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Welcome to the new forums! Unfortunately, over the last year or so we've had serious problems with our previous board software (phpBB and vBulletin), so I did some shopping around and decided that Invision Power Board is the way to go. Between vBulletin and this new software, I've had to lay out over $400, so I didn't make the decision lightly. While it's possible to migrate the posts from the previous software, I decided it wasn't worth the effort. I prefer having a clean platform and I will be tying the forum software to your main user accounts, so you no longer need two accounts for the site. This extra step will take some time for me to implement, so I'm going to lock down user registrations so we don't have duplicate accounts everywhere. Keep a look out for an update in the near future! So without further ado, welcome to the new forums! I hope this will be our last migration for many years to come, and donations to help offset the software licenses would be very much appreciated.

Hello, WRKK502 here. Just obtained my license. I am curious as to what someone would recommend for my Btech V1 handheld. Looking for a better antenna. Also maybe some suggestions on how to connect with repeaters with my handheld as I am new to it. Thanks for reading.

Still very preliminary to draw my final conclusions, but I received my Ed Fong DBJ-1C antenna kit and an antenna analyzer this weekend (on the same day I passed my ham tech exam, so that was fun). I ran a couple of antenna placement tests quickly. My aim was to communicate with my wife in her office, first via the local Alexandria GMRS repeater and then see if I can achieve simplex to her (2.1 miles). The good: - Deployed at attic height, my wife reports my voice is the clearest she has heard it over GMRS. All good. The bad: - Still no simplex comms. Not even breaking squelch. I'll keep trying, and will work on a mobile at home as well. I can still go higher on the antenna and mount it roof top, but that requires HOA permission and a whole lot of hassle. Still, I may well do that soon. The surprising: - Antenna analyzer (SureCom SW-33) in hand, I measured everything. I have the ducky that came with my handheld as well as a Nagoya NA-771 and a Nagoya NA-701C. I also have a Nagoya UT-72 mobile mag mount, but have not measured that one yet. All the duckies suck, at least in terms of SWR on the GMRS freqs I use the most. Lowest SWR I measured was 2.0; highest was 4.5. - The Ed Fong DBJ-1C, on the other hand, measured in 3 separate measurements, a paltry 1.02. That seems nigh on perfect, and may well explain the clear and strong signal my wife received from me. I've heard some good and bad things about the Fong kits. (Calling them kits is even a stretch. All you do is insert it in a 5 foot PVC 200 PSI pipe and you're done. Toughest part is finding 200 PSI and not the ubiquitous "Schedule 40" (480 PSI) piping.) My initial impressions are that the nay sayers are largely wrong, at least compared to my needs and deployment. Oh, I should add that I used a high quality LMR-400 feed line with PL-259 connectors. (Aside: As I operate mostly in UHF, is it worth changing from PL-259 to BNC, N, or some other connector better suited for these freqs?) Cheers, Ken WRFC318 (ham sign pending FCC)

Hey Gary, Checking https://mygmrs.com/nets (This identifies the locations and statuses of MyGMRS networked radios and hubs) there are NO linked repeaters identified on the map. The only node, 176, is actually used as a hub for running the regional portions of the net. Setting up a node is simple, Especially if you have a motorola repeater (GR1225 or similar) as its all plug and play for the most part. You will need a repeater to hook to, Internet access, and to purchase a repeater linking bundle to match your radio. If you purchase the bundle from MyGMRS, everything comes preset and I believe the only adjustments needed would be for audio volumes in and out.

