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I stumbled onto this video on YouTube tonight about the WLW radio station that for a few years in the early 1940's ran with 500,000 watts of power. https://youtu.be/CbHjcwIoTiY It was so powerful that it covered about 3/4 of the United States, and extended considerably into Canada. In fact, Canada filed a complaint because it just overpowered one of its own beloved stations. WLW had to setup two suppressor towers to decrease their reach in that particular direction. Its quite a fascinating video. Enjoy.

There is more than a repeater to get into the net. It requires internet and modules. Not a easy slap together setup. Do some searching on the forums on repeaters. I have heard good reviews on the RT97 but have yet to grab one. If you only want a repeater for you and a few friends thats probably the best way to start, but you need good cable and a good antenna and location. You will probably spend more on cable and antenna than the repeater.

We do it regularly with Motorola radios up to 100’. Just be sure to use a straight-through CAT-5 or CAT-6 cable and F/F coupler. I buy the couplers in batches of ten but get the cables in specific lengths as needed.

for the most part GMRS is not about talking to someone you dont know. Most GMRS users use it to talk to family or personal friends. This gets discussed monthly. If your looking to chat on a radio GMRS probably is not the best option.

Hi All, As a followup to the tests I wrote about in an earlier post, today I hooked up my Surecomm SW-102 to the Midland MXT275 and ran tests with both of the antennas. I didn’t expect the SWR variation I got using different frequencies. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than I can forward a possible explanation…. All the test were performed in an open area, using the Midland MXTA12 Antenna Mag Mount with the original cable length. The antenna is mounted behind the moon roof in the center of the rear portion of the roof with steel dimensions of 14 x 40 inches. The rear tailgate/spoiler roof is behind that steel roof, and is about the same dimensions. That portion of the roof is non magnetic (some sort of plastic), and houses all the vehicle antennas (GPS, Wireless, AM/FM, Cellular) with a flat aerodynamic, raised hump in the center. The distance from the hump to the antenna mount is about 10 inches. All those system radios were operating at the time of this test, except for Cellular. I still have not received the 1/4 wave Laird whip I ordered. I will test that antenna as soon as I receive it. Should have it in about ten days as it seems to be back ordered. The results: Midland MXTA25 – “3 DB” Ghost: Channel 1 - 462.5625 – SWR 1.08 Channel 16 - 462.575 – SWR 1.14 Channel 22 - 462.725 ­– SWR 1.15 Channel 15RP – 467.5500 – SWR 1.72 Channel 18RP – 467.6250 – SWR 1.74 Channel 22RP – 467.7250 – SWR 1.74 Midland MXTA26 – “6 DB” 32” Whip Channel 1 - 462.5625 – SWR 1.11 Channel 16 - 462.575 – SWR 1.24 Channel 22 - 462.725 ­– SWR 1.21 Channel 15RP – 467.5500 – SWR 1.01 Channel 18RP – 467.6250 – SWR 1.01 Channel 22RP – 467.7250 – SWR 1.01 All the best, JAS

I actually bought a pair of DLR1060 on ebay today. Going to compare performance with GMRS handhelds and mobiles. The usage mode is outdoors: camping, hikes, mountains, woods. It is not very clear to me how 900MHz at 1W with spread-spectrum and error correction would perform against ole wide-band FM at 4W (and at 40W). Of course, the moment I bought DLRs, the cheap chargers disappeared from ebay. But I'm not in rush, will wait for something below $30. So, what you, David, are saying, is that the older DTRs do not have this 4-digit ID, mentioned in DLR manual. And to make the old DTR work with new DLR is to program talk groups into DLR. The programming the 4-digit ID into old DTR will not work because there is no 4-digit ID. Right? Wrong? I order to introduce the older DTR into the network of DLRs I will need to delete the 4-digit ID in DLRs and program the talkgroups, is this correct? At this moment of time my interest is purely academical because I do not have old DTR, and DLRs are not here with me yet.

Guys we already have multiple posts on this in the forums. Do a search.

Stay on rpt19 (27), it should already be set with the right frequencies and offset (though given the answer in the other thread about theirs coming unprogrammed, it doesn't hurt to check if you haven't already), r-ctc and t-ctc will both be 141.3. your settings should be good from there it pretty much boils down to if you're getting enough signal to the repeater. From there, look at the antenna...if you haven't already, mag mounts generally want to stick to something to have a good ground plane...top of a steel file cabinet or a pizza pan will do. Next, how's line of sight from antenna to repeater? With only 5 watts, obstruction is going to matter more. If your setup checks out there, I'd say stick the antenna on the car, and head closer to the repeater...see if it works closer in and/or less obstructed. If so, your settings are good, and better antenna location (or better antenna) and/or more power are the next steps.

Welcome, I'm up there every few months, NW burbs. But honestly, haven't played with the radio while up there. been too busy. The only MW-net site up that way is WARSAW 650/462.650. but its a bit south. You should request access to any and all repeaters, even if they are listed as open. Also some sites have instructions to gain permission and the tones in the site notes. Truly the first thing is to read your manual, that will explain the repeater setup and entering tones. There are several YouTube videos about that radio. 8-) Without the channel setup with the correct tones, you will never be heard, as the repeater is not accessing your TX. All other channels 1-22 are simplex and direct radio to radio, but even then the conversations you are hearing might also be using tones / privacy codes and they will not hear your TX. If your looking for a bit better antenna, look at the 771G from buytwowayradio.com They designed the 805G 1000G radios and the 701G and 771G antennas. The 771G is about 16in long. so that and being tuned to GMRS should give you the best HT RX/TX. Magnet mount antennas works with a ground plan, that is usually your car roof/body. You should mount it to some sore of metal base. I have one in the house, off of my metal desk at the closest point to the window. I am going to try an Ed Fong GMRS tuned PVC tube antenna in doors soon, having issues building mine. I will say that I returned my UT-72, its a dual-band and not that great at the GMRS range. Using a Midland NMO Mag mount and 6db whip on the car, and NMO Mag on my metal desk with a Browning BR-450 UHF Land Mobile Base Antenna, timmed to 465. As for range, it all depends on your terrain and were/height of the repeater. With a good HT with upgraded antenna in my house, middle unit of a 2-story townhouse, I can hit my local Grundy 700 repeater about 40 miles due West. My .02 and good luck 73

It might be that people do not want to talk to you. Ok, I'm saying it in a jesting way, but the matter is serious. GMRS is where people talk inside their established group. Not always, but mostly. Depending on your locality and the crowd on the local repeaters, if they are welcoming to others. So, let's start at the beginning. Your 805G is repeater-capable. Do you have correctly programmed it for the repeater access? I.e. your transmission frequency is 5MGz higher than your receiving frequency (Ch 15) and the tone is programmed correctly? If you programmed repeater correctly, you should be able to "kerchunk" it. It is frowned upon practice, and for a good reason (it is illegal to transmit without ID, and it's annoying as hell), but if you do it once/twice nobody will notice. Hopefully... It goes like this: press PTT for one second, and listen for a "repeater tail" - bit of static or roger beep. If you hear it - good, you are in.

I think many people coming from the CB world may have different expectations. Better audio quality and reliability of communications, but still with a fairly disorganized group of people looking to chat with others nearby. It is certainly within the capability of the equipment. But, as you point out, it is not the general nature of the community.

Thanks guys. You saved me about $60

Yup Done that. Works fine. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Agreed, and that is not commonly understood, so it deserves mentioning again. While you will find locations and individuals that do use GMRS for rag chewing, if that was or became the dominate use of GMRS, it could find itself useless for family comms. There are just not enough frequencies available. But admittedly, it is nice to meet, connect and chat with other licensees for short periods on the radio.

What @Radioguy7268 said ++

A 1/4 wave 6 inch 'hatpin' antenna every day of the week. If you don't like chrome, get one in black. Get a spare or two in case she runs through the car wash. Cost is about $6. Retail.

Unsolicited comment: midland sells a heck of a lot of radios so it is likely they have quite a lot of influence over whoever is manufacturing the radios for them. There is at least a chance, that they own or have some kind of stake in such a business and some other radios are offshoots of their efforts or directions. I'm thinking that we, the people on this forum may not totally be in the mainstream when wanting to connect a computer to the GMRS radio in our Jeep or whatever. If I was Midland, having to certify, market and support these types of radios I doubt customer low-level programming is something I would find advantageous. I'd want a fool-proof, reliable radio with compatible accessories. having said that, I want programming access to my MXT400 but to be sure, I have not run into real limitations with it yet. I'm going to guess it is transmitting in the wide band mode on repeaters just because it sounds strong. With my suboptimally mounted Midland 6db whip antenna, yesterday I reached a repeater 40+ miles away. im not bashing commercial radios but I'm not dissatisfied in having purchased a nice clean new radio from Midland directly with super fast service vs me having to dig the Cooties out of some icky old taxi cab radio. sorry for the rant but sometimes a different point of view can be worth considering.

Vince, The map intentionally hides repeaters that haven't been updated at least in the last year. This is to hide the old repeaters that may not be there anymore. Only 'fresh' repeaters are shown, but there are filter options if you want to see them all. Just use the toggle switches.

I also just talked with Midland tech support about the new 50W mobile. They said there will be an MXT500 (regular mobile version) and an MXT575 version with all controls on the microphone, like the MXT275. Tech Support (Sara) could not provide a release date but said it would definitely be in 2021.

new guy here... Im not sure how to start a new topic but maybe its because I'm new to the site.. I've programmed one of my handhelds (V1) to connected to my local repeater and I can hear a little activity, but no reply when asking for a "check".. so I'm not sure its actually connected correctly.. not sure how to confirm transmission is set up right. tia WRKI386 Chris

Yep. I am in VA and distracted driver laws do not apply to two-way radios at all. Licensed or not.

Looking at this page: https://fccid.io/WVTWOUXUN16 I see that 467MHz channels are below 300mW and narrow-band. As it should be! Make sure you are testing on 462MHz channels and on wide-band. I did similar test with my equipment some years ago. I have Kenwood TK-3170 with a proper receiver, not the "radio-on-a-chip" kind. Antenna is stock 1/4 wave. 1. HT-HT, flat suburbia, almost no trees, 1-2 story buildings: 1 mile reliable, after that unpredictable. 2. HT-HT, flat field, no trees: 1.5 miles reliable, after that quickly drops to nothing. At 2 miles it's nothing. 3. HT-HT, dense coastal redwood forest: 0.5 miles is a max. You can go to 1 mile maybe if one HT is elevated on the edge of the canyon or something like this. 4. HT-HT, rocky canyons: unpredictable. Could be 1 mile, with no line of sight. Same HT with TK-880H mobile (40W), antenna 5/8 wave on a flat roof of SUV 5. HT-Mobile, flat suburbia, almost no trees, 1-2 story buildings: 4 miles reliable, after that unpredictable. 6. HT-Mobile, flat field, no trees: 5 miles reliable, after that quickly drops to nothing. However, if one of the points elevated, then range is much longer. Max range I had a chance to test with this combination was around 10 miles. 7. HT-Mobile, dense coastal redwood forest: 1.5 miles is a max. However, if you hike above the tree line with your HT, range becomes very long. I haven't been able to hike far enough from the parked car (maintaining LOS) to not have a somewhat reliable communication. 8. HT-Mobile, rocky canyons: unpredictable and surprisingly long range. My personal best - crystal clear voice at 2 miles (as crow flies) and 1200 feet of mountain range between HT and car. It was at Pinnacles park, car was at Chaparral parking (west side of the range) and I was at Old Pinnacles trailhead on the east side of the range, for those who know the place. Same HT with TK-880H mobile (40W), no-gain antenna 25' above ground: no sport to test. It covers pretty much the whole valley where I live. In some places there is a shadow from big buildings, but besides that it is mostly reliable with static at the range of 8 miles.

You obviously have an adapter of some type, going from the HT's (assuming SMA or reverse SMA) to the antenna cables (N/SO239/etc.). I am curious if one of the adapters are damaged or has very high losses? I would find a shop that can test them for you. I live in an area where the average elevation change for about 40+ miles in any direction is about 200'. Depending on where I am, my handhelds talk anywhere from as little as 1 mile with noticeable static on the back half of the mile, all the way out to repeater 22+ miles away. You have to keep a few things in mind. Assuming all your gear is perfect, you are only going to talk a max of about 15% further than the visible horizon. Also, in densely populated areas there is a lot of RF interference from homes, businesses, electrical lines, even traffic lights have two-way radios on them now. All of this will desensitize your receiver and your transmitted signal gets harder to hear. So, if you are 5'5" tall and you hold the radio in front of your head, on a perfectly flat location, the RF horizon is only about 4.5 miles. If you have a 100' high hill a mile in front of you and you want to talk to someone on the other side, its not going to work. I have seen mobile to mobile comms with 200+ watts on each end, fail on Amateur radio UHF band segments, with as little as a 150' hill being between me and the other station.