WRYZ926

A clear line of sight free of any obstructions makes a difference as does using a quality antenna and coax. Where higher power helps push through say trees is if people are fairly close ( a few miles). But it is not a guarantee either. Cedar and pine trees are the worse for blocking UHF signals. And in my case, while talking on simplex, the extra power does in fact make a difference. I can talk on the repeater with 10 or 20 watts reliably.. I can sometimes talk on the repeater with my 5 watt KG-935G if standing outside my house. But 5 watt HT's are not reliable enough. The same goes for when we talk on 70cm simplex too. It is the nature of UHF.

As I have stated several times, there is a place for using 50 watts. I need to use 50 watts to talk to two guys that are 18 miles away and 23 miles away when on a simple channel. My antenna is the lowest at 18 feet above ground while the other guys' antennas are at 40 feet and 60 feet. Yes we have a clear line of sight over the terrain and trees, but just barely. We would not be able to talk to each other on low or medium power. The repeater is a different story. It is 21.5 miles from me and in between the other two guys. The big difference is that the repeater antennas are at 400 feet above ground.

50 watts can be overkill if one has a good clear line of sight to a local repeater. But 50 watts comes in handy when trying to reach others on simplex. I can get into the local GMRS repeater that is 21.5 miles away with 10 watts. I need all 50 watts to talk to guys on simplex that are at the same distance. One guy lives about 2 miles west of the repeater tower. His antenna is at 40 feet while mine is at 18 feet. The repeater antennas are at 400 feet.

I have to agree that using commercial repeaters is better than building one from two mobile radios. Though building one yourself is a learning experience. @WSCF738 I would try a mobile radio with a good antenna and good coax cable at your home first. You will want to get the base antenna up as high as you can.

I was playing with the cross band repeat function of my TYT TH-7800 that I am using as my base station. I was using the KG-Q10H on UHF to talk to the TYT which then connected to the local 2m repeater (21.5 miles away). I was getting excellent signal reports while using the KG-Q10H. I still want to test 1.25m and 6m. I also want to test the KG-Q10H cross band repeater functions. So far I have been impressed with the radio. I find myself grabbing it or my KG-935G most of the time.

I never go by the meters on my power supplies until I test them with my multimeter. And you will get less power output from your radio if your power supply is putting out less than 13.8 volts.

The thing about the Wouxun's version of GPS is that it only works with Wouxun radios. The Baofeng/B-Tech radios are the same, they only work with Baofeng/B-Tech radios. They are not compatible with other brands. I have a Wouxun KG-Q10H and it works well on 2m and 70cm. I have not had a chance to test it on 1.25m or 6m yet. AS mentioned, any 6m antenna for hand held radios is a compromise due to the short length. Plus 6m is called the magic band for a reason, it is not open all of the time like other bands are. And most people use single side band of digital mode on 6m. There aren't a lot of 6m repeaters on the FM portion. Activity on the 1.25m band will depend on your location. It is more active in some regions and hardly used in other regions. This radio can also be unlocked to transmit on MURS and GMRS too. I can say that the Q-10H does work well on GMRS with the 2m/70cm antenna attached. have not had a chance to test MURS yet. I do pick up traffic on MURS but I haven't transmitted. I have zero experiences with the Yaesu VX-6R so can't comment.

Stick with LMR 400 for all of your GMRS antennas. RG8U is fine for the amateur HF bands.

Things like trees, hills, buildings, etc will impact how far your signals can travel. That's why it is always best to get your antenna up as high as you can. And just as important is using a good quality coax cable designed for VHF/UHF frequencies such as LMR400 or equivalent types of coax. Here is a good thread explains single loss in different types of coax. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/252-cable-types-and-losses/

@WRPT980, your antenna is at a decent height as long as there are no obstructions like hills, trees, etc between you and who you are wanting to talk to. Adding a rotatable Yagi at 3-4 foot below your Tram will work just fine and allow you to reach those further away stations.

@WRXP381 you are an exception. Most people will never get anywhere close to 200 miles on GMRS, or any UHF frequency. 50-60 miles is great range for most of us in the eastern half of the country. 100 miles would be extremely good. Most will only average 30-40 miles. My local GMRS repeater has its antennas 400 feet above ground and the 70cm antennas are at 900 feet above ground. We only get a 30-35 mile radius of coverage with both repeaters running at 40 watts output.

While the practice of running an omni directional antenna and a beam antenna is not very common with GMRS, it is more common with the 2m and 70cm amateur bands. The omni works well for general omni directional use while the Yagi allows for getting longer distance contacts since the design is directional and usually higher gain. @WRPT980, as long as you can keep both antennas at least a full wave length apart then you should be fine. A full wavelength at 467.600 is 2.1 feet.

You can use dielectric grease on the threads only. Don't let it get on the outside of the connector and the center conductor at the same time. Or you can use vaseline on the threads only too. Best is to wrap it with self sealing rubber tape.

I've been know to turn the Roger beep on while using the local 2m or 70cm repeaters whenever I hear an old curmudgeon complain about how GMRS is as bad as CB. Yeah I can be ornery and like to sometimes mess with the cranky codgers. Or I turn the Roger beep on to mess with friends. We have our 2m, 70cm and GMRS repeaters located in the same rack and we have never had any issues with the repeaters due to someone using Roger beeps.

I have two remote heads on my Lido seat bolt mount and they stay put on the rough gravel roads around me.

Roger beeps will not confuse a repeater, or at least they don't with my club's repeater. People are probably saying that just to get others to turn off the Roger beep.

I ran into the same issue with my 2023 Ford Escape. I ended up going with a Lido seat bolt mount.

The DX Engineering brand cable is pretty good also.

Yes that is one brand. And it is a very good brand the makes some of the best coax cables.

I would not use RG-8X coax. it will have too much loss at GMRS frequencies. RG-8X is for HF frequencies. Your best bet is to use LMR400 or equivalent. Here is a good thread on coax loss. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/252-cable-types-and-losses/page/5/#comment-69960 RG-8X is not listed. But it generally has more loss than standard RG-8

Another vote for the Surecom SW-102. It works just fine. I do have more expensive analyzers but I mostly use those when I build my own antennas.

I have a Comet SBB1 dual band antenna and a Nagoya UT-72G GMRS antenna on my car. They are spaced about two feet apart and I don't have any issues.

Getting the antenna centered on the cab roof is always best. But lip mounts will work. Try to get as much of the antenna above the roof will help. You can attach a steel plate to the top of you camper shell and use a mag mount. I've done that with the aluminum tool box on my SxS and the mag mount stays put.

The Wouxun KG-XS20G does very well in my SxS with a Comet 2x4SR antenna. I get excellent signal reports when talking through the repeater 21.5 miles away. I picked up an Apache hard case from Harbor Freight today. I am going to use it for a go box for my Xiegu G90 HF radio and might see if I can fit a KG-XS20G in the case too.

This is true. I kept the waterproof connector on my KG-XS20G simply because I have it installed in my SxS.