I don't really care much where a product is made. As has been said here before - CCR has simply become a shorthand for any "Radio on a Chip" design that uses the RDA1846 or a similar chip. Those radios claim to do some spectacular things, and in a way, they do. However, they don't do it very well in the Real world. The one we all live in. One where there are other radio transmitters on nearby channels. I'd much rather start with a radio that has good front end filtering and effective sensitivity combined with selectivity - than to have an FM broadcast receiver, or a flashlight. Especially if I'm building a Repeater. As for buying stuff of Ebay - yes, you do need to be more careful. However, if I bought something off Ebay that wasn't working - I'd send it back & get a refund. Ebay makes that pretty easy. Just because someone calls out a radio for being well marketed garbage doesn't mean they're a Snob, or anti-Asian. It doesn't mean they're stuck in the Stone Age or admiring the glow from vacuum tubes. It just means they've seen this movie before, and they know how it ends. Take my advice, or don't. BuyTwoWayRadios.com is marketing something. I'm giving some free advice.

It should.... And will have NOAA channels as I understand. My MXT400 came from the factory with the repeater channels set to 25kHz (wideband), contrary to the rumors circulated by those with a bias against Midland radios that it does not support wideband. It is simply amazing that those who do not own one make all these claims as though they are the "gurus" chanting the mantra from the mountain top upon which they seated themselves. It will also do 20kHz if you like. It can also be software programmed to do split tones, CTSS and DCS even, on same channel. You must buy the DBR1 cable from Midland and they give you a limited-life link to the software download when you call them. I programmed mine to display my call sign on startup All my simplex channels are programmed as wideband (25kHz). . I programmed the four local repeaters into the empty channel slots that were empty for the 0.5W FRS channels, displaying the repeater names OR CITY, TABOR, OVRLOOK and GRESHAM when they are chosen. Someone also said programming the radio invalidates the certification. Midland denies this. The radio was certified under Part 95A and as such, is grandfathered under the new parameters specified under Part 95E. As long as the radio is still operating within the Part 95E specifications when programmed, you are fine. It does what I want., and I am satisfied with my purchase. It doesn't have 10 billion "bells and whistles" to clutter up the menus and programming like some other radios. It doesn't have FM, but my car and my Sangean WR-11 and ATS-909 take care of that.

Good evening Mike. “So, are you saying that the lower dB gain antenna you have, the higher radiation or take off angle ? “ No, not specifically. Gain has nothing to do directly with the pattern or “take off angle”. The angle(s) of radiation (or pattern) are a function of the antenna design. Antenna gain is a term used to compare the relative signal strength of one antenna relative to another at some defined relevant position. A perfect omnidirectional antenna (does not exist in reality) radiates equally in all directions like a ball. This theoretical antenna has a gain of 0 dBi. This is called an isotropic antenna. The simplest vertical antenna (a vertical dipole) radiates like a big fat round donut. This antenna type has a gain of 2.1 dBi. It achieve its additional gain by not radiating energy directly above and directly below the antenna and instead adds it into the big fat donut shape radiation pattern around the antenna. See Supergoo’s comment above regarding the balloon. High gain vertical antennas achieve their high gain by robbing more and more of the power that would otherwise fill that big fat donut and putting it into a thinner and thinner and wider and wider donut. This is undesirable for you, because you want a fat donut to fill that hollow your are in, fat enough that it will radiate up the sides of the adjacent hills, rather than just at the foot of the hill. If a specific antenna design your considering does have a higher “take off angle” and that angle aligns with the needs of your location that is fantastic. That would suggest that the antenna design favors/top-loads the donut (more power above the mounting plane of the antenna.) You need to temper any expectations about getting over the ridges. GMRS frequencies do not roll very well over ridges. You may get over a little, but you will most certainly need a repeater up on the ridge to reach the other side well. Based on what I know of your situation, I think the 5 dBi of the Ed-Fong about as high gain I would go for starters. Besides, it is an inexpensive investment to try. (BTW, I own and use two of his roll-up variety). There are two things you do not want to skimp on in GMRS: Height and Coax. You need height to get the antenna above the obstacles that block (eat) your signal. But, the higher you have to go, the more signal gets lost in the coax. I currently own LMR400 cable. Others use heliax hardline. LMR400 has about 2.7dB loss per 100’. That means that a 50 watt GMRS radio feeding 100’ of LMR400 cable will result in only approx 25 watts making it to the antenna, and only 2.5 watts will make it to antenna if you start with only 5 watts. Finally, if you buy LMR400 make sure the manufacturer is Times Microwave. Do not buy any LMR-like imitations as I hear they are not even close to real LMR400 performance. I have no personal recommendation for heliax. Good luck. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Given the poor receiver selectivity of most of the CCR import radios -- I'd be really hesitant to use a Wouxun as a Repeater radio. Especially since you could buy two quality used mobile radios and do the same thing - at probably half the cost. Simply put - there's a lot of better options available to anyone who wants to run a repeater.

