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You need either a “barrel adapter” with an SMA female on one side and SO-239 on the other, or a jumper cable with a PL-259 on one end and an SMA female on the other. Eventually you’ll have every combination of adapter ! Here’s a kit that might help get you started: https://a.co/d/1Bzh3h4 Don’t worry about what wrxp381 says he has never felt the need to do. He says that sometimes, but his “needs” are irrelevant to your question. It’s nice to know the output of your radio and it’s simply not true that you can’t test SWR with a handheld. He may have meant that testing the SWR of a handheld’s antenna doesn’t mean much and I would agree with that.

Same as above, plus: keep in mind that aluminum is non-ferrous, meaning that is actually repels magnetic fields. Sure it's thin, but there might be a risk of deteriorating the magnet if left on the aluminum long term. Consider a large steel washer below the magnet to "capture" the magnetic fields, then place that combo on the aluminum foil.

Hi Leo, Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on navigating the FCC licensing site. You’re right that it is not easy. It can take a few days between the time the FCC issues your license and the time the bulk download is done for this site. It will eventually happen though. If some people here seem like jerks you can add them to your “ignore list.” Then you won’t have to see their posts. If there are repeaters preprogrammed in your radio they’re probably just there as examples. Or it may just be that they’re the eight established repeater channels that have the offset programmed in but are waiting for you to program the correct CTCSS tone or DCS code on transmit. Again, welcome!

Correct. I finally figured that out. I drove closer to the repeater and came in load and clear on the copy.

I thought it had a good beat and I could dance to it.

I have heard a few people mention that Youtube has some good videos going over every aspect of using GMRS and pretty much all GMRS radios.

The aluminum foil won't hurt the magnet at all. Don't worry about it. Sticking something magnetic on the back side of the foil the magnet can be attracted to is a good idea to hold the foil in place. The foil needs to be a rough square at lest 6 inches on a side or a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Put the magnet mount in the center.

I can verify that. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/427-adapters-connectorsjpeg/?context=new

A few suggestions: Put down your radio, take a deep breath. Stop calling it a BigWang. It's a Baofeng. Don't let the radio win. You're in charge here. They're not obstacles, they're steps. Take them in order, be patient. While you're waiting for your license to be recognized by MyGMRS, read online tutorials and watch videos specific to programming your radio. I find that watching someone else do something helps me learn. You'll get this. We all did. And most of us are more than willing to help where we can.

I have the inReach service with my Garmin Tread 10 Overlander Off-Road Nav System in my Jeep. Also, my system has the SOS feature in addition to the email and texting features.

No I didn't. That video was 8 months ago, I just didn't remember that particular "not my favorite" radio being featured. I do remember that you had the picture of your favorite Vice President and former California Attorney General on the monitor in the background. In the whatever available future that lies ahead for me, I'll do a better job in remembering such stuff.

Why does every new license holder want to setup a repeater? I would like to shed a little light on some of the important things to consider if you recently got your GMRS license and now want your own repeater. First thing to consider, are there any open well placed repeaters in your area that you are able to use? I can assure you most repeater owners want people to use there repeater. Owning several repeaters I can assure you all are welcome and encouraged to use my machines. Do you have access to a location to host your repeater? If your answer is your garage roof you should reconsider. Your garage roof will give you about the same coverage as simplex. Unless you’re on top of a mountain and all your users are at the bottom you will never be happy with this setup. GMRS is not as popular as one would like to think, unless your repeater covers 20 miles or more you may find you only have 1 or 2 users in the area. Unless you already have a group of friends together you may want to consider this before spending money on a decent well positioned site to install your repeater. So you found a nice high site and the price is right, all you need to do is get the repeater installed, sounds simple right? Some thigs to consider first and foremost are the costs because they can add up quickly. Are you on a commercial tower that requires a license and bonded climber? If so this could be by far your largest expense depending on your area. I have spent $600 to $1200 on a climber; I have had quotes as high as $2500 depending on the amount of work and heights involved. Keep in mind commercial sites require certified mounts, hard line cable, cable clamps, engineered grounding solutions and commercial grade antennas. No tower owner is going to let you install a comet antenna and 200’ of braided shield coax. This brings me to my next point, the antenna. Because of the costs involved with climbers you will want to expend your budget on the antenna. Remember a $2000 repeater on a $200 antenna is going to work about as good as a $200 repeater. Whereas a $200 repeater on a $2000 antenna is going to work like a $2000 repeater. On my first repeater I was gifted use of a 150’ tower, I installed a DB-420 on the top and 160’ of 7/8 hardline. Total cost of equipment for the antenna install was $2500, with the climbers labor coming in at an additional $800. This left me with enough to purchase an old Motorola R100 repeater running at 25W. To my surprise it had 30 miles of coverage, all due to the cash spent on the antenna and waiting for a decent spot. Things happen, more so if you have an antenna 200’ in the air with a conductive cable connected to sensitive electronics. Antenna issues, feedline issues, repeater issues all cost money and I promise at some point you will have issues that need repair and require your money! It is my opinion that the GMRS community does not need another 2 to 5 miles repeater as it just becomes background noise. What use is a public listed repeater if somebody in a mobile can’t use it 5 miles away while moving or the portable coverage is only a mile? If after reading this you are still going to build a repeater for your garage more power to you, just don’t expect 20 people to show up if it only reaches a mile. As the owner of several GMRS and Commercial repeaters I can attest to the amount of money and effort go into my repeaters. I have only touched on the basics, if you add in any kind of testing services, duplexer tuning, addition of a combiner channel to an existing tower system, RF engineering, rent and insurance your costs can sky rocket. The best advice I can give any new licensee is to try and use the available systems in the area. Take the time to learn a little about what you’re doing and to assess the usability of the service before investing in a repeater for the sole reason of saying you own one.

Picked one of these up and gave it a good what for. Wrote my thoughts down on my blog. I have a few other ham related blogs and probably some old Short Wave content as well. https://hagensieker.com/2024/04/06/retevis-ailunce-ha1g-gmrs-radio-review/

My bet is on the offset but, yes, any one of those could be the problem.

I'm going to throw out some ideas, but by no means are these anything scientific, and they may be obvious. Channels shouldn't nave an impact. It's about frequency. First, is your UV-5R "unlocked"? I know you said you can transmit on GMRS simplex, but check it anyway. Second, did your copy and paste carry over with the repeater offsets? Check that. Third, did your copy and paste carry over CTCSS tones? Check that. You may need to manually enter each channel rather than pasting from the GM-5RH. Also check the transmit frequency ranges on your radio. Mayhaps they are not set correctly. If you can insert a screen shot of your UV-5R settings, maybe we can take a look. These are all things to check. I'm sure others will pontificate further with additional ideas.

I know not what you are talking about. lol. thank you for what you do and keep it coming. there is much noise in this world and I think even in humor you bring some clarity. maybe its just me. IDK

I literally cried.

Just don't watch the newest one just uploaded today.. Dont watch that one.

They are the KHz numbers of the entire freq to the right of the decimal.

Chessy68, Randy (@OffRoaderX) has put together a metric buttload of videos about almost entirely GMRS radios. They’re available under the name “Notarubicon”. Not everyone appreciates his humor, so if they don’t appeal to there are many others. Welcome to the forum!

Not necessarily. The repeater might have 50 watts of RF power and a great antenna on a tower.

Hold on..after reading some more I think I've figured it out. The repeater has more power so it will reach me and I can hear it but my hand held doesn't have enough power to reach it on the transmission to talk. (1.5 miles away as the crow flies). I just measured via google earth. I'm go drive closer and do a radio check.

Rain in antenna connections is a fairly common occurrence if the connections aren’t waterproofed. PL-259/SO-239 connections are not weatherproof. Worst case you might need to replace the cable or at least shorten the cable to get rid of damage caused by moisture in the dielectric layer.

They are going to be close to the antenna and in what is known as the "near field" so it couples into the driven element. That can booger up the impedance match, SWR issues, and the radiation pattern. It's not a guarantee you'll have problems but keeping the antenna away from from structures like that will at least avoid the potential for them. You read through the past comments over time here and you'll see this mentioned from various people.

This. They're all over Ebay and Amazon. SMA Female to SO-239 adapter. Also, you don't need anyone's approval to test your HT.

It's probably fine. People link to videos and other stuff all the time.

https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/ Here is a line of sight calculator. This is very helpful. You can put it in satellite view and see your locations. You can also set the heights of the antennas above the ground. The popup graph will show you what terrain is likely between your locations. This doesn't always mean it won't work but can give you an idea of what you are dealing with. I find that if a hill is very close to either antenna that is the worst, but if further away is less of a problem. Just another tool for your radio tool kit.

I have quite a bit of experience designing antennas for handheld devices...cell phones. The "ground" / "counterpoise", call it what you wish, is hugely important. It's the bottom half of the dipole antenna. My point is that without a counterpoise the upper half (whip, stubby, ducky etc) is not going to be able to have current driven into it well and thus will not radiate well. A real 1/2 wave dipole works very well of course. The metal in the talkie can and frequently does become the counterpoise especially at GMRS FREQS where a 1/4 wave is about 6 inches and that is the height of many talkies. Those smaller talkies, you know which ones, suffer from a much shorter counterpoise and unless the manufacturer has gone to extremes to make their metal housing have extra electrical length, those talkies never will perform as a longer/taller talkie. It's basic EM. Back to the original question about a counterpoise: yes, it can help especially in the case where the talkie is not close to 1/4 wave. Hanging a 1/4 wave wire from the base of the antenna downwards has some chance of making a difference, probably a lot of difference on the smaller talkies. I would be remiss if I didn't mention those longer whip antennas. A 5/8 wave whip antenna has "gain" over a dipole, around 2dBd, but ONLY if it has a substantial ground plane below it. Something in the order of 1-2 wavelengths in radius is required. The reason is that if you look at the E and H distributions you'll find that they only add towards the horizon when the ground plane is at least that big. If it's smaller, the radiation pattern turns into a butterfly shape and the peak gain goes down actually getting lower than a 1/2 wave dipole. Thus I am not a proponent of the longer whip antennas, contrary to a long line of people who claim to get actual better performance with them. To them I challenge that they are basically doing annedocital testing where they are finding better results in only one location/position and to one remote location. If their setup were taken into a true antenna anechoic chamber it would show otherwise. The best we can do for a talkie is a 1/4 wave whip on top of a 1/4 wave talkie. This gives the best efficiency with a rather good donut shaped radiation pattern which gives the best chance of good range in a variety of use cases and scattering environments. Shorter ducky antennas suffer from efficiency loss...they have to compared to a straight 1/4 wave whip, it's in the math. Hope this helps and does not ruffle too many feathers

