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I had 2 of the 17 Pro GPS radios and while I could get them programmed with the modified software the batteries would drain overnight. Something in the radio would cause a full power battery to glitch to half then back up to full so something wasn't right.

Does anyone have either of these and if so how well do they work? I've heard big praise for the BF-F8HP Pro but not much about the UV-28. Both are supposed to have GPS. Any info ya'll can give would be much appreciated.

Randy's antenna is between 0' and 45,000' at or above sea level. This is why he gets to look down on we lowly peasants from his ivory tower on that glowing hillside somewhere between Seattle and Baja.

i had a plate that came with my Surecom and lost it somewhere. Never used it. In fact, i have never bothered to check SWR on my HT's.. They are designed to withstand high SWR in various conditions.. I wouldn't worry about it. You would probaly spend more for a plate than another Baofeng Radio anyway

Welcome! and, just FYI - if you plan on using that plate for measuring the SWR on handheld antennas, dont bother. Even with the plate, you will never get a true/accurate SWR reading that reflects how the antenna will perform when used on the handheld. Some say this is why they stopped including the (virtually useless) plates with the meter.

Welcome to the forum!

Ok thank you for your time and help with my being new

Yes, but it’s not crucial; use whatever thickness he has.

Okay nubie time I bought a shortcom Sw102 swr meter it did not come with the grounding plate I have a friend who works in a metal shop going to ask him to make one for me but I would like to know is what does the one by 1 mm mean for that plate is that the thickness of the metal

How so? I think he gave an accurate description of terrain and and other obstacles play a key role in distance and performance. It's totally and other foolish and breaks every terrestrial and celestial boundary of human stupidity to think otherwise.

It's only relevant on "high site" antennas - those mounted on hill tops and peaks. For a repeater in an urban/suburb area it's best thought of as a control station rather than a repeater.

If given both elevation and antenna height (along with distance and bearing) it is absolutely relevant. It's foolish to claim otherwise.

It's because it really is irrelevant. Unless they give you height above terrain, it means nothing. Even then, unless you're familiar with the topography of the land, it can mean very little. My antenna is 40 foot above ground. However my elevation, while not bad for 'the area' is bad for my exact area, as everything around me is taller. Found a house we loved, if only it'd been on a mountain, or at least not in depression by a river. I can run 40 watts, or 100 (only in testing) and my distance is maintained. My next hope is to buy an old tree trimming truck, and turn it in to a tower lol.

Not very far from my experience. At one end of the super store it comes in pretty bad. I'm not running an airband antenna though, just a 771G. I can hear them out in the parking lot pretty clear and at times I've heard them at my house which is about 1.25 miles by way of crow. But that's rare.

What's the typical range on these Walmart transmissions? The one close to me is 4-5 miles. I can get 2m simplex from someone who lives near it. If Walmart uses an antenna on the roof I might be able to receive it. I used to get Dollar Gen. distribution center 10 miles away on 460 business band (not where I live now). The highway flagmen here use FRS/GMRS frequencies without callsigns. Whether they're using FRS radios though is questionable based on range and signal strength.

Smart man! That's a really nice setup you have. You bought a V71a, the best dual band radio in the history of amateur radio. As for antennas, get the PulseLarsen NMO2/70BLarsen for the V71a and a simple 1/4 wave NMO mount for GMRS and you will be extremely happy. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-000565

Toss the old hardware in the trash and load all your radio programming software in a virtual machine on a late model PC using the appropriate OS,whether 32 or 64 bit, and save yourself a lot of heartache. All radio professionals do it this way as time is money and they are intelligent and refuse to dick around with all these unnecessary problem.

It's and ancient Chinese secret and we are sworn to secrecy. You don't need to know what's in the dumplings you enjoy. Why do you think you have the right to know what someone's antenna height is?

The Walmart in my area doesn't use MURS, but I do hear some road construction crews using it from time to time. It's usually the "flaggers" that tell you to stop or go when working on a 2 lane road. I hear them chatting back and forth.

Ditto, plus if you're using a 2 radio set you can see where the 2nd person is relative to your position. It's also be handy to let someone with the 2nd radio to know where you're at if you get lost or hurt. For $30 or so bucks it's a handy feature to have.

Would work for me

I did a scan while I was in WalMart and it showed up as 154.57125. I've programmed it in and everytime we go grocery shopping I have it on. I hear the overhead announcements, manager to employee, the auto button announcement to unlock different items and of course the carriage collector. The wife and I have a blast with it.

I watched a YouTube video of a couple of travelers being given a tour of the station I'm planning long term here, I plan to retire in 2030, as a gift to myself, I want to go out to SoCal, see Disneyland 75th Anniversary, & of course I'll swing by Station 127

I told the people at work that 'I identify as WSEL330' spoken phonetically. HR hates me.

You could try to Fox hunt it AND what about the skid marks in the driveway?