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I have one of these operating up on a remote mountain side here in Alaska. It uses a SLA battery that is solar re-charged. I get a range of around 25 miles or so when coupled with handhelds such as Vertex VX-231s and/or Motorola PR400s. It probably can go further but I run into the inlet and can't test it further. Out at 25 miles it starts to get a bit noisy in the signal but the message is readable. I attached a photo of looking in out from where it's located at.

Well, everything is here except the antenna from antenna farm. And I'm going to wait for that to show up before I go hog a hole out in the roof of the truck. Impatience leads to sloppy installs. That said, I seriously can't say enough good things about the antenna farm. I ordered while working overnight using my work computer, so the companies IP address (which shows as somewhere in VA). And while driving home after getting off shift at 7:30am, I received a phone call from them. He was concerned about the IP being from VA, but the shipping being out to AZ, and wanted to make sure there wasn't fraud. I explained that's work's IP, and everything is good. What a pleasant surprise. I'll be ordering everything from him from now on to be sure.

Does anybody make an OTS 12v power supply with an integrated battery backup? I'm considering moving my KG-1000 inside the house since the kids would have all their needs met by a much cheaper radio. I'd like to have it for always available family comms, including when the power is out (and the wife leaves her phone on vibrate somewhere random which is the norm). I guess I could just plug my current power supply in to a standard 120v UPS, but I was wondering if there's anything out there specifically designed for this?

As others said...batlabs... http://www.batlabs.com/rick.html The RICK is very basic. Make sure your M1225 is set for Pin 8 COR (PL/CSQ Detect). Set dip switch in RICK. It a pretty simple devise. Used hundreds over the years with x-band repeaters, in band and everything in between. First came out for the Maxtrax but can be used on everything including current radios with proper cables.

And the batboard has plenty of info on a wide variety of Motorola gear.

This site has a lot of info on repeater building. There are specific pages for different manufacturers. You might find something here. http://www.repeater-builder.com/rbtip/mojoindex.html

i used a jackery 240 for my kg1000g now its running a motorola cdm1550ls. it has no issue running it and can last 2 days betweeen charges and the best part is there is no noise. its also not connected to the house power when i use the radio so in storms im not worried about it as much as i would be if it was on house power

Harbor Freight has several "Jump Starter" battery packs with built in chargers. You can just leave it plugged in and charging. I have one and it works great (I do not use it for radio stuff so much so you'll have to check the specs) Mine was not very expensive but they do not make that model anymore. You could also just get an AGM (sealed) 12V battery and keep it on a low amperage charger. This assumes you don't talk continuously on the radio. You have to do the math and see how much battery and what amperage charger you need. Vince

Here is a website where you can enter two points to see the path between them. It also allows you to make adjustments for elevation of the antenna. https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/ In my experience, the RF path for GMRS isn't purely line of sight. I have generally been able to get over or around small hills successfully, but not bigger hills. Your success in reaching the other side of town will largely depend upon how big the "dip" is on the other side of the high spot. If it dips down to 350 feet, you'll probably be fine, but if it dips back to 130 feet as it does on your side, probably not.

If you don’t mind the lack of FCC Part 95 certification then the Kenwood TK-3160 or the newer model TK-3360 16 channel radios might fit your usage. These radios are just about impossible to screw up the settings since they lack many user accessible features. In some ways they are easier to use than your common cheap FRS radio. https://mra-raycom.com/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/Specifications/portables/TK-2160-3160-Product-Brochure.pdf https://www.kenwood.com/usa/Support/pdf/TK-2360_3360.pdf The TK-3360 has 5 watts output verses the 4 watts on the TK-3160. The power level can be changed from 5watts/1watt and between wide or narrow band FM. The programming software isn’t hard to find on the Internet to download. The programming cable and speaker/mics are the same you find for the cheap Chinese radios. I routinely use a Baofeng cable to program many of my Kenwood’s that use the two pin type connector.

Wow, that's terrific performance for ~5 watts! It certainly proves the claim that "height make right..."

For legal Tx on GMRS and Rx for everything the KG-UV9G is currently the flag-ship of consumer GMRS + True-Dual Receive multi-band scanners. I own the KG-UV9P which is the identical radio without GMRS Tx capability and it performs quite well for its price in my semi-rural environment. At the same time, I dislike the fact that the screen is mostly unusable outdoors during daylight hours and it has features perhaps not relevant to most GMRS users. But we all end up buying what the manufacturers sell, even when it is less than what we ideally might want. There are surely going to be more radios that find themselves on the market as more and more individuals purchase product and the market of license users grows. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM