stonecrest

Elevation, altitude, type of antenna, coax length and size should be the most important for receive, As far as linear amplifier, or power as you call it, all the above to transmit. The higher the frequency the more penetration.. Think of a microwave oven on low and high, works exactly the same way. Be careful!!!

For field use or EMCOMM, I would use this setup with two LEIXEN or the LUITON (same radio) UHF 400-470MHz 25Watt Two Way Radios, TX RX cables would be included with the surecom duplex controller and use a Wishring UHF 380-512MHz 30W DUPLEXER (duplexer needs to be tuned!!!!) The Luiton comes with a programming cable . Leixen I use the Baofeng programming cable. Cheapest I seen the radio go for is around $75. Has cooling fan also. you really need to know what you're doing when programming it on the computer , including designating functions. No worse then Yaesu, lol.

I will show you a picture of a 2 meter AM VHF transceiver that was used many years ago. This radio was used for Civil Defense and were stored in fallout shelters throughout the United States. It would be interesting to know what type transceiver is used,for what we now call Homeland Security (aka Civil Defense) or whatever. To work in unison with Ham, GMRS, Police, Fire, TV stations etc., These considerations should be taken into account when deciding how GMRS should communicate. When I read the FCC's new rules, all I saw was interference. There was no mention of working together, and deciding what would be the norm so others may monitor emergency scenarios or communicate. Could you imagine somebody using the radio pictured in this post thinking it would work? Hopefully and safely we would start to prepare for what would be the standard operating procedure and not just worry about interference.

I'm using the Yaesu FTM-400 XDR . Reason is because the digital radio reception is more resistant to interference and eliminates many imperfections of analog radio transmission and reception. There may be some interference to digital radio signals, however, in areas that are distant from a station's transmitter. FM digital radio can provide clear sound comparable in quality to CDs, and AM digital radio can provide sound quality equivalent to that of standard analog FM. APRS and GPS are included with the radio. Although it does give me a headache reading all these instructions. Boggles the mind. After the third factory reset I'm starting to get the hang of it. lol

Go for it. Just learning this one for my Yaesu FTM-400-XDR. Also need some info on the Wires X if any ham is out there with knowledge of this. I'm very new at this one but for starters this is what its about, http://www.ws6transam.org/Echolink_NE8K.pdf

This may be useful and inexpensive to use within your building. If you want a repeater make sure the Surecom is a duplex controller. As for the duplexer the Chinese will tune it free of charge. Very inexpensive.for everything, not thousands of dollars . Elevation of the antenna is the most important issue along with length and make of the coax cable. Duplex controller $80,. Duplexer $80, Two Chinese walkie talkies $50, UHF antenna $50, cable and coax $60. Prices are approximate.

To avoid conflict, try this site to determine what channel to use.http://www.artscipub.com/repeaters/search/index.asp

Since you're into homebrew try this site: http://www.k4vrc.com/homebrew.html

The characteristics of the wire used and environmental conditions present will affect the physical lengths of the radiators needed to achieve the best SWR curve. If you build the antenna, be sure to allow extra radiator length to compensate for wire characteristics and factors such as ground quality and “capacitance” caused by proximity to trees or buildings. The extra wire can be left dangling at the radiator ends and trimmed as needed to achieve the best SWR curve.

===VFO=== Short press P3 to switch between VFO and Memory channel.On the mic you can press the VFO button on the upper right. ===CTCSS=== Short press P5 to cycle though various tone, tone squelch, etc... ===repeater offset=== To turn on or off repeater offset push and hold P4 * push and hold down once - offset frequency. typically this is 1.600 for 1.25 repeaters * push and hold down again - changes + or - offset shift ===program channel=== Select a VFO frequency

Reason some Baofeng radio antennas are defective and a fix video. https://youtu.be/MtnDvWGTKpk

https://www.scribd.com/doc/122353140/GMRS-Frequencies-to-Channels-Chart

Your radio would be set up like this: CH01 462.5625 * CH02 462.5875 * CH03 462.6125 * CH04 462.6375 * CH05 462.6625 * CH06 462.6875 * CH07 462.7125 * CH08 467.5625 CH09 467.5875 CH10 467.6125 CH11 467.6373 CH12 467.6625 CH13 467.8874 CH14 467.7125 15 through 22 use the following frequencies, though channel designators do not follow in order, depending on the model of radio used: 462.5500 462.5750 462.6000 462.6250 462.6500 462.6750 462.7000 462.7250 Please bear in mind, use of any channel *except* channels 7-14 require an FCC GMRS license https://www.scribd.com/doc/122353140/GMRS-Frequencies-to-Channels-Chart​