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I actually translated the signal, it's a LifeAlert signal from the Moon.

The Comet CA-712EFC antenna is poplar GMRS base antenna. It is advertised as having 9dBi of gain and is tuned for GMRS. That is what I am using for my base antenna. 24-25 miles seems to be the max distance on simplex channels here in rural central Missouri. The guy I talk to at that distance is using the same antenna. His is on his tower about 35 feet up while mine is on my roof at 18 feet. We are both using Wouxun KG-1000G radios on high power. According to this website: https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/ we are just barely making it over the terrain for direct line of sight. Our GMRS repeater is 21.5 miles away from me and the antennas are at 400 feet above ground.

RG58 is lossy at GMRS frequencies, 10.6 dB per 100 feet compared to 2.7 dB per 100 feet for LMR-400, so you definitely don’t want to use it for any long runs, but the practical difference between 5 watts and 4 watts is indistinguishable. Cutting off a couple feet won’t make a difference. If you cannot reliably reach a repeater with four watts, you won’t be able to with five watts.

This is one of the reasons that GMRS and Business/Public Safety radios are required to meet technical specifications for spurious emissions (Part 90 & 95). GMRS is pretty far away from the 70cm ham band. In fact, 70cm ham is co-located with plenty of other users (US military, radar, unlicensed transmitters like weather stations), that ham just has to deal with. There are plenty of public safety/business users between the top of the ham band (450) and GMRS, that GMRS is one the least likely to cause issues.

What kind of radio is being used? If it's a cheap Chinese radio they're not known for good receivers. Note that channel 3 is the Interstitial frequency, 462.6125, between the main channel 17, 462.6000, and main channel 18, 462.6250. For GMRS the channel bandwidth is 25KHz so there is considerable overlap on channel 3 with the adjacent channels 17 and 18. If the radio doesn't have extremely good selectivity you're likely to experience significant bleed over on 17 and 18 from a strong signal on channel 3. Also a strong signal on either channel 17 or 18 will bleed over on channel 3. FRS-GMRS Channels Layout.pdf

I never thought of this. I will check the other harmonics (above and below) for 462.6000 and see what I hear.

Here is the link Baofeng support sent, and it works with the 5G Plus https://baofeng.s3.amazonaws.com/Baofeng_UV5G_Plus_CPS_1.1.9_20231205.zip

Cutting off a few feet would help, but probably not too much. I mainly wanted to make you aware of the significance of cable loss at UHF (450MHz an up) frequencies. The gain antenna type you quoted is about the best you will find in a mobile antenna, but for your final base station, I would go with a gain antenna mounted on the roof, in the clear. Someone should be able to offer some brand name and model suggestions. Depending on the cable run from it to the radio, (over 50-75 feet) you might consider a low-loss cable. LMR 400 is a favorite and more reasonably priced than what has become the lowest loss flexible cable available today, M & P's Ultraflex 10. Avoid any of the RG-58 or 8X size ( approx. 1/4" diameter) cable for long runs.

I bought RT software to go with my new Yaesu-FTM6000R and it is terrific stuff. If CHIRP doesn't work, I would take RT over the stock free offereings.

I'd get three mobile radios, even a MXT-275 (15W output) would do the trick, though there are more capable models that are more loved here. And get three of Midland's 6db antennas, along with three magnetic mounts, and three 12v power supplies. In each of the three homes, place an antenna in the attic or near a window on a cookie sheet for a ground plane. Bonus points if the window you place yours in is on the side of the house closest to your brother and father's homes, and on an upper floor. If your brother and father are able to go with an attic or roof-top antenna that's great, too. The Midland MXT-A26 antenna is the one to get, along with the necessary cable and a means of mounting it. With those "good enough" radios, and those "pretty good, actually" antennas, you'll hit three miles without too much trouble. The mountain could be a problem, but you're already getting past it with handhelds. All the better with a decent antenna. Come to think of it, you might just order the antennas, mounts, and adapters that fit your handhelds, assuming you're using handhelds that have detachable antennas. My UV-5G can hit a repeater 22 miles away with just its built in antenna, but when I hook it up to the MXT-A26 it sounds great.

Is there an MRI facility anywhere nearby? In March, I went for an MRI. On my way to the facility my GMRS radio was on in the car, because I'm a boring person, like that. When I got within three miles of the facility I started hearing buzzes, blips, and other strangeness on channel 17. I didn't think too much of it, until I was actually IN the MRI machine. Then I realized I was hearing the exact same sounds, the same buzzes, blips, and tones. It wasn't just similar, it was as if the GMRS radio was picking up the MRI machine's noises exactly as they sounded to me. These things are supposed to be shielded, but apparently not well enough in some cases. After my MRI as I was driving home, I heard the exact same tones, until I got about three miles away from the hospital.

Then why does it occur on all my radios (forgot to mention in my list above it also happens KG-1000G+) and why did it just start happening a few months ago?

I would hope that a decent 1/2 wave antenna in your attic to a 45-50W radio on both sides would get you there.

Grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the debate. It's like that movie my kids like, "The NeverEnding Story".

So you are saying, in your house you can reach your dad and brother in their house with HTs? If so, a simple attic antenna and decent mobile radio permantently installed in both houses will be plenty.

I'm sure to be one of the very few that joined the GMRS community because of the link. For about a month or so, I was hearing what sounded like a repeater on a GMRS frequency and later determined with excitement that it was in fact a repeater. Amazed of how clear it sounded on the HT at our home and hearing people from other parts of the city sparked my interest. I was on a quest to obtain the license. Once received, I joined and support a local repeater group and really have enjoyed chatting with folks all over the area. My wife has used our GMRS radio and has the same enjoyment. We have friends that recently visited, live well over 100 miles away that are intrigued and now getting their license to join in the growing GMRS fun and in hopes to chat on the linked repeaters. It will be a sad day if all the linking goes away.

I've used CB for emergencies, but in light of the recent AT&T shutdown, I'm picking up a couple more GMRS/FRS HHs for my spouse and adult kids to use for emergency comms if something similar happens to our provider/s. We fortunately live close enough we will be able to communicate on the FRS channels between our houses.

I have pretty much the same situation between my house and my daughter's house. We have a ridge between us that obscures line of sight by 80 feet. I am 800 feet higher in elevation. Using 5W handhelds we can TX/RX if we are outside of our houses. My son-in-law put a mag mount mobile antenna on top of his house stuck to a metal vent cover. With that we can TX/RX from inside our houses with a little static. When I put up an antenna (j-pole tuned for GMRS) we have full quite comms in the house. An outside antenna would be the best thing. If your brother and dad could try putting an antenna it will probably make a lot of positive difference. If you could find a way to get an antenna outside, or maybe even in your attic, that would probably solve the issues. More power would help a little, maybe, but not as much as a batter antenna.

I wonder if it could be radar, though that should stop at 450, but you know, the feds do whatever they want. Also could be a 2nd image of 925.225MHz, but neither would exactly explain the issue around both locations. Edit: 925 is part of the LTE band. ATT did just have that huge problem last week. It is possible that their outage included firmware updates for the cell tower equipment and now something is out of band/creating an image.

I am hearing it with my Baofeng UV-5R, My Motorola XTS5000, and my XTL5000.

Nice! Pretty much how I envisioned it. Simple. Thanks for the info.

Did you read the FCC Part 95 rules and regs before you acknowledged by signing the license application stating that you are familiar with said rules? If so, then you should be familiar with which freq of the paired frequency should be the transmit freq to the repeater and which freq should be the receive freq from the repeater pursuant to Section 95.1763 sub sections (a) and (c).

This Tram 1185 dual band has served me well. (Cookie sheet mount in front of a west facing, second story window.) Using a UV5X3 I hit GMRS repeaters south and east of me at 15 miles, I easily hit VHF repeaters on high ground at 25+ miles. using my KG805 or my TYT 8600 I do slightly better. Eventually I'll have an antenna up on the roof eave, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

If I have a choice I typical go for the 400MHz to 470MHz range since most of my usage is Ham so that covers the full band. It's also usable on GMRS, but as I mentioned before they're not certified for Part 95, but typically for Part 90 of course. When looking for used commercial grade radios there are several things I'll do before dropping my money on one. 1. Look up the manufacture's brochure to see what features the radio has, namely number of channels, display type, frequency ranges etc. You might decide at this point it doesn't look so appealing. 2. Look up the FCC ID's, usually on the manufactures brochures. Check to see what the certifications are for the radio, tested power levels, modulation types and frequency ranges. You need the FCC ID to verify what you're trying to buy or bid on. I frequently find sellers who get the model name wrong or frequency range wrong in the ad description. The FCC ID doesn't lie. 3. Check and see if the programming software is obtainable. This is a big one. Sometimes it almost impossible to find. If I can't get the software the idea is dead right there. It doesn't matter how good the radio is. Commercial radios are basically useless without the programming software, you REALLY need it. 4. Most commercial radios are firmware up-gradable. Chances are the one you're interested in will need a firmware update to make it compatible with the recent radio programming software release. 5. Are important accessories like battery packs, chargers, programming cables, microphones, power cables etc. easy and cheaply available? There are some nice used radios out there but battery packs are almost unobtainable as an example. 6. Then I go looking for the documentation for the radio. Important things like user manuals, service manuals, any programming tips etc. 7. Then it comes down to just how much you want to spend. Some sellers price the radios like they are gold plated. The worse offenders are sellers of digital radios with P25 being at the top of the list. In general it seems that the VHF gear sells for a premium compared to the UHF stuff.

Because they all have a better signal/are closer to the repeater than you, and you have an HT with a small antenna/are further away/have more stuff between you and the repeater. The best thing you can do is connect to a bigger/better/external antenna or get closer to the repeater. A mag mount stuck to a cookie-sheet placed up high/near a window can work great.

The offset is baked into the GMRS radios. All you have to do is select the desired repeater channel on the radio. The offset is already there.

See, this is how rumors start. One “statement from 2017” hardly counts as “ARRL has been barking about it.” 2017 was when the FCC overhauled the regulations for GMRS. Whenever a large rule change like that is made comments are requested as part of the proposed rule making. It may be that the “statement from 2017” was in response to that.

Ah, is it as simple as choosing "name" in the A channel? That way my wife only has to look at the A channel and see something like "Erika 1"?

Ah see, that's where I went wrong, I swapped the input and output hole... rookie mistake.

People want to know why bother with a two way radio when the cell phone is so convenient in a STHF case? Here's one reason today. https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/02/22/major-cell-phone-outage-nationwide-at-and-t-t-mobile-verizon-some-911-down-n2170453

Receive.

Our two meter repeater has a phone patch.

I resemble that

Only if your radio has gold fringe. Then it's an admiralty radio and you can do whatever you want

Your "poll" was OK by me. I am fairly certain my vote was counted correctly this time. Come November, I won't be so certain.

The Communications Act of 1934 establishes the authority of the FCC to regulate the airwaves, which they do through regulations that they pass using the NPRM process (even if they completely disregard our comments when they want to). https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47

Just FYI, most radios want 13.8V, and if given only 12V they may not output their full 25W glory.