SvenMarbles

Is that the case? You can operate a constant broadcast on FRS?

Just don't even worry about it. It's not really the issue I'm bringing forth in this post. The point is that there's an interfering signal parked right onto a GMRS channel.

It's exactly what I wish I had. I can't really swing that purchase. I'd love to just borrow one for a day! Or task someone who might own one local to me with the challenge..

That’s got to be what it is… Thanks! So if I key up on the correct DCS tone, maybe I can come through the intercom and make noises that might convince them to disconnect it

Truthfully it was cold out and my hand was getting frozen holding up the Yagi on a stick thing I have lol. I did like 5 points and gave up. I use a little 4 element LMR band yagi and a Alinco DJ-X11 handheld. All mode wideband receiver with an S meter and attenuator levels…

I spent a little bit of time shooting azimuths with a yagi and have a general idea the region that it’s in, but I was never able to get on all sides of it to converge everything.

I’m aware… I’ve got over 300 people in my city with radios programmed for this channel. Most of them not at all familiar with how to do much with the radio beside switch them on and key to talk. We’re set up to use channel 22 and to pivot from that would be a hair pulling mess. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make anyway… This thing isn’t supposed to be operating in the way that it is.

This has been transmitting for weeks.

We use this frequency for something important.

This has been continuously transmitting for weeks…

I noticed weeks ago that there was some sort of constantly transmitting signal interfering on GMRS channel 22 (462.725). I spent the better part of a couple of days driving around direction finding. I can hear this signal for MILES. Tonight I noticed it again, but this time I can actually hear FM audio and it sounds like ambient sounds inside of a person's home. A childrens cartoon is clearly audible and occasional sounds of kids. When you switch to USB, you can hear some sort of data. Ok so baby monitor? But,... for miles? And why is it on 462.725mhz? Is someone doing some shady surveillance on someone and I've come across their listening device? What do you guys make of this...

I'll vouch for the Retevis 40 watter. The RA87. I use that at home on the Comet GP9NC. Beast..

I'd have a look at the Comet CA-GMRS Comet is a reputable brand, not terribly expensive, and not super high gain.

Info for that antenna shows it being a little bit out of spec for GMRS. 450-460.

My mistake.. Menu 11 for CTCSS output.

It's where 90% of people go wrong. The coax type is no trivial thing at UHF frequencies. The losses are alarming. Most people don't understand that MOST of the power is lost through a 50ft run of RG58 type coax. All of these people buying 50 watt radios just to warm up some coax lol...

It's a cross tone repeater, so use the menu 12 for input 116N, and menu 13 for 103.5hz output. save.. should work.

When you're looking at a radiation pattern diagram, it's usually represented as a sliced side-view. Everything that you're seeing as a lobe is actually meant to be conceptualized as a 360 degree pattern. What it's showing is precisely the take off angles. Usually there's come little packing slip in most good antennas like Comet or Diamond with an illustration of some kind of the radiation pattern.

I wish I could be standing in the area that you're trying to set up, because every terrain circumstance has it's own unique optimal scenario. If you have general line of sight, but varied elevations of desired contact, and are trying to remain in solid contact of simplex hikers around the trails around you, I'd stay at about a 6db antenna for your base. Think of gain in terms of 0 gain being an apple shape, 3db a bit more squashed than an apple, 6db being about a donut, and increments ascending resulting in a frisbee shape. Roughly.. This isn't exactly scientific, but just a sort of way to conceptualize what you're doing with gain. So with that being said, if you're doing a lot of local communicating but at sharply variable elevations, you might want the lower gain options to have the more vertical take off angles.

Power is probably the most over emphasized part of VHF or UHF radio comms. There isn't much practical difference between say 20 and 50 watts assuming that the coax feeds and antennas were the same. VHF and UHF being mainly line of sight bands, terrain becomes your limiting factor long before power does. 50 or 500 watts will not defeat the mound of terrain between you and the receiving station. Only getting your antenna physically higher will. But once you've accomplished getting your antenna up into the clear, again, it doesn't matter if you're running 20 or 50 watts. It'll get out and sound essentially the same. Heck, even 5 watts if you're getting it through your coax feed enough to have a reasonable amount of it left to squirt out of the antenna. Consider this. Voyager, that is now hurdling through interstellar space, is equipped with a 33 watt radio. And is currently still in touch with Earth. When you conceptualize that an antenna in the clear, is an antenna in the clear, you'll understand that it doesn't even matter if you're running a 15 watt GMRS radio or a 50 watt one. I see a lot of people wasting a lot of money and energy buying 50 watt GMRS radios and dealing with the hardwire install needed for the amp draw needed to run it at 50 watts. It's largely a waste.. Concentrate on your antenna, geography, and coax. The actual radio part of radios (generally speaking) are interchangable appliances. The science of success in radio is entirely done at the antenna level..

Could be..

I purchased my first Tidradio TD-H8 nearly a year ago and have loved it for a GMRS radio. Set it to unlocked, and ran the power tune tool with 255’s in the high power setting. It would produce 8-10 watts on GMRS frequencies. Well I bought a brand new one and it arrived today. Same firmware. Uploaded the identical power tune file as the first, and same Chirp memory file. It should perform exactly like the first one. But,.. it doesn’t. Something is different about this example of the radio. GMRS peaks at 4 watts when set up precisely the same as the first.. Disappointed.. So just a warning to anyone who liked this radio for the same reasons I did. It may no longer be the same radio…

Completely separate from my radio tinkering, I’ve also lately gotten into playing around with small solar setups. In doing so it lead me to trying running my radio from it (obviously lol). Well it works great! I’ve got a 30Ah LifePO4 battery wired to a small solar setup, as well as a standard pug in charger/maintainer box wired in as well in case solar just isn’t available. All neatly packed into a box on the floor under my desk. Eliminating the solar component entirely, this battery and charger would seem to me as a great solution to completely replace power supply boxes. The cost is comparable if not cheaper. And it then allows for you to have a margin of backup power on your radio where a power supply box would simply be dead should the mains power become unavailable. Should people be exploring this option instead of power supply boxes altogether?

Well I won’t tell you to do anything you don’t feel good about doing, but GMRS being used on all varieties of radios is pretty ubiquitous. People love their Motorola LMR radios, also not type certified..

I just got one the other day. I typed the mars code in and put it on the meters to see what it does at GMRS. Full 5.5 watts! And still clean. Seems like a very viable radio for someone who wants something very small and of good build quality..