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No. It's probably a colinear array. Unless you want to redesign the whole array, it's not worth touching. If you are less than 3:1 at 462, leave it alone.

No because i mounted the antenna on my chimney.

I would go ahead and try it! Even if the results are a bit "screwy" there is some benefit if comparing different antennas on the same test setup.

This is a thankless task with handheld antennas. There's way too much interaction with the HT and your body to do any real-world analysis. I set up a test rig for this, but decided that it wasn't worthwhile testing antennas beyond a "probably good / probably fake" check on their factory tuning. My setup is a 36" diameter aluminum disc with a hole in the center with a mating SMA-M connector and 25' of RG316 coax. The disc is supported off the (concrete) floor with three 3" Teflon cubes (which I had laying around). These components are inside a shielded, un-powered building. The other end of the coax runs through a building penetration to a NanoVNA H4. The NanoVNA is connected to a laptop PC via a USB cable with ferrites at each end, and the laptop PC is running on battery power to avoid coupling AC line noise into the NanoVNA or antenna line. This gives me nice, repeatable readings which have little to no relevance in the real world.

If swr is halfway decent it will work just fine... i have been operating a 25w anytone 778uv base setup(just upgraded to 50w anytone 5888uv, which seems to output about 42w on gmrs) off a "bingfu" 30" mobile dual band antenna literally electrical taped to a piece of conduit with a radial ground plane, and can operate a repeater 22 miles away on a daily basis, on a $30 antenna showing approximately a 1.9-2.2swr on gmrs frequencies.... and i can hit the repeater better than someone right up the road from me also running 50w, thru a commercial 6' comet for gmrs, with a 1.4 swr across the repeater band.... All that said, TLDR..... get the free antenna and see what it can do.... worst that can happen is the FREE amtenna doesnt work well, and you end up padsing it along to someone else who can use it....

If you choose not to comply with regulations that’s your choice, but it’s wrong to belittle someone else who does a good job of explaining the regulations to someone who might not understand them.

The most "believable" results I could get was with my hand holding the cable just below the antenna. Still highly questionable results.

Yellow steel? You mean the brass NMO connector?

Why don't you tell us what "best" means to YOU, then we can focus on those attributes.

Same as my user name. Tennessee Frank.

It will work. That's what you want, no? You want to talk to hand-helds (HT) about 3 miles? You will be fine. If you stand on the TX, you may warm up the antenna, a little but not hurt it nor the equipment. The HTs' OEM antenna's will do 3-5 miles on flat earth to each other. And if they were HAM spec'd (which most people buy, because of power, and know no better) they are 144/430 OEM antennas and people use them all the time. You can buy a (advertised) 10watt HAM radio with a 144/430 OEM antenna and use it on GMRS channels and never know it; most of the time. That said: I have GMRS HT antennas from everyone and prefer the tiny, inefficient, stubby ones because I seldom need 5 miles in the leafy woods. If I stand on TX, they will warm up. In the woods or a crowd antennas make a difference. Line of site is not, nearly, as affected.

I have used a RigExpert Stick XPro clamped in a tripod that gave a good repeatable picture of the overall bandwidth of some commercial antennas. I was able to see how "bad" the Harris UHF antenna was compared to the AllBand antenna on VHF was. For the other basic designs, i.e. 1/4 wave, 1/2 wave, etc., those have know performance from physics and aren't worth even sweeping.

Yes, remove the bolts that hold the bottom tube on and you can easily get to the coax connector which is probably just a pl-259 on the cable and so-239 on bottom of the antenna.

Aha, learn something new every day. Interesting.

Thanks for the antenna type update. Little big for mobile use. Also rather expensive too. I haven't noticed hardly any MURS traffic by me. Anyway by the time you feed in the legal limit of 2 watts, no one uses their modified 50 watt 2M rig do they, and get maybe 1 to 1.5 watts at the antenna it still isn't going to go far.

I'll have to look up NanoVNA Saver. Also, I know ground plane plays a big part in the efficiency of the antenna and it hit or miss with an HT. I just wanted to get an idea of where each antennas "sweet spots" were so I'd have a better idea of which one to use for what. Plus I think it'd be a fun video for my channel.

This! Nano VNASaver is just so much easier to use and gets you more easily viewed results.

I usually do a sweep of 430MHz to 470MHz (70cm and GMRS) and 140MHz to 155MHz (2m and MURS), the bands I'm most interested in and document it with VNASaver. I've never actually used the interface on the VNA itself (small screen, bad eyes) when I can use the computer to do it all on a 27" monitor.

I would get it. If nothing else the parts can be scavenged. That looks a lot like the Comet dual band Antenna I have which works very well. It also looks like they have a pretty long length of coax that might be worthless for GMRS but usable for lower frequencies.