You really don’t have to buy another antenna. An SWR of 2.5 isn’t really very high and isn’t going to cost you much. Most people don’t understand how little an SWR of 2.5 means. As an example, the SWR in your cell phone may be around 4 or 5. Just try your antenna and see if it works for you. At an SWR of 2.5 82% of your power goes out of the antenna without being reflected, but that other 18% is reflected back to the transmitter where it’s reflected back to the antenna again. Then 82% of that portion is radiated and 18% of the reflected power is reflected again. That happens over and over until all the power goes out the antenna or is absorbed as loss by the coax cable.

This is the one I use. Very well built. Very happy with it. https://www.arrowantennas.com/solid/464-7s.html

It sounds like you are doing range tests from a vehicle. First issue with a yagi, it's directional. Please don't be offended if you knew that. And I am working from an internet post here so I don't 100% understand what's going on. It doesn't seem like you are trying to take to or hear a specific repeater, but that might not be the case. Because the yagi is directional it's only going to work good in one direction. The higher the gain of a yagi, the tighter the front end of it is and the narrower the pattern, meaning a narrower path of coverage. Second thing is are you testing from a vehicle with a portable or a mobile radio with a mounted antenna. Might seem like a silly question, but with all the BS radio distance ratings of radios, if you are new to this and have unreasonable expectations based on what the box or the manufactures advertisements indicate, you certainly will NOT be the first to be dissatisfied with the real world performance.

Are you transmitting and receiving on the same antennas? I assume you connected the yagi and tested, then connected the omni and tested. You should get considerably more distance from the yagi in most cases. I can't really recommend a commercial version because I build mine. The yagi doesnt look to be tuneable, and at $100, ide say that's not cheap either. what coax are you running this on? You may have said before but I don't recall now.

DX Engineering would be a good source to work with.

Nice job documenting the problem. Ignore the naysayers. They’re just upset because you’re smarter than they are.

A cable grip is the better method. But zip ties do work as long as you don't over tighten them. I agree that you don't want to over tighten zip ties.

(As I’m sure you know) The problem with zip ties like that is a zip tie concentrates too much force in a small area which can crush the foam dielectric, resulting in impedance issues and SWR problems. A cable grip is a better choice: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/tmv-hg-400t?rrec=true

I would agree with a slight clarification. Good quality cables are available at Amazon if you know what you are looking for. A person can buy Times-Microwave or M&P cables there, but you pay considerably more than you pay for the same cables from DX Engineering, Gigaparts, or Ham Radio Outlet.

That really depends on how you define "Best", and what is most important to you when shopping for an antenna.

Stick with LMR 400 for all of your GMRS antennas. RG8U is fine for the amateur HF bands.

Pick the RPT channel that receives on 462.650 MHz. It will have the right offset for transmitting on 467.650 MHz Set the TX tone to 192.8 Hz. Leave RX tone empty. Press PTT and ask for a radio check. If nobody answers they might be at church. Happy Easter!

If it was ME, (i have actually had similar shituations) I would (and do) just use a good quality adaptor... "Some People" will warn you that you are going to lose all your power through an adaptor, but I am able to deal with that 0.002% amount of loss. "some people" will also tell you to just do-up the cables and connectors yourself - but, many normal people dont want to hassle it, and, are willing to cope with that 0.002% loss from using an adaptor. ..Be sure to use a good-quality adaptor, not the $2 one from Amazon.

It is my understanding that that Rubicon guy is really not a Rubicon guy and he is really a Nissan guy with a Chinese made Jeep Key Fob. Real Izarubicon people drive Rubicons with real American Jeep Keep Fobs.

I am a noob and endorse this response

at a minimum, all you need to do is put the radio on the correct corresponding repeater channel, go into the menu and find the CTC or DTC menu (depending on if it is a CTCSS tone or a DPL/DTC tone) for TRANSMIT, select the correct tone from the list, and save the change. I know you said you are not "technically inclined" but I assume you know how to read, so you might have to read the manual for the exact steps. Only worry the transmit tone for now, the receive tone is optional. That is all you need to do.