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I always tune for 465 Megs for a decent reading on both 467 and 462 Megs but still take readings on both freqs. I always tune with a RigExpert 650 Antenna Analyzer and then check the entire antenna system with the radio connected with a calibrated Bird Meter and Elements.

It might not stick magnetically, but it certainly will capacitively couple. All that’s required for a capacitor is two conductors separated by a dielectric material and aluminum is a very good conductor. Stick-on steel disks are available to attach magnetic mount antenna mounts to aluminum bodies.

All they really need to do is increase the diameter of the ground plane adapter to the same diameter as the antenna at its base.

That’s completely wrong. To calculate ERP you take the RF power input to the antenna and apply the gain.

A lot of people on limited budgets or just dipping their toes into amateur radio and/or GMRS will use a hand held radio connected to a magnet mounted antenna in their vehicles. While a 5 or 8 watt hand held won't reach out as far as a 20 - 50 watt mobile, radio, it still works well with an external antenna. I ran a magnet mount antenna with my Baofeng GT-5R hooked to an external antenna in my car for a while and had no issues getting into the local repeaters. That allowed me to save up for and research what mobile radio I wanted.

It is way easier to shorten an antenna versus lengthening one. This is where a cheap NanaVNA or an antenna analyzer comes in handy. You really need to know if the antenna is resonant above or below where you want it. I had to trim my Tram 1174 antenna. Before I made a single cut, I measured the SWR with an analyzer to see if it was high (short) or low (long). I made small 1/8" or less cuts testing the SWR after each cut. I did this until I was happy with the SWR. Remember to test at 467 MHz and at 462 MHz. You might get it spot on at 1.0 - 1.2 at one but be around 1.8 on the other. Or you might get both really close. I got my Tram to 1.3 at 462 MHz and 1.5 at 467 MHz. You will be fine as long as you are 1.8 or less on both 467 MHz and 462 MHz. Remember to cut just a tiny bit and test after each cut. If your lowest SWR is above your target frequency, then the antenna is too short. If the lowest SWR is below the target frequency, then the antenna is long and needs trimmed.

I wouldn't have an issue with it if they would have stayed on specific channels like 6 where that normally is done. But they're taking over all the frequencies now, and the most annoying one is 19 where local chatter should be done. Plus a lot of these guys bleed onto neighboring frequencies on top of it. Reading through difference forums or websites a lot of people feel the same to the point they don't even use their CB much anymore. Who wants to listen to Mud Duck for an entire road trip?

Trick question. 1. Yes, aluminum will work for a ground plane, like when using a drill through nmo. Many antennas are made with aluminum. 2. No, it will not work with a mag mount. Aluminum is non-ferrous, so a magnet will not stick to it or make capitance with it. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

The FCC must be wrong

Gain does not increase power would be correct. Gain does increase where the power goes. Zero gain is an antenna that radiates equally in a 360º sphere. Most antennas don't do that. An "Omni directional" antenna is really a lie, but in a good way. It still radiates in a horizontal circle (approx) but the beam of energy radiating from the antenna is cut off on the top and bottom so that power is all included in a beam that is 20 or 30 or whatever degrees in the vertical thereby increasing the effective power in that area. You aren't wasting it going straight up or down. It is being put to better use in the horizontal plane that it will be received in "effectively" giving you the result of more radiated watts. Gain doesn't multiply your radiated power, it directs it to a more useful area. Better?

See if you can connect with a local ham club or other gmrs users via Facebook or club websites. With out hands on, trouble shooting is difficult. In the mean time, please try saving channel changes via VFO, settin sql to 1 and trying to hit the repeaters from different locations and heights. Do you receive any repeaters better when you hold the monitor button? It is possible some are down due to weather, maintenance etc. or have changed input tones. I usually leave the RX tone off when I program my ht.

At least he's diligent to do his eye exercises.

That guy is just a shill for the cheap-chinese-junk radio manufacturers!!! he is a commie that will say or do anything that his chinese handlers tell him to do!!!!!!! HE DOES NOT EVEN HAVE A HAM LINCESE SO HE SHOULD NOT EVEN BE ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT RADIOS!!!!1

My take is that you cannot get an accurate SWR reading on an HT antenna without specialized equipment. I also think you should stop overthinking how imperfect you low-cost/mass-produced radio is and just use/enjoy it. If you want a high-quality 'performance' radio, you're going to have to pay a lot more for it.

At 1200 feet, what kind of wind loads and temperture/weather conditions will the antenna be subjected to? You might need something more 'commercial quality' to stand up the the conditions at the site.

"Full of Smelly Stinky Stuff

A NanoVNA will work for showing if you are high or low on your SWR and if you need to shorten or lengthen the antenna. And NanoVNA's can be bought for under $100. There is a bit of a learning curve with them but it isn't that bad.

I kinda try to get my lowest mid-band. Then take acceptable if the band edges are 1.7 or so. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Agree, if you want a good VSWR on GMRS freqs.

