WRXB215

Picked one of these up and gave it a good what for.  Wrote my thoughts down on my blog.   I have a few other ham related blogs and probably some old Short Wave content as well. 
https://hagensieker.com/2024/04/06/retevis-ailunce-ha1g-gmrs-radio-review/

The aluminum foil won't hurt the magnet at all. Don't worry about it.
Sticking something magnetic on the back side of the foil the magnet can be attracted to is a good idea to hold the foil in place. The foil needs to be a rough square at lest 6 inches on a side or a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Put the magnet mount in the center. 

Rain in antenna connections is a fairly common occurrence if the connections aren’t waterproofed. PL-259/SO-239 connections are not weatherproof. 
Worst case you might need to replace the cable or at least shorten the cable to get rid of damage caused by moisture in the dielectric layer. 
 

A few suggestions:
Put down your radio, take a deep breath.
Stop calling it a BigWang. It's a Baofeng. Don't let the radio win. You're in charge here.
They're not obstacles, they're steps. Take them in order, be patient. 
While you're waiting for your license to be recognized by MyGMRS, read online tutorials and watch videos specific to programming your radio. I find that watching  someone else do something helps me learn. You'll get this. We all did. And most of us are more than willing to help where we can.
 

You need either a “barrel adapter” with an SMA female on one side and SO-239 on the other, or a jumper cable with a PL-259 on one end and an SMA female on the other. 
 
Eventually you’ll have every combination of adapter 😁!
Here’s a kit that might help get you started: 
https://a.co/d/1Bzh3h4

Don’t worry about what wrxp381 says he has never felt the need to do. He says that sometimes, but his “needs” are irrelevant to your question. It’s nice to know the output of your radio and it’s simply not true that you can’t test SWR with a handheld.
He may have meant that testing the SWR of a handheld’s antenna doesn’t mean much and I would agree with that.

It's probably fine. People link to videos and other stuff all the time.

Same as above, plus: keep in mind that aluminum is non-ferrous, meaning that is actually repels magnetic fields. Sure it's thin, but there might be a risk of deteriorating the magnet if left on the aluminum long term. Consider a large steel washer below the magnet to "capture" the magnetic fields, then place that combo on the aluminum foil. 

Hi Leo,
Welcome to the forum. 
Congratulations on navigating the FCC licensing site. You’re right that it is not easy. 
It can take a few days between the time the FCC issues your license and the time the bulk download is done for this site. It will eventually happen though. 
If some people here seem like jerks you can add them to your “ignore list.” Then you won’t have to see their posts. 
If there are repeaters preprogrammed in your radio they’re probably just there as examples. Or it may just be that they’re the eight established repeater channels that have the offset programmed in but are waiting for you to program the correct CTCSS tone or DCS code on transmit. 
Again, welcome!

I have quite a bit of experience designing antennas for handheld devices...cell phones. The "ground" / "counterpoise", call it what you wish, is hugely important. It's the bottom half of the dipole antenna. My point is that without a counterpoise the upper half (whip, stubby, ducky etc) is not going to be able to have current driven into it well and thus will not radiate well. A real 1/2 wave dipole works very well of course. The metal in the talkie can and frequently does become the counterpoise especially at GMRS FREQS where a 1/4 wave is about 6 inches and that is the height of many talkies. Those smaller talkies, you know which ones, suffer from a much shorter counterpoise and unless the manufacturer has gone to extremes to make their metal housing have extra electrical length, those talkies never will perform as a longer/taller talkie. It's basic EM. 
Back to the original question about a counterpoise: yes, it can help especially in the case where the talkie is not close to 1/4 wave. Hanging a 1/4 wave wire from the base of the antenna downwards has some chance of making a difference, probably a lot of difference on the smaller talkies. 
I would be remiss if I didn't mention those longer whip antennas. A 5/8 wave whip antenna has "gain" over a dipole, around 2dBd, but ONLY if it has a substantial ground plane below it. Something in the order of 1-2 wavelengths in radius is required. The reason is that if you look at the E and H distributions you'll find that they only add towards the horizon when the ground plane is at least that big. If it's smaller, the radiation pattern turns into a  butterfly shape and the peak gain goes down actually getting lower than a 1/2 wave dipole. Thus I am not a proponent of the longer whip antennas, contrary to a long line of people who claim to get actual better performance with them. To them I challenge that they are basically doing annedocital testing where they are finding better results in only one location/position and to one remote location. If their setup were taken into a true antenna anechoic chamber it would show otherwise.
The best we can do for a talkie is a 1/4 wave whip on top of a 1/4 wave talkie. This gives the best efficiency with a rather good donut shaped radiation pattern which gives the best chance of good range in a variety of use cases and scattering environments. Shorter ducky antennas suffer from efficiency loss...they have to compared to a straight 1/4 wave whip, it's in the math. 
Hope this helps and does not ruffle too many feathers
 
