WRYZ926

This is very true. I can talk on the local 2m repeater that is 22.5 miles away from inside my house with my Icom IC-T10 and my Wouxun KG-Q10H. But that is not happening with my Baofeng GT-5R or Explorer QRZ1 (TYT UV-88). And UHF is going to be different than VHF. I can't get into the 70cm repeater at all with any of my HT's from my house. I've tried many locations in my yard to include standing on the roof. I can however get into the GMRS repeater with my Wouxun KG-935G and KG-Q10H in certain spots in my yard. All three repeaters are at the same location with the 2m and 70cm antennas at 900 feet and the GMRS antennas at 400 feet.

Why do you insist on being so damn negative?

I find the Tram antennas pretty easy to tune following their instructions. I tuned my Tram 1174 for 467 and the SWR is a slightly lower on 462. I mostly use the local repeater at 467.600 and the SWR is 1.4 and it is 1.2 at 462.600. I could have kept messing with it but figured 1.2 and 1.4 was good enough. I have the luck of the Irish and stopped there so I didn't cut too much off.

Well technically the AnytoneAT-D578UV III is a tri-band 2m/1.25m/70cm amateur radio with DMR. Yes they can be opened up for GMRS. I have not seen the Midland MXT500/575 or Wouxun KG-1000G ever cost over $400. Mot of the time they are right around $380. Those are the most expensive Part 95 certified GMRS radios that I know of. We will just have to wait and see what happens. And tariffs against China will affect some Yaesu models too since certain models are made in China.

It never hurts to have multiple layers of security. But a determined thief will not be stopped if they want something bad enough. My home security is a little different. I have a big dog that is half Great Pyrenees and half lab mix along with several cats. I have red lasers that track movement. The lasers will get the cats attention and they will fiercely attack what ever the lasers are pointing at. And that noise will get the dog's attention. The dog will finish what the cats started. All of which gives me plenty of time to react if I am home.

The cost is actually $25 for each program and an extra $15 for both Windows and Mac versions by contacting RT Systems at time of purchase. RT Systems does not charge sales tax, or at least I didn't get charged the few times I purchased from them. I haven't had a chance to mess with the KG-1000G CPS yet but the RT Systems CPS is easier to use for my Icom radios compared to the Icom CPS.

Though you do have to take into account the Doppler shift as the ISS moves across the sky. The Doppler shift causes the frequencies to shift as the ISS moves. I know I know, too geeky for most

No you can't because they will have different serial numbers. And you need a valid serial number which is tied to the version you purchased.

That will definitely improve things for you.

This is one case where more power can help. Can you raise your base antenna any to help?

That is one way of doing things just as using call signs is another.

I have not tried that.

An update for those interested. RT Systems has now released a Mac version for the Wouxun KG-1000G/KG-1000G Plus and is available for purchase.

Yes pine and cedar trees are worse about blocking signals, especially UHF. My local club has a 2m, 70cm, and GMRS repeaters with the antennas on a local radio station tower. The 2m and 70cm antennas are at 900 ft above ground and the GMRS antennas are at 400-450 ft above ground. I have the same dead zones with 70cm and GMRS where pine and cedar trees are close to the road where I don't have any issues in the same locations on 2m (VHF).

And some trees are worse than others about blocking signals. Cedar and pine trees real havoc on UHF frequencies. And we have a lot of eastern red cedar trees in my area along with pine trees that were planted along roads years ago.

This is very true and many people fall into that trap thinking more power will get you farther. What more power will do is make your transmissions clearer and easier for others to hear if you are already making the trip with low power. An example is one repeater that is 50 miles from my house. I can get in with 20 watts but I have quite a bit of static in my transmission. Bumping up to 40 or 50 watts allows others to hear me on that repeater loud and clear.

Jeep stands for Just Empty Every Pocket. And that goes for old or new jeeps. We do have to get creative at times installing radios and other accessories in any new vehicle since space is at a premium. @nokones your dual battery setup looks nice. And I don't blame you for going with two batteries. I need to do the same with my Honda Pioneer 500. Winches are hard on motorcycle sized batteries, especially when plowing snow.

Well the old CSM was actually saving the government on hospital bills and/or funeral expenses when he had us destroy the M151's. They were quite dangers for those that did not know how to safely operate them. On the plus side of that clean up mission, we did revere some pretty rare vehicles and parts that the different military museums came and picked up. Those rare vehicles and parts allowed them to restore more vehicles for public display.

Ah the M151 MUTT. They finally made National Guard and Reserve units park those things for good around 1990. They were more prone to roll overs than any of the Willy's GP vehicles they replaced. We found a couple that only needed fresh fuel and tires out in the training area at Ft Irwin in 1995 while cleaning up all of the old hard targets. The base Command Sargent Major made us go park them on the M1 tank range so the next rotation could destroy them.

The military has always used 12 volt batteries in series or in parallel/series depending on the vehicle. The M38A1 and M170 used two 12 volt batteries. The HMMV, and most other wheeled vehicles use four 12V batteries. Most tracked vehicles to include armored personnel carriers, self propelled artillery, tanks etc, all use eight 12V batteries. The CUCV Chevy trucks and Blazers had both 12V and 24V systems. They had two generators on them. All military equipment has been 24 volts since the 1950's.

Other than Garmin GMRS radios, they are all made in China. When it comes to amateur band radios, even some Yaesu radios are now made in China. Unfortunately there is no getting away from Chinese products any time soon. All of our computers, cell phones, tablets, etc are all made there.

One had to run the engine to power those radios.The radio versions had bigger generators compared to standard versions. Military vehicles and equipment all ran on 24 volt systems by the time the M38A1 and M170 were first put into service. The US military used the portable 4.2KW generators for powering commo equipment when I was in. The 4.2 was small enough to fit in the back cargo area in the HMMV and the M577 Command Post Carrier had the 4.2 mounted up front next to the driver's hatch. It is possible that there was small 24v portable generators that were carried in the old radio Jeeps. They were long gone by the time I enlisted. You could always get a small portable 12V DC generator for your Jeep.

The NRA had their National Convention a few years ago in St Louis and a lot of vehicles were broken into during the convention. But you re correct, that goes for any big city.

@nokones if you are not worried about hauling passengers or cargo, then you can always turn your Wrangler into a military style commo Jeep. The M38A1 and M170 both had radio versions. The USMC even had a tall hard top version of the M170 for commo use. Here are a couple of photos for inspiration. M170 radio Jeep M38A1 radio Jeep

This is especially true when you have several people using the repeater that have the same first name. We have several Johns, Ricks and Rons that use our amateur and GMRS repeaters. Plus we have quite a few people traveling through the area that use our repeaters. Most of us will ID at the beginning of our conversation, every 10/15 minutes and then at the end of our conversations. I have not heard anyone ID after every transmission on any of the 2m, 70cm, and GMRS repeaters. The last time I used call signs after each transmission was in the military, but the was SOP.