WRXP381

I agree totally. Even the same ccr that are not gmrs locked are very programable.  It’s why I won’t own a gmrs only. 

I agree totally. Even the same ccr that are not gmrs locked are very programable.  It’s why I won’t own a gmrs only. 

Yes and yes and yes.  Works much much better than Inside 

Are you new here?  That's kinda what we do...

My take is that you cannot get an accurate SWR reading on an HT antenna without specialized equipment. I also think you should stop overthinking how imperfect you low-cost/mass-produced radio is and just use/enjoy it.  If you want a high-quality 'performance' radio, you're going to have to pay a lot more for it.
 

I buy pretuned antennas and don’t have to worry about tuning.  I haven't tuned an antenna since the cb days with Wilson or fire stick antennas.  

I recommend starting out, if new to radio, using a 1/4 wave Motorola style antenna, Whether it's NMO hole mount, bracketed, or mag, it will give you the least amount of trouble, and most performance before you start playing with gain rods. Once you have the mount in place, and have experimented to have it in the right place on the vehicle, you have a baseline. Then you can buy a 3 or 6 db NMO style (quality) rod and base and swap it in easily. Tune it and see if it does any better, but the 1/4 wave was always such a solid piece, in looks, size and performance. I don't mess with gain antennae. in fact, I have a couple of the high dollar Motorola Spectrum 6 dB units still in the tubes new. Just no use for them. 
Your best match and pattern will be with a 1/4 wave. Years ago working in commercial radio, this solved many a problem for us.
Just my opinion, trying to help new people. 

How far are you trying to transmit that you don’t hear a difference. You’re not going to notice much if n receive but others will notice n transmit.     The big difference is going to come into play when you’re inside your car moving with the 771.  I use the 771 on all my radios but inside a moving car 20-30miles from a repeater the metal of the car will stop the transmission.  But if you have an antenna on the out side even a cheap mag mount will work way better.  The mxta26 is a very good antenna as long as you have 12-18” of ground plane around the antenna 360deg.  If you’re not seeing a difference you’re either to close to notice or something else is going on like no ground plane, bad location or bad coax or connectors.  

Cool story!

I'm trying get assistance in the operation of the TD-H3. After hours searching on YT and unable to find guidance I'm looking here.
These radios offer scanning. Is there a way to set frequency search range (begin and end) and then loop back. So far I can scroll to the start of a frequency and the radio will continue from that point to search through every frequency on the radio.
Thanks! 

So why did you need a repeater in the first place?   Seams like a base station would have worked just fine.  Seams like you’re only trying to connect point a to point b not 3 or more points. Plus for a repeater or base to really work well and be worth the money you need to get a good antenna up as high as possible. Yes a mag mount will work but again why waste all the time money and head ache when a $100 base station would have done the same job.  I’d even venture the mag mount up high hooked to your hand held would have worked also.   Did you upgrade the antenna on the ht first?  Seams like you are some place that has loads of interference such as a city with many homes and buildings or dense woods because 1/3 of a mile is nothing.  An ht at 5w should do several miles to 30+miles.  460mhz is very much line of sight and no amount of watts, repeaters, or base stations is going to change that. Sounds like there is a misunderstanding about what a repeater does and when it’s needed. 

Considering that the very first 6 words of his post were "To start out with I'm new to GMRS"  I am going to guess he has no idea what you are saying.. But thats just a guess.
The moral of the story: Know your audience..
 
 

Same here. Ours was down here in Fullerton. 

My wife and I attended a Memorial Day ceremony at the Indian Cemetery at the Wassama Round House in Ahwahnee, CA this morning. There is one WW1 veteran buried there. There was a rifle salute and the playing of Taps. It was a good reminder...

Sounds like you already have it figured out.   Also sounds like you dont really need a repeater but many people build them and they never get used.     if all you’re getting is 15miles then why bother with a repeater it’s not going to do very much.  
 
On Southern California we have many huge repeaters and they all get in the way in some way or another but no one owns the air waves and chances are you won’t really interfere much at all.  

Why are you so combative?  Are you trying to be a S.A.D. GMRSer?

