WRYZ926

As BoxCar has mentioned, different licensing pool. You still run across some KA call signs for GMRS. The KA call signs haven't been issued in about 30 years though. The standard for Radio and TV stations is still the same. All stations east of the Mississippi start with W and all stations west of the Mississippi start with K. There are a few exceptions to this. If I remember correctly there is one station in PA that starts with a K and one in TX that starts with a W. They had their call signs before things were standardized.

That will definitely make a difference, especially if it is a low ceiling and the metal garage door frame and tracks can and will have an effect.

Yes it should work using a straight through CAT cable.

4.61 amps while transmitting on high power is not bad at all. And a 10 AH LIPO4 battery should last quite a while considering you are going to be receiving the majority of the time. Now I wouldn't get into long rag chew sessions while running on battery power. And I would have no issues using the accessory port/cigarette lighter in vehicles since those are rated at 10 amps.

Another good alternative is the DX Engineering 400MAX coax cable. Another alternative is the JET brand coax from R&L Electronics. I've used plenty of the JET brand for jumpers and short runs 20 feet or less. I mostly order from ABR when I need a custom length and I don't feel like making my own cables. Otherwise I go with DX Engineering 400MAX for standard lengths and JET for my jumpers. Now let's see what Negative Nancy has to say about DX Engineering or JET coax cables.

ABR Industries coax cables are good to go. All of my coax cables that I use for Parks On The Air are from ABR.

You just can't help yourself can you. No one cares what you think and we definitely do NOT care for your Negative Nancy attitudes towards everything. You seem to have a mental issue and you really should go seek professional help for it.

To each their own. I do not trust anything attached to the headrest to stay put in an accident. And I too have seen my fair share of accidents and weird things do happen in an accident. I personally won't take the chance if I don't have to. Plus I don't want any type of speakers right next to my head while driving. I want to be able to hear everything that's going on.

I beginning to think that he got kicked off of the short bus and possibly banned from ever riding it again.

Some people are just such tightwads that they can turn coal into diamonds when they walk. $25 is not a bad price for software that you know is going to work with your radio. RT Systems is working on more Mac versions of their software for different radios. Or at least that's what they stated in the email I received from them. The only time I have had an issue with RT Systems software was when trying to use a cheap programming cable with a Prolific chip on my Mac. I'm sure the Amazon cable was a pirated Prolific chip on top of that. I tried that cable with RT Systems software on a Windows 10 and a Windows 11 computer and it worked. Though 11 did give me a little trouble. The same cable absolutely will not work on a Mac. I tried that cable with my 2018 Mac mini and my M4 Mac mini. Edit: The cheap cables from Amazon with the Prolific chips do not work with MacOS. There is a thread on the QRZ forum on this and it seems the pirated Prolific chips found in the cheap Amazon cables are the main culprit.

The Comet SBB1 NMO is a good antenna for how short it is. Mine does well for 2m, 70cm and definitely usable on GMRS too. I have mine in the center of the roof on my Ford Escape.

I'll race you. Though I think I won as far as posting memes go!

We have a total of 6 repeaters. Our 2m repeater sees the most traffic and somedays it is really busy and other days you might go hours in-between hearing anyone. Then we have our GMRS repeater and it is the same way as our 2m repeater.We also have our main 70cm repeater at the same location that hardly gets used anymore. We also have two other 70cm repeaters that are located at opposite ends of our area. All three 70cm repeaters are currently setup for analog and DMR. No one uses DMR or any other digital FM modes. So we are in the process of getting rid of DMR and will then have all three linked together with the ability to to also link the three to our 2m repeater. Our 2m repeater has around an 80 mile radius of coverage so we get a bit of traffic from people traveling through mid Missouri. As Steve has mentioned, there is definitely more to amateur radio than talking on FM repeaters. a lot of guys use Single Side Band on the HF bands and even on the 2m band. And there are all of the different digital modes being used along with CW. Just because you don't hear anyone on the 2m/70cm repeaters in your area doesn't mean that amateur radio is dead.

I have owned my 2023 Ford Escape for a year now and I have not gotten the courage to drill the roof for NMO mounts. Part of that is I hate messing with the headliner since there are airbags there.

That is one of the reasons we used to get our club to put in the GMRS repeater. And we have had a couple of GMRS users decide to get their amateur license afterwards.

That is what I do with my aluminum 2m j pole along with the 2m and 70cm Fara-j antennas. The Fara-j antennas are nice in that they roll up in a nice small package.

They do work and are great for those with height restrictions. They aren't high gain like the 38" or taller antennas but they do beat the Nagoya UT-72G. As you mentioned, they are more discreet too.

If you are talking about the Ghost antennas, The Midland Ghost MXTA25 and Melowave Shadow are pretty good for being so short and they work better than the Nagoya UT-72G antenna. But they won't work as well as a taller antenna such as the Midland MXTA26 or Comet 2x4SR. I have a height restriction since I park in the garage so I run a Tram 1174 tuned for GMRS on my Ford Escape.

I've seen people use NMO mounts on fiberglass/plastic tops on Jeeps, Broncos and truck toppers. They will epoxy a metal plate to the underside of the top for a ground plane. That would be another option for you. Mounting an antenna to a luggage rack will definitely reduce the ground plane. How much that affects things will depend on the size of the rack and how far it is above the roof. A expanded mesh metal roof basket will help increase the ground plane compared to just the rack. Another option is the Midland MXTA38 plate. I have one on an aluminum toolbox that works well holding my Midland magnet mount and Comet 2x4SR on my SxS. You will still need some type of ground plane under the MXTA38 plate though.

The club member that has made a bunch of j pole antennas actually uses some old solid center conductor 75 ohm coax cable for the GMRS j pole antennas. So far they have held up through all types of weather conditions. The center conductor on the 75 ohm coax is fairly large so it holds up well.

What @WRUU653 suggested is definitely worth trying. Plus those RJ connectors are not the strongest and will wear out with constant movement of the cable/cord. It could be something as simple as the connector went bad or there is a break in the wires. And the RJ connector going bad or wires breaking can happen with any brand of radio. RJ connectors are not the best choice for this application since the cables are constantly getting moved around. plus the wires are small too.

@brasda91 Thanks for sharing that link. Yes that is always an option. But I don't want to have speakers right next to my head like that for several reasons. One is the fact that I wear hearing aids. Another is safety, I try to keep things that can be projectiles in an accident down to a minimum I cringe every time I see people bejewel their steering wheels and dashes right overtop the airbags. Thats nothing but a claymore waiting to go off.

Man Road Runner would be neat to have. I could really aggravate my friends with that

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for drinks that might be spit onto screens and/or keyboards.