When I tried testing HT antennas that was basically my experience too. There are far too many variables to control for to get good results. As a general observation I found the VHF testing is very hit or miss. Generally the antennas are a helical design, thus far shorter than a 1/4 wave. There is way insufficient area for an effective ground using the radio chassis only, they really need to be held in the hand. The antennas are "tuned" to take that into account. Whereas the UHF antennas are close to a real 1/4 wave and the metal chassis of the larger HT's come closer to a minimum size ground plane. I had fair luck testing them with a small sheet metal plate to simulate the ground plane. Many of the older HT's used hybrid power amp sections. I had downloaded some datasheets to see what the spec's are. The surprising thing I saw was the max SWR rating. Some were as high as 20:1! M67798LRA.pdf M68732H.pdf

By the time I get done with mine it'll be $7K not including my labor.

^That's where I'm probably going to go with it. Thanks.

Your repeater works pretty decent. I was hitting it pretty strong from 605 for a ways last month.

I got my repeater up for under $1k .. Not the biggest/best in the area but it has about 900sq miles of coverage.

Me too... I HAD two brand new RT97L's that I could have used to test this.. but I gave them both away.. Now i'm kicking myself and I wish I was not so kind, unselfish and loving toward my fellow-man... Never again!

The only way to know for sure is to put a meter or portable antenna analyzer on it and test it.. But, like the @mb523 said, its not going to work very well.

At the last weekend's Two Rivers Off Road Club's 4x4 Blast, the Club made it official, they are moving from CB to GMRS. All of us on Saturday's run used GMRS and were impressed by the transmission clarity. There was a mix of HT's and mobiles.

Like many have already started I have been through many different antennas when I was more active on the HAM side. I spent a lot of money on comet antennas and others. some were good, some maybe not so good. I learned my lesson, some antennas are better than OEM but it depends on the radio and how you are using them. When I started my GMRS journey I forgot the lesson I had learned with all of my HAM HTs. I now have a collection of GMRS antennas. I have determined that it depends on the radio and how you are using them. Amazing, I know. Actually the reason I was looking for different antennas with my GMRS radios was specifically to find a good flexible antenna that was at least as good on TX/RX as the OEM. I have 701s, 771s, Melowave Bandit Gs, a Smiley Slim Line, and even a Signal Stick cut for GMRS. All of them were tested on my KG-935G at specific distances in my mountain area. My big takeaway is nothing new; the longer antennas normally RX better when I'm on the ragged edge RX/TX. Anywhere else they all are about the same. With flexibility being my main desire I have a Smiley Slim line on my HT most of the time. If I am out in the mountains I carry a Melowave Bandit G in my pack in case I need the longer antenna. I haven't really had that need but it is easy to carry. I have found that the OEM antenna that came on my 925G is a very good antenna, but it is very stiff. The stiffer the antenna the more I am likely to catch it on something or poke my eye out again. Your experiences WILL vary.

a long time ago i shelled out some good money ($45) for a Comet (i don't remember the model) HT dual band antenna. I never was able to ascertain the difference between that and the standard stock antenna. I gave up spending money on HT antennas and just use what came with the radio.. And honestly, considering they are HT's never been dissatisfied .

Well that's how the regulations work. Myself if a family member, non resident, wants to use GMRS I would "suggest" they get their own license. Legally they could use mine, but if they had their own any issue with the FCC would be their problem not mine.

It is perfectly legal to us GMRS radio in aircraft over the US and it's territories. I have talked to a friend of mine while in a private plane. I was mobile in Woodbridge Virginia and they were flying as far away as 47 miles from my location.

SWR is somewhat important, but tells you nothing about gain or pattern. A dummy load will test nearly perfectly for SWR.

Irregardless of where you live, GMRS frequencies are set by the FCCs and have not been changed in forever. TL;dr: NO

You haev to first go to the REPEATERS section of the website (for whatever reason the shared user account is kind of - separated between the forums area and the repeaters section) Click the Repeaters menu at the top menu. find the Edit Profile menu on the right under your profile log in (if you are not logged in in the repeaters area .. log in first.) In that Edit Profile edit screen you can change your username and then hit the Save Profile button at the bottom of the screen.

Got all signed up, thanks!

I removed the callsign from the other account, so you should be able to register now, Ken.

OP That kind of range is unlikely with GMRS, especially given the physical obstacles highlighted in @amaff’s post, but amateur radio on HF (lower frequencies than VHF and UHF) can probably communicate between Olympia and Puyallup. They also may have linked repeaters for VHF or UHF, which are allowed in amateur radio but not GMRS. Both communities have amateur radio clubs. Consider contacting them for more information: The Olympia Amateur Radio Society: http://olyham.blogspot.com/ Valley Amateur Radio Club: https://www.arrl.org/Groups/view/valley-amateur-radio-club/type:club

GMRS relies on line-of-sight distances like all radios using the VHF and UHF frequencies. The only way to have contact between your two locations is through a SINGLE repeater that both locations can reach. Almost all GMRS repeaters are owned and operated by individuals and their availability and coverage areas vary widely. Most GMRS repeaters also do not have emergency power or if so, it is limited to a few hours of operation. You may want to research amateur repeaters for their coverage areas and their networking methods. Ham clubs in your area can provide the information you need for your decision-making on both GMRS and amateur radio.

I think you are confused with display symbols on your radio. Pull your manual and become familiar with them so you know what they represent. Unless you are on a trunked system, your radio will have no way to detect presence of a repeater while in idle mode. GMRS radios do not operate in Trunk.

They should not affect each other significantly. Edited to add: Mount one above the other rather than on the same level.

Thank you very much! I am in.

GMRS is not particularly good in valleys, it does not penetrate hills. If you are not in visual line of who you intend to speak with, it may not work. On mountain tops, it is great. Also it is very likely that unless you have coordinated a contact, no one will hear your call; it is not something monitored like marine distress channels. There is even great debate over which channel would be best when traveling on highways.

Gulf Coast Radio Network is alive and well and pretty great

Check out Gulf Coast Radio Network

Update: 1-22-2024 / Active users 230 Welcome to the BAMA GMRS Radio Network - Linked with (WRUU567) Mobile County Alabama Repeater system. Spanish Fort 550 (WRVH341), North Mobile 600 (WRUU567), Mobile 675 (WRUU567), Dauphin Island 675 (WRUU567), Fairhope VFW 700 (WRVH341), Bay Minette 625 (WRWQ539), Wallace Fl 650 (WRXU693). Repeater Location: SF 550 HUB - TX/RX 141.3 Range 30 Miles. (WRVH341) North Mobile 600 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 30 Miles. (WRUU567) Bay Minette 625 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 30 Miles. (WRWQ539) - Active Service date 1-30-2014 Wallace Fl. 650 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 30 miles. (WRXU693) Mobile 675 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 50 Miles. (WRUU567) Dauphin Island 675 - TX 156.7 / RX 141.3 Range 30 Miles. (WRUU567) VFW Fairhope 700 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 20 Miles. (WRVH341) - Linked to the network date: 1-30-2024 Roadkill network GMRS Live New Repeater Locations: New location: Gulf Shores New Location: Pensacola area New Location: near the Fl State line Node on GMRS live: 50170 - S F 550 - Spanish Fort Al. 50176 - N M 600 - North Mobile 50743 - B M 625 - Bay Minette Al. 50175 - S H 67 - Mobile Al. 50176 - D I 675 - Dauphin Island Al. 50750 - W FL 650 - Wallace Fl. 50173 - VFW 700 - Fairhope Al. Node on MyGMRS.com: 20104 - Mobile 675 20118 - B M 625 20119 - S F 550 20120 - VFW 700

Update 1-5-2024 6:48 am NEW! We can connect to the Roadkill network and the GMRS Live. License GMRS users on our network is 223! Welcome to BAMA HUB - GMRS radio linked repeaters network. The BAMA HUB! GMRS radio linked repeater network. The following repeaters are linked. Spanish Fort 550, Spring Hill 675, Mt Vernon 675, Dauphin Island 675, Fairhope VFW 700, Bay Minette 625, Wallace Fl 650. with more to come soon. FREE MEMBERSHIP. SF 550 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 30 Miles. Bay Minette 625 TX/RX 141.3 Range 30 Miles. Wallace Fl. 650 TX/RX 141.3 Range 20 miles. Spring Hill 675 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 40 Miles. Mt. Vernon 675 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 50 Miles. Dauphin Island 675 - TX 156.7 / RX 141.3 Range 30 Miles. VFW Fairhope 700 - TX/RX 141.3 Range 20 Miles. GMRS Live! A nationwide network. If you have a location and Repeater that you would like to link into the BAMA GMRS Radio linked network, we would be happy to help make that happen. We have a lot of stuff that is setting around. Here is the current list of items, 1. 3 Paul units sound cards, 2. 20 Foot section of pipe for your antenna tower 9 3. LMR 400 cable 4. Contactors 5. SWR meters 6. Mini Nano meters 7. lots of other things. please contact Scott at 251-656-1926 or by radio WRVH341. Node assignments. 50170 - SF 550 - Spanish Fort Al. 50743 - B M 625 - Bay Minette Al. 50175 - SH 675 - Springhill Al. 50176 - D I 675 - Dolphin Island Al. 50750 - W FL 650 - Wallace Fl. 50173 - VFW 700 - Fairhope Al. Thank you for your time. Scott Bond WRVH341 251-656-1926