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The GMN1 gmrs radio is a similar form factor but even smaller. I was wondering if it has been discontinued?. It was a tiny little thing. Think it was a Retevis. I looked all over internet for it to buy and can’t find them in the usual places.

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I recently bought a pair of these radios. They work fine for simplex. I’ve tried several local repeaters and the radios key up the carrier but the audio doesn’t work. As in I can receive audio but not transmit audio, all while the repeater seems to receive the signal.

so what radio do you run?

There are counterfeits of almost everything that is good. It is possible that you bought fakes. There are websites that show how to tell the difference between the legit Nagoyas and Diamonds. Directly speaking of the fake Diamond antennas, they are obvious if you have had a real one in your hand and know what the real ones look like. Going back to your testing. You did not mention testing across the frequencies/bands for each antenna. Most usually favor one side of the band more than the other. Ideally they would be tuned for center, but that is less than optimal if you end up using it primarily on one end of the band or the other

Well yea, that does change the picture.. i can imagine the moon roof will add more complications to the headliner removal. You may have to drop the whole headliner because the moonroof will not let you tilt down the headline form one side. You also dont want to route the coax along either outer edges of the headline because that will impede the air bag function. There are front fender mount options that mount under the hood and wrap around the hood by the cowl area. I had a jeep mount that worked well for that. The Mag mount works well too until you get into a good rain storm.. Don't ask me how i know that one. Good Luck. defiantly visit YouTube and see if you can get any ideas on difficulty for your headliner. It could be easier then you think and vis a versa. Good luck

And using cables with the Prolific chip can be problematic to get running on Mac's. It's easier to deal with Prolific drivers on Windoze computers than to get them to work on Mac's. I haven't even bothered trying to run any version of Windows in VMWare on my M4 Mac. I kept my Intel based 2108 Mac around for that.

I fully understand not wanting to drill holes into your vehicle. I have yet to get the courage up to drill my 2023 Ford Escape. Plus I don't feel confident removing the headliner with all of the curtain air bags. Having a sun/moon roof definitely restricts where you can drill a hole for a NMO mount. If you get acceptable results with a mag mount at the back edge of the cab then the third brake light mount will work for you. You will still have to deal with pulling at least part of the headliner down to run the coax though. Only you can decide if the third brake light mount is worth the money, time, and effort. If it was me, I would look into a NMO mount since you have to remove the headliner for either one.

I didn't want to drill any holes in my Tacoma. I found a mount that attaches to the rear of the bed using existing bolts. They make similar ones for other trucks. Installation on mine was remove two bolts, then reinstall them with the mount in place. I used an NMO mount on the bracket so I could easily remove the antenna to prevent theft. Wiring ran underneath the edge of the bed and into the cab through a "overpressure vent" on the rear of the cab. Zero holes drilled.

@WRYZ926 Great information here. Thanks!! I was aware that the different ground plane clearances of the various conductive sections of my truck (Hood, Cab & Bed) would alter the reflective properties of the RF counterpoise. I was not aware that the vertical distance between the antenna on the cab and my truck bed, although more than a wavelength at GMRS frequencies, would effectively nullify all effectiveness of my truck bed as a ground plane!! I'll certainly need to research and read up on that... My current magnet mount has been placed very near the 3rd tail-light location and suffers from the same ground plane issues and so far the performance has been acceptable to me. I currently use a 5/8 wave GMRS antenna (although I'm not married to it - on rare occasions I swap it out for my 2M/70cm antenna) and at GMRS frequencies only about 15" of surface area is needed for an effective ground plane. So, if RF optimization were my ONLY consideration, shifting that GMRS antenna forward a few inches from the rear of the cab would probably be close to as good as it is going to get for my vehicle... Many of the comments thus far suggest just biting the bullet and drilling that 5/8" hole in the roof of the cab of my truck and installing an NMO mount as the best approach. I really do appreciate the feedback and comments! But OUCH... I just have a real aversion to that, and most likely will never do so and would rather just live with a magnet mount. Perhaps I should have mentioned in my OP that my truck has a retracting moon roof which significantly complicates things as far as drilling and mounting anything in the roof of the cab more than a few inches forward of that 3rd tail-light because of the sliding glass, retraction motor, etc. of the moon roof inside the roof of the cab. And yes, the moon roof glass too impacts my ground plane to some degree. If it's not one thing, it's another... But still I'm seeking the convenience of some kind of permanent mount, even if not optimal from an RF perspective, which as stated in the OP, is why I'm looking at whatever alternate mounting solutions I can find. Hood/fender mounts are often a no-drill option but those too often force you to route the coax thru an RF noisy engine compartment. They also tend to force you to mount them on either the right or left side of the vehicle which alters the radiating pattern to the sides, not to mention that you usually end up with the antenna being lower than the cab of the truck thus causing a certain amount of unwanted RF reflection if not some signal blockage. I conceded that there is no perfect solution, and things are never as simple as they may sound. So, while I'm not yet SOLD on this 3rd tail-light mount, and it is very expensive, thus far it seems to be a path to solve my specific problem. This is why I'm looking for folks with first-hand experience specifically with these 3rd tail-light types of mounts, even though any and all feedback is much appreciated! Thanks again...

at least part of the problem is that to run on a Silicon Mac, you have to use Windows 11 for ARM.. and there was a big change in the driver arkatekture for Windows 11, and even more issues because its the ARM version.. it is a common (and as yet unsolved) issue for many radios/cables.

Are you sure that you have the appropriate driver for the type of cable you are using? It appears that the radio is not communicating with the computer. You need to check the device manager and see if you have the correct port setting selected in the CPS and match the port selection that the computer is trying to assign.

i've seen NMO reinforcment plates but i think they are meant to be used under a fiberglass roof.. Think i seen them on DX but can't remember

I mostly want the IC-9700 since it is 100 watts and it does SSB. Plus I don't like the all band "shack in the box" radios. where you put all of your eggs in one basket. My Icom IC-7300, which replaced the FTDX10 with a bad USB port, has served me well.

Oh, I am so happy I bought my 9700 when it came out. Amazing radio. My stacked beams add to the fun.

Adding a fender washer to a NMO mount is a smart thing to do especially if your cab is aluminum. I looked at the third brake light mounts when I had my 2020 Ranger but decided not to get one, mostly due to the price. Plus I would have had to run an even shorter antenna on the Ranger than what I run on the Escape.

The last time I setup VMWare and any virtual machines, VMware did ask me if I wanted to pass through networking and USB ports. It was not automatic when setting up everything. This was with VMware on my 2018 Mac mini and my M4 Mac mini.

I would love to purchase an Icom IC-9700 but that sure is not in the budget anytime soon. I haven't even looked to see how the tariffs are effecting my other hobbies such as model railroading.

I would be very surprised if the final output transistor in your radio would let its smoke out even if full power were reflected.

It does it automatically in VMware, but you can have it setup to NOT default to connect at the start of the VM. I purposely set it up that way to be able to chose between the host or guest when I plug as cable in..

Definitely neat gear for people that don't want to drill a hole in the roof. Just go through the pain of drilling the 3/4" hole in the roof and install a shiny new NMO mount and be done with it. And for added strengthening add a thin fender washer behind the mount to distribute the force if you hit low hanging branches or go into parking garages.

Yep! And that's why I just bought bought a shiny new 2025 Honda Goldwing 50th Anniversary before the next batch comes in with the attached tariff. I'm in the process of removing my radio gear from the 2018 Goldwing and transferring it over. I wasn't ready for this, but I figured I better jump on it before it's too late. In a couple days I'll be GMRSing in style.

I wasn't for sure about Parallels since I've never used it. But I do know that you sometimes have to double check those settings when using VMWare. Though generally VMWare will ask you to allow passthrough when first setting up a virtual machine.

Not easily overlooked with Parallels! Parallels pops up and asks if you want to allow it every time you plug in a device.

im noticing some pretty good hikes on 3D printers ad laser etchers.. I wanted the new AMS for my Bambu labs 3D printer. A week ago i could have saved $125.. OH well, i keep using the version 1 that i have.