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Let’s use correct terminology. It’s not true to say that dBi is always greater than dB. A dB is a relative unit of measurement. It’s never correct to say that an antenna has X dB of gain unless you also specify what that gain is relative to. That’s usually done by expressing gain as dBi, dBd. dBi is relative to an isentropic antenna, a theoretical antenna that consists of a single point radiating exactly the same in every direction. dBd is relative to a dipole, which is a very real antenna. A dipole antenna has 2.15 dB greater gain in certain directions, than an isentropic antenna. That also means it radiates less in other directions. There’s also the term dBm, which is not used to characterize passive antennas but to characterize electrical sensitivity, such as receivers.

Oh yeah, that's one for someone else to park a repeater with a coverage footprint that completely covers his coverage right on that frequency and leave it with a public PL and open access to all. And advertise it everywhere. Hell I would be almost motivated to hand out 'loaner' radios to anyone that had a license so they could use it. But I am like that.

First, make sure you select a repeater channel. They already have the correct frequencies programmed in. Then set the transmit tone to whatever the repeater expects to receive. At first leave the receive tone out (or set it to TONE, rather than T-SQL. Then push the PTT button and identify yourself and ask if anyone can hear you. Welcome to the forum Alejandro.

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.

Who sits around and thinks up this kind of stupidity? No! Not just no, but hell no! This is another hairbrained attempt to make GMRS into "ham radio lite". I am an Extra class ham, and I am 100% against this. GMRS (Class A CB) was originally another means of personal (and at one time, business) communication. It should remain that way. It should remain 100% analog. GMRS allows for reliable communication with a short wavelength (think being able to use an ht in a car without an outside or excessively long antenna). It is great for families, friends, and even properly licensed hams, to keep in touch, especially with family and friends who just do not want to be bothered with testing, radio theory, etc. If someone wants to enjoy the hobby aspects of ham, play with digital, etc; then let them get off of their dead behind and study and take the tests or shut up! Those who are already hams and who want to turn GMRS into ham lite or other extension of ham radio, please use the privileges you have on ham or upgrade if that is not enough. People are continuously trying to wreck a great thing that GMRS is with these bright ideas.

Thank you all. And to off-roadx watch YouTube channel alot

It won't be, and the repeater will likely be inside the camper so I can also use it as a base station and won't always need to have an HT on when the kids are out doing their thing.

You don't need Heliax for your uses. LMR 400 Ultra Flex and similar will work just fine. And you shouldn't hurt LMR 400 Ultraflex as long as you don't loop it too tight when you are finished with it.

If your mast is strong enough mount the repeater box closer to the antenna and make sure you select one of the “ultra-flex” types of cable. M&P is fine. Both layers of shielding are copper, unlike Times-Microwave’s LMR400 which has aluminum and copper.

What radio? It would help everyone if you told us the radio, model, and if you have the programming cable needed.

I don't understand why Midland did not make the MXT575 have the ability to be programmed from a computer nor have more channels slots. The MXT500 at least can be programmed by computer and can be opened up to have more channel slots in the memory with a firmware upgrade. And yes I replaced my Midland MXT500 with a Wouxun KG-1000g. I like the KG-1000g better overall. I won't even mess with a BTech mobile.

Well is it 3.5dBi vs 5dBi or 3.5dBi vs 5Dbd or something else? The dBi gain number is based off an isotropic radiator. Which is an antenna that only exists in theory. It's a 'paper antenna' based on a radiation pattern that is a sphere. Equal signal radiation in all directions. Even a standard dipole will have gain over an isotropic radiator which is the dBd gain number. So in short they could be the same, or the 5dB antenna could actually be worse depending on what the gain number is based on. Now with that being said, Larsen typically has reasonable numbers attached to their products. And they are based on actual testing in a RF free chamber so the numbers are reasonably accurate. Some of the other 'no name' brands could be basing their gain on anything including a dummy load to pump up their gain numbers. One thing to understand here is what GAIN actually is. And what it's not. Amplifiers have active gain. You put 1 watt in and get 10 watts out. That's a 10dB gain number. See that there was no i, d or anything else after the dB. And dB is a measurement of CHANGE or difference between two things. In this case signal. Now power can be measured in watts, which is what everyone typically see's. But it can also be measured in dBm which is based on a 0dBm or 1milliwatt. So 30dBm is 1 watt, and 40dBm is 10 watts, which is a 10dB increase in signal.

Ahhh, here’s what’s going on. It’s not just “turning on the speaker.” It’s mute logic and there’s a setting for when to un-mute. Here’s what the manual says: Speaker Turn On (SP unmute) Speaker will be turned on when the mobile radio receives communication signaling. Opening conditions can be chosen. 1. Press FUN, MHZ/SET key in turn, then rotate the coding knob to choose menu number 59 (UNMUTE). 2. Press MHZ/SET key and rotate the coding knob to choose PTT ID types: QD (default), Q+0 or Q-0. QD: Speaker will be turned on as soon as CTCSS/DCS signaling is right. Q+0: Both the CTCSS\DCS signaling and the optional signaling (DTMF or MSK signaling) must be correct to turn on the horn. Q-0: Turn on the horn whenever one of the CTCSS\DCS signaling, optional signaling (DTMF or MSK signaling) is correct 3.Press MHZ/SET key to save settings, or press any other key to cancel. 4.Press any other key to exit menu mode, except MHZ/SET key.

I don’t have an answer. I’ve never had a radio that required turning on the internal speaker. If you download and look at the channel list in software, is there a per channel setting for internal speaker?

Without getting too technical, yes high SWR and/or lossy cable can lead to power loss. Basically what happens is power is reflected back down the coax to the radio. And any multi band antenna is a compromise. While they work on multiple bands, the bandwidth will be narrower on each band. I suggest getting an antenna tuned specifically for GMRS or finding a dual band 2m/70/cm antenna that also has good SWR on the GMRS band.

Hi all, this is one of my first posts on this forum. Please keep in mind that a longer antenna, such as advertised 5/8 wavelength, is of no added value on a handheld. The reason is that ANY antenna longer than 1/4 wavelength requires a ground plane of 2-3 wavelengths (yea, like feet) for the true advertised "gain" to be realized. The standard method of measuring mobile antenna gain in a real antenna chamber is to mount it on a 1 meter diameter metal plate. The GMRS handheld is no where near that. You are better off, usually by quite a bit, by going with a good 1/4 wave antenna. Fortunately at 462MHz that's about 6 inches, which by chance happens to be the length of many handhelds. So this combination makes for a 1/2 wave dipole type mode. This is as good as you can get in the real world on a handheld. Oh, this is the reason that I choose the larger, ie 6 inch tall, handhelds and stay away from the really small ones. In those cases the radio is just too short to resonate properly at 462MHz. I replaced the OEM dual band antenna on my GM-30 with a simple 6 inch long (single band) whip I took a chance on Amazon. It works phenomenally well, better than the OEM antenna noticeably. Not that the OEM antenna is a bad design, but it is dual band so there are compromises needed to make it work outside of GMRS. I only want the best GMRS performance I can get. Here's the link if anyone is interested: 1/4 wave GMRS antenna I know there are a lot of opinions on this topic, and some people make claims to the contrary. All I can tell you to about this is that I worked for a US cell phone manufacturer for 30 years as an antenna design engineer. We used the above philosophy utilizing the radio/phone as the bottom half of the dipole numerous times, it works, really. Enjoy.

I’d love to deploy a GMRS repeater, only problem is the cost.

Whoa, love your YouTube channel man. It is actually what got me interested in this in the first place. From everyones responses I gather that I maybe in a poor location to use a HT. I am about 16-18 miles from the repeater with plenty of obstructions from ground level outside. I purchased an Ed Fong GMRS antenna and will build a base station as fast as my budget allows. Hopefully that will get me a clearer signal from my roof. Thanks everyone for your responses, Im excited to learn more from everyone here.

Thanks @Sshannon @WRYZ926 ! These are useful recommendations. It is appreciated. I'm glad I wasn't too far off the mark with Wouxun. They did seem to be more or less the standard. You do bring up a good point that the higher wattage will work with denser foliage or other obstacles between me and other simplex nodes or repeaters. I guess that's obvious, but in retrospect depending on where I take it that could really come in handy. I do intend to stick to the certified side of things. If I wanted to hot rod a transceiver of dubious capability and origin I'd do it on ham bands. Thanks again. I'll keep my eyes out.

GMRS like dual band 2m/70cm radios all have a SO239 connector on them. And @Sshannon brings up good points about having radios certified for the bands you want to transmit on. I am running a 16" Comet SBB1-NMO dual band radio with my TYT TH-7800 and a 20" Nagoya UT-72G with my Wouxun KG-1000g on the vehicle. As I mentioned I have the same two radios in the house for base stations. I am using a Comet GP9 for dual band and a Comet CA-712EFC for GMRS. One thing to pay attention to is the fact that the short dual band antennas will not work for GMRS and visa versa. Now if you can use a longer antenna on your vehicle then the Comet 2x4SRNMO will work for 2m/70cm and GMRS. As always, everyone has an opinion on what they like and think is the best. Stick with Wouxun for GMRS, they are generally considered the best for GMRS by most. Icom and Yaesu are the best when it comes to dual band radios. But don't overlook the TYT TH-7800 or Wouxun KG-UV920P-A either.

Welcome! I have and like Yaesu, but Yaesu doesn’t make a radio certified for GMRS. They make great ham radios though. People will say that certification isn’t important, and as you progress you might even decide that it isn’t, but for someone trying to get started it sure makes it easier to use the radio without having to worry about violating a regulation. Others will tell you that it doesn’t matter if you violate the regulations because the FCC doesn’t enforce them anyway. Statistically there is some validity, but I still like to know where I stand with respect to regulations. Wouxun is arguably one of the best GMRS radios made and certified for that purpose. The people who have one like the KG1000G Mobile Radio. It’s a 50 watt radio. As far as I know all mobile GMRS radios have a UHF connector for an external antenna. They have to. Several of us have purchased the Radioddity db20g, which is a tiny 20 watt GMRS mobile radio. It’s small and easy to use, plugging into the cigarette lighter. Like the Wouxun it needs an external antenna. It’s about $100, unless you wait for a sale. I bought two of them directly from Radioddity for $87 each. It’s sold under a couple other names as well. Firmware might vary based on brand. These forums have lots of discussions about what radio is best. There will never be universal agreement.

I highly recommend the Wouxun Kg-1000g Plus and the Wouxun KG-XS20G Plus for a bae/mobile GMRS radios. The 1000G Plus is 50 watts while the XS20G Plus is 20 watts. The Wouxun GMRS mobile radios are better than any Baofeng/B-Tech or Midland radio. I run a 1000G Plus as my base and in my vehicle while the XS20G Plus is mounted in my SxS. The Midland MXT500 is sitting in a box simply because it is not as good as the Wouxun radios. Where a 50 watt radio will benefit is if you have trees and/or other obstacles to push the signal through. The local GMRS repeater is 21.5 miles from me and I can talk to others on it just fine even with my 5 watt Wouxun KG935G HT (hand held). I used my XS20G with my roof mounted antenna and was able to talk to the repeater sight on simples just fine. When it comes to dual band 2m/70cm radios, I have had good luck with the TYT TH-7800 as a base and in my vehicle. You can get them for around $239. There is also nothing wrong with Yaesu or Icom mobile radios. Though those start around $300 and up. If money is a bit tight then look at the TYT TH-7800.