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I think it just comes out the other way. But full disclosure — I am a member of RR. What I really refer to is the people on there who see a forum post marked HALP MEH! and they chime in with "do your own research" instead of just helping a new amateur. It's like with Linux forums... mostly unhelpful jerks who pretend that they were born with what they know so others shouldn't ask for help if they weren't

I paid close to $100 for mine at the Hamvention. Who knows, might have been due to the tariff crap then. R and L Electronics, which seemed to have the best price, was out of stock when I looked a while back. Plus they didn't have a booth at the Hamvention, which I though was sort of strange since they are one of the better known Ham gear vendors. This is a link to a photo I just added to my album with the testing results and a photo of the antenna in it's protective sleeve. Note the antenna is clearly marked as a NR240CA. I've seen the NR240C being sold. Not sure if they are the same or not. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/613-nr240ca-roof-rack-mount-swr-and-photojpg/?context=new

The Diamond antenna is a bit different. There is a locking collar you have to unscrew to lift up the antenna to fold over. No spring to wear out like on the Comet design. Another reason to go with the Diamond antenna for those interested in it.

Sometimes you can mess up something that works well by pursuing perfection. "Good enough" is a valid concept.

I did contact them. they responded that I may need a breakout box and they did provide a pin out for it. I may have to go that route.

A lot of new radios have automatic tone ID. If both tones are the same, they only need to be within receiving range of the repeater. If the tones are different (or only input), they would have to be within range of someone transmitting to the repeater, but it is automated these days. No longer necessary to just quess.

Record it and post it here. Someone will decipher it. (Still not me )

only one time in 7 years of using GMRS was i ever asked to register, or request t to use a GMRS repeater. It was in Auburn, Calif in 2020. As i was travling through on I80 Ch 18 broke loose with someone asking for a radio check. This Ch happend to be programed with the same and PL codes of a repeater here in the desert After giving the other party a radio check and talking for 20'ish minutes. The owner just popped in introduced his call sign told me it was his repeater and asked me to submit a request here to use. It was no big deal, the guy was nice about everything. I never did fill out a request to use cause i havent been through that area since.. Frankly, i can't even keep up with the ones have requested access too.

Good idea for anybody who is going to routinely use this antenna mounted up high. I picked one up at the Hamvention last May for mine for future use. I would install it if I planed on using the antenna at some point. Right now I have my old CA-2x4MB on the ride. That monster is about 60 inches tall. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/471-mobile-mount-with-antenna-rear-view/?context=new The match on it is something else. This was done when I had it on my old Jeep. It looked better than the newer CA-2x4SR. The one on the ride the fold over string is shot, that's the black electrical tape you see, the antenna is at least 20 years old. I do have a new one still in the green plastic sleeve, never been outside of the house. I purchased both at the same time. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/223-ca-2x4mb-jeep/?context=new https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/282-ca-2x4mb-scansjpg/?context=new I've been looking around for a possible replacement for it. After testing the CA-2x4SR and N240CA, on my roof rack mount, either one might be a good replacement, and they are only 40 inches tall. I might go for the NR240CA, yeah it's more expensive, but the SWR match looks a bit better over the ranges I'm interested in. One thing people don't talk about here, or elsewhere for that matter, what the match looks like in crummy weather, like moderate to heavy rain or fog. It's going to get worse to some degree. If you start out with a really low SWR it likely won't deteriorate nearly as bad in less than ideal weather. Modern radios are designed to tolerate SWR's up to 2:1 at full power. After that the radios, with SWR protection circuits, will start to fold back power to protect the output power stage.

I picked up a no-name one at a local swap a long while back just for fun, it was really cheap. Tested it and I wasn't impressed with this sample. Likely better ones out there. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/428-stealth-dual-band-with-swr-scanjpg/?context=new

I would think the 5 watt HTs are used quite a bit unlicensed. But the owners of the repeaters will want you to have a license to use their equipment. At least if I wanted people using it I wouldn't want unlicensed persons on it. Need to have some basic understanding of radio or at least know how to read, follow instructions so you can program it. That would exclude my wife LOL

Well I got around to doing an SWR scan of both the Comet CA-2x4SR and the Diamond NR240CA wide-band antennas the past few days. Both were tested on the UHF type roof rack mount I have on my Mazda. Both antennas are 5/8 wave design, thus they need a decent ground plane to work. I expected crummy results. However I'm absolutely shocked how well they matched up on the VHF and UHF bands!!! I guess there is enough "ground plane" under the mount, plus whatever capacitive coupling between the mounting strap and roof rack rail for a better coupling to the rack rail. The installation looks like this photo, but I have a different antenna on the mount at the time. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/471-mobile-mount-with-antenna-rear-view/?context=new The attached photos show the match on the VHF and UHF bands. The results are very similar. Not uprising since both designs look about the same except the center loading coil. subjectively I think the Diamond antenna match is a bit better.

There is not a lot of technical information. Like how do you connect the two together, how to add the CW call to the device, how to change it from simplex to duplex. There is more information for the disconnect than station ID

I’m running the MXTA25 ghost on a hood-hinge mount on the passenger side. Absolutely not the best location for it RF-wise, but it was the best spot for me since I wasn’t prepared to drill the cab roof. I’ve been testing it out the past few days w an AT-778UVII at ~5/15/25W and it’s done remarkably well. Granted, it does better when I’m pointed at what I’m talking to since it has the passenger A-pillar behind it. My radiation pattern is a bit wonky due to where that antenna sits. But I’m happy with this so far. I’ve been able to get into repeaters with low watts at distance so it’s working for me, despite the non-optimal config.

Do they just... burst at 50?

This comment has absolutely nothing to do with the question but thank you for your useless reply to the topic.

I Might even hang this in my Shack ... except I know others, possibly related to him.

and a fine job at that! Well written, nice illustrations.. i laughed.. i cried.. I learned... Anyone interested in seeing Sir Steven Shannon's excelled work can see it here: (clicky ^^ there)

You got it!