WSBV579

Alright, if I can figure out how to lengthen it...like loosen a set screw or something...then I'll see if I can improve it. If not, I'll just leave it as it. Appreciate the help.

Thanks! That's the kind of answer I was looking for...rather than "jUsT bUy a nEw aNtEnnA!" I appreciate the explanation.

Well, my disposable budget has been eaten up by other unexpected obligations this month, and with the hobby getting rather expensive, I told my wife that I'd wait to upgrade anything else until later next year...other than the cheap extension I'm adding to the mast. So, a different antenna is out of the question at the point, which is why I'm trying to make the best of what I have available. I'll add the extension and see what I think after that I guess.

First off, I'm still learning about radios and such. Basically all the repeaters in my area are south of me. I can hit one kinda reliably at over 30 miles, but I noticed the other day that I was hearing another that about 45 miles away that I can't normally hear...I assume the weather conditions were good that day. Anyway, if I tilt my Tram 1477 antenna slightly south, rather than straight vertical, will that help my reach? I'm adding an extension onto my mast next week, so I could force a tilt then if it makes a difference. If it won't make a difference, than I won't bother trying to tilt it.

Going to 470 MHz, the swr got even better. So I assume I would need to lengthen to make my ch19 better. I'm taking the antenna down on Monday to add a 10ft extension, I'll look and see if lengthening is an option. As it sits, is 2.18 on ch19 and 1.50 on repeater channels acceptable? If so, I may not even bother tuning any further.

I've got a Nagoya UT-72 dual band antenna on my Jeep. I've just cut it down to tune for GMRS. I've got Ch19 (my main simplex channel) from 1.75 swr down to 1.42. I did get it to 1.19, trimmed a touch more to improve repeater channels, and ch19 went up to 1.42...so I assume I'm done cutting at that point. That leaves the repeater channels around 1.98...it was 3.10 before I started trimming, yikes! First question...are those acceptable ranges, 1.42 simplex, 1.98 repeater? Second question concerns my base antenna. I've got a Tram 1477, pre-tuned dual band. I checked the swr on ch19 and it's at 2.18. and repeater channels are around 1.50. Are those acceptable ranges, or should I try to figure out how to tune it...and if so, do I trim or lengthen? Last question. Other than trimming/lengthening the antenna, is there anything else I can do to improve my swr?

I'm using a 50ft run of KMR400. I've got about 10 feet coiled, which is part of the reason why I was considering adding to my mast. I'm still fairly new to GMRS, and don't have to fun money to buy a new antenna right now...also, I just recently got the Tram, and the wife wouldn't be happy if I got another antenna. But, I've got some Comets on my wish list for the future.

I'm on a 25w Btech amateur radio, with a Tram 1477 antenna. I'm at 945ft in a hilly area, with immediate (2 mile radius) surrounding elevations varying from 900ft to 1100ish feet. It's odd, because going east I can get close to 15 miles on simplex clearly, but going south, I can't even hit parts of town 3 miles away...but past that is the repeater I can hit. North I get about 9 miles clearly. West around 15 miles...but I could probably get further since it's pretty flat out that way, I just didn't try it past 15.

I've got a 6ft steel fence post that I could add onto my telescopic 20ft antenna mast...it would basically add 5ft to the height, taking the top of the antenna from 23.5ft to 28.5ft. Would adding 5ft even be worth it? I could spend $25 on a 10ft steel post, but I figured since I already have a 6ft section laying around, I should try that first. But would it really make much of a difference at all? For reference, I can hit a repeater about 30 miles out, and simplex clearly out to about 12 miles and I start to get a bit of static after that, with no reception at all at about 18 miles. Compared to the area I'm in, my antenna is in a bit of a low spot.

Still new and learning. Noticed during a scan of GMRS channels today, I could hear the same conversation on channel 4 as on channel 18. I assume it's an FRS radio, since I can hear the typical chirpy roger beep that they usual have. I know FRS and GMRS share the same channels, but is it common to hear other channel's traffic on non-matching channels (hearing FRS 4 traffic on GMRS 18, for example)?

Probably an easy question... I was chatting on the local repeater, which I have trouble hitting in the evening hours (cloud cover, TV or LED interference, more "calorically challenged" people at home in the evenings, who knows), and I asked how well my signal was coming in. The response I got was "you're coming in at about a 3 by 5 or 4 by 5, I can hear you pretty well." I'm just assuming that "3 by 5" and "4 by 5" means my transmission strength was around 35% to 45% on their end. Is my understanding of that lingo correct? I'm still learning the GMRS vernacular.

I'm still learning all the sciency stuff about how weather and such effect radio waves...but last night it was an overcast evening and I was able to hit the repeater just fine. So, some cloud cover helps. Either way, I'm learning, and that's what matters most to me.

There's about 8 miles worth of city (homes, businesses, traffic lights, trees, hills, no buildings taller than 50ft)...than another 20-ish miles of farmland and rural country towns. Driving up the road from my house to use my mobile avoids A LOT of the city through direct line of sight...and it's probably another 25ft higher than my house and in an open area. I guess having more people at their homes in the evenings with LEDs and TVs on could be causing that interference.

Yeah, my HT can't hit this repeater. My base is a Btech UV-25x2 with a Tram 1477 on a 20ft mast. My mobile is an Anysecu WP-9900 with a Nagoya UT-72. I tend to have the same issue with both radios in the evening hours... starting around 8pm. But, if I drive a bit up the road from my house, suddenly everything works fine on my mobile. And tested simplex tonight, just to be sure my radios aren't the issue, and my mobile to my base was clear out to 6 miles. I'm leaning toward it being "something sciency" between me and the repeater. Some atmospheric something or other.

Doubt it's street lamp. Not familiar enough with Tropospheric Ducting to be able to give an opinion there. Fog/Cloud cover...maybe. Not solar powered. Heard a conversation tonight from someone about as far away as I am. I could hear them...but they couldn't hear me. I did take my mobile 20watt out a half mile down the road and could get through though.

I'll preface this with, I'm new to GMRS. I can communicate with others on a repeater, that's 28 miles away, during the day: loud and clear, maybe a bit of static but not bad at all. At night though, sometimes they can hear me but I CAN'T hear them...OR...they can't hear me but I CAN hear them. Does this have something to do with the time of day? I know the repeater is quite a distance away, but it seems odd that during the day everything works just fine, but then at night it does this.

Both. But I guess an added piece of info, on my base radio I always hear the tail squelch...my mobile radio is the one that this question concerns. If the squelch on my radio is too high, will that block the tail squelch from being heard?

On a local repeater, sometimes when I transmit, at the end of transmission and I release the PTT, I hear the tail squelch...and sometimes I don't hear it. When I don't hear it, I still know I'm being received on the other end as I'm still being engaged in conversation. Why do I only sometimes hear the repeater tail squelch? I'd rather always hear it so that I know the repeater is receiving my transmission.

Thanks for explaining it like that. The "must use" vs "may use" is what was confusing me before. You're explanation made it very clear. I appreciate the explanation!

Ok, so if the myGMRS shows both the input and output with a tone for this repeater, should I use both the tones for Tx and Rx?

Ok, that makes sense. So, if I leave the Rx tone OFF, I'll hear simplex traffic from ch20 AND traffic from the repeater...whereas, if I turn ON the Rx tone, I'll only hear repeater traffic. Frankly, I don't mind hearing the ID, it's just a good audio reminder to me that I left my radio on. Thanks for the explanation. That made my understanding of tones a lot clearer.

I'm newly licensed and found a repeater in my area that I can hit on repeater ch20. Made my first couple of contacts and everything was loud and clear. It had occurred to me today that I've not ever heard the Morse code identifier for this repeater...or any identifier for that matter. I switched over to the regular ch20, and about 30mins later I hear Morse code. I assume that's the repeater I'd been using. I have both the Tx tone set to 156.7Hz, as well as the Rx tone set to 156.7Hz (myGMRS shows the "Input Tone: 156.7Hz, Output Tone: 156.7Hz"). Was I supposed to leave the Rx tone at "off"? And if I do, will that effect being able to receive other's transmissions? The tones still confuse me a bit.