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Line of sight is more important than power delivered to the antenna; it's possible to hit 40 miles line of sight with less than 5 watts.

This cannot be stressed enough. People routinely talk to the space station using 5 watt radios and it’s more than 200 miles away, but there’s nothing in the way. I agree. It would be nice if I could get that kind of line-of-sight. But I can't. Some of us just can't get an antenna up above the 100'+ trees around us.

This cannot be stressed enough. People routinely talk to the space station using 5 watt radios and it’s more than 200 miles away, but there’s nothing in the way.

For a GMRS and consumer grade radio, I would stay away from the cheap Chinese POS radios and take a look at the Midland GXT 67 Pro or the Rocky Talkie. They may not have any foo-foo bells and whistles that really don't make the radio better but, they are simple to use and of better quality than those radios produced by a non-english speaking government owned corporation in a far-away land. There are videos comparing the two aforementioned radios that are produced by an English speaking non-government owned corporation located on the "Land of the Free".

I really haven't noticed after a rain a difference in my reception of the transmission. I thought that was a bit odd. In the winter when the leaves are off I expect better results. But hopefully by then the antenna will be up higher.

I so wanted to post a meme that talks about debating. However, not wanting to walk the line between humor and politics I will just supply the punchline... "Debating is a lot like riding a bike..." I now return you to your regularly scheduled dead horse thread.

First pair of H3's here can hit repeaters at 20 and 55 miles where I look across a bay to see the mountains the repeaters likely sit in. Got a second pair from AMZN and one using the same programming hits them both as well with factory antenna. The second in that pair will NOT hit them. I started a thread on that and suggestion was 'note to seller' on AMZN and then registered on TidRadio and did a CONTACT issue. And I heard back in email and they are sending a replacement radio. Noted in that thread the GOOD H3's will pop a GFCI breaker on a repeater channel, the BAD one will not at same close distance. Assuredly not proper SAD HAM testing procedure - but seemed convincing here that something was light on power

While repeaterbook.com does list GMRS repeaters, their list is a bit outdated. This website is a lot better when it comes to having an up to date repeater list for GMRS repeaters.

The problem is the impedance of the mic. Adapting it to "work" on a modern radio isn't the problem as it will sound like crap. Unfortunately you need to rework all the guts.

There is a big difference between just transmitting to another station vs running your own repeater. Transmitting to a station 40 miles away doesn't necessarily mean your repeater will cover the same 40 miles using the same antenna and coax. There are a lot more variables involved. Great to see you ordered some better coax though. Let us know how it works out once in operation.

Yes, a tree. Make it 50 trees and even 50 watts might not push 65cm a mile.

If you are just listening, the Motorola XPR7550e has one the most sensitive receivers, the can be had for around $300 if you look for the right deal.

Yeah, I'd bet the sammich that does not come to pass in the allotted time frame.

Well at the shop I have 50' of LMR400 and I need to get coax for the house. So it looks like I can get away with the Airborne 10. Plus it's a higher wattage transmitter than an HT. It claims 20 watts out but I've measured it at an average of 25 watts when it's a 14 volt input in my truck. Right around 18 watts when the voltage is at 12.0 Kinda what I figured when it's only going to be .3dB

It all depends on the owner and the site. Many have no backup power but a well installed thought out repeater would. If there is a repeater yours curious about I'd ask the repeater owner. Thats the only true way to know for sure.

Are they made in the us? I mean the pro's fccid shows it was tested by a chinese firm. Well I guess 98% of shit now adays is made in china. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Thanks for the add. I come to the whole “radiosphere” relatively late in the game as I have been retired for 2 decades but, I like the idea of learning something new so, here I am. Looking forward to learning from the corporate knowledge and making some new friends in the process. Some of the radioheads in my area (Pensacola-Navarre-Fort Walton Beach, FL) may hear a radio check soon! WSDN494

I don’t know. What I do know is that there are two important standards for reception: sensitivity, which is the ability to hear a weak signal and selectivity,which is the ability to pick one signal out of several, to reject adjacent signals. The manufacturer’s typically will publish both specifications but I haven’t seen a table comparing the various handheld radios. You might find that most of the better radios hear about the same. For selectivity and clarity of output (a factor of audio amplifier quality and speaker quality), I suspect that many of the folks who have worked with commercial radios will tell you that commercial radios have superior selectivity and audio clarity, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re right. Some of those radios cost in the thousands when new and presumably the difference in cost meant something. They were designed to discern signals reliably and reproduce loud and clear audio in the worst conditions. But I’m one of the few people here who hasn’t got an old Motorola or Kenwood commercial handheld radio. Personally I’m very happy with the performance of my Yaesu handheld radios. Even my $100 Yaesu Ft-65 sounds really good when paired with the external factory microphone/speaker. I will say that the antenna is frequently the most important element in sensitivity, so be prepared to hear some opinions on what’s best there. Also, you neglected to specify which bands you want to hear “the best, furthest, and clear”. Good luck! I’ll be watching to see what I can learn.

You're not going to be able to buy the software for that from Motorola. That radio is about 30 years outside the Factory support window. There's a few different places online where you can find Radius mobile RSS available for free download, but you'll need to run something like DosBox to emulate a really slow old 386 PC processor. Hamfiles is where I'd probably start looking for the software. You should probably also get familiar with the Repeater-builder.com Radius and Maxtrac Mobile page

This is how I do it: "Stink-Finger to Hoochi Momma, do you copy? .... KMG365, clear"

I agree that a difference seems like it might exist, but Remote Control is specifically defined as operating and Control Points and Control Stations are also defined in terms of operating: 95.303 Remote control. Operation of a Personal Radio Services station from a location that is not in the immediate vicinity of the transmitter. Operation of a Personal Radio Services station from any location on the premises, vehicle or craft where the transmitter is located is not considered to be remote control. Control point. Any location where the operator of a Personal Radio Services station may reliably operate that station. Control station. A station at a fixed location that communicates with mobile stations and other control stations through repeater stations, and may also be used to control the operation of repeater stations.

You're stirring the pot is what you're doing. This is a website devoted to those of us who use and find value in GMRS. If you have a specific question about the use of GMRS, GMRS equipment, how-tos, etiquette, that kind of thing, fire away. I think most of us here would recommend GMRS for what you're doing, but since you've already decided it's useless to you, I think we'd be talking to a wall.

This! If a person only goes where there’s guaranteed cell service (that’s not overlanding!), and only wants to talk to one person at a time (possibly two) and doesn’t want the convenience of pushing one button, and doesn’t need to monitor others in the party, then cell phones are fine.

Maybe this can help people understand: If a GMRS repeater has more than one licensee operating on it, the repeater MUST identify. Reason: If there are 2 or more valid licensees operating on a repeater, the FCC needs to know who is responsible for the repeater.