WRXB215

What @Socalgmrs said is true most of the time. I have a fring case where I can not activate a particular repeater from my house on medium power but I can with high power. It is a UV-5R8W and there are a lot of trees and houses I have to deal with. In this case the extra power does make a difference.

It’s like the beginning of the “linked repeaters” silliness all over again.

SMH

That's an interesting response. Expect any change to take decades. The US is still bound by international agreement with Canada, anything above line C, exceeding 5 watts ERP, must be coordinated with Canada, regardless of FCC "service" (industrial/business, public safety or federal) or end user. Page 10, item 4 (a): https://transition.fcc.gov/ib/sand/agree/files/can-nb/above30.pdf
This is why there is a Line C comment on itinerant business licenses over 5W stating "Location X Special Condition: Area of operation is restricted to south of Line A and/or west of Line C" and the note on itinerant business licenses of 5W or less stating "Operation on this frequency is on a non-interference basis to Canadian operations and you must accept all interference from operations in Canada. Licensee is responsible for resolving any complaint of interference to Canadian systems arising form operations on this frequency, including, if necessary, cessation of such operations."
After discussions with the FCC, it's a Catch 22, because itinerant cannot and are not coordinated by definition, thus you are stuck with the restrictions. This is the same with GMRS, without revision to the previously coordinated 50W channels, or reduction of the allowable power to 5W, we are stuck with Line A & C. I can wish it would be changed, I don't see it happening. It does beg the question of why those 2/4 frequencies were not previously coordinated, as well as the itinerant frequencies, but the Government rarely makes sense.

The neighborhood is not very big but most of my connections are outside of this neighborhood and once I hit the neighborhood we loos transmissions due to either trees , houses, or other RF interference. . I think it’s best I just do a simple base station set up  . I have most all the hardware. We shall see what happens. 

A lot of people, myself included, started out with a handheld radio and a magnet mount antenna for vehicle use. While range might be limited due to using a 5 watt radio, it allows you to get on the air while figuring out what you want for a good mobile and/or base radio.

@WSEW953 In the end, you will just have to do some practical testing in your area of operation. There are just too many variable for anyone to predict for sure what your propagation will be like. @dosw idea of starting off inexpensive is not a bad idea. You will learn a lot in the process and be in a better position to make a good decision on a more expensive radio.
If the vast majority of your coms will be between some point and your house, you could set up a decent mast and antenna with a base station and possibly achieve what you are looking for without use of any repeater.

Also, be aware that repeaters have a 467.### input and a 462.### output. The repeater output frequency matches up with a simplex frequency. As a result, you can here repeater traffic on certain simplex channels.
Don't try to program a simplex channel (1-22) to access a repeater. It must be the appropriate repeater channel (23+) which will have the appropriate +5 offset.

Also, be aware that repeaters have a 467.### input and a 462.### output. The repeater output frequency matches up with a simplex frequency. As a result, you can here repeater traffic on certain simplex channels.
Don't try to program a simplex channel (1-22) to access a repeater. It must be the appropriate repeater channel (23+) which will have the appropriate +5 offset.

@amaff good info, thanks for sharing. I think manual programming is something we all should become familiar with on our radios. It can be quite confusing and it's nice to have it figured out before you are out in the field or after a hurricane and need to make an unexpected change.

@amaff good info, thanks for sharing. I think manual programming is something we all should become familiar with on our radios. It can be quite confusing and it's nice to have it figured out before you are out in the field or after a hurricane and need to make an unexpected change.

@amaff good info, thanks for sharing. I think manual programming is something we all should become familiar with on our radios. It can be quite confusing and it's nice to have it figured out before you are out in the field or after a hurricane and need to make an unexpected change.

@WSEW953 In the end, you will just have to do some practical testing in your area of operation. There are just too many variable for anyone to predict for sure what your propagation will be like. @dosw idea of starting off inexpensive is not a bad idea. You will learn a lot in the process and be in a better position to make a good decision on a more expensive radio.
If the vast majority of your coms will be between some point and your house, you could set up a decent mast and antenna with a base station and possibly achieve what you are looking for without use of any repeater.

Keying the repeater is just "using the repeater"  He wants you to ID with your call sign when you first use the repeater and then again when you are done using the repeater.  If you are talking with someone a long time, every 15 minutes you need to ID using your call sign.  That's just standard FCC protocol.
Radios are capable of putting out multiple sets of tones to activate or ID or call another radio.  And there's a thing called a Roger Beep that usually goes off when you release the PTT button to let the other party know you are done talking.  It takes the place of saying "over" at the end of each conversation.  Since you are new to the radio world it's very doubtful you have any of these programmed into your radio other than the PL tone which is used to activate the repeater.

look at the repeater coverage map here at MyGMRS to see if there are any other repeaters listed. monitor the repeater frequencies for a few days to see if you hear anyone.  

You might not be sending the tone needed to open the repeater, or
You might be transmitting on one of the simplex channels rather than the corresponding repeater channel, or
You’re transmitting with 5 watts and a rubber duck antenna from your driveway and transmissions of the people you are hearing are being retransmitted at 50 watts  by a repeater from a high gain antenna that’s 300 feet in the air, or
All of the above.
 

It’s not even possible.  They are not licensees.  You are authorizing them to use your stations and you are required to have them identify according to the rules Marc mentioned earlier.  You are entirely liable for them following the rules.

To add to what @marcspaz said, you may want to think about how family members sound on the radio. My father has passed away but while he was alive, he and I sounded exactly the same on the radio, phone, intercom etc. The same was true with my mom and my sisters. The additional unit number or whatever you want to use can be helpful in cases like that.

No.

To add to what @marcspaz said, you may want to think about how family members sound on the radio. My father has passed away but while he was alive, he and I sounded exactly the same on the radio, phone, intercom etc. The same was true with my mom and my sisters. The additional unit number or whatever you want to use can be helpful in cases like that.

No.

To add to what @marcspaz said, you may want to think about how family members sound on the radio. My father has passed away but while he was alive, he and I sounded exactly the same on the radio, phone, intercom etc. The same was true with my mom and my sisters. The additional unit number or whatever you want to use can be helpful in cases like that.

Some think it tilts the steering wheel up and down.

I agree that the 771 antenna, be they Nagoya or Abree, should be all you need.

For what it’s worth, I did the Nagoya 771 and 701 on some of the Baofeng handhelds I bought. The 771 outperformed the 701 as expected. Then I read about the Smiley Antenna “Slim Duck” and picked one up. I found it performed as well as the 771, but was significantly more compact. This in the foothills on the west side of the Cascade mountains in Washington State.

I like the Smiley enough to have one on my Icom ID-50 too.

Happy Hunting!

Height is might doesn't mean a longer antenna, it means get up above the terrain, because the real rule is that if two antennas can see each other, they can communicate. And if they can't, and the reason is due to terrain, lots of buildings, or dense forest, they may not be able to communicate.
In this case, a longer antenna might not change much for you other than making your radio more particular about being held very close to vertical.