I just dole out one of my LXT600 F/GMRS HT's and tell them stay on Channel 8 FRS, I'll relay if you need something from farther up or down the trail... I still have the ancient Travel CB I got years back, and an older, tweaked Cobra 29, but that has sat so long, no idea if it'd even fire up, much less transmit.

Data sheet says 1” but I wouldn’t do less than 3” or 4” https://timesmicrowave.com/documentation/lmr-400-coax-cables-datasheet/

I have tried changing it back and forth, to see if "asterisk -r" registration errors stop appearing, but it makes no difference. My system is working, so I'm not too concerned with it.

For my repeater antenna/mast install I called a local handyman that i have used in the past. He dont know nuthin bout no coax's so I had to know/explain everything to him, which, really wasnt much.. "dont kink it.. dont put any nails or staples through it".

I wish I knew that. I give away all my radios, but I just gave away this one last week.

I got a Nagoya NMO200c antenna I think it's called, for my car. Put it in my mobile, so far it's been impressing me. I've hit the Tampa 575 repeater from my driveway which is slightly out of the repeater's estimated range. It's pre tuned for gmrs (and MURS, never used it other than to test) swr on a mag mount was 1.01 . I'm starting my repeater project now. Thank you for your help, wish me luck!

Here’s what the FCC says:

Yes, mine came with a cable. It's a USB-A to 8 pin that plugs into the mic jack. The software provided by Radioddity is one step above worthess, however. You cannot Alpha tag memories, nor adjust any radio menu settings. If you enter Alpha tags using the radio keypad then write some new memories using the so-called "software", it will wipe out your alpha tags. Ask me how I know . I spoke to RT Systems at the Dayton (Xenia) hamfest and they said they might have a version of their software out for it in the future, but it's a back burner issue. They indicated that the programming for this radio is a "convoluted mess." Their words, not mine. Chirp saId that they will work on a version once they get a test radio and if "a programmer has the time/interest to do it". Again, their words. Have fun.

Interesting suggestion but it defies the explanations provided in amateur radio study guides (here's one: https://www.kb6nu.com/extra-class-question-of-the-day-effective-radiated-power/ ), and in Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effective_radiated_power ). Putting "not" in caps and adding an exclamation point doesn't make an incorrect statement true. But I could be persuaded that all the reputable sources of information are incorrect if a persuasive argument were made with supporting proof.

I don’t know what the elements are made from. If they’re stainless, soldering becomes more difficult, but StaBrite solder works well for stainless. If they’re aluminum you won’t be able to solder them with normal techniques but you could crimp on an extension. I would scour the aluminum surfaces and apply penetrox to the surfaces.

I bought a Nagoya GPK-01 ground plane kit, and discovered that it isn't weatherproof. Pictures attached... With the antenna fully screwed down to the NMO threads, the ground plane rods cannot be connected. With the ground plane rods connected, you cannot fully tighten an antenna on the NMO threads. In either case, the O-ring on NMO antennas is greater diameter than the NMO backing on the GPK-01 ground plane kit. I've tried this with an HYS SDN1-T, a Midland MXTA25, and a Midland MXTA26. Each one had an o-ring of greater diameter than the backing of the NMO mount, and each one extended low enough when fully threaded that the ground plane rods couldn't be attached. I reached out to Btech before returning the product because I wanted to make sure that I was not mistaken. Btech responded within a day to say that they were forwarding the pictures and description of the problem for further review. A day later they responded to say that they were going to be addressing this issue "at manufacturing", and would send me a replacement sample for evaluation after the corrections have been made. It'll probably be a little too late for my needs; I will just get a no-ground-plane antenna to put on the sailboat mast, and don't intend to lower the mast again for a few years. But I'm really happy with the outcome of the email to support, since it helped them to recognize a design deficiency, and because they do intend to correct it. Once I've received the replacement I'll post here about it. As I look at the pictures, it seems like the part that the rods screw into could be manufactured so that it's below the bracket, and the antenna could mate against the bracket itself.

If the elements are too short, you may be able to repair it by soldering 12 or 14ga wire on to lengthen the shortened sections

I don’t know anything about hate or controversy over squelch. Now, politics is a different matter. But let’s just see if we can get you back to hearing repeaters first and then transmitting to them. I already posted with a suggestion to change squelch mode to Tone, rather than TSQL. In that mode your receiver will let everything through. I like to work methodically through different things to rule them out. Once you hear the traffic on the repeater just fine then we can tackle transmitting. Now if you’re concerned about carrier squelch, that could also interrupt listening and there are some deeper settings in some software defined radios that affect carrier squelch. But actually activating repeaters comes down to two things: transmitting on the correct frequency and transmitting the necessary code or tone so the repeater doesn’t disregard your call. Of course this assumes you’re within range.

IMO, that should be sufficient to test, as that will give you basically the same setup as if it were mounted, minus actually sticking the adhesive. Anecdotally (as it's not the same radio), icom's 2730a actually comes with (or might have been part of an optional mount kit..i forget) magnets that mount to the back of the faceplate to stick it to a metal mounting plate. I even ran that metal mounting plate on top of a magnetic phone holder for awhile, till I got a proper hard mount (panavise). As far as I (and the signal reports) could tell, no ill effects.

Sometimes RF from an antenna lower to the ground doesn’t have to struggle to get through as much foliage as when the antenna is raised to the same level as the thickest leaves.

There is no club so to speak, but there is a very busy bunch of repeaters. I think you need to signup for a free membership to get access to the repeaters. look up Texas GMRS Network on facebook, or go to their website to get access to the repeater network. For what it's worth the original poster I hear him on that network all the time.

The physical math for this stuff isn't as hard as you might think. Calculating ERP the 'easy' way. First thing is to convert your RF power in watts to dBm. Lots of phone apps that will do that for you. Then you subtract the cable loss in dB from the dBm number from the above conversion. Then ADD the antenna gain in dB to that number. Take the resulting number and convert it back to watts from dBm. That's all there is to it. Now there is a second part to it if you are so inclined to do it. Mind you this is a comparison number and not a 'true' ERP number. But for every doubling in antenna height, you 'gain' an additional 6dB. Now of course, cable losses increase with this, but it's pretty much a standard calculation used by RF engineer types. So that can be applied too if you are trying to figure out how much better having an antenna further up than you already have it.

Two. Any questions or challenges? Mother Nature only lets these two options move forward.

I usually do both. I will ask on a forum but also research online. I like asking because at times people will elaborate what usually works for them and what to stay away from. Along with that, friendships are often made when asking through a forum. A tad more human interaction in forums; something that is lost searching videos over the internet. I hope I did not cause you any distress by asking.

Thanks for the clarification, Steve. For followers of this thread, I have found this site after reading your posting, and since it offers more coax choices, it may be more useful than the OP's. Scroll down near the bottom and there is a set of calculators: https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/

Just an FYI Since the UV5R-8W was not listed in the Chirp Next drop-down menu today... I tested/used the BF-F8HP selection. That allowed all 3 Power settings to be selected during programming, instead of the 2 power settings as recognized for the UV5R drop-down model choice. It's alive! I hope this helps someone. UPDATE Today 03-31-25: RE: Programming change - UV-5X HX: I purchased two of these radios together/ same purchase, but never opened the 2nd UV5R-8W until just today. The #1 unit above has been/is still working great. Unit#1 has been updated with several new channels numerous times. Unit #1 is always updated using that saved BF-F8HP Chirp code plug--since the beginning. However, I just tried to copy that same working code plug into my Unit#2 and discovered a minor issue. A trial of full factory resets and numerous edits in Chirp did solve this issue. Everything else transferred correctly to Unit#2 and the radio worked well ---except the Power-up Message--- it would not display my call signs to match Unit#1 and always reverted to WELCOME. Thus, I found a Baofeng page that advised me to use UV5X for Chirp. I then read the radio (Unit#2) as a UV5X, then entered the call signs in this new UV5X Chirp code plug, and uploaded it to Unit #2. All is now working as desired. I hope this helps someone. Update 4/18/25 I reverted to using the BF-F8HP selection in Chirp again to access all the power (1-5-8) levels this radio supports. The UV-5X selection limits the radio to Low and High only.

Who cares? People prefer posts that address the issue rather than what you do or don't do or think. People are asking for answers or guidance, rather than some irreverent comment from lurkers. Reviewing all your posts I can think of, you have not offered any help or guidance but only a snap remark about YOU.

Are you getting paid by the post or something? Do you get a bonus for pointless/meaningless/non-helpful comments? Or do you do it all for free just so you can revel in the joy of trying to display to everyone how smart you think you are?

And we’re so glad you grace us with your superiority.

Unfortunately, as we get older and our hearing changes, even exaggerated sibilance sounds like a lisp.

As someone with experience in IT tech support in my pre-retirement life, we had to ask customers to give us the serial number of their equipment. Even on a state-of-the-art telephone, it is often hard to discern "F" vs. "S", "M" vs. "N", etc., so we asked our customers to use the phonetic alphabet. It helped considerably. I can only imagine, when giving my call sign of "WSCS844", that people on the receiving end might have trouble discerning the "S" unless I overemphasize the "...sss" at the end of each. I know, it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Based on all your multiple previous comments about how EVERY person you know dumps EVERY radio (Midland, Retevis, TidRadio, Wouxun) unless that radio happens to be the same brand of radios that you use, it is becoming clear that you don't actually know anyone. ... Or, you are just F.O.S. But either way, your mythomaniac comments are great for pointing at and laughing so keep up the good work!

The FCC website is a dumpster fire!

Sad-H.A.M.s are a myth and do not exi....... I stand corrected...

Massena repeaters up and running Massena repeater name is WRWX276

Are you sure?? I had some beers before I replied to you and I’m not sure I understand what I wrote haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro