WRYZ926

I have a couple of Nagoya 771 antennas. I have them for my dual band and GMRS radios. They make a slight improvement when used with my Baofeng hand held radios. I don't feel like the improvement is worth the cost or having to deal with the longer antenna. The Nagoya antennas were no better or even worse than the stock rubber duck antennas on my Icom, Explorer QRZ1, and Wouxun hand held radios. I don't have any experience with the Smiley or Signal Stick antennas.

The TYT TH-8600 and Anytone AT-788UV are both amateur band radios which are not Part 95 certified for use with GMRS. That being said, yes they work quite well on GMRS when opened up. If you are wanting to stay with a Part 95 certified radio then I will suggest the DB20G or Wouxun KG-XS20G. If you aren't worried about Part 95 then the TH-8600 and AT-778UV are good choices once they are unlocked. PS: No need to argue about using Part 95 certified radios versus using unlocked amateur band radios. That horse has been beaten until pulverized into ground meat.

I am going to suggest a Bridgecom repeater if buying brand new. Or look for a used Motorola repeater that can be programed/setup for GMRS. For the best results, you are also going to want to use a separate/external duplexer versus the small duplexers that are built into repeaters. Our club is using Motorola repeaters for 2m and 70cm and a Bridgecom for our GMRS repeater. We use external duplexers on all of our repeaters. I know there are the portable repeaters from Retevis and Midland, those are fine for temporary use or only covering a small area since they are low power. I would also stay away from the BTech GMRS repeaters until they work all of the bugs out. Bridgecom has sales all of the time and their sales prices are lower than what the BTech repeater costs. A few of us tested the Bridgecom repeater out for about 2 months before opening it up to the public. We put it through its paces and tested the duty cycle. The Bridgecom passed and is working well for us.

I have to agree that using a dedicated repeater with a quality duplexer is the way to go. Our club is using a Bridgecom repeater setup for GMRS and we went with a separate duplexer that one of our members tuned using the proper equipment. Mobile radios just can't handle the high duty cycle like a repeater can. Plus here is the defense issues with having antennas and radios close together. Using a cheap duplexer and cheap/wrong type of coax cable will make the problem worse. @OffRoaderX tried using two Wouxun KG-1000G radios and he went to a dedicated repeater since he was having issues when using two mobile radios. He can definitely give you insight on this.

A friend has the KG-UV9GX and the KG-Q10G. I have the KG-Q10H. I have used/compared the UV9 series with the Q10H/G models. Nothing wrong with the UV9 series radios but I do prefer the Q10H/G radios for the same reasons that @JBRPong stated. You won't go wrong with either. And I can say that all of the Wouxun hand held radios I own or have used are better than any of the Baofeng radios I own or have used.

The XS20G is an excellent radio that I am sure you will enjoy. It is pretty simple to program through the radio itself.

My club is setting up our emergency coms trailer in a local park for this weekend.

I just tested the 2x4SR versus the SBB1 on the Melowave magnet mount. Granted the SWR will be a little higher since I tested with the SxS parked inside the garage. The 2X4SR was 1.8 at 467.600 and below 1.5 on 462.600. It was 1.6 or below on 2m and 70cm. The SBB1 was at 1.8 at 467.600 and at 2.5 at 462.600. I then put the SBB1 back on my Ford Escape. Inside the garage, SWR was 1.7 or lower on 2m and 70cm. On 467.600 it was 2.2 and on 462.600 it was 2.8. Again the low ceiling along with the metal garage door tracks and garage door opener being close to both antennas will affect the SWR readings and make them higher. I then pulled the Escape out of the garage so that there was nothing close to the antenna. This was using the Midland MXTA12 magnet mount. SWR was 1.6 or below on 2m and 70cm. SWR at 467.600 was at 1.6 and at 462.600 it was 2.2 I can say with my non scientific experiment that the Melowave magnet mount works better than the Midland magnet mount. Both mounts are 3.5 inches in diameter but the Melowave is not as tall. I used my Rig Expert Stick Pro analyzer for testing. For the OP, the 2x4SR antenna will work fine for 2m, 70cm, and GMRS. PS: I tested both antennas with the Melowave mount on the expanded metal rack and also on top of the aluminum tool box (with steel plate attached). The SWR did improve with both antennas on top of the tool box. There was not a big improvement with the 2x4SR. The SBB1 had more improvement on top of the tool box. With the SBB1 mounted lower on the rack, the SWR at 462.600 was at 2.8 and at 467.600 it was 2.3.

I was wrong and corrected my earlier post. I was thinking off the KG935G and KG-Q10H software. The KG-1000G/G Plus software does not allow one to change the A-D buttons. That can be easily done through the radio itself.

No idea on that one. I have my SBB1 NMO mounted in the center of the roof on my 2023 Ford Escape using a Midland MXTA12 magnet mount. The Comet 2x4SR is using a Melowave magnet mount which is on the expanded metal rack on my SxS. I'll swap the antennas around to see if the mag mounts make any difference.

@marcspaz you did get good results with your Comet SBB1. I have a SBB1 NMO and the SWR on 462 and 467 are over 2.0 while 2m and 70cm are under 1.5

I have been keeping up with this thread and also just watched the video. I don't know what to make of that email. I personally would want to see the entire email to include the address that it came from. As stated, the federal govt. will give a "verbal" warning in person and not through an email. And All of the written warning that I have ever seen have been via regular mail using an official letter head. I willl wait for more information before passing judgement one way or another.

All good advice given by others. Definitely go with 6 gauge wire for grounding the mast/tower. I do run 10 gauge from my lightning arrestors to ground, but that is such short run. I made my own wall passthrough which has a piece of 1/4" all thread for a grounding point. All of my lightning arrestors are attached to it with 10 gauge wire and I have a single 6 gauge wire going from the all thread to my ground rod.

The KG1000G Plus CPS works for both versions of the radio.

I'm not 100% sure but @OffRoaderX might have done that.

The Wouxun software is pretty good and easy to use as long as you are running Windows. I have two Wouxun cables, one for their mobile radios with a RJ45 connector and one K1 for their hand held radios. I use the Wouxun software that you can download for free from Buy Two way Radios.

The Chatty Cathy's and the quick keyer's can be an issue at times for others wanting to use a repeater. This happens a bit on our repeater which is not normally linked to any other repeaters. We have an Allstar node but it is more for people to connect using apps on their phones when out of range. I can always tell the quick keyer's on the Bridgecom GMRS repeater because you never hear the first part of their transmissions. I don't know if there is a setting on the repeater, but one has to key up for a second before starting to talk. Those quick keyer's are use to the 2m repeater which is not that way.

I have used 1 5/8" fence post couplers without any issues. I do have my masts secured to the side of the house and/or guyed well with dakron guy rope. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BCFTBL4H?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1 I use 16 stainless steel zip screws to hold the coupler onto two fence posts. This has held up just fine for me even with heavy winds. These couplers also fit most j pole (satellite dish) mounts too. I used two 8 foot lengths and a 6 foot length of 1 5/8" fence posts with couplers for my dual band antenna mast. I do have the mast securely attached to the side of the house with three clamps and it is also guyed at the top with dakron guy rope. Here is my 6 band cobweb antenna mounted to a j mount with an 8 foot 1 5/8" fence post.

I just remembered that I checked the SWR with the SxS parked inside the garage. I am sure the metal garage doors and metal door tracks affected the SWR reading. SWR on the GMRS repeaters was no higher than 1.8 for 467 MHz while the SWR for 462 MHz, 2m and 70cm was all around 1.2 to 1.4. Ys it is. I ended up getting the spring base for my 2x4SR. https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-ca-spr The spring did not effect the SWR readings.

The 2x4SR is an excellent antenna and works very well on 2m, 70cm, and GMRS. I run one on my Honda Pioneer 500 SxS along with a 20 watt radio. The highest SWR reading on the three bands is 1.8 which is good to go. I am using the Midland magnet mount with the antenna on an expanded metal rack.

I did put one or two clamp of ferrite beads on all of my antennas (right at the base) to help with RFI. But I am running a CA-712EFC for GMRS, a Comet GP9 dual band and three different types of HF antennas. The antennas are between 25 and 50 foot apart. Now if the CA-712EFC is your only antenna then I would not worry about any type of choke since they are tuned and you are using good coax. The loop showing the instructions is more for ease of maintenance and also a little stress relief on the antenna coax connector. The loop allows you to pull the antenna out of its mounting pipe if you ever need to remove the coax for any reason without having to cut any cable ties along the mast/tower. I generally put one loop at the bottom of each antenna for this reason. Now I do have several wraps of coax along with clamp on ferrite beads on my HF antennas to help keep RF out of the shack or from interfering with my VHF/UHF/GMRS antenna coax cables since they are very close to each other where they enter my house.

This is very true. I live 21.5 miles away from our repeater sight. The 2m and 70cm repeater antennas are at 900 feet while the GMRS repeater antennas are at 400 feet. It is very hit or miss if I can get into the 70cm and GMRS repeaters from my house using an HT with rubber duck antenna. Yet I can use my two mobile radios on low power with a Comet 2x4SR antenna or my base station on low with the Comet CA-712EFC (mounted on the house roof) and get into the repeaters every time. Both the Wouxun KG-1000G and KG-XS20G are around 5 watts on low power. It is the same with trying to get into the 70cm repeater as it is with the GMRS repeater. What makes a difference is the height of the antennas on my vehicles and home versus a rubber duck antenna. Now there is a bit of static when using the mobile/base radios on low power but I am still able to understand others and they can hear me clearly. Bumping up to medium or high power clears up the static. Any antenna with at least 6 dBi (4dBm) of gain or higher will definitely help overcome any cable loss. Just make sure you are using the correct coax for UHF frequencies such as LMR400 or equivalent. G8 and RG8X are best suited for HF frequencies and have more loss on VHF and UHF frequencies.

Here is how to unlock the KG-Q10H: How to unlock Wouxun KG-Q10H This unlock will not work with the KG-Q10G that I know of. The Q10G firmware, like most GMRS certified radios, is locked down. I won't get into whether one should or should not unlock their radios to transmit out of band. That is a personal decision and that horse has been beat to death.

Another thing is how the system is when listing open repeaters on this website. I listened ours as open and I still occasionally get requests from people to use it. I usually always grant permission as long as they have a valid GMRS license.

We have discussed this many times on the forum. Getting a range of 200 miles is very unrealistic for most people. 30 to 50 miles is more realistic depending on what part of the country you live in and what the terrain, forested areas and structures are like near you. That being said, the Comet CA-712EFC is an excellent GMRS antenna. I get about a 25 mile range on simplex here in Mid Missouri with our rolling hills and forested areas. The base of my antenna is about 20 foot above the ground. Also remember that the best antenna in the world won't do any good if you are using the wrong type and/or low quality coax cable. And try to get the antenna as high as you can get it.