WSAA254

Very well said. I never really appreciated the whole line of sight, until I experienced it first hand.

Just repeating what other folks have said. The key will be the antenna, I love the flagpole suggestions, there is lots of possibilities there. initially maybe focus on a base station and the antenna solution. Fortunately gmrs frequencies lend themselves to small antennas. There are "ghost" antennas which are small. I am not in a HOA so I have more flexibility. A attic solution may work, depending on type of roof. There are some ghost antennas which are only 3-4 inches tall, specific for mobile installations, may not be ideal for base station, but its better than nothing. The image below is of the antenna I use. Its primary application if for mobile use, however with the added counterpoise ground solution it works very well for a base station. Since gmrs antennas can be so small, some folks will put the antenna on a roof vent, and if the antenna is only 8-12 inches tall, and it were painted the same color as the roof vent, it would probably be next to "invisible" best of luck, there is a solution

I am using the Compactenna scan-III . Its more of a "general" purpose wide band antenna, but seems to work very well for gmrs. Below are swr results in the 462-467 range, with this same antenna I can get into 2 meters with a swr of around 2 (not great but workable). I think are are other antennas not so "general purpose". Some can more focused on 2 to 3 bands (2 meter/70 cm/gmrs etc)... The third is 420-470 swr results. Its all a tradeoff. best of luck

I think I will pretty much echo what everyone else has been saying. 1. Elevation/line of site is king. see the below chart regarding my own situation. I can hit the repeater with 5 watts at 50 miles, but if it were not for the elevation, there is no way. folks have hit the same repeater with a hand held from this area. 2. Quality coax. I use LMR 400. one end has the pl 259 connector the other has a n type connector into a antenna switch. This is a build your own cable through dx engineering. The shot below shows the antenna connection to the switch. switch can select from gmrs to sdr. 3. SWR, its more important for xmit, but a tuned matching circuit is better than one that is not. Bottom line is you want as much real energy getting to the antenna, or from the antenna during reception. Best of luck, all the information presented here is good stuff.

Just to put the SWR in context, years ago (50+) I had a Heathkit hw-16 I used for novice license work on 80 meters. Crystal controlled etc. I did not have a SWR meter initially, I finally got one, then checking the di-pole antenna, had a SWR of 6:1. I know this is all comparing apples to oranges. I guess at this point my Standing Wave Ratio became Sitting Wave Ratio. When I went and sold the HW-16, (all tube). the guy who bought it had the tubes checked, and the final output tube was a little weak. Guess that reflected energy was not the best thing. From what little I know, if you can stay under 2:1 its good, anything under 1.5:1 is better. Having said that I have seen the smallest things affect SWR. Antenna is one in the list. Excellent input/feedback. All info is good info.. regards

I currently use a compactenna scan-III. Its general purpose, but works well for gmrs.

From what little experience I have had, its like squeezing jello. You can get a really good tight antenna that really works well for a specific freq, but then suffers outside that given frequency. It kind of comes down to where you spend most of your time. if 90% of your time is hitting repeaters, then tuning around 467 is a good thing. Picking a different antenna can make a difference to. A antenna with a "FLATTER" swr response, may not give the highest db, but may give a better overall performance. Its to easy to fall into the "Analysis Paralysis" mode and overthink it. SWR info is good, however little things can affect swr reading by a tenth or so. So SWR numbers can really tell you which way the wind is blowing, but splitting hairs over a 1.2 versus 1.4 is great from academic discussion, but does not mean that much. Its good info... All info is good info. regards.

After reading all the feedback, I would say if 10 folks are saying use XXX meter, then you probably can't go wrong. I use a nanovna h-4 for swr, its overkill, however one thing I have noticed, swr numbers can vary by 2-3% depending on connections, coax type, coax run length, or if you have any antenna switches in the feed line ( I do). I have seen my swr numbers vary by 0.1 depending on the coax type I connected to the nanovna, which hindsite what it is I probably would go with what has been recommened as opposed the nanovna. As long as you have a meter that works in the frequency range required, and you have a few other folks that say Yep this works for me, then your good... Best of luck.. All info is good info... regards. The image attached is swr after a antenna switch and using the same coax that connects to the kg1000.

I should have mentioned antennas, my apologys. I use the compactenna scan-III that is only about 10ft in the air. The response is fairly good from 100mhz and up, HF is not that great, although I can get better response at night. I am sure there are much better antenna setups for HF stuff, but for my purpose this works ok.. I also use the same antenna for GMRS, with very good results. Having an outside antenna makes all the difference in the world, anything you do outside will beat any little antenna they give you for inside application. Best of luck.. all info is good info... regards

I went through some work on deciding between a midland or a wouxun kg-1000 plus. In a way I would have preferred the midland, it was simpler. The kg1000 will do more than I ever needed, however it was more flexible on software interface. I know that technically you don't have to have "software" on a computer to "program" them, but boy it sure makes it easy. The problem for me regarding the midland, it required a windows computer to load firmware updates, While I could have probably/maybe figured this out using bootcamp on the mac, I just went with the wouxun and use CHIRP for programming. The wouxun has worked out very well, but its way more than I need. I would have been happy with the midland if there interface was easier... Hope this helps, good luck.. All info is good info... regards

I am currently using a SDR play with there SDR connect software. I also have a gmrs setup with a switch between the two "radios". It works well. If I am working with the SDR I always go the the freq that the repeater is transmitting (462.***). I have notice between the gmrs receiver and the sdr, that the quality of the reception of the gmrs is better. This makes sense since its a superhet receiver. The big difference if voice quality, and the gmrs radio has less static. On your sdr make sure that the squelch is reasonable, you should see some activity on the waterfall. Also try to play with the sampling rate, this may provide a better resolution. Best of luck, the SDR stuff can be like drinking from a fire hydrant. A lot of time the gmrs is kind of quiet, so see if there is a known network traffic at somepoint. All info is good info... regards

I went with DX-engineering "build your own" cable. If your building alot, then maybe getting the correct tools etc would be worth it. If your just doing 1 or 2 then have it built. You can also pick the type of connector for any given cable. Just my 2 cents, best of luck.

Appreciate the info. I did not tighten them much. I kind of assume they will fall off withing a year, due to sun/elements. Then I will go for cable grip. Current SWR is 1.1-1.4 depending on frequency, so far so good. The coax is a lmr400, so it seems to be robust. Good info appreciate the feedback... All info is good info regards

Base Station: Wouxun kg-1000 plus Software: Chirp on a mac m1 Antenna: Compactenna Scan-III Cable: LMR 400 ultra flex I use a antenna switch to switch from SDR to gmrs. best of luck...

As previously mentioned antenna height and line of site is everything. Extra wattage is nice, but from my experience just does not make a big difference. I can hit a repeater at 50 miles with only 5 watts, however this would NOT be possible if the repeater was not the height it is. Also if your using RG8, the losses at gmrs freq are not trivial. best of luck, all info is good info... regards

I think I will echo what everyone else has pretty much been saying. Quality coax (lmr400) and antenna height. My own personal setup was driven by hi windy conditions here. We can have weeks of 20-30 mph winds. So antenna size was important. Fortunately gmrs frequencys lend themselves to small antennas. I use a compactenna scan - III since I also use the same antenna with a SDR. There are probably better gmrs specific antennas that are less expensive, however I can hit a repeater 50 miles away at 5 watts, but this would not be possible without the elevations involved. Other folks around here have also hit the same repeater with a hand held at 5 watts, this just re-enforces the idea of height being king. My antenna is only about 10ft, and has survived 70 mph winds, the antenna is consistanly hit with 30 mph winds. Hope this helps, best of luck... All info is good info.... regards.. UPDATE: I just added the swr results, this is taken after the antenna switch using the same coax connected to he xmitter.

