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I just had this conversation with a EOC director about the amount of CCR junk in boxes. He stated thats what the ham guys wanted. The county spent alot of money on hardline and installs for the ham club to order and request a $60 antenna on the top of the tower. Its sad that hams are that cheap and they wonder why more and more they are shoved out of any large incident. Sorry your CCR isn't going to work better than my APX8000 in an emergency....

I guess it really depends on the area. Most of the areas I work in the RACES/ARES groups get limited funds from the county. Instead of using it to get good equipment they prefer cheap with quantity. When the hardline connector cost more than the antenna on the end of the 1 5/8" hardline you should question your goal. JMHO.

LOL, Radioditty, TYT, Anyone... its like going to war with an airsoft... hahaha.... amateur stuff lasting in SHTF depends entirely on usage and price, I can definitively see HF amateur gear lasting a long time as a base radio (the expensive stuff, mainly), but the cheap stuff? for EDC by boots-on-the-ground, etc?, nope, it won't last very long. Battery quality control is also like non-existent on those CCRs, while you might get lucky with a radio that lasts the advertised figure, chances are the next one will not... G.

I disgress with the budget argument, b/c I was in the same boat as the $500... which is how I ended up racking a large CCR collection... only to realize I wasted my budget in useless equipment. 500 dollars could get you several XPR Gen1 radios... and in the past you could've gotten x2 XPR7550 (non e) variants too for 500. So you wait until next budget is available, you get another two for 500... etc.... and so on so forth. Its called time budget too, given more time the budget can be increased. Its a tradeoff how soon you want it, how much you can spend and how far do you want your light to shine. In regards to scrounging for parts, or your friend who just put up an UHF repeater: Most of the people who have walked the path know very well the costs of scrounging for parts, forking every $$$ out your own pocket, etc... but then, because I want my money to count, I think its wise not to waste it in substandard equipment... Things do get expensive quick when they are worth it... this applies to pretty much everything in this life worth doing. It seems like we (myself included) are eager to underpay other people's hard work but we are always eager to ask more for our own work/job, and that is the weak point in the armor that the CCRs are targeting...

I know this form a communication is fraught with miss communication and understandings. Too many time putting good people at odds. Sill the benefits can and should out way the issues that come up. Thaks all. we are all in the boat together.

I think he just means something other than the one it comes with. Midland's 6db antenna isn't a bad choice, though i've seen a few recent reports of bad ones from amazon, either out of tune or cut, though those may have been returns that were resold. realistically, pretty much any antenna tuned to cover 460-470 mhz, or 450-470mhz (more common), single band or dual band is going to be solid. i ran a browning 5/8 over 5/8 for awhile (tuned for 410-490), and it was pretty much perfect (1.1:1 through the band) on a mag mount on my truck. the beauty of nmo mounts is there's a ton of options for antennas and you can swap at will.

In my area, I recall when Cert (Community Emergency Response Teams) bought blister pack Motorola Talkabout FRS/GMRS radios, and taught people how to use them in their community, along with having a survival (then a 72 hour kit). I now see many Baofeng radios, and dollar store or thrifty survival kit items, of course new in the wrapper. My inject here is to go camping, or without power for a day, and see how the gear works. Can you stay warm, hydrated, fed, and sane. The local public utility replaced a transformer and there was a known 2 hour outage, and one neighbor of mine ran a generator the entire time to watch football. (No health issues or medical devices that need power, just wanted that TV). I know people that need that television, or latte, and any interruption could be a problem for their survival.

Just for info - I have tested and used dozens of antennas, and the one I now use on my Jeep is the Midland MXT26A GMRS antenna. It has 6db gain, and right out of the bag it had a near-perfect 1.1:1 SWR so no cutting was required. And, oh yah, it transmits just fine

The FCC has published guidelines regarding the amount of RF exposure and safe distances from antennas for both operators and others such as family members that need to be maintaned. There are several calculators available on the Internet. The ARRL has one that is easy to use along with a brief description of the requirements from the FCC applicable to all radio stations, not just amateurs. For a 50W station, the minimum distance for an operator using GMRS frequencies is 6 feetfrom the antenna while family members should be 10 to 12 feet away when transmitting.

WoW, thanks so much. countless hours in the past 3 days with no luck. This looks very darn closes. Now i will try to get some dimensions of this Tamiya (mini) plug with a 14awg pig-tail wire. eather way I will get several. Just hated to morphydite the ends, now i can run power and use factory ends so to use other Midland radios. My SUV cigarette lighter output was effecting radio out-put. SUV Antenna out put was around 10 watts. I wires car it was closer to 14 wats. So it had to be under wire size within the SUV. Truth be told this plug (if it works) is rated for use on a 7.2 v 3600 mAh battery. It is under rated to the MXT 275. Thanks again. wayoverthere and I love MyGMRS.com Amazon.com- 4Pairs Tamiya Mini Tamiya Plug Male Female Connector Adapter Cable 14awg 15cm for RC Car Lipo Battery Airsoft Gun.url

Very good point. Pressing the ‘Menu’ button operates as the ‘Enter’ function when navigating the function menus on Wouxun radios. If one gets in the habit of only pressing ‘Menu’ only when intending to make a change and ‘Exit’ in all other cases the problem of upsetting the codes can be eliminated. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM