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My family and I are moving to Gillette, Wyoming on May 22nd. While we will only be living on 20 acres, we will be running it as a homestead type of situation with some livestock, a greenhouse, and some other crops. Anyways, I'd like to run a GMRS setup on the property so that my family can communicate with one another with ease. I've been using GMRS a lot for off-roading in my Jeep and our SxS and I like it quite a bit. My thought is I'd like some nice handhelds for all of us as well as a repeater. The reason for the repeater being that I'd like extended range capability and I'd like to share it with others who might like to use it as well. That being said, I'm a buy once, cry once type of guy. I don't mind spending more money if it's going to get me something higher quality that will last longer. I've been looking at Midland, Rugged Radios, BaoFeng, and others. I'm interested in hearing what you guys would run in my situation and if there are any supporting sponsors of this forum I'd be happy to send my business your way. As far as budget goes, I'm thinking $2000 or less. I don't know as much about GMRS as I do about guns and Jeeps, but I'm learning! Thank you in advance and God bless!

Hello, have you had any luck programing your radio?

If you are going to do a Base setup, and I encourage that you do, the most effective setup for what you seem to need is to have the Middle residence have the Base. Now granted... all of you should have a base! But that may or may not be practical in the short term. IF the Middle location has a decent base with a good antenna, and good feed line, at or above the roof, you'll be amazed how much range 'they' will have with lesser powered HTs and mobiles. 40-50w mobiles and base stations should have no problem getting 10miles out. Granted, terrain always dictates, so this isn't exact in every application. An attic antenna isn't a terrible way to start with the base station either. Even a mobile antenna on a mag mount on a pie pan or piece of sheet steel (old computer tower) up in the attic will get you increased range with the height. The roof will inhibit the signal somewhat, but the height will gain more than the hindrance. Be sure to get an SWR meter for this frequency range. It's a must have for new stations and something you'll use many times down the road. Surecom's are popular, among others. Have fun and good luck with your setups!

I have to admit, I had to look that one up because I had no idea what moral turpitude was, but now that I know I don't want anyone saying I had it when they do my obituary.

Not for me. Running Win10 and the CPS will not load whether the programming cable is plugged in or not, lacking a dll, the name of which escapes me. Not mention of this issue on the Retevis site and nowhere to d/l the needed dll

It’s much easier and less embarrassing to act cryptic rather than having the moral turpitude to admit his mistake and take his lumps.

It's just another excuse. If he gets called out and pushed for more details, he'll make up some lie to justify acting like a dickhead.

The best advice is to read a lot of threads in this forum and start learning what works and what doesn't. Ask a lot of questions as well. There are a lot of topics on improving range and getting the most from your installation on the net. There's so much to learn, just take it slow so you don't get overwhelmed. Again, it's all about research and not thinking any question is not worth asking. Most of all, have fun.

Yes elevation above obstructions is your friend. If you and your contact can safely climb onto the roof of your houses with the radios as a test to see if that helps then you will know that it is possible and that a roof top or high window location for a remote antenna should work. Don't forget to hold the radios/antennas vertical for best performance.

My wife and I took a driving trip last week to Utah and Arizona. We spent most of our time in Southern Utah. Ahead of the voyage I looked up all of the listed repeaters in the areas we would be travelling. I requested access to three repeaters and received a response from one repeater owner (thanks WRVI568). I loaded everything onto my 935G+ and used it with a mag mount mobile antenna. I also loaded 2m repeaters into a VX-6R with a stock antenna. I eventually just used the stock antenna on the 935G+ as well. I scanned GMRS channels and repeaters most of the time. We drove through multiple National Parks where I heard the only GMRS traffic for the whole trip and that was on FRS. I was scanning on 2m and heard a short communication out in the middle of nowhere on simplex. I did test a couple of the repeaters to make sure I was getting out. We stayed out of the larger towns and mainly stuck to the scenic routes. We carried radios when we did some hiking but stayed together so we never used them. When we got back to Northern Arizona I scanned railroad frequencies with the 935G+. I'm a nerd and enjoyed hearing the EOT signals and occasional yard conversations. In AZ we drove old Route 66 from Williams to Needles. Really enjoyed the Burma Shave signage. It was a great trip. That is how I enjoy using radios when travelling.

Well that’s a bit cryptic…..

It can help and hurt. Most springs are calculate into the length of the radiating (active) length of the antenna. For instance, the comet 2x4sr (think this post is the one you are referring to) is about the same length as the section that is removed to install it. It would not affect anything. You can actually tune the antenna by unlocking the allen grub screws and increase or decrease the length of the antenna smidgen. But because of it being a collimeter design it can be a bit tricky to do right. Which is unlike cb antenna steel whips. Which are technically too short, most commercial whips are about 102". By adding the 6" spring to the base it brings it closer to the natural resonance length. Give or take with spring it's 108". Resonance is about 108-112" (true 1/4 length) for 11mhz/cb. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Nobody can answer that with any accuracy more than "maybe".. The only way to know is to try it. If you can't reach them, then next step before base setups would be by connecting both radios to mobile-antennas on a cookie-sheet and put them in a high-up window.. This will greatly extend the fars.

