nokones

Thanks guys.

I didn't realize the bushing was incorrectly installed until I was poking around and checking grounds. The bushing in between the cable grounding point the bracket was an obvious clue.

The problem was the plastic bushing was installed under the mounting bracket instead on top of the mounting bracket and the cable was not grounding to the mounting bracket. The cable mounts to the bottom of the mounting bracket. Now, maybe I didn't need to order that 2-30 MHz Bird slug now, OH well, at least I have one now.

Ah Hah - Just shy of 3 watts with just about 1.12 or so:1 on Ch. 1, 1.15 or so:1 on Ch. 20, and almost but less than 1.2:1 on Ch. 40. I think my problem is solved now and I am a happy Jeeper. Both my Telewave and my DOSY are pretty close and good enough for hobby work. And this check was with the engine idling with 13.21 VDC at the battery.

The 25H Slug ordered from Bird and now onto checking to see if I have any improvement with my VSWR using a cheapo CB VSWR meter that wasn't really all hat cheap. Oh, I just remembered, I have a Telewave 44 I can compare with.

Ah, I found my plastic bushing doo-hickey was reinstalled wrong by the Dealer that installed my Heavy-Duty Mopar Spare Tire carrier Mount for the Rear Tail Gate. I reinstalled it properly and after I get done with my morning Traffic and Weather Reporting Duties for my GMRS Repeater Club, I'll recheck my VSWR. I wish I had a 27 MHz slug for my Bird. Maybe I'll buy one just to compare.

The Tail Gate is grounded and so is the coax run to the mounting area..

My suggestions besides getting a quality duplexer like a Celwave or EMR Corp. duplexer, is scrap the idea of using two mobile radios that were not designed for a continuous duty cycle and a multi-radio environment and get a real repeater and save your money, time, and energy.

Also, check the plastic inserts in the duplexer ports to see if they are burned out. This is a common problem with the cheap duplexers.

If you are using two Wouxun KG1000G Plus mobile radios and a cheap Chinese POS $150 duplexer that's your problem. Those radios do not have any shielding and you are desensing the receiving radio with the transmitting radio and the duplexer also is contributing to the problem.

So I can hang out with the Kool People!

It'll never happen because those sites sit below the Sierra Crest Line. On the average those sites are at the 4-5 thousand foot level AMSL on the westside of the Crest Line and the Crest Line averages about 9-10 thousand Plus feet AMSL, and US 395 is on the Eastside of the Crest Line.

There's an easy fix for that, the FCC should mandate that all GMRS channels be narrowband and allow the interstitial channels become main GMRS channels and regulate all FRS channels to .5 watt operation. By rule, the FRS channels are already regulated for narrowband operation. If all the FRS channels are regulated to a .5 watt operation, the channels can be shared between the GMRS and FRS services with minimal impact between the two services. This would give seven additional channel pairs for GMRS without reallocation any Part 90 freqs to GMRS.

Strangely, I didn't see much of a change. I'll ground the antenna and see what happens. I knew that the antenna needed to be grounded but I never put much importance on it and accepted the 2.something VSWR since it is a CB and never gave it much thought ever communicating far in a Jeep group.

The ground is a chassis ground to the radio. The antenna is attached to the Mopar heavy duty spare tire support mounting bracket. The VSWR is about the same on all channels now after tuning it.

This morning I replaced my Cobra 19 DX III CB Radio with a Cobra 25 LTD Classic AM/FM CB Radio. I barely had enough room to install the radio. I'm using a Firestik II antenna with a quick disconnect spring and the best VSWR I can get is 2.1:1. My forward power is about 1.5 watts. Of course the Jeep is a poor antenna platform. I am kinda unhappy about that but I kinda expected this with the newer model of CB radios these days and being on a Jeep.

I use GMRS for Trail Comms with my Jeep Clubs and for other highway group travels with the Corvette and Porsche Clubs. I am a member of the Arizona GMRS Repeater Club, Southwest Community Repeater System, Texas GMRS Club, and the Crest Communications GMRS Club. For my Race Comm, I use the Part 90 Business Radio Service freqs. throughout thd country. This allows me to use the P25 Digital Feature of my radios.

If you are referring to the Shaw Butte Repeater in Phoenix, it has been working fine in both the local and link modes. Are you using a real radio or a CCR POS? I can access the repeater with a real portable radio sitting in my house approx. 25 miles away.

I got my first GMRS license in the early 90s because I like playing with radios. Also, I had a CB Class D license back in the day, a Class 3 Radio Telephone Operators license, a Restricted Operators License, and somewhere I recall having a Marine Endorsement on a license. I wish I kept my original GMRS license active just for the callsign.

Your antenna is the problem, scrap it and don't usd it for GMRS. Try a Midland MXTA 26 GMRS antenna and that should resolve your problem. Another good antenna is a Laird B4502 antenna but it will need to be tuned/trimmed.

And you should have a number for an off-road towing & recovery company for the just-in-case you are within cellular coverage and know what GMRS repeaters that may be nearby. If you are not in a group while off roading you should be scanning all 8 GMRS simplex channel or at least be monitoring Ch. 16.

No, it's a FRS radio not a GMRS radio

Totally true. That is why I have the Garmin Inreach Satellite Service and it works great.

I don't know how. I never saw Star Wars.

I hope the OP doesn't hit the dirt in remote areas by himself (solo vehicle) and get involved in an incident. Also, don't go off-road with just a cheap Chinese POS handheld radio. You should be equipped with a reliable 50 watt mobile GMRS radio with a mobile antenna.