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My suggestion is to check the listings/map here and try all the ones near you to see which ones work best for your particular, specific location.

It does, but in most cases most normal people would not notice.. It is MUCH better at filtering out noise/static/bleed-over though, which you WILL notice.

I have an amateur general license and GMRS license. If I want to use digital modes I get on one of my amateur radios. I like the simplicity of GMRS and do not want to see it change.

I agree with SShannon that terrain is the main factor. This said, I have the 771G Nagoya antennas on a couple handhelds and it’s shorter siblings on a couple others. I also have the Smiley Slim Duck on two and generally find it performs better than the stock antenna or shorter Nagoya, but about the same as the 771G. I prefer the Smiley.

I would agree that your power appears to be noisy. Whether it’s the ground or the positive or both is difficult to know from here. My conclusion is that you’re doing all the right things!

i started fresh, using the Ham Registry address for both the FRN and the license application.

No problem. And for anyone else who has a similar issue you can always report your own post.

Thank you

The F150 power is general pretty clean. If you are sure it's the injectors you might have an underlying problem that might leave you stranded one day. Generally you have a few choices for noise, alternator, ignition, and/or injectors. I would definitely go the way you are doing and clean the power up, but don't rule out finding the cause. Sometimes you just can't fix it and masking the issue is the only alternative. Good luck.

Your data is recovered from your FRN number. To use a different address, you need to file a change to the FRN database.

Having your antenna tuned for the frequencies you Tx on is going to be better for your radio and your communications.

I have to agree that most 2m/70cm dual band antennas will have higher SWR reading on GMRS frequencies. Lossy cable and a higher SWR reading on your mobile antenna could very well be what the issue is. Especially if it is a quad band antenna. Multi band antennas are a bit of a compromise in that the bandwidth for each band will be narrower than a mono band or dual band antenna. A higher SWR will show power loss. Add in poor quality cable will only make things worse. I run a Comet 2x4SR dual band antenna on my SxS. It is tuned for 2m and 70cm. The 2x4SR is one of the few dual band antennas that have good SWR for GMRS. I get 1.1 to 1.3 on channels 1-22 (462 MHz) and I get 1.8 on repeater channels (467 MHz). A good dual band base antenna that also works well for GMRS is the Comet GP9. I suggest trying a different antenna instead of the quad band antenna you have now.

Back in the 70's I tackled my power noise on my CB using a pi filter. It's an axial feed capacitor with bleed resistors on the input and output leads of the capacitor. Fixed all the power issues,

feel free to chat here.... I plan on having a mobile as a base station in my house but also wanted to listen while in my garage. So I took what I already knew worked in my truck and put that antenna on the garage. I did not want to buy another power station to run a mobile unit for the little I will be in there. That is why I used a handheld comes with power cable. I was amazed that I was hitting repeaters as far as I was and as clear as I was being told it was. Wanted to share, that's all not saying it the best set up just saying it was CHEAP and WORKS.

I haven’t built a repeater from two transceivers. I know people have and I also know that desense must be overcome for some transceivers. To me it’s a waste compared to a purpose built repeater because you end up with an unused transmitter on one transceiver and an unused receiver on the other transceiver. If you have access to transceivers that have the capability built in it’s easier. The GMRS Wouxun KG1000 and its ham radio counterpart the Wouxun KG-UV980 are sold with the capability incorporated and a 15 foot cable to connect two of them. i would recommend starting a separate thread. I predict you’ll have a popular thread.

And LMR400 has 1dB of loss for the same length.

The people who are dead set against CCRs will never acknowledge anything right with them, but the fact is that they are a large reason why a lot of people get into playing with radios. And once you learn about radios, if you can afford it, chances are you’ll get something better.

If it works, it works. Nothing wrong with using what you have.

So do like Randy suggested and sign up with HamRegistry. Here’s the official response to your concerns: https://www.fcc.gov/managing-director/privacy-transparency/privacy-act-information

Generally speaking a longer antenna will result in a stronger signal for both transmission and reception, as long as everything else is equal. Whether that results in greater range is debatable. Your range on UHF is more frequently limited by terrain than signal strength.

Low- 2 watts Med- 4.5 watts High- 8 watts

Backup power and type might be interesting data to add to repeater listings.

it would seem that HF maybe with one or two relay-people or repeaters would be a better, more reliable solution because you will generally get much greater range with HF than with GMRS. and good luck getting any GMRS signals over the rockies and all other mountain ranges between New York and California.

Yup hams trying to inter-fear in yet another service. My hopes are the FCC laughs at this one.

From top to bottom... - Open the repeater, but hear everyone. Doesn't matter if the repeater is running splits/etc., you will still hear it and everyone else. - To open the repeater and only hear the repeater or simplex stations with the transmit tone set. - Running "Splits" to open the repeater with one tone and only hear the repeater output or simplex stations running a different tone than the input tone. (*not all radio models and firmware versions support this mode.)

Go pop some popcorn and kick back.... This WILL be a long read. So you have you license. Now you want to put up a repeater. Great,,,, maybe,, usually. But have you thought it through or do you just really want to hear your call sign coming across the airways if CW? This is going to explain how to do it right to NOT cause interference with other repeater owners and be mindful of the limited resource (8 repeater pairs) we have been designated by the FCC. This will cover planning, equipment, antenna's and everything in between. Please ask questions about the topics as they are posted, and if you see something missing you would like covered, message me and I will do my level best to cover that topic. I have been a commercial two-way radio tech for 13 years a ham for almost 30 and have been working on electronics and radios for 40 years. First thing is to listen. Listen to the repeater pair OUTPUTS. These are the 462 frequencies in the 462/467 pairs. They are what the repeaters will be transmitting on. The reason you want to listen is you want the quietest one for your area. Now that doesn't necessarily mean the one with the least traffic. So if you have several repeaters around you that are not all that busy, but the signal from them is always very strong and clear and maybe a busier frequency talks alot, but is far off in the distance 4 towns over, any your plans are for a small footprint, with a 30 or 40 foot tower, that may well be the better frequency to choose. You need to consider a couple things here. Number one is the total number of pairs available. We only have 8 for EVERYWHERE. Why is that important? Because the guys with the monsters, like me how just talked to a guy 40 miles away from his repeater, can cover huge area's with their repeaters. And some of them see the value in what they have and allow others to use it openly. That's my stance on it. I say the same thing to everyone that asks. Make sure to ID your station and have fun. But if you are sitting on an otherwise open frequency, he may not use it for a wide area coverage machine. I am thinking on writing a thread on frequency management at a state level for GMRS, but that comes later. So back to the footprint you are looking to achieve, and you need to be reasonable here. Don't decide to build a monster, tie up a pair and make the repeater closed to all but you and your wife and kids. That's not proper use of the airways. And in my opinion is a bit of a dick move. SO lets say we are going to use that pair that you can hear a repeater on but it's very weak signal and can't always be heard. You NEED to locate the owner of that repeater and verify where he is located. If he's a weak station but he's right up the road, then don't use that frequency. If he's 2 counties away, you are golden. You need to find out what PL or DPL he is using on his repeater and NOT use anything close to that. If he's running between 67 and 103 you want to be at a minimum at 141.3. This will minimize the potential of interference. You also need to verify that you are either very noisy into his repeater or you can't hit it at all from most of the footprint area you are wanting to cover. Now a quick side note. Repeater talkout (how far it talks) is controlled by two things.. first is antenna height. Height is FAR more important than power level. But power level does play a role. And you ONLY want to run enough power to provide signal levels in your desired coverage area to capture the receiver of a mobile or portable radio. Meaning, if you are wanting to cover X number of square miles and that can be done with an antenna at 40 feet of height and 10 watts, Don't set the repeater up to 50 watts. It's not necessary and again, it's not good frequency management. So you now have a pair picked out. What about a repeater? A repeater is required to ID unless YOU and those under YOUR license are the only ones using the repeater. The minute that other license holders are allowed to use the repeater, it needs to ID itself. Now this can be done with a Raspberry Pi, an Arduino or some specific module for CW ID. You have options. You can use two mobile radios as a repeater with a cable between them and an ID board. You are not required to have voice announcements, roger beeps or any of that. So it can be a simple set of radios. (Motorola CDM series work great and the 16 pin interface makes connecting them very easy). Or you can buy a repeater that is a purpose built device. There are a number of options. More to come.... stay tuned.

I can relate... about dropping Parallel and BootCamp. I'm a Mac/iPad only these days. I did keep an old XP and disconnected from internet and use USB flash drive to pass files to it to install PC software.