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My truck is not aluminum, so I did not have the mag-mount issue, but I wanted something more permanent. I had the same hesitation about putting a hole in the roof of my cab. I also have a retractable sunroof that limits the placement of an NMO mount and coax cabling in that narrow space between the roof and the headliner. I ended up using a 3rd brake light mounting solution. NO REGRETS. It is not cheap, but it is a very clean install that works great with no holes in your vehicle.

Thank you for the reply. To clarify, The question is not about 'Why ham' and more about joining the ARRL. I enjoy this hobby as well as GMRS (I'm bought in for both in more ways than one). Thank you for your perspective. I 100% agree and feel the exact same way: "I'm getting into it because I think the antenna theory stuff is neat and POTA sounds like fun. It's more of a hobby thing than the stash of GMRS radios I use to actually talk to people in my group."

Thank you. I got it downloaded and tried hooking up the cable and found a new problem. The radio either won’t turn on when hooked up to the pc or will cycle self test.

The ARRL is a non-profit org representing amateur radio operators, so... not much to stash in the garage other than maybe the magazine (which I guess is an additional cost now?). You don't need to be a member to use amateur radios. Supporting the ARRL mostly just supports the hobby, as they're the biggest political advocate for amateur radio. Unless you mean why get into amateur radio in the first place, in which case: if you want to do more with radios than talk to the same four people and fiddle with antennas on your HT, ham radio is where it's at. HF bands can take advantage of atmospheric skip and you can talk over longer distances. It's less about "I want to talk to this specific person" and more about "I want to play with radios and learn about how they work". Plus you get to make connections with "anonymous men" as a certain someone likes to say. If all you want to do is talk to friends and family over short distances and you don't really care about the radio side of things, then GMRS is close enough to the UHF/VHF bands you get access to with a Technician license that it's probably moot. Also the radios get expensive (you don't need a fancy radio but even the one I want to get is $650 without an antenna or power supply and that would buy a lot of Baofengs) and HOAs usually aren't happy when people start installing antenna masts. I'm getting into it because I think the antenna theory stuff is neat and POTA sounds like fun. It's more of a hobby thing than the stash of GMRS radios I use to actually talk to people in my group.

I frequently talk to POTA activators on HF as they quickly confirm their QSOs and move on. I have never been a POTA activator. That being said, every state and federal park in the USA qualifies as a POTA location, making it easy to find a qualified park and start activating! Check out POTA’s website for more information: www.parksontheair.com

I did look this mobile up on CHIRP so it's listed and should be easy to program. I can even set it up at home so my wife can to "talk" to the BTech 20v2 GMRS in my truck if we ever have cell service go out. I'd like to try some 2M POTA if I can find a book with all the location coordinates in it so I'll know where I'm TX'ing from and where I'm getting the RX from.

Why join the ARRL. Pro's and Con's. Honest feedback please. I do see some of both but being new, I don't wanna get into something that turns into the treadmill or breadmaker in the garage.

foliage punch is what I was looking for. Now I will work on better coax, verify quality of connectors and connections, upgrade the antennas. OF COURSE, I am new and excited but I need to take time to evaluate the amount of RF junk and etc... in the shack of radios A.O. Oh yeah, get the truck outta the trees and gain elevation! Calling my realty person, LOL.

Welcome! We were in Big Bend National a few years ago. Great place.

Channel A display is the same as Channel B display. One needs to be Name and the other needs to be Frequency. Line 11 and 12

I've confirmed this too. I was able to hit my house with my repeater (50w) but the 20w base couldn't hit the repeater reliably. I swapped up to a 50w mobile at the house and now it's a reliable connection. Before it would come in some days and others I could barely hear it. Now I've changed a few things out and it's so much better.

Many of us are very happy with the Radioddity DB20-G a/k/a Anytone AT-779UV, mini-mobile, 20 watts, cigarette lighter plug, Chirp and easily opens to Ham radio 2 meters and 70 cm for about $99.

I think I kind of did too, just wanted to bounce the idea off of the group for confrontation.

I think you already answered your own question. The only benefit of getting one more HT is the water resistance. Yet you listed several new things that you can do with a mobile radio.

I'll be getting credit for the DMR radio I returned so I'm kicking around 2 possibilities to use it on. 1)Retevis RA89 HT. OR Retevis RT95 Mobile. I have quite a few HT's already but nothing with an IP67 rating so the RA89 would be a good outdoors radio because of the waterproof rating. The RT95 can be used with my solar power station and Yagi antenna as a Base/Mobile(think POTA)radio that'll give me 20+Watts on 2M/70cm and even GMRS in Mode2 so I could TX further than the 8-11w HT's I have. Plus, when funds allow I can set up a nice Base Station antenna at the house to get up in the air more. The mobile set-up would cost more and while portable it'd not be as portable as an HT. Still, it would be a step up over all the HT's I have and help me get to the next level in my GMRS/HAM journey. So, what do ya'll think,another HT or step up to a Mobile/Base Station rig?

Basically. Unlocks the radio to transmit wherever it's capable (ham, GMRS, and other places it probably shouldn't ever transmit). Similar to unlocking through software.

I actually have never attempted a hardware mod to any of my legacy Ham radios (pre-CCR), primarily because I am not involved with MARS/CAPS. I did not get involved with GMRS until I discovered that the UV-5R that I purchased from Amazon would communicate with my grandson's Motorola FRS radios. That being said, I note that Ham Radio Outlet and DX Engineering often sell a "MARS/CAPS" modification to many of their amateur radios being sold by them, that are capable of such modification. Given warranty issues on new purchases, I would suggest that is the way to go when purchasing a new radio.

I agree. It likely isn't worth the extra cost. If you can still get decent range and talk to those people or repeaters that you are wanting your signal to get to, then it doesn't really matter.

Did you try my codeplug? Let's say you drive I-95 to the Baltimore suburbs and want to enter the Ellicott City 650 repeater. https://www.mygmrs.com/map/2440 Go to Channel 36, and use your instructions to change the Tone in Menu 1: to 192.8 and this should work! What is wrong with this methodology? NOTE: I updated this codeplug slightly, so that if you downloaded the original one, please delete it and redownload this one, named Anytone AT-779UV GMRS 202509081100.dat

I have an aluminum 2020 F-150 and mounted a 2meter and GMRS antenna on each side of the 'BackRack'. Works OK, but not quite as well as the NMO in the center of my 2012's steel roof. Here's the 2 meter side - the other side is jammed into the tree and almost invisible.

That is just how it works with duplexers. You will always have a lower power output after the duplexer than what going in. How much loss will depend on the quality of parts used and how well tuned the duplexers are. I did an unscientific test to see if 50 watts had more reach than 20 watt. There is a GMRS repeater about 50-55 miles away and while I can get in at 20 watts, others had a hard time hearing me. My signal was loud and clear. The extra power did not get me anymore range but it did punch through foliage and other obstacles better than

Parents live in Sequim ... I am new as well!

Welcome, and safe travels to you!

Are you suggesting this for the sake of a magnet mount or for the sake of a ground plane? It looks to me like the tool box is using an through hole mount in which case ferrous metal isn't needed. And for ground plane, aluminum works just fine.

That was 48 Watts outta the repeater and 24 Watts outta the duplexer.... that loss is huge and lame at the same time!