 
 

I'm fine with it 🤣

If you don't have very many channels you are trying to program then yes, it is probably simpler than using chirp. However, if you are trying to program lots of channels in multiple different radios, then it's chirp for the win.

DCS/DTCS same thing. 👍

 

First, why do you think you want a repeater instead of just a base station?  In either case any modifications you make while building will work well for either. If it’s going to be a long run of feedline, consider using hardline to minimize cable losses. 
Second, this is such a great opportunity to include structural and electrical support for an antenna, lighting protection, and proper bonding for your radio electronics.  If you go on to become a ham you’ll be set. 
Third, closely review your HOA agreement and state and county laws to see what they say about antennas. Not all HOAs ban ham radio antennas and some government entities prohibit HOAs from infringing on certain types of antennas. Also the ARRL is constantly supporting legislation that restores some level of antenna freedom to people affected by HOA restrictions.
 
 
Although I agree in principle with your disdain for HOAs banning antennas, you are victim blaming. He said he’s a noob to GMRS and asked us to take it easy.
He might not have known that someday he would want an antenna. Lately some of your answers have been way out on the superior judgmental horse’s ass end of the spectrum.

Use repeater section of the site to locate repeaters near you. Keep in mind you will likely find more repeaters that you can hear than you will be able to make contact with. Also check and see if there are any clubs in your area. Most importantly just have a good time and try not to let the knuckleheads ruin it for you. 

Fixed it for you:

Sorry for the sideways picture…

All types of communication devices can fail or not work due to location. It never hurts to have different modes of communications available to you. And I agree, never go out alone or at least let someone know exactly where you are planning on going.

@nokones they have GMRS versions of the UV-5R now.

Most GMRS certified radios have the firmware locked down so that people cannot unlock them.
Most dual band 2m/70cm radios can be unlocked through software hacks or hardware modifications.
The issue with unlocked radios is that most go down to 5 watts and GMRS channels 8 - 14 are limited to 0.5 watts since they are in between the  GMRS repeater channels. Running at 5 watts, especially on wide band, could cause interference.
Yes I do have one GMRS certified 20 watt radio that will transmit on channels 8 - 14. But I won't transmit on those channels even on low power (5 watts) unless it is a real world emergency.

I tried it once because I had an extra ten cents, and I found that it had absolutely no effect. Except right now I could really use that dime back.

@nokones they have GMRS versions of the UV-5R now.

The Comet CA-712EFC is a great antenna. How far you can talk to others will depend on how high the antenna is, local terrain, vegetation/trees, structures, etc. Don't expect to get a 200 mile range unless you live in the wide open desert or along very large lake.

It’s nice to see a happy ending story now and again. 
 

Actually, just the opposite. The +5 is relative to your receive frequency. You listen on the 462 frequency and transmit 5 up. 

This is true and I am normally all for protecting personal information, but I think the vast majority of people are not even aware that they could look up someone's info via call sign. Nor would the vast majority of people even be aware that it is a call sign.