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This was my experience with the Anytone D578 mobile rig too; I got it because it seemed well regarded, triple band, DMR with all the bells and whistles. Everyone raves about them. Using it on analog repeaters revealed some pretty obvious selectivity/rejection problems that the Kenwood TK790/890 setup I had in the truck did not have at all; you could hear it cut in and out with pulsing of SCADA systems on the way in to work (which are fairly low power), next to public safety vehicles, really anywhere there was any sort of remotely non-weak signal present. Packed it up and sold it it within a week and concluded I'm not a fan of the Anytones. I suspect folks like them because de-sense is not as obvious in DMR mode, but RF is RF, and you're still dependent on a receiver doing its job even if you're not directly listening to a discriminator. Switched back to the TK790/TK890 setup, and will be adding XPR4550 to the truck for DMR and calling it good. It seems a good swiss-army knife is expensive to come by at a resonable price.

Eh, I had/have an RT97 that I use with a roll up J-Pole from N9TAX. Ideal? No, but it does work well with height.

Well, the tests I've conducted have been pretty rigid. The purpose of which was to find a setup that actually works at 1.2-1.4mi in the woods so our whole group can actually talk. The tests have been same spots for each distance point as well as some "random" spots at known distances to simulate walking around. Conducted in three different areas all heavily forested with near zero open areas and only mild elevation differences. One of which was our real hunting area from our actual various spots (and right now is full foliage so I would think better in fall). I've also tested MURS and CB. MURS falls off at 3/4mi no matter what but seems better, more stable on it's edge. CB absolutely sucks, and I had the 51" telescoping antenna on it. 1/2mi at most with CB. Yeah, I had high hopes for CB, but...it was not to be. So I honed in on a few GMRS radios and have been conducting tests. The Nagoya 771g antenna helps them all out ALOT, a good 1/4mi more. My point was at the same distance points with each radio in hand and my wife on the other end, with same radios (i have 2 of every type), so I ran same radio to same radio, same radio to different radio, etc..at the far edge about 1.4mi the KG935G at high power will make it, and at medium power (4.3w) will not make it. The other 4w radios will not make it the 1.4mi. By not make it I mean mabey you get some words and alot of static, but unusable for an actual conversation.

I don't believe I have ever used the "AT" option exe to change the mode. I just programmed the radio with it set through the CPS. I just updated the firmware, V1.27, and rebuilt the code plug. Nothing unusual when I programmed the radio and the code plug was built for the expanded RX and TX range. Maybe somebody else can share their experience.

Everyone has an opinion on what is worth the effort, lightening, etc.... Keep in mind, there is a standard, the National Electrical Code, as well as the possibility of local building codes. I would recommend you start there as the minimum standard, which isn't too difficult or expensive to achieve. Also keep in the back of your head, should you decided to do an install that is not compliant with the code, and something does happen, insurances and/or code officials can make your life a living nightmare.

So a j-pole isn’t a “real antenna?” What’re the deficiencies? (Genuine interest- I have a lot of copper pipe and thought I’d experiment)

I have been known to break a rule now and again. I sometimes go over the speed limit, I have drifted through a stop sign or two and I have transmitted out of my allowed frequencies (I'm only a general licensed ham operator but have made a qso or two in the extras bands) However, this time I was transmitting into a dummy load. I know the duplexer needs tuned, and I attempted to do that using that antenna analyzer. It probably doesn't make sense, but it is now working much better since I attempted the tuning. Granted, it certainly isn't perfect. The SWR was awful on the gmrs bands, but I set the analyzer to 462.550 and 467.550 and was able to tune (using all six adjustments) to a very good swr and much higher power output. The two photos are after some duplexer adjustments. Reading went from off the charts to near perfect. I know I can't be this easy, but it's working better now

Here’s the deal. Unless you’re in an airplane, your antenna is grounded no matter what. It’s just a case of you providing a path to ground that minimizes damage. It’s much better to have that path outside your house. Disconnecting is good but you still need a grounding system outside your house.

By common scientific understanding, lightning rods do not attract lightning bolts. They do provide a short path to the ground for direct or nearby hit, so Instead of you getting a coolest scar on your face and back (looks best when in coffin), you just see the fire show. There is also a short story by Mark Twain, Political Economy, hilarious as usual, but spreading misconception. But I can forgive Twain.

Amazon's ears must have wiggled when I posted about the volume problem of one of my BF-T11s because two more just showed up at my door! I'll test them this weekend.

I didn't take your post as dissing Bird at all. I agree that ALL equipment has some degree of inaccuracies and accept that. Of course, one can meet a point of diminishing returns on any piece of test equipment. I don't need a $20K piece of equipment for doing what I am doing. Just saying the Bird is a great economical choice for the average hobbyist, especially considering the money I wasted on two Daiwa meters.

Definitely an untuned unit... That's a 13.6MHz offset when GMRS uses 5MHz. The "high" port is almost in the range of repeater inputs (467.550-467.725) -- about 600kHz off... But the "low" side is 8MHz off. I'm not going to look for an FCC channel assignment chart, but I'm fairly certain there is no service class that jumps that far between input and output sides of a repeater.

Really depends on what your going to MOAB for. But if your going out on the trails I found more activity on CB than GMRS. Being EJS this year used CB for all trails rides still it will be some time before you see all going to GMRS. At this point even Jeep Jamboree has said they are switched to GMRS but last fall only about half our group had GMRS. I'm curious to see if this year they will be more strict on the GMRS front or not. Have our first ride in 2 weeks.

