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Surely you know that you can reprogram the side buttons to other functions and NEVER use your LED flashlight! And don't call me Shirley! ?

And Channel 9 is limited to 0.5 watts.

Wake me up when Baofenshuii has a shortage of flashlight LED s and can no longer offer that "feature" either. Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

So, just for grins and giggles, I took some readings on one of my antennas... MFJ Analyzer 145.520 = 1.0:1 147.000 = 1.3:1 Nano VNA 145.520 = 1.2:1 147.000 = 1.2:1 Surecom High Power 145.520 = 1.1:1 / 46.07wFwd / 0.131wRev 147.000 = 1.08:1 / 41.22wFwd / 0.061wRev Low Power 145.520 = 1:1 / 5.1wFwd / 0wRev 147.000 = 1:1 / 4.67wFwd / 0wRev If you look at the readings, they are all close enough. The truth is, they may all be correct. It takes different cables and connectors to test with these devices and those numbers will change based on the changing of hardware. Shoot, realistically, just disconnecting and reconnecting the same gear twice could give you these kinds of variations. If we look at the Surecom reading 145.520 = 1.1:1 / 46.07wFwd / 0.131wRev... the reverse power is 0.285% of the forward power. So, if we switch over to 5w of output, I am not shocked the meter is reading a 1:1 SWR, because 0.285% of 5w is too low for the meter to read. Its about 0.014w. the scale on the device doesn't have enough place holders displayed to show the SWR... so it rounds to zero (or 1:1). I still think that TDukes needs to either calibrate the Nano VNA, the Surecom, or both. But for what we do as GMRS users, I think the device is working as intended and is "close enough" to know our stuff isn't going to break. The need to fine tune that last drop of power (maybe 40 miliwatts at 5w scale "if" his VNA is correct) is pointless except as an exercise.

Yes, the applications are LIMITED for enhancing coverage through down tilt antenna's or fill antenna's for specific area's. It's mostly used in mountainous regions that have towers with a TON of HAAT (height above average terrain). If your repeater happens to be on a mountain top and it's the tallest around, and PART of teh area of interest is in the valley below then this type of stuff comes into play. But if you are JUST trying to serve the town at the bottom of the valley, then you put the antenna in the bottom of the valley somewhere on a tall structure and be done with it. I have heard of guys sticking MOSTLY ham antenna's way the hell up in the air on a tall tower on a tall mountain and can't understand why the coverage sucks. And what's funnier about that is the area that actually gets the best coverage is without any residents. It's forest, or wheat fields but NO PEOPLE. There was a time that even the commercial radio guys put the biggest antenna on the tallest tower if you want it to talk. And that is rarely the best option anywhere. 300 feet is about the max if you are in a flat area. And hilly terrain, you really need multiple sites with multiple repeaters to cover that topography. Nothing else really works. You either end up covering the hill tops, or you have a small footprint of coverage.

Have to disagree. We have had massive satellite communications outages (especially GPS related) due to recent CME's sending some nasty space weather our way. One network I am aware of lost 40 of it's 48 satellites in the past month, seriously debilitating the network. I read an article today that there was a massive satellite blackout to systems servicing most of the African continent due to a CME event. In fact Viasat has so many interruptions to service that they have a website dedicated to showing the services current status. Even the new Starlink system has been having outages due to space weather this year. Also, earth surface SatComms is contingent on clear view of an in-network satellite. Garmin has posted on their website that you need a clear view of the entire sky with little or no tree cover, and very heavy, solid tree cover in all directions may prevent successful communications. HF radio is not impacted by things like foliage or partial sky visibility. HF radio is impacted by space weather, but it's only diminished. There is never a blackout of communications using HF. So, in my opinion, if you can... have both. if not, at least have an HF radio. Just because satellite is easier and has more portable bells and whistles, that don't mean it's 100% up-time.

I would imagine something of pretty big nature would have to occur for SAR Sat to not get an activation. Garmin has its own dispatch center that will reply to any SOS from an InReach. Additionally many of us have multiple contacts setup for a trigger to an SOS (SAR Chiefs and Officers, Spouse, other important folks) that is in addition to Garmin/SAR Sat folks handling the emergency. The actual devise communicates directly to the satellites in range. The Mission Control centers are in 6 different locations around the world. For actual use I can say in a normal incident area (hurricane response) I have sent a message via my InReach and the other party got that message within 5 minutes. This was a message only and not an actual SOS Emergency trigger. In everyday use I have seen messages populate on my cell (text and email) within 5 minutes in testing and training missions. For those that are in the rough country and routinely don't have cell signal the units are very reasonable for safety plans. I have one in each vehicle all the time now. Lots of the US that has little to no cell still. Garmin has a video on this that we show to new users -

I just picked up two of these for less than $30 from Amazon (and apparently even cheaper on eBay): Pofung BF-T11 TWO WATTS on Channel 3! And programmable with my Baofeng UV-5R cable, too!

This may have been covered already (I am ‘late to the party’) but, if the signal from your HT cannot reach your home when you are standing outside your car, then a car mounted antenna may or may not make the distance you require.

Marcspaz wrote: “I would recommend portable HF radios first, and satellite communications second.” I would reverse the order on that: For emergency use, a Satellite Communicator (or PLB) s more reliable (also easier to operate and smaller to carry) than an HF radio+antenna.

So I had to go with a switch.. only one radio at a time to listen and transmit. thanks for all the help.

Thanks I think this will do.

Better to do 7-11. More power and it’s convenient! ? Plus you can find them everywhere.

Nor is tone 07 the same in all radios, Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

The problem is, tone 11 isn't the same on every FRS/GMRS radio.