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You will be better off tuning a non ground plane antenna with those third brake light mounts as you will only be getting a good ground plane in front of the antenna. My 2010 F150 is all steel but it is pretty thin. The mag mount will hold the Comet 2x4SR at highway speeds but even a small tree branch will knock it off. I will definitely look into adding reenforcement of some type when I finally decide to drill for a permanent NMO mount.

I’ve seen these discussed here on the forum, they are definitely pricey but it’s an option. Third Brake Light Antenna Mount - 2017-2025 Ford Super Duty

Yup, anything not getting out of the duplexer is heating the duplexer up. I suppose same with SWR, but not as dramatic. As for the tuning Marc had done for me the range didn't really increase that much but the clarity of the signal did. And the sensitivity of the repeater receiver vs being able to receive the transmitted signal on the HT was affected. The repeater could hear me but a lot of times I was just barely in range of the repeater. Whereas before I couldn't even trigger the repeater. I only moved up to a 100 watt duplexer because the transmitter pushes 71 watts at 13.8 volts and I have to reduce that to maintain below 50 watts after the duplexer. I've hear that a 50 watt duplexer does well up to about 35 watts in and after that doesn't. And I can say that a 50 watt duplexer doesn't do well with 65 watts in even though if you look at the specs it says 50-80 watts in.

I hadn’t considered that aspect. I absolutely agree with that and if @WSEL330 is experiencing any of those problems a replacement duplexer, correctly tuned to the right frequencies could certainly be worth the investment.

Unfortunately none of these are John Deere green: 17.5inchX11.5inch Large Stainless Steel Plate for Magnets, 3M Adhesive Back, Mounting Screws, Ideal for Magnetic Shelf, Spice Holders, Fridge Magnets. Mount Anywhere! (Silver, 1 PACK) https://a.co/d/7FDxliM

I've been working with @LeoG to optimize his repeater setup by testing and tuning his duplexer. We dramatically improved notching and the band-pass losses and SWR. Leo seems happy with the way things are working, but I'm not convinced there is a noticeable improvement in coverage. He has reported improvements in some places and reductions in others. I will say that improving tuning makes the radio happy. Less overheating, better duty cycle will translate to longevity for your repeater. Even if you don't get more usable range, it is still ideal to optimize tuning.

How about something like this Larson bracket?

Unless you like spending money with nothing of consequence to show for it, I wouldn’t. The difference in range between 24 and 48 watts will be nearly zero. Think of it this way: if your radio has a signal strength meter that displays the strength of your received signal, one S-unit is equivalent to 6 dB. In other words, to go from S8 to S9, you would have to quadruple your RF output power. Second, please tell us how and where you measured your output power and what kind of coax cable you have going to your antenna. Specifically, have you measured your RF output right where the coax connects to the antenna? A lot of times people unintentionally convert their radio’s output power to heat by using the wrong coax for UHF. So, how long is your coax and what type is it. Also, sometimes placing your antenna below the canopy will get you through vegetation better than raising it up into the thick part of the vegetation.

Nice! I travel to Texas quite a bit. Maybe we'll encounter one another on the road.

It's an interesting idea. I'd also like to know how it works in practice.

I don’t think Frank is running a Mac at all. He has only spoken about running Linux.

I was thinking that too.....I may update with the make and model when I get home.

Sounds like a crappy duplexer or it's not tuned correctly. That' about a 3dB loss when it should be on the order of 1.5dB or less, 1.2dB being typical of a normal mobile 6 cavity duplexer.

Or a glass-mount antenna.

If the tool box itself is aluminum, bolt on or 3M 5200 a round piece of ferrous steel on top of the tool box. 3M 5200 is permanent.

Have you tried using Editcp? Third party CPS software for the MD-380, 390, RT3S and a few others that claims to be able to upload/download and edit codeplugs to the radio via USB and runs under Linux native. https://www.farnsworth.org/dale/codeplug/editcp/

If through the roof NMO mounts are not desirable; I would do something like this.

Fascinating stuff! Thank you all! Marc: In depth stuff, digging it. It is obvious now but didn't consider seasonality in that way. Leo: Yeah, I'm loosing on the order of about 20W giving me 24ish Watts out of a repeater outputting 48W. I have the ability to have 2 separate antennas with separation over several wavelengths. The rest of the crew: I hear ya, A solid, good/great antenna. I am working on that!

Maybe it's just early and I'm not sufficiently caffeinated, but...six? Does that mean you had six different antenna on your truck? Which would mean that you had six different radios in your truck? What could possibly be the reason to have six radios in your truck?

I’ll see if I can find something like that I think it would help a lot. I did screw a 12 inch diameter pizza pan to the combine fiberglass roof and ran a grounding cable to the frame of the combine to try to limit noise. Farm equipment has so much interference it’s insane. If counterpoise truly means anything to these radios it would be a nightmare to bond anything on the machine

Do you remember where you got those mounts at? They look clean and I’d only need one. Any issues with water infiltration in the cab after install?

@TNFrank I haven’t tried it yet but qdmr seems promising and supports the RT3S, assuming the issue you’re running into is something with Wine/virtualization: https://dm3mat.darc.de/qdmr/

My solution was a NMO mounts thru the roof. Had 6 on my 2018.

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I have no interest in how you run Linux. Just thinking about it, gives me heart palpitations!! Please give me more details about this statement: I would like to recreate your workflow to see why you were not successful with Windows 10 in VirtualBox. Also, please link me to your download of VirtualBox, and let me know which version of OS X is on your Mac.