Do not use RG58U, loss is very significant on 460MHz. Just look at what Lscott listed. Another reputable company that sells cables with connectors is dxengineering.com They have 25', 50', 75' runs of their LMR400 equivalent with with N-connector or PL259. Coax loss charts: https://w4rp.com/ref/coax.html If radio-cable-antenna-connectors system is well-matched through all the components, the length of the coax will not matter. The 1/2 wavelength cable allows you to tune your device (usually antenna) more precisely with some equipment. Once match achieved, coax can be any fraction of wavelength. So, don't worry about it unless you plan to invest into instruments and knowledge. And 1/2 wavelength on GMRS is roughly 325mm, so quarter-inch less or quarter-inch more and you are out of optimal length anyway. Velocity factor is also needed to be considered... Do not worry about coax length. The shorter the better, but that's it.

And that is the reason that I started the other thread, to get that discussion going. This forum could provide a great service to current and future members if it could curate facts about radios presently authorized by FCC for on use on GMRS in one place. I love reading all the posts, contributing my own and helping folks out. But too easily good factual information gets buried in a mound of forum BS to be lost to all but the best forensic forum scientist to uncover. Because it takes months for some to find the information they really needed, out of now where it is suddenly to late for them. I am currently of the opinion that it will take a moderator/administrator to set up the framework. I am also of the opinion that certain rules would need to be followed/enforced by said moderators. Perhaps its doable, perhaps not. I know not who the moderators are, nor what their capabilities are. I will jump over to the thread I started and offer more opinion there. Regards Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Kenwood mobiles: Kenwood TK-880H-1, 40W, Part 90 95A 250 channels 140 × 40 x 173 mm KPG49D software ALH24593210 Kenwood TK-880-1, 25W, Part 90, 95A same as TK-880H, just 25W and a bit smaller heatsink 140 x 40 x 145 mm KPG49D software ALH24593110 Kenwood TK-860G-1, 25W, Part 90 95A 128 channels 140 x 40 x 145 mm KPG29D software ALH29383110 Kenwood TK-860HG-1, 40W, Part 90 95A 128 channels KPG29D software ALH29383210 Kenwood TK-862G-1, 25W, Part 90 95A 8 channels: no alphanumeric display, numbers only 140 x 40 x 145 mm KPG29D software ALH29383110 Kenwood TK-862HG-1, 40W, Part 90 95A 8 channels: no alphanumeric display, numbers only KPG29D software ALH29383210 Kenwood TK-8180H-K, 45W, Part 90 95A 22 74 90.210 512 channels, remote head (KRK-10 kit) K4437313210 Kenwood TK-8180-K, 30W, Part 90 95A 22 74 90.210 512 channels, remote head (KRK-10 kit) K4437313110

I purchased one for a friend. I am disappointed that I cant change DCS codes and CTCSS codes from the radios menu. I have the same issue with sections "canceling". I purchased the programing cable and after a lot of trail-and-error was able to program the radio the way I wanted. I have a Wouxun KG-805G that I use daily. The menus area a lot more simple and straight forward. Everything in the menus actually functions. After the price of the Retevis, shipping, and the programing cable, I'd suggest the Wouxun. It's more but not much more.