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The belly fat one gets from the beer sticks around a lot longer.

At the last weekend's Two Rivers Off Road Club's 4x4 Blast, the Club made it official, they are moving from CB to GMRS. All of us on Saturday's run used GMRS and were impressed by the transmission clarity. There was a mix of HT's and mobiles.

I talk through repeaters that are 17 and 21 miles away so any little advantage I can get I'll take. The 3dBi gain of the Nagoya 771G helps a bit and keeps the conversation a bit more clear than the OEM antenna that comes with my H3. The length no longer bothers me since I've been using it for over a year now. Actually seem funny when I put the short Smiley antenna on it. But if you are only using it for HT to HT short range communications the OEM antennas are probably just fine. And that beer you buy with the money you could have put into antenna is gone in a half hour whereas the antenna should last you years. Buying rocks vs ice.

Like many have already started I have been through many different antennas when I was more active on the HAM side. I spent a lot of money on comet antennas and others. some were good, some maybe not so good. I learned my lesson, some antennas are better than OEM but it depends on the radio and how you are using them. When I started my GMRS journey I forgot the lesson I had learned with all of my HAM HTs. I now have a collection of GMRS antennas. I have determined that it depends on the radio and how you are using them. Amazing, I know. Actually the reason I was looking for different antennas with my GMRS radios was specifically to find a good flexible antenna that was at least as good on TX/RX as the OEM. I have 701s, 771s, Melowave Bandit Gs, a Smiley Slim Line, and even a Signal Stick cut for GMRS. All of them were tested on my KG-935G at specific distances in my mountain area. My big takeaway is nothing new; the longer antennas normally RX better when I'm on the ragged edge RX/TX. Anywhere else they all are about the same. With flexibility being my main desire I have a Smiley Slim line on my HT most of the time. If I am out in the mountains I carry a Melowave Bandit G in my pack in case I need the longer antenna. I haven't really had that need but it is easy to carry. I have found that the OEM antenna that came on my 925G is a very good antenna, but it is very stiff. The stiffer the antenna the more I am likely to catch it on something or poke my eye out again. Your experiences WILL vary.

This! Especially given what I use my GMRS HT's for, very short distance comms on the trail or around the spread or up at the cabin. Money spent on extra spendy fancy antennae is money better spent on boat cooler beer & ice! On the Amateur side of things, I so very rarely use an HT so it's pretty much a moot point, the rubber ducky that came with the radio is more than sufficient to get the farz I needs.

a long time ago i shelled out some good money ($45) for a Comet (i don't remember the model) HT dual band antenna. I never was able to ascertain the difference between that and the standard stock antenna. I gave up spending money on HT antennas and just use what came with the radio.. And honestly, considering they are HT's never been dissatisfied .

No one asked about that. He just came in here with the advice. And I want all people to follow all regulations so it's a nicer set of airwaves so that's not to dispute. I just found it odd that he decided to blurt that out.

I know,, Just saying, who many of us have a 5RM and refer to them as a UV5.. I do cause i'm a lazy 'ole fart

1. I don't understand why mag mounts are even being discussed. Pretty sure that was brought up as a joke lol Yeah, they're not a good fit for aircraft for obvious reasons. There's not usually a lot of steel in an airplane, outside of the engine mount. 2. There are air-to-air dedicated frequencies on the air-band. However: Not all air band radios, especially in older planes, allow dual watch for monitoring the Unicom or Controller frquency for your airspace, and also allow you to talk to your buddy in the plane next to you. And air band radios are expansive as hell. If you need an inexpensive solution to be able to talk to your buddy, adding a GMRS or FRS radio seems like a good option vs spending $$$ for another air-band radio. Hell, a lot of older and light sport aircraft aren't even required to have a radio installed, depending on the air space they fly in. If you fall into that category, are you going to spend $$$ for a 'real' air band radio for your plane that doesn't even have an electrical system? Or throw your GMRS handheld and a headset in your pack?

my first guess, they're using HT's . And my second guess, based on where i think they were flying, 25 miles from my location..

