GreggInFL

Happened to me briefly: https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1713-whats-missing-from-mygmrscom/page/4/#comment-84085

Jack in the Box, hands down. Followed closely by In-and-Out.

And that's why I'm here.

Nevermind. That was fast. Back up and running.

At the moment, a functional map. The page comes up but the repeater sites don't load. You guys stuck in that Crowstrike event?

Good points all, and thanks for getting into the detail. I have connected with a neighbor who has similar interests and we will probably end up working on this together, with a plan similar to what you describe. I love this bar.

LOL. Guess who bought a base station radio today? Love the logic. Thanks.

I hear ya, brother. I'm at the opposite end of the LOS spectrum and am dancing the jig when I get five miles on an HT.

Yes. Tones are filters that filter out everything not on that tone, so if you want to receive everything coming from a repeater just don't set any receive tone and you will filter out nothing.

^ The GM-15 Pro is my everyday hand-out HT. You'll like it.

Good to know. I like that. Thanks.

We are trying to put together a comm solution for the neighborhood to back up cell towers that may go offline. The odds of that happening are low but not zero (especially here in Hurricane Central). Consequently, we don't want to throw a lot of resources at something that may never be used. We only need to go about three miles through the flat woods so, as WRXP381 noted, emphasis is on elevation, which has nothing to do with equipment of course. This means a fairly simple system could be used, like this Midland bundle, which could be set up post hurricane with a 12V battery and a solar panel. Simple and cost effective, but I'd hate to buy it only to learn that more power and/or antenna is needed. Hence the question about renting.

Good points all. I especially like the idea of budgeting better used equipment. Thanks.

Behind Door A are the 10W/5W portables offered by the likes of Retevis and Midland. If these work, great; if not we must open Door B, the full-blown mast/tower 50W versions. We'd hate to buy a portable setup only to discover it to be inadequate wrt power and elevation. Does anyone rent these? TIA.

Welcome!

That's about what I thought. It doesn't matter if the leaves are low or high. Thanks all.

Quick question: Is it all-or-nothing when it comes to clearing tree height? In the case above, is it necessary to get 100'+ for any improvement or would, say, 80' be noticeable?

Nice. What size battery are you using?

I don't know which is worse, hilly areas with trees or flat areas with trees. If you are at the right place on a hill you might get your HT above the trees; that will never happen on the flats.

How about, "Hey Sweet Cheeks!" ?

Repeaters tend to have more range than a handheld because of more power and a larger antenna, but you should able to connect with one from more than a mile away. I'm in a wooded area but I can hit a repeater five miles away with a standard antenna if I'm in the front yard and facing the repeater. That's not because I have a great radio but because the repeater has a great antenna, and because I'm lucky enough to squeeze the signal through a hole in the trees.

Nice work! Thanks for that. I should have mentioned that our interest is in HTs as a backup to cell phones here in Hurricane Central. I knew that the lower frequencies of MURS would be a helpful characteristic, but the lower power would be a negative vis-a-vis GMRS. That's probably the trade off Randy experienced. Ideally we would just hand out HTs in the community and leave it at that. We've tested GMRS HTs successfully at a distance of ~2 miles, but that was purposefully between the two tallest points on site, which isn't going to cut it. Looks like MURS HTs won't work either. A portable repeater put up after the event may be the way to go. We had sustained winds of 120 during Charlie in 2004; add in the gusts and the seldom-mentioned fact that hurricanes spin off tornados and anything resembling an amateur installation is just going to get blown over like everything else. For reference I've attached a photo of the view from my front door. The problem is obvious. Sigh.

Congrats! What kind of radio are you using?

^ And even then there is no guarantee the court would decide any differently than an agency.

Is MURS a good alternative to simplex GMRS in a setting that is flat and chock full of vegetation? Looking to put together something for emergency comms and would love to avoid a repeater. Farthest distance is ~2.7 miles and elevation delta is roughly 50'. I know, I could try it, just wondered if anyone has experience with MURS in this setting. TIA.