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I just have to figure out how I want to treat bank A and B in the memories, but I have one showing up Monday. I'm going to install in such a way that I can keep the CS800D and swap (in 10 minutes) between by changing the antenna over. I have confirmed at least 2 YSF repeaters can be reached from my house, so this should be fun.

Welcome to the forum! I think you'll find GMRS to be both useful and enjoyable.

Welcome to the forum

DB408 is my go to antenna for a tower site. I do run some DB404 but the 408 has a bit more gain. In NY winters they have lasted for years.

Ditto what JG said... Welcome!

Welcome to the forum! JG

Repeaters require "high site" locations. High site means mountain top, highest building or tallest tower in the area. On mountain tops, lower gain antennas work better as they are more omnidirectional. As the gain goes up, the antenna pattern starts to resemble a donut more than a slightly squished ball. This increases the radiation pattern more to the horizon rather than filling gaps nearer the antenna. That said, an omni rather than a beam type antenna is what you are looking for. There are several designs that meet this requirement from vertical whip types to vertical poles with multiple folded dipole antennas attached. Your wallet will be a big deciding factor on which antenna you install.

OK,,, progress update. Have two repeaters on the air now. 725 and 675. the 675 has traveler PL in it. Need to get 675 on the console and both on the logging recorder. But that's not a big deal. When we added the second repeater and went to the split antenna's the talk out suffered and we ended up installing a Station Master antenna on the TX combiner to make up for the loss. This will most likely end up being a db420 before long though. I am still not happy with it as it don't talk out like it did with the 408 on the top of the tower. Combiner is tuned for 735, 675 625 and 575. If these two get busy I will add another repeater. But I doubt that is gonna happen. Number of users on 725 never really took off like I thought it might so we will see how things go. Site is now going to have public safety radio equipment in it and will meet all requirements for that level of communications equipment. Meaning battery / UPS with generator. So the repeaters WILL have 100% expected up time short of equipment failure. Repeaters are listed on here. As stated on the listings these are OPEN repeaters and if you hear us on feel free to say hello. For short comms, 725 is fine... If you are going to rag chew, please use 675 and leave holes for others to join in. Access IS FREE... donations of useful equipment and cash are always welcome but NOT required for access. We are looking at installing solar and wind generation gear and hope to have the repeaters with GREEN power.

In a number of posts on this forum I have mentioned my intent to side mount my amateur radio antenna on the same mast that I use for the GMRS antenna. I can now say that it is done and has been working for almost a week. As promised elsewhere, here are some pics. The side mount bracket is home crafted and painted a color similar to the main fiberglass mast. The amateur antenna is currently about 6-1/2ft below the bottom of the GMRS antenna. There is about 21” between the amateur antenna and the nearest metal (the GMRS feed line). I am using LMR400 feed-line for both antennas and have ferrite chokes installed over the coax. I have not yet detected any material interference or objectionable desense in the GMRS radio while transmitting on the amateur radio. I do however observe one bar on the GMRS radio’s meter flutter while transmitting at 50w UHF on the amateur radio, if the GMRS radio is receiving a usable low-level signal at the point I key up the amateur radio, just not enough to be of concern presently. I will be operating both antennas at the lower height you see in the picture until I am ready to guy the mast at full height, which is about 16’ higher. One of the inquires I received elsewhere is listed below along with my original response. Posted here to prevent derailing another thread. I will be running 50w UHF and VHF, 50w GMRS. I will let you know once it is operational. I may not have it installed for two weeks. I do expect some desensitization of the listening receiver while I am transmitting on the other service, but nothing that I expect will affect my operations. I will have ferrite chokes on the GMRS feed-line to cut down on the noise and reduce ingress from the 2m/70cm since that line will be running parallel to the amateur antenna. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

No. You can tweak some settings of the memory once it has been created via the software, but you cannot configure a preset from scratch via the radio controls. Basically, the front panel controls lack the ability to pick, save and change frequencies using at a memory location. Things like tones and power can however be changed after the fact. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

just about any HT can be used as a mobile, all u need is a good antenna and a battery eliminator. im doing exactly that right now, i use a nagoya nl-770g https://www.buytwowayradios.com/nagoya-nl-770g.html with the nagoya mag mount base, the base already has the coax so no need to get anymore. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/nagoya-rb-mjpl.html other thing i would do is get a speaker microphone, and make sure u get one capable of dual ptt since the 905g can do it. if u would like a little more power u can add a amp. the btech amp u-25 is 40 watts and would make you a full power mobile out of a HT.

We hear the same thing on the roads.. A lot of nothing and people that dont respond (probably using privacy codes).. When offroading, the official GMRS channel is 16.. This a scientific fact because is "offroading" = "4 X 4" and 4 x 4 = 16 .. so this is the scientific answer to the question - it is explained in more detail in this video made by some Youtube clown:

i had a long reply typed out earlier, but missed clicking to post it ..wrcy896 covered most of it. if you're logged into the main page (it's separate from the forum, last i checked, but you can use the same login & password for both), if a repeater is listed as open, it should show the input and output frequencies (which you'll equate to channels on the radio), and input and output tones (which you'll take to the tone charts in the manual to see which code you need to enter in the menu). the 'repeater' channels on the radio are set up with the appropriate offset between transmit and receive. for example, if i want to use an open repeater with an output of 462.625, input of 467.625, and input/output tones of 141.3: the table on page 27 shows that to be channel 18RP, so i'll tune to that then, go to the table on page 28 and look for 141.3 (it's ctcss) and find this equates to ctcss code 22 with the radio on 18rp, go into the menu setting for tones, select CT, select code 22, and save.mxt275 is online in pdf form here: https://midlandusa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/MXT275-Owners-Manual.pdf does this make it all a little clearer?