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Guys lets get back to the Midland MTX500 stuff. There is a section in the forums for arguing called Amateur Radio or Miscellaneous Topics

For ease of use, mounting options and power/capabilities, you can't beat the KG-1000G which is a 50W SuperHet radio.. If you want something less expensive, the KG-XS20G is a good, small, very capable SOC radio. For simplicity the Midlands are great - but they're not cheap, they have limited abilities and many/most of the pre 2022 models are narrowband only, which is an issue if you want anyone using a "real" GMRS (wideband) radio to actually be able to hear anything you're saying. My opinion is based on having/testing/using virtually every mobile GMRS Radio on the market.

You are right, actually. The EVX-5xxxx radios use both, they use a regular double conversion superhet, with a traditional 1st stage, but the 2nd stage is a direct conversion Rodinia chip. I think the AT-578 uses a similar approach as well, but not Rodinia on the 2nd stage... some POS 2nd stage that allows intermod galore... Its certainly not impossible, it only costs circa $13,000 dollars for a new IC-7810 radio... or around $5,000 for a new APX8000 radio... or around $1k or so for a new XPR7550e... not impossible, just be prepared to pay for it. You won't find such luck in CCRs I am afraid. Anything designed poorly (regardless of what it is) will have horrible performance... G.

In the current state of affairs you are more likely to be able to contact another traveler or station using CB rather than GMRS or FRS. A hand held radio, with the supplied antenna inside the car isn't going to reach very far, probably a half mile for certain and a few miles at best. Pair it with an external antenna and you can have an average contact area of 2 to 3 miles. Moving to a mobile unit, you will have the 2 - 3 mile minimum range with a max of 10 - 12 miles with some exceptions. Your best coverage area for travel on the major routes will be cellular. If you are set on using radio, an amateur technician license with a 2 meter HH will give you the most coverage area.

Most 1/4 wave for gmrs are about 6". Most 5/8ths are 16". I would advise against fender mounts etc. Unless, clearance makes it really a "I have to". The increase in gain won't make up for the fact you will have biased radiation patterns and shielding from the cab. You might find you lose quite a bit reception and what you get has more picket fencing. In honesty all installation mileage varies. So any 1/4 antenna might fit your needs and wants, especially if you magnet mount is nmo style and not funky like Nagoya magnet mount was Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

It gets hard sometimes. Part of the reason I took a break was because I was sick of the arguments. Anyway, I sent the radio back to Midland last week for an alignment and to have the power turned up. Let's see how this goes. When I get it back, I'll retest the power output and blow the dust of the signal generator to test receive sensitivity.

My original link was to get you started, seeing what it takes to get a safe mast that can be 60 (or more) feet high. Rohn makes many different sizes of towers. However, that height does require more than what you could probably get at Home Depot, or expect from chain link fence poles. However, it is your money, house, property, etc. Advice is advice, you can take it or leave it. https://www.cableandwireshop.com/rohn-45gsr-tower-4-foot-short-base-section-r-45gsrsb.html Poke around the website, or others, but Rohn is a very respected company in the industry of radio antenna masts. 60 feet is higher than what many people need, want, can afford. Depending on location, you may need permits, lights, painting the mast, and other items as well. Also, height should include the length of the antenna you wish to put on this mast, and the base that is going to be used. Good luck with your installation, be sure to post pictures whenever you complete the project, a 60 foot tower is something that I would be interested in seeing.

The thing about companders is that they intended to be used on all radios that are part of your communications circle. You don’t receive the full benefit except when your other party’s radios have the same feature and it is enabled their radios also. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

There you go, the VX-4207 sounds like the radio I'll start proposing for GMRS from now on... thanks @wayoverthere it goes right through the CCR crowd argument to buy CCR trash because of part certification scare stuff... music to my ears... and I own a lot of Vertex Standard stuff... its pretty good, in fact, my main base digital link uses a pair of EVX-5300 radios... so there you go. Here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234009379037?hash=item367c0bc0dd:g:Q20AAOSwXFhgnvHz Its a G7, but it will work just fine for GMRS. And at 100 bucks its cheaper than most CCR trash too... awesome! I might have to get me one... Just avoid all these cheapies that claim to offer more "flexibility" in the sake of a piece of crap receiver... piece of crap receiver = range measured in tenths of a mile, as opposed to tens of miles... IMO, if you are going to go through the trouble of putting up a 60 foot mast/tower, might as well get a decent radio to go along with it. G.

The short explanation is that the current rules (95e) require a radio to be locked out of transmitting any non-certified service (ham). However, there are radios certified under the previous version (95a) that can. Overwhelmingly, these are dual certified (90/95a) commercial/lmr gear. Motorola and Kenwood have a few models between them, and I know of one vertex (vx4207). I believe Kenwood may still have some dual certified stuff in production, though not sure if it's 95a or 95e. In all cases, if you're after dual use, you have to watch your frequency ranges; 450-512 or so are more common, good for gmrs but not for ham, though there is gear out there with lower ranges that cover both too (I have some 400-470 vertex stuff, which they usually append -G6 after the model number, while 450-512 is -G7, with D0 being vhf...my base is a VX-4207-G6).

What kind of clearance do you need? If it will clear, I've had good results with midland's old 5/8 wave 3db whip mxta10, not the current ghost thing. It's a hair shorter than the 5/8 wave 70cm laird that I run for limited clearance situations, and it fits in the 7' clearance garage at work with a couple inches to spare, though my truck is smaller. Climbed up and measured just now and it's 13" from surface to tip, including the mag mount. Surface mounting would bring it down by about 3/4". It's discontinued, though sportsman's warehouse shows having some in stock and relatively inexpensive: https://www.sportsmans.com/hunting-gear-supplies/radios-and-weather-stations/handheld-2-way-radios/midland-micromobile-mxta10-3db-gain-antenna/p/1476042 I will say, though, that it's a relatively stiff whip, so not something you'd want to tap/drag on an obstruction.

the 760 is VHF not U

I posted a similar combination, that I sometimes use on my vehicles. The antenna itself is a Laird QW450 NMO mount UHF, and is six inches long. The NMO magnet mount I use with it is the GB8UM mount that comes with a mini-UHF connector. Pictures are in the gallery under my screen name, if the attachment does not work. The mini-UHF connector fits Motorola UHF radio / mobile radios, but maybe not what you are using. Verify before buying of course. But, the 6 inch UHF antenna gets out very well for its size, and should on your vehicle as well, if you place it in the middle of the roof like your current antenna. It also looks like your current base is NMO, so it may screw right on. I go with Laird as I have used them for years and their build quality is great, but there are other 1/4 wave antennas that may work as well. You should not have too much trouble finding a UHF GMRS appropriate quarter wave that will be less than that sixteen inch length.

Same happened to me. It doesn't look like they send you anything (email or postal) you have to check back yourself. Log back into the FCC license manager site and you should see a .pdf with your license and call sign once processed. Walt WROZ560

This^^^^

The thing is, you can have either type, ROC or SuperHet and either can be a poor design or superb. ROC isn't a lesser radio by default. Ultimately it is the overall design that makes or breaks radio performance. The problem, IMHO, is that we find ROC in many of the cheaper radios which suggests that perhaps the supporting design isn't very good. Nevertheless, it would not be impossible to design a very high performing radio around a ROC core. A poorly designed SuperHet can have horrible performance as well, so again, it's the overall design of a given radio, not necessarily the core technology in use. There are many factors that determine how well or poorly a radio will perform. Just an opinion...

While I use Motorola CDM1550LS+ radios for GMRS, I know a few people that bought versions that were only 16 channel analog, so great advice here. Had I not owned them already (CDM1550LS+) I would have used CDM-1250's instead. They can be had for about $150 or so from SunnyComm, great vendor I have used a lot, and others online.

That appears to be the 160 Ch so should be the proper one. I don't have my programming PC in front of me to check a code plug with that model. Some good info in this post from before also - CDM1550LS+

If you want an LMR style rig look for a M1225 or CM300. the other great GMRS radio is the CDM1250/1550 but watch the 1550. There are a few models and one only has limited conventional support. The 1250 is a rock solid unit and can be had for under $100 if you shop around.

You will spend more money on cable and connectors than the antenna many times. Spend more on the proper antenna. As gman1971 said terminate the cable where it breaches the building and ground with proper lightening protection (again $$) then run a smaller cable. If a short cable (under 10') is needed RG142 or similar could be used to the mobile/base/portable. With all of this said manage expectations. Using ham grade home made antenna and RG8 cable will not give you the benefits you hope for in most cases. There will be those that claim its better but YMMV. Determine your use case. If this is a repeater or abase for simplex spend the funds and do it right. If its just a way to hit a local repeater then you may not need what you are looking for.

And also remember the cable cost. 60' mast means at minimum 75' of cable to get you in the house. RG/LMR is most likely not the best option here. You really want LDF hardline which will cost almost or more than your mast. As was stated earlier 60' is on the edge of a mast. I would start looking at tower sections. Rohn is solid performer and 50' with a 10' mast of aluminum would be ideal. Still needs guyed but will stay up much longer than pipe bolted together. Budget everything you need and decide if 60' is really what you need.

Hi, 60' feet above the ground, for just a mast, and not a tower, I recommend, like others, using the house or the tallest property structure for support and/or to start the mast there, so you can reduce the amount of actual mast you'll need to raise to get to the desired height. I honestly think going with a 2-bay or 4-bay folded dipole will also produce very good results even with something that isn't above 50 feet. Also I recommend acquiring a good radio to be mated to this antenna, as it will be exposed to all kinds of RF from nearby super high power transmitters, so a cheap radio might be more detrimental to your range aspirations. If you must start on the ground, then I would use 10' foot galvanized water pipe steel sections, starting from the thickest diameter you can find, either 1 1/2 inch or 2 inch, etc, using the thicker tube as a sleeve for the next smaller section, like a telescopic antenna. At 60 feet, do not thread things with couplers, or they will snap, and trust me, its not pretty when that happens. As for guying, I would use two guy wires per direction, one at 40% of the height, and one at 95% of the height in a triangular 120 degree fashion. To raise this I would use a vehicle, along with a 10 foot section as fulcrum to get it off the ground, along with a helper so the pipe doesn't bend too much when first being raised. Source: I've done this myself. G.

Glad I could help, Yes, you probably don't want to run the anaconda heliax to the radio. Sorry for leaving this important bit out... what I do is run the Heliax up to the main ground plate, where all the N bulkhead connectors are (this plate is usually grounded), and on the other side of the bulkhead N connector I run short 4-feet patch cables of RG-400 with silver N-connectors to the filters, and then another 3-4 feet RG-400 from the filters to the radio/repeater. G.

Hi there, as gortex2 stated, cable is rather important, especially at UHF or above freqs. Personally, I would dump the RG-8/U and go with LDF-50 1/2 inch heliax with trimetal N-connectors. BUT.... big if.... if all you are going to do is simplex then I would entertain genuine LMR600. With either silver or trimetal N-connectors, especially for indoor runs. I wouldn't waste any money on PL259/SO239 for anything above 300 MHz, it can't hold impedance well at higher freqs, so you might end up going down a very deep rabbit hole ... not fun. Personally, I run multiple 40 foot sections of LMR600 with silver plated N-connectors for my UHF GMRS base setup (no repeater) at home. Loss is very small. For anything else I have, everything is heliax LDF-50 1/2" The Effective Sensitivity (or dynamic sensitivity) is not the advertised sensitivity figure on the radio. In order to determine the dynamic sensitivity figure you need to perform an isotee test on the radio. Nowadays, it seems that noise floor is pretty much the limiting factor as to how far you'll be able to hear the base. As for Antenna, after trying over two dozens of ham grade stuff, I wouldn't waste my money on anything vertical, go straight to either a half wave dipole or a half wave folded dipole. You will not be disappointed. G.

In several threads where I have posted about using Motorola DTR410's to monitor local Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) radios, many have said that this requires special equipment or knowledge. In my area of the country, Motorola FHSS DTR/DLR/DPL radios proliferated due to the overuse of VHF and UHF radios, such as FRS/GMRS and MURS equipment. However, most areas I frequent have defaulted Motorola FHSS radios in use, no special knowledge or equipment is needed, except another radio of compatible type. I leave mine on the default "Public 1" TalkGroup, as that is most often the one used (in my area and experience).....most radio users see everything as just a "Walkie Talkie" and charge it up, turn it on and press a side button to talk. On a similar note, I have an older monitor that went to a baby monitoring system made around 2000-2002 or so. With the proliferation of wireless video systems sold by a popular low cost tool store (which I do not recommend - buy Klein Tools, Xcelite, Wiha, Wera, Knipex....etc.) has also become useful once again. People default technology all the time, and this still applies to cheap radios for GMRS/FRS/MURS and amateur gear. The lowest common denominator still applies, often.

And more quotes, with pun intended... btw, did writing that post give you a headache too?

I suggest that your issue is that your two radio are too close together and you are experience desense. The frequency one radio is sending out to the repeater is adversely affecting the ability of the other radio to successful capture the repeaters output frequency because of the level difference between the two. Separate your two radios by about 100 feet and more and then try again. This is a common issue. If affects all RF receivers to various degrees. The better the radios receiver design, the lesser this issue becomes. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I was out for one of my daily walks. My wife tried to reach me off and one for about 15 minutes. Hearing no response she gave up and went looking for me. She found me safe and sound with radio in hand still walking but asked why I did not respond. I apologized but informed her that I did not hear the calls over the radio. Despite the base radio being set correctly when I got home, no dice, no Tx. Turned out I was at fault. I had disconnected the antenna from the radio the night before doing some testing and apparently I had forgotten to reattach. At 50w the radio survived the periodic calls. Sure is a good thing I did not do that on the day I had her read the whole US constitution over the air while I checked coverage in our area for about an hour. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

That guy is a clown, but let me explain what he is saying - since "some people" have a real problem grasping the underlaying message because it is not spelled-out literally enough for their defective brains to process. If you go online (in this forum for example, other forums, YouTube comments, reddit, etc) "some people" teach us that if you ever transmit without an antenna, for any length of time, ever, in any way, it will destroy, or at a minimum damage your radio - No ifs, ands or butts: push button with no antenna = destroyed radio. That video, and the video demonstrating the same thing on an HT (both videos use the "cheap Chinese junk"/CCR radios), show that the common lore of "push button no antenna = dead radio" is not necessarily true. The video does not suggest that people try it, or make a habit of doing it, it specifically says to NOT do it. The video simply demonstrates that the common internet lore spread by "experts", has at least a few exceptions. But unfortunately "some people" interpret the video as "he says you should always use your radio with no antenna" - which, if they actually watched the video and understand the English language, they would understand that is not what was said or even inferred. Both the "experts" and "some people" have come out of the wood-work in the comments on both videos explaining all the reasons, exceptions, etc, why neither of the test radios were damaged - all proving the point that they are trying to disprove. Also, FYI, it seems that it is "some people" that seem to be upset/most angry about the video - claiming fraud, trick editing, other fairy-tales, which is very entertaining - its as though their worlds just fell apart.

The KG-1000G setup will have more output but a "real" repeater like the VXR7000 with only half the power, has much better (almost 2X) range - probably because the internal shielding which reduces desense, and the better/high-quality duplexer.. you COULD spend the extra money on a KG1000 setup for a better quality duplexer, but that gets costly. The Retevis outputs far less power than either setup, but gets about the same range as the KG1000 setup.. Roughly 30-40 miles to a mobile radio, even further to a base-radio.