How many of those GMRS listeners are gong to record and log your flight path. My point is, the FAA records and retains and the less of any of that bread crumb the less headaches one might endure sometime down the road. The lesser of two evils is what im pointing out

Let the mission dictate the technology.....ISM band radios can be used in emergencies. Motorola series ISM radios are often used in build up areas, cities with lots of concrete and steel. Motorola even marketed these within many cities for emergency response teams (my employer is one that was pitched the DTR410/550/650 series radios) for use in emergency response efforts. I am in an area where UHF has over-saturated the radio spectrum, and 700/800/900 (920-928 MHz) MHz radios were touted as the next best thing. That being said, as mentioned above, the Motorola DTR series (and newer ISM versions that came out later) are limited in their power output. Range is then limited to 1-1.5 miles at best. The radios are expensive, and not rated as intrinsically safe for use in hazardous areas. When the original DTR series came out, I worked in the Oil & Gas Industry, for a company that had a fleet of steel ships (to clean up oil spills). The DTR series radios worked great aboard the vessels, as their signal could weave around the steel structure and you could communicate around the vessel, clearly. We tried the eXRS (eXtreme Radio Service) TriSquare radios before (they were trash), and settled on the Motorola DTR410 and DTR550's. I also put some school campus crews on the DTR series radios, assuring them that they were relatively secure (they had people listening to older UHF CP200 radios for children getting hurt on the playground.....people were listening in, and their license expired). ISM band does not require a license, the Motorola radios are built well (and cost a lot due to their build quality), and many vessels and teams use them here in the Pacific Northwest. However, many are in their default configuration.....no custom TalkGroups, or security settings. I keep one at my work desk to monitor traffic of vessels on a local river. Barges and tugs often can be heard, thinking their transmissions are "secure"....but they have default programming, I just have to turn it to the right "channel". For short range and clear radio comms on ships, buildings, and small campuses, they will work well. But, they are not very popular with the proliferation of VHF MURS and UHF FRS/GMRS radios. For emergencies, use whatever you can, or already have.

And it's one of @rdunajewski's rules for this site (the belittling part); he just needs to have some form of punishment for the violators. [I hard ignore all the regulars now, but your post deserved a comment.] Having members endorse breaking the rules is not a good reflection on his site. And I do not give a damn what the responses will be.

If you choose not to comply with regulations that’s your choice, but it’s wrong to belittle someone else who does a good job of explaining the regulations to someone who might not understand them.

Well that's how the regulations work. Myself if a family member, non resident, wants to use GMRS I would "suggest" they get their own license. Legally they could use mine, but if they had their own any issue with the FCC would be their problem not mine.

Nanny state alert.

You can listen to the air band with a UV-5R but it won't sound very good since the radio doesn't have an AM receiver. And FM transmitters won't transmit on AM. Get a scanner if you really want to listen to air band frequencies. The stall speed for planes is around 100-115 MPH. Smaller/lighter planes have a lower stall speed compared to commercial jets. I wonder what speeds a magnet mount will hold up to. They hold fine up to 80 MPH on most vehicles. Plus the fact that most aircraft bodies are made from aluminum or other light weight materials so a magnet mount won't work.

You will not hear the helicopters. 122.750 MHz is designated for fixed wing aircraft, that means airplanes that have stationary wing(s). If a helicopter (rotary wing) meaning having a wing that rotates and spins around needs to communicate with an airplane then you may hear a helicopter. Aeronautical freqs are amplitude modulation freqs., so I doubt that your Barfwanger Pandaland radio will emit Amplitude Modulation since they are frequency modulation radio devices.

No need to update firmware for your uses. You can if you want but not likely to change anything for you that is important. Just a note... since you say you are new to GMRS and Radio... Unless the other coaches are your family relatives, each one of you legally should get your own individual GMRS licenses. If they are family you can share, if not each person is licensed, not the radios. Another alternative, if the others use FRS radios (which use the same frequencies/channels as GMRS) but are lower power), they would not have to be licensed (FRS is a no license required service). You would be able to use your GMRS radio to communicate with FRS radios, and your family could use your GMRS radios with your callsign. Besides this, if you are only communicating from one side of the athletic field to the other, you probably don't need anything more powerful than FRS.

Uh... if you are transmitting on GMRS at the altitudes that planes fly... I would say you are not going to get a "somewhat private conversation"... every GMRS user 100 miles around is going to hear you.

I just wonder how well that cheap magmount antenna sticks to the airplane.

But that's not what he said he has.

He might have the M model.

Go ahead and tune your UV-5R to 122.750 and tell us how that works out.