From what little experience I have had, I do think that 50 watts is probably a waste in most circumstances. As you mention at these gmrs frequencies, line of site and antenna height/ quality coax means a lot. 50 watts may be of some help if your in a lot of trees which may attenuate the signal. I can it a repeater 50 miles away at 5 watts, but its all elevation that lets me do this. I am sure for a repeater setup, you would want 50 watts, but for most base station or mobile 20 watts should cover 90% of what your after. Just my 2 cents. Best of luck

I have been using the compactenna scan-III for gmrs for about 2 months now. My measured swr is 1.1 - 1.4 depending on frequency. I also have a SDR using the same antenna, and use a antenna switch to select which one. I use there ground plane since this is a base station install. I picked the compactenna for the following reasons: 1. size. where I am at its very windy, today its gusting to 40mph, so antenna cross section is important. Fortunately gmrs frequencys translate to small antennas so most any antenna will be small physical size. Mine is a base station, and is only about 10ft off the ground. 2. Flexibility. I also use the antenna for a SDR. So I needed a multi-band antenna. Even at 2 meters the swr is around 1.8. Your LMR selection will probably give better numbers in the gmrs freq. range. 3. I think there are probably better gmrs specific antennas, but if you need multi-band and flexibility, the compactenna is excellent. They are pricey but if your looking for a multi-band approach they are hard to beat. 4. whatever antenna you end up with, don't overlook the coax (I use lmr400). gmrs frequencies can result in losses depending on quality of coax. 5. with my setup I can hit a repeater about 50 miles away with only 5 watts. Having said that I know of people hitting the same repeater on a hand held. Line of site for gmrs is everything. I have included a graph showing my site to the repeater. Elevation is everything. Best of luck..

if you really are line of site, then you should not have a problem hitting the repeater. Elevation is everything. I have attached a elevation chart to the repeater I use. its about 50 miles away, and I can hit it consistantly on 5 watts. i use a general purpose antenna --- compactenna scan III. I also use a sdr with it. I think there are better gmrs purposed antennas. I have a swr of about 1.1 - 1.4 depending on frequency in gmrs. My antenna is only about 10ft in the air. We have really hi winds here so antenna size and height are a concern. At gmrs frequencys I would recommend using a low loss coax (lmr 400).. Best of luck

For what its worth I use a Alpha Delta switch. Its a manual switch, there are a couple of different versions depending on frequency. The version I use is good through 1.3 ghz. Losses are down in the .1 range. There is good isolation between in the switch. They are not cheap, and I got mine through dx engineering. Best of luck ... UPDATE: Just added in picture of switch... good luck

For what its worth I use chirp (as previously mention in posts).. I run chirp on a mac m1, its seemless. Just loaded it connected the radio, it works. From what I have seen on other software implementation windows always comes out first, and the only issue with it is sometimes the drivers. if you get the correct drivers installed chirp should work very well. Anyway thats what I use for the wouxun kg1000 plus. Best of luck.

I have only been in GMRS for about 2 months. I went through a fairly lengthy period of trying to decide on which radio to get for a base station I finally settled on the wouxun kg-1000 plus. It does far more than I need, I also spent some time looking at the midland but settled onthe wouxun for the following reasons: The wouxun will also work well as a mobile radio. 1. firmware for the midland requires a windows machine -- I am on a mac 2. the wouxun had programming software, and CHIRP seems to work very well on my mac m1 and uploading/downloading from the radio. no extra drivers etc required Search for "CHIRP gmrs software" and get to there website. It is open source stuff, so if the software works out, donate a little. 3. while the wouxun does xmit up to 50 watts, I am able to hit a repeater about 50 miles away on only 5 watts. So the 50 watts may help out in some situations, (mobile); but does not need to be a priority from what I have experienced. If your strictly on a base station you will have more flexibility regarding antennas. Don't skimp on antenna, and use a hi quality low loss coax, since at gmrs frequencys coax loss can impact how well your system works. I utilized dx-engineering for coax cables etc. for mobile application, your coax runs will be shorter, but I would still recommend the best coax (flexible install) you can get. With short runs, a little bit of loss you can deal with. Bottom line, is if you go with midland or wouxun I don't think you will be making a mistake. good luck, hope this helps. all info is good info... regards UPDATE: Added in pic of wouxun kg1000 plus, showing the antenna switch from it to the SDR. I use the LMR400 ultra flex coax.