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In your image, you have the RX and TX tones set to 23, so I'm not understanding how you're even hitting it.. The only setting that would affect YOUR modulation is the bandwidth, so make sure the radio is set to WIDEBand. If you are receiving no audio from the repeater, then replacing the incorrect tone of 23 with the correct tone of 84.5 would help so give that a try.

What kind of problems are you having hitting the repeater, and what are the correct codes for the repeater?

There is a wide spectrum of charge controllers. What he needs is very dependent on the particular equipment, batteries and panel array. If the panel array/size is large compared to the battery bank then try to find a charge controller that can be "programmed" to limit charge current, voltage points etc. I have several "good" charge controllers from this company. https://sunforgellc.com/product/gv-5/ My solar panels range in size from as small as 5 watts up to 100 watts. I pick the panel size to match the charge controller and battery pack I want to charge, I have several LiFePO4 types from 3.3AH to 40AH. However the charge controllers I have are not "programmable". So, what is a "good" charge controller in one system design may not be so good in another.

Yes, Michigan, and it is PURE.

Exactly. I have seen some that had current limiting ability, that is what I would buy and I would not expect them to be inexpensive.

In fact many radios fail in that area, including some of the better ham gear. The typical short cuts are reducing the drive to the FM modulator to limit the deviation to 2.5KHz, and bumping up the audio gain by a factor of two. The worse part is they still use the same wide band IF filter in the RX path, cost saving, in the radio so you lose the benefit of using the closer channel spacing. The more expensive commercial radios do the same but have two sets of IF filters, one wide and the other narrow, to allow use of the closer channel spacing. After all that's why the FCC mandated narrow band in the first place. Also as some people have noticed even with properly designed narrow band radios there is some range reduction. The attached file goes into some detail on that point. For range you can use the simplified formula: (Range to optical horizon in miles) = (Antenna height above ground in feet) * squareroot(2) This would be for one radio. To get the path do the calculation for each radio and add the distances together. Narrowband vs Wideband.pdf Radio Horizon.pdf

The XTL5000 is a commercial mobile vhf/uhf radio that was used privately and by first responders. It's pretty sturdy and comfortably goes up to about 850MHz, depending on the version. It was discontinued about 10 years or so. I really like it, especially because it can be remote mounted, but I have many other modern radio with a lot more features. So, like my icom 7000, it just sits in a drawer just waiting for the occasional test ride

Radios fail from time to time. That's why there are repair shops. Sometimes the repair cost isn't worth it. You can spend less or about the same buying another used radio.

Yup. People forget that hand held radios were never intended for high duty cycle, long winded, communications. Some work better than others in that use case. I've used a few of the palm sized radios where after a few minutes of moderate TX they were getting "uncomfortable" to hold. In the winter time they would make great hand warmers.

0ne area that doesn't get much attention is the charge rate on the battery. I was at a Ham Radio swap a year or so back where one guy was selling emergency power boxes with one or two 7AH sealed lead acid batteries in them and connected up to a 100 watt solar panel. That last bit was scary. One of the often overlooked specification on rechargeable batteries is the max charge rate. On the unambitious 7AH sealed lead acid battery that max charge rate is around 2 to 2.5 amps. Anything higher will likely result in damage to the battery, bubbles in the gel which won't go away, for the older gel-cell, to gas generation, hydrogen and oxygen, which is vented to the air and results in a permanent loss of electrolyte for AGM types. So, for a 2 amp max charge rate, and assuming a 12VDC nominal terminal voltage for a discharged battery, the max usable solar panel power is 24 watts. Your typical solar panel will usually deliver about 70% to 75% of the manufacture's STC rating. So, for 24 watts that works out to a standard panel rating of 32 watts at 75%. Doing the same calculation for 2.5 amps results in a max standard panel rating of 40 watts. You have to check the data sheet for the battery you have to figure out the max safe charge rate. BP7-12.pdf UB1272 F2.pdf

I only live in California, so I can only speak for California. Ask MichaelLAX. He assumes to know everything.

"Was your friend pulled over in California; I doubt it." Yes, he was. "Note the bolded statements in your quote..." I know what I wrote. It was well-thought-out, well-written, and to the point, and I meant every word.

I'll be sure to explain to my friend that it was only pure urban myth when he got pulled over because his ham radio license plate returned nothing until he explained to the cop that he needed to change the vehicle type code to "H". Vanity plates have a vehicle type code "A" like every other standard-issue passenger car plate, which is generally the default. California ham radio plates are not vanity plates, they're ham radio plates. Thanks for the heads-up though. Good information.

Radioddity DB20-G as easy to use as: 1-2-3: 1) Plug into cigarette lighter; and plug in antenna; 2) Select appropriate Repeater Channel 23-30; and 3) Push FUN button, select appropriate Tone from 01:T-CTC Menu using Up and Down arrow buttons; then push FUN button to exit Menu Mode Start using your Repeater! Tons of user feedback on this Forum alone!

Pure urban myth: My old California vanity plate, W7ML, is simply that: If the CHP runs "W-7-M-L" they got me; nobody else can order that as a Vanity plate.

