is. Anytime someone asks about my antenna on my truck the think it's CB.

With the XTL series you can two control head.. you have to obtain a special cable and program it properly. The option is designed for special applications like fire trucks

Yeah but what exactly is the problem? Is it the tones? Is it the offset? What are you using the program it?

Only if you remove the battery.

Because reasons... That's why its always best to measure with a dummy-load.. A radio-dork will come along momentarily to write a 10-paragraph explanation that makes them look really smart, but basically says the same thing.

I checked it with a dummy load and got a consistent 18 watts, which is about what I would expect, given the loss due to the duplexer. I'm puzzled about why I get different power readings with different antennas, though. If someone can explain it, please do. I'm still learning.

Sorry, no. I do what @LeoG recommended. It's surprisingly capable for a $25 radio, but it's still a $25 radio. You can't expect everything.

So, if I turn my phone off at my home, it won't be detectable again until I turn it back on?

True, but I was actually thinking of vehicle-mounted radios. When I think of CB, I still think of mobile units. Probably because I'm old.

Programming my radio to the repeater

i had similar experience with a cowel mounted Midland antenna on my JK, which i dearly miss

What exactly is the problem that you're having?

This is correct.. The antenna on both my Jeeps is mounted on the rear tailgate where all of the "experts" have decreed it "will not work!!!1" because the lack of a perfect ground plane.. It is true the antennas would likely perform better with a good ground plane but both antennas have an SWR of around 2, and I regularly talk with people dozens of miles away, and was able to hit a repeater 93 miles away.

DO I ?? Yesssireee, N9ZAS

The need for a ground plane are overrated. Here's a pic of the NMO2/70B on my new 2025 Goldwing, which is mounted in the right rear. As you can see there's no ground plane and the performance is equal to the NMO2/70B on the roof of my truck. You couldn't tell the difference in a double-blind test. I can hold a repeater in Baltimore all the way to down to the Patuxent river bridge in Southern Maryland with both vehicles. If there's an antenna any better than the Larsen I haven't found it.

When a radio-dork says "CW", 99.9999999999999998% of the time, he is talking about, referring to, or eluding to Morse-Code... Do you even have a license bro?

I use the 2X4 with no ground plane and it's Consistently 1.2 -1.4.1 on 2m/ Murs/70cm/ and Gmrs and even covers 222mhz. @1.5.1 swr although it's not really intended for that band. The previous antennas are no ground plane, but seem to perform better with one.

Thank you, I'll check them out. I've looked into the SBB-5 but couldn't tell if it's NGP or not. Its product sheet says something like non-radial, but the CA2X4SR says the same on its product sheet, and definitely needs a ground plane.

If you use sort by date, you can usually figure out whether you are about to repeat something someone else posted a week earlier. Sort by votes can hide this from you.

The Comet SBB-5 are Excellent for mobile and even base use, and are ground independent. Also the Diamond SG-7900 as well with much more gain, and ground independent, but requires a permanent mount, or a 5" Magnet.

If you use FB on your phone its tracking you as well, Google maps keep track of your locations as well.

Yes this is correct, the continuous pinging was put into effect back in mid 90's early 2000's for the purpose of 911 being able to get your location if you were calling for help. The only way to stop it is to take your battery out. even powering it off will still send an LNL(last known location) ping just before its fully off.