Thanks for the words of encouragement. Honestly it wasn't too difficult. I purchased a used TKR-820 from Tim at http://www.thetkrguy.com (which by the way fantastic job, highly recommend). It arrived at my door tuned and ready to plug in and go. Two sets of tones. 141.3 for the public and a private set for my family. I then bought a J-pole and ferrite beads from Michael at http://www.jpole-antenna.com (again also did a great job answering my questions). Purchased 50 feet of Heliax 1/2 hardline and connectors. I use to have a 900 MHz Yagi antenna for a cell phone repeater which I took down off the old Dish satellite mount. I had 1.5 PVC extending it 5ft and #4 copper running to ground. Mounted the J-Pole, weatherseal the connector, and run the Heliax down the roof and wall and into the basement. Hard part was worrying about not falling off the roof due to the snow and ice. Very slippery. I still have the LMR-400 from the old Yagi I need to take down once the weather warms up. I then went out 2 miles and adjusted the repeater output until it was loud enough to match my handheld. I finally got a chance this afternoon to do some testing and sound quality was great. I had two goal locations, one at 1.5 miles and one at 2 miles, and both come through very clear on 5w handhelds while indoors at both locations. I see no need to upgrade antennas or get higher for more range at this time. I am happy with the performance. This is a setup for family at 3 houses. I never realized how much height played a role. I was smart enough to realize the bubble pack claims are ridiculous but in an urban residential city I was only getting a mile with my 5w handhelds. Even now with my repeater on my roof I am only getting a little over two miles. And this is all very flat land with zero elevation change.