After having built a repeater with two KG-1000g's, which is a great learning experience, it would be much cheaper and and easier to get something like a Retevis RT97 or a used Vertex VXR 7000.

While this is not a spreadsheet, these are the basic things you need: 1. Receiver - This is the radio that receives the incoming signal on the 467.xxx (repeater input) frequency 2. Transmitter - This is the radio that takes the received signal and re-transmits it on the 462.xxx (repeater output) frequency 3. Repeater Controller - This is the device that connects the receiver to the transmitter, and may add repeater ID functionality, and other features. Some radios like the Wouxon KG-1000G have repeater functions built in, so only a patch cable is required to connect the receiver to the transmitter. 4. Receiving antenna - can be combined with the transmitting antenna when using a duplexer 5. Transmitting antenna - can be combined with the receiving antenna when using a duplexer 6. Appropriate feedline for each antenna 7. Source of power for receiver and transmitter 8. Duplexer (optional) - allows receiver and transmitter to both use the same antenna and feedline, eliminating the need for a second antenna and feedline. While the items above are what is needed, there are a lot of nuances that come into play. While theoretically you might be able to build a repeater using any combination of each of the above items, many things just may not work well in this circumstance. Certain combinations work well, while other combinations just don't do so. If you obtain a purpose-built repeater, such as a Vertex VXR-7000 or Retevis RT-97, it will combine at least items 1, 2, and 3 into a single device. You can use a duplexer to allow the use of only one antenna and feedline for both receive and transmit. Of course, if you do, you'll also need the appropriate patch cables to connect the duplexer to the receiver and transmitter. The Retevis RT-97 includes a built-in duplexer, and on other repeater models a duplexer may be included, but often is not. About the simplest way to get a repeater up and running is to use a purpose built device like the Retevis RT-97, along with a decent antenna and feedline, as well as an appropriate power source. Because it is a relatively low power unit, many people use it with a solar panel and 12V battery, rather than connecting it to the "grid." This is often done in a portable configuration using a "roll-up" J-pole antenna hoisted into a tree. Overall, a repeater is, in many ways, like a car. A car has an engine, transmission, wheels, and so on, while a repeater has the parts mentioned above. It is a system of component parts, which when properly matched, performs well the function for which it was intended. If they are not properly matched, the system will not work well. For more information, you might want to check out repeater-builder.com.

Glad that is working out for you. For other possibilities: For most of my use cases with GMRS, I am running some sort of Motorola radio. So I end up using lip mounts with a NMO (New Motorola) base, and a Laird 1/4 wave 6" long antenna. they are fairly discrete, yet still get out well when mobile. Shown in my picture is a magnet mount Laird GB8UM with mini-UHF connector (for mobile Motorola radios), and a Laird QW450 (to 470MHz) antenna that works very well with GMRS in the 462-467 MHz spectrum.

Asstated GMRS is in the middle of the business band. Most any UHF 450-470 antenna will perform fine.

nanoNVA is better for trimming antennas anyway

So first where is your antenna for the 275 ? I run the midland in both my JT and JK and have no issues. Do you have after market LED lights (headlights) by chance. on my JK ii bought ebay LED lights and it killed the 2 mtr band completely.

Welcome to the site. Current engineer here, and also worked on ICBM's for a while. Still use Garmin Rino 120's and 530's for various outdoor activities. However, my first use of the Garmin Rino 120 was in Afghanistan, in a sort of intra-team radio role, and to double check the AN/PSN-11 Rockwell GPS receiver, that did not have a map installed (or capable of showing one). What kind of range are you getting from the Rino's in rocketry recovery use?

This week's Weekly Repeater Report just came and and no mention of Ocala 600; and not in the last two weekly reports either.