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That should be 462.675... When I travel at all (which isn't much since Covid-19), I put out my call occasionally on that "travel frequency" and have met some travelling companions along the way, as well as a few contacts with fixed operators.

That is the result of a phenomenon called "knife-edge diffraction," where a signal is diffracted from a sharp edge (such as a tall building or mountain. I take advantage of this with a yagi antenna I use to reach a repeater in the far north of Chicago. The NSEA repeater is located in Parkridge, Illinois and is 47 line of sight miles from my house. By careful aim of the yagi, I'm refracting signals off the 'sharp edge' of the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower).

Google Earth elevation profile does show the straight-line terrain between two points, but do not automatically accept that the intervening terrain depicted prevents usable comms. I live in NE WA where we have mountains and canyons. I routinely make comms using GMRS in places that it should be impossible to do so. I guess that some of this is due to signals bouncing off of the rocky terrain, going around corners and down into canyons. The only way to know for sure is to do your own signal survey in the field.

All, Has anyone set up their radios to operate on simplex using split frequency and tone operation? I wrote up a use case here: https://greyscale.zone/split-frequency-and-tone-operation-on-gmrs.html Basically, two radios are independently set up to transmit and receive on different channels and tones. The reasoning is to make it so that outside listeners hear only one side of the conversation, and it makes it harder for them to interfere with an ongoing conversation. I understand that there is no expectation of privacy in GMRS. A user can make it harder for outsiders to interfere with a conversation by removing context (one sided conversations) and the quick ability to scan tones and interfere. Assume in this use case that both channels are checked for the presence of others before starting a conversation. The example below illustrates the programming for two Wouxun KG-805G radios. Radio One Program Setup | Radio Slot | Radio Receive | Radio Decode | Radio Transmit | Radio Encode | | ---------- | ------------- | ------------ | -------------- | ------------ | | 39 | Channel 3 | DN174 | Channel 6 | DN205 | Radio Two Program Setup | Radio Slot | Radio Receive | Radio Decode | Radio Transmit | Radio Encode | | ---------- | ------------- | ------------ | -------------- | ------------ | | 39 | Channel 6 | DN205 | Channel 3 | DN174 |

I recently purchased one of these radios for use in my home. It is hooked up to an excellent external antenna at good elevation and with excellent feed-line. With my current system I have verified I can can get into 6 higher-profile repeaters within 50 miles of my home at or near full quieting. From my earliest use of the radio I started to notice something unexpected. I fairly regularly have multiple radios on when I in the mode of ‘just playing radio’. What I observed was that my HTs regularly showed greater S-meter readings than the 1000G when lower level signals were encountered. This was not remotely what I was expecting given one radio is using an external high-gain antenna while the others are indoors using low-gain antennas. Nonetheless I mostly discounted this, at least initially. While I do use repeaters, I like to focus more on what I can do simplex. Recently I set out get a feel for what I could achieve simplex between my new base radio and the HT in the mobile using my external mobile antenna. For this test, both my neighbor and my wife were on our respective base stations. Again, to my surprise, my neighbor was able to hear me at a range about 50-75% further than my wife could on the 1000G. Again, I discounted this difference, chalking it up to his extra 10’ of antenna height. At the opening of my post I reported that I could get into 6 higher-profile repeaters in my area. True, but at first I did not realize that. One night I was confirming my repeater access on each repeater in the city. I would announce my callsign, sometimes indicate where I was at, and that I was just testing. I took note of which repeaters I received a squelch tail back from, noted the S-meter reading, hailed again to confirm, and sometimes asked for a radio check. If I heard no squelch tail from the repeater after multiple attempts I moved on. Later that night, while in a conversation with another GMRSr on a repeater I can work well, I had some folks jump in to say they heard me on two different repeaters quite well earlier (ones that I had not previously gotten a squelch tail back from). Each one told me that they had tried to reach out to me but received not response back from me. I was shocked. Learning this talked and then switched over to those repeaters to try again as a group. Yep, they could hear me great, yet I could not hear them back. I checked my radio settings, all was good. It was late but we decided to try one more thing before we called it a night. I hooked up my KG-805G in place of the 1000G (exact feed-line and antenna). Low and behold the KG-805G got into the repeater fine at just 5 watts (although a bit noisy), but the KG-805G was able to hear the other parties. OK, now I know something is going on. Yesterday I enlisted the help of a seasoned local GMRSr and amateur radio operator so I could perform some receive comparisons between three different radio models I have. For a period of time I had them transmit and talk while I hooked each model of radio to the exact same antenna and feed-line one after another. I took note of whether the squelch opened up, what the S-meter reading was, and what the audio quality was. In the end, the 1000G was the clear looser by a unexpected margin, while the 805G was the hands-down winner. Many times the squelch on the 1000G would not open up at all, and when it did, the S-meter was low and the audio very noisy. Conversely the HT radios always opened up, always produced usable audio and exhibited S-meter readings consistently 2-5 bars higher than the 1000G under the test scenario. These results are not at all expected in light of the fact the radios have published sensitivity ratings that differ by only 2dB. I have started a dialog with BTWR about this issue in hopes their customer service comes through. I would like to think that I received a dud and the issue can be resolved by swapping out the radio. Time will tell. I writing this for the benefit of all of you that have already purchased this radio, or that are considering it. Your signal might very well be reaching a lot farther than you know, merely because your receive is not on par with your transmit. Not usually a good combination. I will report back how custom service handles this situation, if and how the receive issue gets resolved. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Good answer Michael, I had to ask... BUT did you restore back to factory settings then change your PL codes on the radio only. That my point which I may not been that clear in my post...

I don’t know the owner of the New Bedford 700 repeater, but I’m very good friends with the owner of the Plymouth 700 and Bridgewater 650. The plymouth 700 covers into the waterfront of New Bedford very well.

The New Bedford is on the frequency as the Plymouth 700 (PAWA) GMRS machine which is quite active during the day. The Plymouth one covers a good chunk of the cape and south eastern mass. There’s also the Kingston 600 and the Bridgewater 650 which also covers fairly well.

I've read in various places that Midland is working on a 40w version of the MXT275. I'm hoping this is true. I've written them an email to ask about it but haven't received a response. What I read was that it would come out 4th quarter 2020, but I think we can rule that out now. Does anyone have any information? I've got an MXT400 in my older Jeep and it is great but very bulky, but it works with the old squarish instrument panel. It sits right on top. My 2018 Jeep has the MXT275 due to its small size and all in the mic setup. I'd love to have the same thing but with the 40w of power, so I'm hoping that what I've read is true and that they introduce it soon. Any info would be appreciated. Heck, I'd even take some wild speculation! Lol!

I just took the plunge and ordered a new MXT275. Debated a 50W Wouxun and the 40W Midland options. Price wasn't a factor; it was having all functions and the display on the mic of the MXT275 that did it for me. Absolutely hooked on that feature of this model. I really don't wanna run wiring for a removable head-unit and hate when radios (and, naturally, their displays) are mounted down by the center console which takes ones eyes so far off the road. Plus, since this is going in the bride's car where I'm often a passenger, the display would be upside down to me unless it has the option of reversing the display. Having everything displayed on the mic, I can surely find room somewhere on the dash where it can be viewed easily. If a 40W version of this radio were available AND it had the display mic, it'd be a no-brainer. None the less, from all I've read, I don't think I'm gonna be disappointed and, paired with a good gain antenna, I think it's gonna work well. I was wondering whether display mics could be bought separately and paired with other rigs but didn't wanna do that much research.

So 99% of your public safety vehicles on the road use RG58 on an NMO mount Under 16' of cable I wouldn't worry about RG58 on UHF. If your running 50' then you should have concern. Being your using a mag mount it really doesn't matter. You will not notice a difference in RG58 vs LMR240 or RG8X.

Personally I never put in a RX tone for simplex and repeater use. That eliminates any issue with not hearing a station return a call.

By the way, now you know the answer to one of the questions for the Technician ham license.

Put it in scan but doubt you'll hear anything you asked above. GMRS does not have a WX channel or traffic reports. As much as i hate to say it CB is more of what you describe. While I hate it I do run both in my RV for traveling. If your looking to find out why traffic is slow or stopped that's the only place you'll find info on a radio. The use of GMRS while traveling is to talk to a vehicle in front or behind you in your travel party. Unofficial GMRS emergency channel is 463.675 but YMMV. I have never heard emergency traffic on that channel and most likely if i did no one would be monitoring it anyway !

Gotcha. Back to google and found a couple options in addition to what dx engineering offers: Antenna farm lists a rg8x mount, and this one claiming low loss br195 cable: https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=264_265_273&products_id=8079 Arcadian inc also lists pulse/larsen with lmr200 cable and an n connector (pulse/larsen also lists a sma version and a no-connector version) https://www.arcantenna.com/products/pulse-larsen-nmommr200n-nmo-magnetic-mount-12-foot-lmr200-cable-n-male-connector?variant=32296826601603

I notice my Yeasu FT-7900 ham mobile radio does pretty much the same thing. So maybe it's just "a thing". ;-) Vince

in what sense given the weather where you are I might look into putting the cable in some PVC pipe. As to the cable itself at, 60' 400 will be ok. the next real step up would be 1/2 inch hard line. just my thoughts https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/h358/erscom/off%20grid%20site/IMG_0239_zps7a34owh0.jpg

So I'm 74 yo and my license expires in 11/17/2030. I may not live that long so have my G daughter going to apply for her GMRS as I can not transfer it to her.... Just joking happy whatever God choose for me and my exit plan to heaven. G daughter is tasting the GMRS... Jack

I hope to not expire before my current license in 2027.

Don't get too upset. A friend just picked up an MXT275 and we were driving around seeing what kind of distance we could get with clear communication. I was in my Jeep with the 40w MXT400. Several times, I could hear him clearly when he couldn't hear me at all. His antenna placement was high in the center of his SUV with a Midland magnetic antenna mount and 6db antenna. Mine was on a fender mount, a bit lower than his, also with a Midland 6db antenna. I really don't feel like I had any advantage in trasmission range under the given conditions. So I'm not sure how much more the 40w really gives you in the real world. Also, of all the Midland GMRS radios, including the 90 series, MXT115, 275, and 400, the 275 easily has the most consistency in high quality transmission. I can tell when any of my friends are on a 275 as opposed to any of the others with the exception of the Midland handhelds. I think the 275 may still be the cream of the Midland crop. If I continue to feel that way, I'll yank the 400 and put a 275 in that Jeep. I have a 275 in my other Jeep and others tell me the transmissions are crystal clear, too. Maybe it is the mic? I don't know, but it is a great radio.

My wife is gonna be pissed if this IS true! She just got me the 15watt MXT275 for Christmas.

Corey Great information.