Comparing the list of Utah repeaters (on this sites search page) against google maps, I don't see anything nearby. Don't have links for any other repeater listings searchable without membership...

Was just in MOAB in July. I found no GMRS repeaters, but I also didn't spend a ton of time trying to find them. Very little GMRS/FRS when I was there. I heard more on my CB (CH4, 14, 19, 24) of trail guides. I heard one trail guide on GMRS 462.600 on one day while in Arches but never heard any of the users he was talking to so not sure his location. He was definitely talking to a group and explaining the obstacles before they got there. We had GMRS in our camper also and stayed at KOA. Only heard some kids on FRS1 first night. No other traffic for the 2 nights we were there.

I think perhaps there is another way of looking at this, which could be illuminating to people who may be confused about the situation. I paid my fee and I now have a GMRS license... so I have the privilege to use GMRS frequencies. But I do not have a GMRS radio. At a park, I see someone talking on a walkie talkie, and I ask him what kind of radio it is. When he answers 'GMRS', I just take the radio from him without asking permission and start talking. After all, I have a license, and therefore the right... RIGHT? Your license gives you a PRIVILEGE, not a right, to use the airwaves. To maintain your privilege you must follow certain rules. In the case of using a repeater, you must follow the FCC rules, and also the owners rules. And you must remember that the owner has the right to terminate your permission at any time for any reason. Another analogy is the drivers license, which allows you the PRIVILEGE, not the right, to use the roadways. To maintain your privilege you must follow certain rules. Obviously, your drivers license does not give you permission to 'borrow' some else's car without their permission... and the cars owner may withdraw that permission at any time for any reason.

yah... About that......

I have the 935G and use it with a cup holder mount and external antenna in my wife's Honda. It works well. That looks like a good set up you have there.

I bought one and so did my Son-in-law. Pretty nice little radio for a very reasonable price. I love the long lasting 3200 mAH battery and its very sensitive receiver. Ken WQXQ522

Another badge-carrying member of the Part 95 Police! ?

This also fits with the growth within a hobby. Realistically, we probably don't start out with the best equipment right out of the gate,we build our toolbox...something decent to start with, and improve, sometimes incrementally. A project here, a project there. We can learn some from others, but there's no substitute for your own experience. Some aren't fans of the Surecom meters, and I don't know that they're the most accurate thing out there, but mine have agreed pretty well with each other, and with the little I've played with it, agree pretty close with the nanoVNA as well. Given the variety of sellers across the sites, maybe there's some variance in quality?

OK I'm jumping in on this bandwagon. I tend to go overboard when I learn new stuff, so technical aspects don't worry me. What does worry me, however are things like: 1. Requires a windows PC to function properly (I'm a Mac guy). PITA drivers to install, com ports to configure with USB emulators with poorly written drivers, etc. 2. Requires 10 hours of study to accomplish a task I will perform once or twice a year, and thus I will have to repeat that 10 hours of study every year because I can't remember the details from the last time. 3. Expensive recurring costs of ownership like annual subscriptions or costly maintenance updates. 4. Spending more than I needed to because of some whiz-bang feature I'll rarely or never actually use 5. Requires babying and constant "re-tuning" or calibration before using (spend as much or more time tweaking as using) (and yes, I regularly do all of these things, but I try now to avoid them!) I had just ordered a Surecom SW-33 Mark II and then came across this thread, so I cancelled the order while I ruminate a bit. I like information, and love data. I love to optimize stuff. But I don't see myself getting to the point where I'm going to have a bench with a bunch of oscilloscopes and soldering irons. (that was my Dad, who built Heathkit radios and TV sets when I was a kid back in the 70's) Given all that, I feel like spending $50 on the Surecom SW-102 or $60-$70 NanoVNA seems like a reasonable step up in price from the $45 Sw-33 given the extra functionality. Though looking at the video tutorials for the NanoVNA, it seems like overkill for me (violates rules 1, 2, 4, & 5 for me) ​I guess the real question is which of those options is most compliant for what I need (which I think is similar to the OP's original question). "Which one is "good enough" in terms of accuracy, usability, and features? There definitely seem to be some strong opinions, and if you spend time on forums, this sort of thing isn't uncommon (nor is it anything but well-meaning usually). It's sorta like the following exchange: ​OP: "Whats the best way to get from LA to NYC on a budget?" Reply 1: "Citation X - it's faster than a Gulfstream G-650 and less than half the cost" ​Then a debate rages about the differences between the Gulfstream and the Citation, with the inevitable person saying "Hey, you guys don't know what you're talking about. The Falcon 7x is a much better aircraft.. blah blah blah" Then the original poster comes back and says "I was wondering if Greyhound was cheaper and faster than taking the train..." Its all about relative perspective... :-) Oh, PS - after some thought and a bit more reading, I went ahead and purchased one of the Surecom 120 units. I'll bet it will do everything I'm likely to need for the couple of VHF/UHF radios I have.

Enter 462.625 while in VFO mode Hit MENU, then scroll to SFTD Hit MENU, then select + Hit MENU to save Scroll to OFFSET Hit MENU, then enter 005.000 Hit MENU to save If there is a PL tone: MENU then scroll to R-CTCS MENU then select the correct PL tone MENU to save MENU then scroll to T-CTCS MENU then select the correct PL tone MENU to save That should do it.