Why are you a Guest? If you are using repeaters, you need a GMRS license and should join this forum. 
Otherwise, in my estimation: move along! Nothing to see here!

Sounds like you already have it figured out.   Also sounds like you dont really need a repeater but many people build them and they never get used.     if all you’re getting is 15miles then why bother with a repeater it’s not going to do very much.  
 
On Southern California we have many huge repeaters and they all get in the way in some way or another but no one owns the air waves and chances are you won’t really interfere much at all.  

Hello everyone,
I have a question about my BTECH Pro GMRS radio and the accompanying app. The app allows me to communicate with other GMRS users both with and without my phone connected to the radio. However, I'm curious about how to connect with networks outside of my local repeater area.
Specifically, I'm wondering:
How can I connect to GMRS networks that are not within the range of my local repeater?
The BTECH Pro app includes a default group, and users can create and search for other groups, but many seem to be unmonitored. How can I find active and monitored groups or networks?
Any insights or advice on expanding my communication reach beyond local repeaters would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

I know many people that use them.  They are pretty happy with them from what they say.  It’s 400-470 so it will do gmrs. As far as certified it’s not from what I’ve been told or see. But who cares.  I’d bet the vast majority of gmrs repeaters are not certified Motorolas off eBay.  Just set it to a proper pair at 50w and send it.  

The lip mount (at least the ones with attachment screws) are grounded and would not require a 'no ground plane' type of antenna. 
Mounting an antenna on a car or truck is going to have the pattern effected by where it's mounted to some degree.  The 'ground plane' of the antenna (car body) helps to bring in an or direct the signal out of an antenna.  So if you have an antenna on the right side of a vehicle, the pattern will skew to the left to some degree.  If it's not mounted at the highest point on the vehicle, some parts of the vehicle that are higher than the antenna will block some part of the signal to and from the antenna. 
But, eliminating all those things required a hole in your car for an antenna mount.  And some folks can't bring themselves to drill that hole.  Some are driving lease vehicles that they can't drill the hole.  Others are limited by the fact they trade their car's in every 70,000 miles and feel that it brings down the value of the car.  Then there is the 'wife' variable.  The "You're not gonna put that shit on our car" which typically applies to ANY antenna on a vehicle (I know all about this one).
But if you are running around in a vehicle that you are gonna keep until it's reached the 'beater with a heater' status and not traded in with the idea that if you keep it the value will go down, or any of that, I would say just drill that hole. 
 
Now what a 'no ground plane' antenna is good for is situations or vehicles that don't have a good ground plane to begin with. 
Vehicles with fiberglass roof's and panels that are not going to generate a good ground plane.  Boats are another application for this type of antenna.
But you need to understand that a no ground plane antenna has a significant limitation, that being gain.  That type of antenna is designed to create a ground plane.  This is done by the antenna being a dipole design.  Meaning there is a bottom element and a top element.  And that is where you loos the ability to have significant gain.  Dipole antenna designs where one element is sort of positive and the other element is negative (the actual voltages change due to it being an AC voltage) stacking elements for the sake of more gain is not possible in a mobile antenna.  Any 'gain' listed in the antenna spec will be dBi and not dBd. The dBi gain number is based on an isotropic radiator which is a 'paper' antenna that doesn't really exist.  And dBd is gain over a dipole.  Of course a dipole antenna can't have gain over that type of antenna.  And ALL dipoles will exhibit some gain over an isotropic radiator due to the pattern difference in the antenna designs.  I realize that is getting sort of technical.  But it's something that you can google and research for a better understanding of what I am referring to, and you might even learn something about antenna's.
 
 
 

I wouldn't wrap the two around each other, but they should be okay in parallel.

Only a few weeks ago did I learned about the linked network. I also learned that one of the repeaters I can hit from my place has joined the linked network. I am using a handheld gmrs radio with a full numeric keypad which is required to connect to repeater nodes. How would I use the keys on my radio to access the node and talk on the linked network. 

Please don’t do that.  It would be super annoying to any one listening on simplex or a repeater.   If giving your call sign with your own words is too much for you why are you talking on the radio to begin with.  

This is a great example of what you are talking about.  Randy nailed it with this.