WRYZ926

I agree with @BoxCar, you are going to be hard pressed to find an antenna that will handle that kind of abuse. Something like the Midland ghost or Melowave Shadow might have a better chance of surviving.

Sounds good for me. In reality 0.01 is not going to make any difference in the calculations. That's like arguing over the differences between 20 watts output and 25 watts output.

Well it seems that we are both correct and also both are wrong. I just did a web search and half of the links say 2.14 while the other half say 2.15. Either way 0.01 is not going to make a difference. And yes most manufacturers are optimistic when it comes to claims on antenna gain. This is especially true with hand held and mobile antennas.

I'm definitely not going to argue over 0.01. Plus 2.14 is what comes up most often when searching for the conversion for dBi to dBd.

Just like the unlock code for the KG-935H and KG-Q10H will not work on the KG-935G or KG-Q10G.

Maybe I misunderstood things. When I hear full keyboard like in the thread title, I think of a full QRTY keyboard. And some are talking about a keypad.

I've hurt plenty of feelers when talking about BMW and Mercedes Benz's vehicles. They are the Ford and Chevy of the German auto market. I've seen plenty of beat up and worn out jalopy BMW's and Benz's going down the autobahn at 150+ mph that looked and sounded like they should be in a junk yard. Yeah I'm not impressed by overpriced German engineering. I've also made people cry when their $2000 + custom 1911 jams constantly while my $300 1911 made overseas works like a champ. I've shot those $2000 + pistols and they didn't shoot any better than the $300-$500 pistols from a ransom rest. And don't get me started on the whole "Mil Spec" is best line. I've had to use them $500 hammers while I was in the Army years ago. And the same hammer at that time cost $10 at the local hardware store. The term Mil Spec is over used and also not understood by most outside of the military and contractors. Military specifications is a minimum specification that an item needs to meet. And always made by the lowest bidder that cuts corners where they can after contract approval. It really doesn't matter what type of product we talk about, most things are designed to be thrown away after they stop working no matter the brand name or cost.

The keyboard would be handy for teletype/RTTY modes. But there is no use for them on GMRS other than programming as OffroaderX mentioned.

Don't spend it all in one place or all at once.

Yeah them boofwengs are going to a gold mine

I've had to repair a few cold solder joints on brand new coax switches in the last 6-12 months. And they weren't the cheap MFJ junk either.

The company I worked for ran distribution centers and also made dispensing machines for pharmacies and hospitals. They did other stuff too, but I was not involved with any of that.

And yes we all know the dangers of lithium batteries and how hard they are to put out if they catch fire. But a lead acid battery can explode just as easily when abused. Most combat vehicle, AKA tanks, use a bank of 8 12v DC batteries hooked up in series/parallel for 24 volts out. And they are high AH batteries that are needed to start those big V12 diesel engines or turbo shaft engines. Most armored personnel vehicle use 6 or 8 12V batteries while most wheeled vehicles use 4 batteries. And I have seen those batteries explode when mishandled, abuse, and/or damaged. One would have to abuse either battery type to have any safety issues.

My last job was at a pharmaceutical distribution center. That company bought directly from the manufacturers and sold to the different pharmacies and hospitals. The company sold everything to the different pharmacies and hospitals for the exact same price. Yet you could go to 5 different pharmacies and there would be 5 different prices for the same thing. And it's common to be able to get medicine cheaper without using your insurance versus using insurance. The company I worked for actually took a loss per item but sold in a large enough volume to still make a profit. The pharmacies and the insurance companies have a definite effect on the prices of medicine. I was just the lowly maintenance technician so I didn't have anything to do with how the business ran.

Yes I have rucked plenty. I was both airborne and air assault qualified, assigned to airborne units. And when my assigned weapon was not the M60, then I would get assigned to carry the PRC-77 radio. So yes I know a thing or two about rucking extra weight. Now go strap on a 75-80 pound ruck sack, carry the M60 machine gun with 1000-1500 rounds of ammunition along with your main and backup parachute before you say anything else about how I supposedly don't know anything about carrying weight. I was also a combat engineer so I carried even more stuff than the average infantryman. And I have done so in combat on a few occasions. Let's break down the weight infantryman ruck -70 pounds combat engineer ruck - 75-80 pounds Main and reserve parachutes - 53 pounds. M60 machine gun unloaded - 23 pounds 500 rounds of spare ammo - 35 pounds Those weights didn't even include any explosives or mines I also had to carry. You showed your rear again by assuming that I don't have any experience rucking heavy weights. And we all know what assume actually means.

There is nothing wrong with wanting a portable GMRS setup that will put out 20-50 watts. I like using 10 AH or 12AH lipo4 batteries for 20 watt or less radios. Most 10 AH lipo4 are the same size as the batteries in computer battery backup systems. The lipo4 batteries are quite a bit lighter. I like the Redodo brand of lipo4 batteries when it comes to 50 AH or 100 AH batteries. A group 24 lipo4 batterie will be half the weight of a standard group 24 lead acid deep cycle battery. And just ignore Negative Nancy with his negative waves.

And there ya go with the negativity yet again. @WRVK513 If you want an actual Part 95 certified radio then yes the firmware will be locked. And this goes for pretty much all Part 95 certified consumer grade radios. We know plenty of people use non certified amateur band radios that have been unlocked/Mars modded on GMRS, but those radios are not Part 95 certified. And if you don't want a locked down radio then look else where.

Yes I know and that is why they advertise gain in dBi. But it would still be nice if they would list the gain in dBd.

Here is a video showing what Icom has stated on tariffs. According to the video, Icom won't start charging customers for the tariffs until May 8th. ICOM Radios SLAMMED with Tariffs! I'll let everyone watch the video and make their own decisions and opinions afterwards.

It would be nice if antenna manufacturers and retailers would list the antenna gain in dBd instead of dBi. The dBd value is more realistic and also what most coax loss calculators use. The conversion from dBi to dBd is pretty simple to remember, subtract 2.14 from the dBi value to get dBd.

@amaff beat me to it. He is correct in that it is illegal for mobiles to transmit on channels 8-14 since the only go down to 5 watts and those channels are limited to 0.5 watts max.

Yes the C does designate commercial which means that the antenna will work in the 2m business/MURS portion and the UHF business and GMRS. That being said, a lot of times, but not always, the GP-9 and GP-9N amateur band antennas will also work for GMRS. The only way to know is to test the SWR.

Again, you live in an area that allows that. Most people will never see those kinds of ranges. Your range of 200+ miles in very unrealistic for the majority of people.

The GP-9 (PL259) doesn't say it covers GMRS in the paperwork either. But the SWR is 1.8 or less across all GMRS channels, 2m and 70cm. Others have tested their GP-9 antennas and the SWR was above 2.0 on GMRS. So each antenna does need to be checked.

I would love to find a Motorola repeater for less than half the price of the Retevis repeaters. I know what a good used Motorola Quantar costs since we just bought one 5-6 months ago. We paid $1000 for the 2m Quantar 125. I'm sure you could find older Motorola repeaters for less. While using two mobile radios connected together as a repeater works, they will never be as good as an actual purpose built repeater such as the ones from Motorola. @WRTM295 The Retevis should work well for you as a temporary setup. And you can always keep it for an emergency portable repeater once you get a better repeater.