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It snowed and I never got back up to it but it's is now the end of March and I can update on the performance. The repeater stayed up 24/7 until around the beginning of January where low total solar hours due to reduced daylight and consistent clouds resulted a "low" battery state. The solar controller shut down the repeater when it saw a sustained voltage of 12.1 or lower. During this time we had nearly all cloudy days continuing through the start of February. The few sunny days we had the controller would turn the repeater back on after about 20 minutes of getting full sun on it's panel. We were only getting single days of sun with many days/weeks of clouds between. With the low solar hours from the high latitude a single day was only making enough power to keep the repeater running for about a day during January before the battery ran "low" again and the solar control shut the repeater back off. This would increase to about 2 or 3 days worth of power by February with the increase in the length of solar hours per day. It was good to see the solar controller doing it's job consistently protecting the battery while also consistently bringing everything back up in -20 degree weather provided it had enough sun. By late February we had 5 days of full sun in a row and significantly increased daily solar hours. The repeater has since has been up 24/7 since then. I have head multiple new GMRS members exploring it's RF footprint the past few days. Once the several feet of snow melts and the mud subsides I will try and post a reading of the data on the solar controller. I know this post is super long but I think it contains useful data for anyone else looking to make a solar charged repeater with a small physical footprint.

Antennas are radio agnostic. As long as the impedance is right and the connectors match antennas work. So yes, the Midland antenna will work with almost any radio.

I would go right to a Kenwood 790H / 890H dual brick setup with a single head and call it good. These are FM only commercial radios that would of course be limited by programming and would NOT have a VFO. You really didn't mention what you are planning to do with the radios. This would be my option for a vehicle setup. Obviously if you are needing SSB and satellite functionality, this is NOT the way to go. If that is what you are looking for I would find an ICOM 910-H. That will get you 1.2Ghx as well. I think my satellite rig is a Yaesu 891, but don't hold me to that. I am still getting the antenna system built for satellite work so I am not in front of the radio at all yet. I do know it's all band and all mode with satellite functionality (dual tracking VFO's for each band for dopler shift) And BTW,,, not all that sad. Weird and a bit pissed off, but never sad.

If one is mostly in a receive mode, it probably will not be overly critical... But it is a common situation that transmitting consumes two to three times the electrical power relative to the output power. IOWs, a 50W transmitter is consuming 100-150W of electricity -- and the excess (50-100W) is released as heat. Think of a 100W incandescent light bulb (do they still sell such things?) -- that's the heat source of an old "Easy-Bake" oven! That's the heat you want to dissipate.

Well I think this settles the argument (at least in this case) of the design lacking some intuitiveness in the adding of repeaters to a favorite list. It shouldn’t be this easy to make the mistake. @Sshannon is right, don’t blame yourself. You did what you could to make it right. I thinks it needs to be fixed either by the owner or @rdunajewski . Perhaps this will bring about some change and spare anyone else having to deal with this issue.

Another thing to try would be to have the actual owner add them back in to his/her list of repeaters. Don’t blame yourself. This seems to me to be either a bug in the code, a case of incorrect permissions, or really a poor design.

Make certain you have no tones set on your receive frequency.

Welcome!!! I totally get the whole "my family/friends don't get it" situation. My wife and son were/are Hams and lately neither of them think I'm sane. LOL I'm a bit south from you, down in Prince William County, but there are a bunch of GMRS repeaters and users around the DC/B'more area. There are countless amateur repeaters, too. Ask questions if you have any. There are some very, very smart people here with tons of experience and willing to help. Have fun and hopefully I'll catch you on the air in my travels!

"Picket fencing" is sort of a doppler effect from the antenna moving around (unless one is driving past a really tall metallic picket fence ? ) -- nothing that can really be adjusted by the grounding status. You placed the antenna on top of a tall thin stick -- both the stick and the antenna are going to flex under wind and motion. The suggested roof mount takes out the tall stick.

There are few things related with antenna height at https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-A/section-95.317

Most units that exceed 50W on VHF will be HF/6/2m/70cm rigs -- mostly desktop stations, not mobiles (the discontinued Kenwood TS-2000 did come with a mobile mounting bracket, but you'll either need a camper-van conversion to mount it in the back, or rip out the front the passenger seat as the unit is the size of the seat cushion). Even then, the 70cm (UHF) output is typically 50-80% that of the 2m (VHF) output [50W vs 100W, 40W vs 50W] -- and there is no assurance that 2m operates at 100W. 100W tends to be reserved for the HF/6m range.

I really wasn’t recommending it. It was a theoretical response to a theoretical question. ? Personally, I would go with a yaesu ftm-6000.

Since, I finally got my repeater online and I am using my big stick antenna, I needed to come up with a better solution than using a mag-mount with a Phantom Stubby antenna sitting on the windowsill of my shop. So, I decided to install a mobile antenna configuration in the attic above my shop since I only need to hit a few repeaters from my base station. I used a Laird Base Coil Non-Ground Plane antenna with a Laird NMO Mount/Male N Adapter and a bracket affixed to wall near the top pitch of the roof and in front of the vent and ran about 25' of LMR400 cable to my radio on the bench that sits on top of the repeater. You would think that would be good-to-go for just hitting a few nearby mountain top repeaters that I can do with a 4 watt portable with no problem. No, that wasn't good-to-go because the screen in front of the vent liked to reflect some RF back that I didn't like so I relocated the antenna further away from the screen. Well that did take care of the reflection of RF and I kinda like the VSWR, under two so that seem to be good-to-go. I ran a test with a radio repeater club member on the main repeater and everything sounded good and I was still liking the reflection and VSWRs so I decided to put everything back in its place. I started tacking down the coax, reinstalling a metal grid type shelf that was in my way when I was installing the antenna in its original location and than relocating the antenna, put away all the tools and decided to check the reflection and RF out. Damn, I popped the GFI that I originally thought was the breaker. I was wondering how can I pop 20 amp breaker with hardly a load on that circuit. I didn't have that problem before so I went to the electrical panel and all the breakers were Ok. I went to the outlet and saw the little itty bitty red light on the GFI reset so I reset and keyed the radio and damn it, the GFI popped again. I ran an extension cord to another 20 amp dedicated circuit and I was still popping the same GFI outlet. I decided to relocate the romex wire for the four-plex that I use for my radio stuff further away from the antenna. I had to lower the metal grid type shelf again in order to relocate the romex wire further away. I also relocated the LMR400 further away from the romex wire and tacked it down on the roof/ceiling cross-members. After relocating the romex and retacking the coax. I went downstairs to the radios and fired everything up and walla, the GFI didn't popped alright. So, I went back upstairs to put everything back in its place, take my tools back downstairs. Yes, I did key the base radio again and guess what, the GFI popped again. Are you kidding me. I went back upstairs and again relocated the coax LMR400 further away from the affected romex but, I didn't do anything with the metal grid type shelf, there was no reason to because the shelf wasn't in my way and I already replaced the three boxes what I had on the shelf which, were boxes full of Christmas decorations. Went back downstairs and keyed the radio Pop goes-the GFI. I go back up stairs and took the boxes off the shelf and checked again, and Pop. Now, I'm trying to think what worked before and I know what is not working now. The only thing I can think off is lower the metal grid type shelf and try again. I'm thinking what in the hell does this shelf have to do with anything but, I did lower it. I went back downstairs and keyed the radios and nothing popped, are you kidding me? I went back upstairs and kinda popped up the shelf and went back downstairs and keyed the radio, Pop, goes-the-GFI. Went back upstairs and lowered the shelf and rekeyed and nothing popped. Wow, are you kidding me, so I left the shelf down. I put everything away and I keyed the radio and nothing popped. Unbelieveable, its fixed, I hope.

A Sticky is a good idea for people to add their experiences. I have a few odd balls that I could that I have learned over the years such as pouring oil down a tower guy-wire once a month and oil and torque tower joint bolts to eliminate intermod interference. I don't have a clue on how to start a Sticky. I think a Forum God would have to do that.