I have been down your path. I have a 50W MXT575. I love the 6db Midland antenna for my truck. Great set up. Tried to use it at my house. Experimented with it on the roof on a pie plate for a ground plane. Not great. Not even as good as the same radio and antenna on my truck in the driveway. Then I tried an Ed Fong. Short mast with minimal height. A little better. Then moved up to the Tram 1486 and all the way up to the peak of my roof. Another step improvement, but still not satisfied. I am currently at a 12 element yagi (PCTEL) with a rotator. 12 db gain. The best I can do without a tower on height. Much better. Stronger on receive and transmit. The most stable so far. I am still not clear of the trees, and have some near by elevation gains that I have to contend with. But I do have others in my area with a very similar set up and better elevation. This set up is the best by my judgment when they hit the local repeaters. Full quieting, very strong signal. Also the higher gain means you can use less output power, which is always a plus. In any case, the comments about good quality coax are a must to pay attention to. Messi and Paoloni makes some great coax. But Two Way Radios has some great folks to help you with many of the items I described above. They have been a big help for me. You can order coax to the exact length you need, so you don't have any unnecessary loss, and no connectors. Your mileage will vary. Depends on your starting elevation, obstructions, repeater height, your budget, many factors. I am sure that any of the intermediate setups for me above would have been perfect, if I lived even a half mile away from my current location - with a little extra elevation and a clear view of the horizon. So don't take my experience to mean those options will not work for you. How far you need to go also depends on your goals. Do you want to hit every repeater in your state and the surrounding states??? You're going to need lots of gain and lots of height and as little loss as possible in the feedline. Do you want to be able to hit a single well placed repeater and be able to check in on your local net. Maybe a lower cost option will work for you. One last thing if you happen to have the 575 version: I used the shortest coax possible, and have a radio that allows the mic to be run on ethernet cable. That shortens up my coax and minimizes losses that way. I cut the coax length in half by doing that. And it gives me two locations for my radio. One at the radio upstairs, and another downstairs where I ran the cat5 cable to. At some point you do get some loss on the ethernet cable, so test your lengths before running through your walls. And I put a wifi switch on the power supply, so I can turn the radio on and off from downstairs - even remotely turn it on and off if I want to reach out to my base station while I am mobile.

That's sort of strange. Any Ham call plates I've seen from other states were rather distinctive. So in California they have to run the call sign plate through the system differently from other types? That seems weird the system can't figure it out on it's own. I would suspect people are telling BS stories.

[Repeater] -- [Transmit Frequency] [Receive Frequency] | | [Transmit Tone] [Receive Tone] You want to transmit on the Repeaters Input Receive Frequency 467.550 - 467.725 with the needed Receive Tone so that the Repeater will receive your transmission and then re-transmit it on the Repeaters Output Transmit Frequency 462.550 - 462.725. Some Repeaters also add a Tone to their retransmission of your transmission, Transmit Frequency, but it is optional for users of this Repeater to set their receive tone to be able to hear the Repeater. It's a bit confusing but your GMRS transmit frequency is set to 467.550 - 467.725 with the needed Tone, and your GMRS receive frequency is set to 462.550 - 462.725 with the Tone being optional and usually recommended to be no Tone until perhaps you are satisfied that all is working well.

YES! Linking is about done to death on GMRS as it has been on ham for a while! It has become a major annoyance on 2m/70cm ham. When I got on ham in 1996, I joined a club that had a great three (and sometimes 4) repeater linked system. In that day, before everyone had a cell in their pocket, it was a great conduit for family, friends, and social interaction in a 3-county region. Over time, the linking has gotten out of hand. One ham radio group I am thinking of has some great, and some not so great, repeaters covering part of two states. There are around a dozen. In my state they have a UHF repeater that has phenomenal coverage for that band. As such, many locals like to use that repeater, but since the owner group insists on 24-7-365 linking, whenever we use it, it ties up the system for all, including those in the other state. Ditto when they are on there complaining about their hemorrhoids or whatever. There should at least be a publicly known DTMF de-link/link code for these times. I know GMRS is not ham, but I see the same problems coming to GMRS because everyone is suddenly link-happy. I am a member of a GMRS paid group with repeaters in two states, because it is paid, traffic is not very heavy most of the time. Individual repeater coverage could be better, but they have a decent system. Every Sunday evening for a couple of hours or so, the system is unuseable because it carries a nationwide GMRS net. Were I broken down on the side of the road and needing to use the radio to get help because my cell was in a dead spot, I would be a very unhappy camper having to wait for this net to go off. Some people love hearing the voices from across the country coming through the speaker on their ht, mobile, or base. After a while, the novelty wears off. With only eight pairs available, I would much rather see repeaters carrying "local" traffic from a bigger footprint than duplicating a conversation being had 100 or more miles away and stifling local comms.

Here are plans for a GMRS J-Pole that is about 18" in total length built from a piece of 300 ohm TV twin lead. It can be put into a PVC stub and hidden on the roof as a new vent pipe. J-Pole Emergency Flexible Antenna (fiu.edu)

I have the N9TAX GMRS/Murs w/16' and BNC connector. Use it on my mobile/Base. I love it. Gets me out to repeaters 30-40 miles distance. If you need to mount it to a pole, lash it to a 5' driveway marker using zip ties.

Chankel at this link back in 2008 seems to think that this might be a Helicopter Express Traffic link for Philly.

Welcome! #1: No.. If they publish the tones, that means they want everyone to see them #2: "It depends".. you can expect anywhere from 1/2 mile to 80 miles #3: You only need the TX/Encode tone (the one you transmit) to use the repeater. The RX/Decode only makes it so you only hear traffic from the repeater and not kids down the street talking on simplex, etc.

Its all about how many people will do it. Normally a petition to the DMV will result in a new plate. We tried to get SAR plates in NY and never got enough "wants" for the state to do it.

Mine is able to get a GPS fix when my phone is powered off. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

One of the busy repeaters is operated by the SeaTac Repeater Association, the repeater is located on East TIger Mountain - 462.625/141.3 I've heard checkins from Yelm, Orting, Puyallup, Port Townsend, Camano Island, Stanwood, Granite Falls, North Bend. Even from hikers camping up in those mountains using HTs.

I must have missed the "largest" part of the question. LOL Why do you want the largest antenna? Wouldn't you want to best performing antenna for your needs, regardless of the size?