I should know this but if I ever did I don't remember... Does adding a spring to a mobile antenna on a NMO mount change the SWR? Years and years ago I added a spring to a 2m antenna. It was on the roof of a Toyota FJ which is already pretty tall. The spring eliminated the bent and broken antennas I had experienced on trails up to that point. I didn't have an SWR meter back then so never tested the antenna before and after the spring was added. Somebody mentioned springs in a recent post but I didn't want to derail that post.

I just got my GMRS License. My goal eventually is to work my way into Ham, but I have a lot to learn. Thought GMRS would be a good way to get in to this as I am literally just starting out. My immediate goal is to get my immediate family (3, 6, and 10 miles away, flat suburban enviornment) set up to communicate in case cell service is down. I have started with a couple of Bao Feng BGM-15Pro handhelds to see what service I can get from them. There are no nearby repeaters. Is this even doable? Should I start by going for 50W base/mobile set ups to have any reasonable prospect of success.? Thanks.

I see on RR forum you asked for a GMRS mobile radio recommendation. You should ask that here. For GMRS specific certified radios (which your B-Tech is not). Wouxun is the current leader. The KG-1000G+ and the KG-XS20G+ are the top radios as far as many are concerned. They are however very feature rich and are geared toward what you might call "power users"(or radio dorks) who want all those features. They are well built and perform very well. They are not rebranded or sold under other names (that I have ever seen) unlike most other China brands. Buy Two Way Radios is the place to get them. They are a sponsor of this site. They are the importers and work with Wouxun to design the radios for the American market. Midland is geared toward and popular with folks that just want a more basic radio that is very easy to use and simple to operate. All GMRS radios are made in China including Midland. Some will recommend buying a used commercial radio but there is a lot to learn to use them. Maybe after you become a more seasoned radio operator you could look into that option. Just my 2 cents.

I have the 2x4 on my wife's rig on a mag mount. She likes how it looks. Works fine on GMRS as far as I can tell. We talked 30 miles from base to it with the KG-935G+ hand held no problem. She uses a scanner with it as well and it works great for both uses.

I run a Comet 2x4SR on my SxS and it works well for GMRS right out of the package. I get between 1.6 and 1.8 SWR for 467 MHz and 1.2 SWR for 462 MHz. SWR is also good for 2m and 70cm. And I tested the SWR while the SxS was parked inside my garage so I know it will be better when it is outside and away from the metal garage doors and tracks. I am going to add the spring kit to it.

Aint that the truth. I don't have very many radios but I've seen quite the interesting difference in the ones I have.

@WRKC935 Yep, Hollywood tends to only portray a small extreme example of group. Examples of how they portray groups: All CB operators are good old boy truck drivers. All Texans wear cowboy hats and boots and say "yeeha." And the list goes on. PS Yes, I know some people here are going to claim those two examples are accurate.

It will work just not well. It's just a really kinda compromised antenna. 2m-70cm and gmrs is a real big stretch, bandwidth wise. So the swr values I got it was close to 2.1-2.5 give or take swr on the gmrs repeater. Some got lower swr, but my ditch light mount where the antenna is located is a compromise location. So take it with a grain of salt. It heard gmrs better then my Larson 270. But the Larsen is up on the car. Why? Well the Larsen is extremely flexible and can/has taken a beating. Some con with the 2x4sr. One it is thick (how it gets its bandwidth), tall and stiff. The other con is the hinge (mine started to loosen up in about a months time) as well as I found water starting to go through to the coil. If you do get it expensive. The spring (Highly recommend it) adds cost and isn't included. Mine at least whacked everything. The thickness a benefit to bandwidth, made my antenna move way to much. It rocked the mount violently with every bump, one of the main reasons I went back to the Larsen. In short if you don't need to have 2m/70cm you are better off with a dedicated gmrs 5/8th over 5/8th antenna. Sorry for the long winded post. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

It's not designed to be tuned, but it IS designed to have an SWR of 2:1 or less on GMRS. I have one and it sweeps at < 1.7:1 on 462 and 467. So should work out of the box on GMRS. It's a tall and ugly antenna though!

Has anyone tried tuning the Comet CA 2x4 SR Dual band antenna for use on Gmrs ?? It's advertised with a bandwidth of 20mhz. so theoretically it should work. Just looking for anyone's results ?

All good points. The repeater would be at a location away from my home so if there's a problem I'd need to drive there. All I can do is try it and see how it goes.

There is something else that I believe contributes to the GMRS interest exceeding the interest in Ham radio. That's the persona of HAM. Ham radio in at least some instances has been portrayed as nerdy. It's connected to big towers in the yard with big antenna's on top of them. Have you ever even seen GMRS portrayed in a TV show or film? If it's radio related, it's always ham. It's some desk full of radios typically with the operator being some level of eccentric, or otherwise odd socially. Since GMRS isn't put on display in any fashion, people don't understand it, and therefore don't believe it's going to make other people think they are some mad scientist if they get involved with it.