Since this is just "theoretical post and for speculation" and Ham related. For GMRS I'm sure you're well aware of the rules so it's up to you what you do. I'm not aware of any "Ham" single or dual band radios for VHF/UHF that will do 100 watts. The most common power levels are 40 to 50 watts, with UHF generally being the lower of the two. Now for commercial mobile radios there are some that will do 100 watts. You'll likely end up spending a huge pile of shinny coins to get one. You might be better off getting something in the 15 to 25 watt range. You can find these at relativity affordable prices. The following is an example of one I have. While it's an analog/digital radio I didn't complain about the price, It was free, pulled out of service after a short while, never reused, and scraped off the books by the original agency that had it. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/250-nx-820ghjpg/ The lower power radio you can later add the amplifier if you find it necessary. If your operations will be primarily through repeaters that's likely all you'll need. When I first got licensed I used a dual band HT on low power running into a Mirage dual band FM amplifier, around 35 to 45 watts depending if it was UHF or VHF. Never seem to need more for repeater use operating mobile. Later I had an Icom IC-706MKIIG. I almost never ran more than 20 to 25 watts on it either. Generating the kind of power you want at UHF isn't that easy and it's not going to be cheap. https://www.dxengineering.com/search/part-type/vhf-uhf-amplifiers/rf-output-maximum-power/100-watts Most people coming to GMRS from a CB background are hung up on the power output myth, the more the better. At VHF and more so at UHF the communications are LOS, line of sight, the radio waves don't bend around obstructions in the path very well. To give you an idea of just how far you can reasonably expect is look at a mobile antenna on a Jeep for example up maybe 6 feet. The range to the radio horizon, square root of antenna height above ground in feet times 1.4 gives range in miles. sqrt(6)*1.4 = 3.4 miles https://www.hamuniverse.com/lineofsightcalculator.html If the other vehicle is about the same then it's the combination of both, about 6.8 miles. Running a huge amount of power won't extend this much. Some of the other posters here have done the experiments and have come to about the same conclusion.

im on the verge of doing this, i just want to make sure i can use a rack in truck for kayak with out bumping the antenna. i saw a similar shaped antenna for my cell phone booster. i like the low profile look.

Well, I had to know if the GFI would pop and yes, it popped with the shelf in the up position so, its back down and no more popped GFI.

More gremlins came and visited this morning. My repeater decided that it didn't want to unkey when a transmitting radio unkeyed. The repeater stayed key because there was a signal present to the receiver. This problem cropped up this morning. It appeared like a distant open carrier with a little intermod signal mixing in. When I removed the receiver cable from the duplexer, of course the signal quit and the repeater unkeyed. My big stick antenna that I use for the repeater will see very far. I can even communicate with a 4 watt portable little over 10 miles to the repeater. That is why at first I thought it was a distant signal. I connected the repeater to my secondary antenna, you know, the one that was popping my GFI, and put my base radio on the big stick. The GFIs are fine and after the swap, the repeater operated as designed, no problem at all. I put the repeater back on the big stick and the problem was still present. Just for giggles, I checked the RF out and reflected between the duplexer antenna output port and the big stick antenna and the needle on my Bird barely moved on the reflected so I put the 10W slug in and checked the reflected again and I saw a tad over a watt reflected. The RF power from the duplexer was about 26-27 watts on 462.625 MHz. So, in case that someone decided to communicate through my repeater I decided it was best to put the repeater on my secondary antenna, for the interim, so it will function properly and not stay keyed up forever. Anyways, I already had another project to occupy my time for the day. Today, my plans were to install my additional grounds to the repeater station and the secondary antenna system that I use for the base radio. I completed the job and I decided to reconnect the big stick antenna system to the repeater and the secondary antenna system to the base radio. The repeater unkeys as designed and the problem appears to be eliminated. I elected to leave the metal grid shelf lowered up in the attic that was causing the GFI to pop because I didn't want to push my luck but, my curiosity will no doubt get the best of me and I more than likely put the shelf back in place to see if the grounds eliminated the popping GFI. Anyways, I don't use the shelf and it just gets in my way. I think the newly installed "Green" wires scared and chased the gremlins away. At the moment, everything is just peachy. I must have been creating my own intermod problem without the secondary antenna system and the repeater station not being grounded. Grounding the Repeater station. Grounding the Secondary Antenna System for my base radio. Connecting to the ground system at the Lightning Arrestor that is used on the LMR400 Cable run from the Big Stick to the Repeater Station.

Bridgecomm GMRS Repeaters are basically two Commercial Maxon 8402A Radios crammed into a single rack mount chassis. They use Maxon's ACC-810/N, Programming Software with some minor proprietary changes. The Maxon's 8402A's are pretty decent radios.. I'm running two of them for my repeater and get a lot better performance then the Wouxun KG-1000's i had. I'm using Windows 11 for the programing software but it also works on Windows 10, not sure if they have an IOS version.. If you want to save about half the cost of the Bridgecom, build your own out of the two Maxon 8402A's.. RFwiz.com has a pretty decent price on these radios.. I bought my programming software ($35 bucks) but have since seen the software free on a few Ham sites. I'm getting 70 miles easy with these radios and coiuld only get about 40 with the Wouxuns. If you go with either the Bridgecomm or the Maxons you'll be happy.

seems like uv-5r or baofeng is a bit of a trigger word... its been working good on my local repeaters. if I was causing problems I would use good judgment and stop using it honestly if it weren't for baofeng I might not have realized my inters in radio.

Thank you so much! I have added them I'll post a final version a bit later if anyone else has suggestions or corrections.

Radio selection for overlanding is different than other applications in my opinion. I would look for a commercial radio that had coverage for both HAM and GMRS in this case to minimize the number of radios required in the vehicle. And I might (personally WOULD) be looking for something like an XTL5000 that supported dual head so I could have a control point in both the drivers area and the living area of the vehicle. This would minimize the need to move to the cab to get access to the radio when needed. The other reason for a commercial radio over a modded ham radio or other option is you have better programming options (creating ZONES for specific areas) instead of needing to dial through a large number of channels to get to the desired channel. Commercial radios can have fairly complicated zone / channel layouts where the ham stuff, while it may support the same 512 or 1024 channels, will only allow one 'zone' with all 512 channels in numeric order. Other options with some commercial gear is the ability to control a PS grade siren / PA system. While the siren may not be very useful, the PA, radio over PA, and air horn functions can be valuable for overlanding operations in groups. The other thing some commercial setups have is the ability to control other equipment through I/O pins that can be programmed to radio buttons for controlling lights and other things via relays. Again, eliminating other things in the vehicle cab. Think about the amount of stuff that is controlled in a police car or fire truck and then consider that level of control in your overland vehicle. Yeah, it's gonna cost more than the CCR radio you were considering, but it can also save on space and offers additional functionality that a standard radio can't.

Exactly. Which is why I don't generally recommend using radios on services they're not certified for. I will say they do work, but I stop short of actually saying "It's OK to use a UV5R on GMRS".

That might be true with the UV-5R. On the "Spurs" thread I posted a file with the spectrum of what the output looks like. Various Hams know how dirty those buggers can get and won't use them, at least on a regular basis. I had a buddy that tried the mod for the BF-888, another CCR, 16 channel UHF radio. The mod allowed the use of VHF on the radio for the lower 8 channels. He transmitted on a 2M frequency from our south building while I monitored him from our north building. Sounded OK. Then I tuned to the exact 3'rd harmonic of the VHF frequency, which put it on the Ham 70cm band. I heard him there just fine too, and the audio was VERY loud. The reason for that was the deviation on VHF is now 3 times that on UHF. Well that ended the experiment and he disabled the mod. Output of the radio was VERY dirty, spectrum wise, on VHF. There is a reason why the FCC requires certification of radios. It's not just about what frequencies the radio can transmit on. The radio has to be a "good neighbor" and play nice on the air and not interfere with other users because the transmitter is a POS.

Yet we argue about ID on a repeater for months....Either we care about the rules or not. The focus of the forum should be on proper GMRS use. If not its just another SHTF forum.

i had a KG1000 repeater set up and was getting roughly 45 miles talking into 9 Mile Canyon, however i could not reach a friend in Lone Pine. Last Dec i switched the KG1000's out with a pair of Maxon 8402A Radios and have no problem hitting a friend in Long Pine, 85 miles north of me.. The Maxon's are 40W radios but for some reason they talk a lot better than the KG1000.. I'm using a Hustler G6-450-3 Antenna with LMR400 45' run antenna to duplexer. BTW, The Maxon's are comparable in cost than the KG1000 and seem to be a lot better radio

I try to avoid lithium in my pancake batter as well (unless my guests are bi-polar!) ?