WRYZ926

Yes that was me that you talked to. Glad to hear you on the repeater.

Yes you can get into the repeater from around the 175 mile marker to the 170 mile marker. The you can pick it back up From Williamsburg , Mo to Columbia, Mo. I can get in to the repeater just fine with a 50 watt mobile and a Nagoya UT-72G antenna. The repeater is located in Mexico, Mo on the KWWR backup tower and the GMRS antennas are 400 feet above ground.

Another option is those little rubber vacuum hose caps from auto parts stores.

This is true and also why some of the cheap connectors from Amazon, eBay, etc, do not work as well nor last as long. That being said, I have not noticed any differences between the Amphenol connectors and those from DX Engineering or Max Gain when testing the cables and antenna SWR.

Here are the SO239 to SMA adaptors I have used with my Baofeng UV-5R and GT-5R https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COKNKS8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Folded dipole antennas work well and are very common for repeater use. We are using them for our 2m, 70cm, and GMRS repeaters. All are mounted on a local radio station's 900 foot backup tower.

Yes you can program each repeater into separate memory channels. Just make sure to get the tones correct for each repeater. I also suggest giving each a unique name so you don't get them mixed up.

The Germans would not let us use the new (at that time) SICGARS radios in 1994. We were interfering with their civilian communications, televisions and broadcast radio. We would occasionally mess with the local TV station in Rolla, MO when I was stationed at Fort Leonardwood. We would have fun with civilians that complained about us on the frequencies when I was at NTC/Ft Irwin. We would purposely jam the whiners. On topic, @OffRoaderX it will be interesting what you find is causing the interference.

Good luck getting the FCC to do anything about the military's use of the bands. The military has priority no matter what.

It is possible that military radar is causing the interference. Or it could be government data transmission bursts. I do know that 70cm repeaters are restricted in certain parts of the country close to air bases because of their radar systems. I usually see large government data transmissions on the 17m band every weekday evening around 5 - 7 PM central time.

Is this something that happens all of the time or did it just start since Friday? The solar storms have definitely been causing issues with all of the bands and GMRS since Friday night.

Anything under 2.0 is fine. Even with a SWR of 1.8 on 467.600, I still get great signal reports with the Comet 2x4SR hooked to my Wouxun KG-XS20G radio. The repeater is 21.5 miles away from my house. The SWR is 1.2 at 462.600 and 1.5 or less on the 2m and 70cm bands when using my 20 watt TYT TH-8600. Both radios and antenna are on my SxS.

I wouldn't worry about 1.65 SWR. I run a Comet 2x4SR and the SWR on 462 MHz is 1.2 and 1.7 on 467 MHz. The SWR is also very good for 2m and 70cm. Are you going to use the radio and antenna for 2m and 70cm? If so, then check the SWR for 2m and 70cm before making any changes to the antenna. Also you need to know where the antenna is most resonant before making any changes. This will require using an antenna analyzer.

EMF will affect HF for sure and can affect VHF depending on how strong the electromagnetic field is and distance from the source. I am surrounded on three sides by utility lines in town with two transformers (one south and one north of my property. And the neighbor's above ground service connection is on the fourth side. I haven't noticed any interference on HF, VHF or UHF.

As mentioned, you should be far enough away from the power lines. While high voltage power lines do put out an electromagnetic field, you have to be pretty close before they will cause interference. And they will not affect UHF/GMRS like they affect the HF frequencies. Funny story. I operated a truck mounted machine shop powered by a 25KW PTO driven generator. The generator was not electromangetically suppressed and would jam all comm equipment within 100-150 feet of the truck.

Glad to hear everything is working out for you. And if you keep your repeater setup private/family use only, then you shouldn't have to worry about duty cycle or the radios getting too hot.

@Sshannon we have mentioned that to them. The FRS base station was just talk since the grandson loves radios so much. Grampa is also our club's head VE so I don't see him breaking the rules. Again, gutting a legal FRS radio and putting the guts into a 3D printed body with the antenna permanently attached was just talk. I'm sure Grampa will get the boy licensed as an amateur in the near future.

20m has been in and out all day on SSB and FT8. I did find two guys rag chewing on 17m earlier this afternoon. Other than the one signal on 17m, all of the higher bands have been dead on SSB and FT8. I sat there and listened to the two guys on 17m, one had a good strong signal while the other was pretty weak. That did allow me to fine tune things on my Xiegu G90 though.

Grampa doesn't want to get a GMRS license. And yes we have been trying to talk him into getting his GMRS license. This whole project will probably go nowhere anyway.

And that is why this project hasn't gone beyond talking about it. Yes all involved are aware of the regulations. And this is why it was discussed using a legal FRS radio inside a 3D printed case to make it look like a mobile/base station.

Yes that is an option as is using a regular GMRS mobile programed with CHIRP to keep it set on low power, etc. No one in that family has a GMRS license and they are not interested in getting one. Grampa has been licensed for amateur radio since the 60's and will get his grandson licensed when he gets a little older. I will pass on the information though.

The HF bands are still dead this morning. 20m is the only band with any decent activity right now. So far VHF and UHF has not been affected. Here are a few photos I took last night. I used my iPhone 14 to take the photos. I could not see the green with naked eyes.

One of our club members has been considering how to make a FRS base station for his grandson. We talked about taking the guts of a FRS radio and installing everything in a 3D printed body to keep the antenna permanently attached. His grandson is about 7 years old and loves talking on the radio with his grandpa. As far as assembling an AR. I use nothing but simple hand tool for the lower while sitting at my desk or on the couch. I only use a vice and torque wrench for attaching the barrel and muzzle device on the upper. Otherwise I hand assemble the rest of the upper at my desk too. @Davichko5650 your post made me smile remembering all the gags we would pull on each other when I was in the Army.

I am using the MXTA12 and Melowave mag mounts and I haven't had any issues. The Melowave has been holding my Comet 2x4SR to the expanded metal rack on my SxS without any issues.

I was on 20M FT8 when the aurora popped up over mid Missouri earlier. I could tell when I started getting a lot of noise show up on my WSJT-X waterfall. I stepped outside and got some good photos of the aurora. I haven't noticed much effect on 2m, 70cm, or GMRS tonight. But the HF bands were definitely affected. I did make a few contacts on 6m this evening. Everyones voices sounded digitized and weird.