WRXB215

He said they were "ham-like users" which suggests to me they were GMRS user acting like sad hams. But yes, it they were using GMRS frequencies for ham radio use, that would be one complaint I'm sure the FCC would look into.

Hello to all!
I am brand new to GMRS. I currently reside in WNC, and with recent events I have discovered the need for a secondary means of communication, (i.e. cell communications unavailable)
I look forward to learning all I can and hope to one day build my own repeater.
The radios I started off with are the Retevis HA1G (a pair of them).
hopefully will get a base station at some point. 

My background is in A/G communications with ATC so I want to learn how other radio communities operate.
73, 
Josh J.
WSFK616

That is exactly how it is supposed to work in the US. But for some reason there are "some people" who now think you can't do any until the gobment tells you you can.
Don't get me started!

That is exactly how it is supposed to work in the US. But for some reason there are "some people" who now think you can't do any until the gobment tells you you can.
Don't get me started!

Ouch.  My bad.  You are correct, it is not in CHIRP.  I program it with the GM-30 download from Radioddity, which apparently has the same innards.  I see Radioddity has a GM-30 Plus out now, but I can't vouch for that download as I have not used it.
Thanks for catching my mistake.

One of my favorites.  Corollary: "If it doesn't say you can't, you can."

Screw what the state emergency mismanagement agency thinks. People were on the ground going door to door helping people before EmErGeNcY MaNaGeMeNt even got out of bed. I do not care what is allowed or what is authorized. If people are needing to get in touch with their families then me and my radios are going to help.
 
EDIT: Hang on. They were actually telling people they could not use ham radio to check on people? Because we need to stop and talk about that. Here. I can not even describe how uninterested I am in what is authorized or allowed. I am not seeking authorization in the first place.

Well it certainly is possible

If it is that big of a hassle and it is useless, I would just pull the plug and walk away. Spend your resources on something else.

I like to refer to this as a radio's "sense of self preservation." 😆

Quit lecturing people on “the info you promised you’d read”.  The information on the license says absolutely nothing about repeaters and your comment is not helpful to anyone.

I like to refer to this as a radio's "sense of self preservation." 😆

I like to refer to this as a radio's "sense of self preservation." 😆

I like to refer to this as a radio's "sense of self preservation." 😆

As long as the radio has fold back protection that works properly then a high SWR should not hurt the radio. Now if the fold back protection is not working or the radio does not have that, then a high SWR can and will blow the finals. When a radio folds back, it cuts the power way down to protect itself from a high SWR. Most radios will cut the power back to 1 watt or less.

Less than we typically predict. I have said a few times that an SWR of 2.5 or so wasn’t the kiss of death commonly thought.  However, I’ve also attempted to transmit eight blocks down my street on 2 meters at 20 watts, using a Midland MXTA26 antenna, which is strictly a GMRS antenna and has a high SWR (I don’t remember for certain how high now but maybe up around 10:1) at 2 meters and found that I was unable to be heard. 

One article that I reread from time to time in on the ARRL site has influenced my understanding of high SWR. It purports that reflected power, no matter how high, eventually reflects again at the radio, this time back towards the antenna. Each time a portion is radiated by the antenna and a portion of reflected power bounces back and forth .At the antenna for the second (or third or whatever) a portion reflects again. Each time some of the signal is attenuated in the cable between the radio and antenna, converted to heat rather than RF radiation. With a no loss cable eventually all of the RF is emitted from the antenna, even if the antenna is high SWR. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as a zero loss cable, but shortness and higher quality help.  The best available to a radio operator is to have no cable at all, such as an antenna directly connected to the radio, as in a handheld radio.  This (perhaps only in my opinion) is why handheld radios, including cell phones, can get by with SWRs that are up around 5:1 or 6:1.  It isn’t really that measuring the SWR of a handheld’s antenna is difficult. It’s that it matters little.

I had a very strange experience this weekend.  I wanted to share some information about antenna performance and SWR, in hopes of stimulating conversation and maybe helping debunk some common misconceptions about high SWR breaking radios.  Obviously, there is a limit to this, but with the typical gear and power levels we operate at, it seems to be a non-issue.
 
I have several radios in my Jeep, with a total of 4 antennas, depending on the band and radio being used.  I went offroading this past weekend and took all my antennas off but one small rubber ducky style to use with GMRS communications while on the trails.  I had this small, flexible antenna hooked up for the 5 hour trip to the park on Friday, all day wheeling Saturday and Sunday, and for the whole ride home.
 
While on the trails, I was getting anywhere from 100 yards to 1/4 mile of range out of my radio.  Most of the time, I was only using 5w, but when the terrain would cause issues, I would crank up the power to 50w.  This is pretty standard while offroad and using a flexible antenna.  Sunday, on the way home, I noticed I was getting less than a mile out of the radio.  That had me a little concerned, but not enough to pull over and check on anything.
 
We stopped for gas, so I decided to see if the antenna was loose and maybe check the SWR, to make sure everything was okay.  However, when I went to check on the antenna, I realized the rubber ducky antenna was on the wrong mount.  I had used my radio all weekend, running as much as 50w, with no antenna whatsoever on my GMRS radio.  100% of all of my communications for 3 days was all with no antenna, just radiant energy from the end of the coax... that's it.
 
I put the antenna on the right mount and used it for the rest of the ride home... only about an hour.  I got home and tested the radio.  Everything was 100% perfect.  The radio power output is still good, even after a 5 minute key-down on the dummy load.
 
So, while this is 100% non-scientific, I was still able to get about 50% of my typical range in the terrain I was in, even without an antenna.  With no antenna and obviously sky-high SWR, running an occasional 50w for 3 days, there was zero damage to my radio or coax.
 
Going back to the thread title, does antenna choice and less than perfect SWR matter?  I feel like the community may be overly sensitive to this issues.
 
Thoughts?  I am looking forward to some friendly discussion. 
 

Thanks for the quick replies I was on a simplex channel. I see the rptr channels on there now didn't realize it made a difference. In terms of antenna I have it mounted on my truck and had it mounted on my metal roof testing as well. I'm about 13 miles from the tower. I'll try the repeater channel and offset when I get back home. I appreciate you all like I said I'm pretty green with this stuff. 

No attempt to make people jealous, just throwing out some stuff to help people with coming up with their own ideas on their mobile installations. Thanks on the comment.

@nokones you do love making me jealous don't you. 🤣👍
Nice install.

i support this 4 year old suggestion, desperately need dark mode option

Send me your mail address and I'll send you the proof in the bottle. 🤣

Yep, I watched those two videos by @OffRoaderX just the other day and now I'm thinking about the 805. AGAIN! 😆
It would probably be a good one for my wife. She used to work for a company that sells, services, and rents Kenwood radios so she has held some real quality radios in her hand and my CCRs don't quite cut it for her. 🤣

Both eyes open now......and I see a typo on my last post here.
Win 7 will not run the latest version of CHIRP for me......
On topic, I sure hope all those folks affected by them hurricanes can get back to some form of normal life soon.
Being from CA, I would rather deal with an earthquake any day over a tornado or hurricane.

Maybe this will help:

Or his earlier video about the 805: