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If you are planning on eventually running 100 feet, you WILL need better coax cable. RG-8x is NOT RG-8u. 8x is the small coax used for CB radio. Even the best grade of 8x has over 9 dB of loss at 462MHz at 100 feet. For the low-cost/best performance per dollar ratio, go with LMR-400. NOTE: I do not EVER recommend LMR-400 for repeater use, but for simple base station operation, it works great.

For thought...if you need to run that much coax, it would be worth it to buy something like a Motorola Desktrac with tone remote capability. Mount the radio in the attic or silo and run a short coax to the antenna, then a CAT5 from the radio to a tone remote. Now you have Base Station!

just a note to the 400 cable vs LDF these are completely different types of cable to deal w// 400 is a nice flexible fairly user friendly cable. LDF4 on the other hand for a novice is not going to end well. it is fairly rigid bend it too much and its done, have seen that 100x over. putting on the connectors is pretty strait forward depending on what you buy. you will need to have some practice to get a feel for it. wouldn't even bother w/LDF5 that is a 7/8 cable that requires specialized tool to put connectors on. as to your height, 2 story cape style house in the end should give you 30' of height to tip, roughly. look at this as I have finally added new pics https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/252-cable-types-and-losses/

Attenuation of LDF4-50a is about 1.4db at 467 MHz. LMR-400 is about 2.7db.

If you can afford it, use the LDF4-50A. Perhaps even LDF5-50A if your run is longer than 100 feet. At 460MHz at 100 feet, RG-8x has a loss of 9.4 dB. LMR 400 has a loss of 2.7 dB. LDF4 has a loss of 1.4 dB. LDF5 has a loss of 0.82 dB. If you are using LDF Heliax, it is just fine to use a short jumper at the end for flexibility going into your radio. Also, keep in mind your cost vs. return on investment ratio. How far do you really need to talk? Personally, I use LDF4-50A, but I'm only running about 80 feet.

Just saw the edit... do not splice lines together with barrel connectors. You are going to suffer losses as it is, with a run that long. Adding extra connections will just make it worse. As Jones mentions, LMR-400 would be good for the run, but make sure its one long run.

Yes, they do. But it is the manufacturers who actually sponsor the discounts. Not the sellers.

Yes, that is correct. There is a saying in the LOS radio world that "height is might". The higher you go on each end, the better the performance and range gets. The ground absorbs UHF waves and the rest heads out to space about 15% (distance wise) past the visual horizon. So, the higher you go, the less terrain is in the way, the more land surface area is exposed because you are pushing the horizon line out further as you go up. An example would be, at 5 feet above all obstacles (about where an HT is while standing) gives you about 5 miles of radio horizon. 15 feet gives you about 9 miles to the horizon. However, 40 feet gives you 14 miles. The truth is, if nothing is in the way, and you get one station up in the air 3,000 feet (on the side of a mountain for instance) and the other radio was at sea level, you could get 125 miles with the proper power levels. With the power we are restricted to, you can get 65-70 miles with enough elevation. Sounds good! Looking forward to hearing back.

With centimeter radio and cheap cable, the cable length is not going to change anything even remotely close to noticeable... likely not even measurable. Also, anything under 3:1, you won't have any risk of damage. Anything 2:1 or better is good. Anything 1.5:1 is really good. getting a 1:1 match usually means the antenna is not resonant at your target frequency. You should be very pleased with 1.4:1. Normally I target about 1.75:1 at the antenna feed point and then use an LC network to maximize output power to the antenna. Get that antenna 40+ feet in the air and you will dramatically increase your coverage and performance in the covered areas.

I went over to where my base station is set up. Turned on my radios and started scanning as I had a few minutes to burn. Started hearing some unusual traffic on channel 6. The station was giving out what I thought was really personal information. I was hearing: peoples names, dates of birth, health information, number of family members, car make and model with tag numbers. I listened for a little bit. Scanned for the CTCSS or DCS tone. There was no tone found. Contacted my local police department. Took my radio down to the PD and the Officer was also concerned about this type of information being transmitted over an open channel. They began to investigate this. I decided to key up with my call sign and try to contact the operators and get there purpose and company name. It turned out to the the local food bank. They were IDing people to receive food. I advised the PD I was going down to talk to them about this. They said they were sending an officer as well. I just told them that people as far away as 10 miles could here this information and that I was concerned about this type of information being sent over an open channel. They seemed a little confused on how I was listening to them. They stopped using the radios and went to cell phones. Just thought I would share this story. I guess that makes me the radio police or at least concerned enough to reach out. Thanks for reading. WRCW870

Wow! It's a good thing you got involved! Some people just ha e no clue how radios work. I know I would not be happy to hear potential PII of mine getting sent over the air.

It is not the masses' opinion that you need to worry about. It is the opinion of the public health officials that IS something to worry about. Also, I'd say, based on the rest of the world's experience so far, that while scary, this is far more than a "scare." What does frighten me about the masses is the actions of those who seem to treat this whole thing as something akin to a bad cold and that won't affect them. I'd say such cavalier attitudes are pretty frightening especially considering the demographics of many users on this forum.

I have not had any issues with Comscope, I can't say that for RFS, several have shorted internally. That cable job was to cure some issues with a paging transmitter next to me getting into the amp, it did solve the issue. I am sure i could have used something smaller but i had a ton of 1/2 on hand.