kipandlee

Hey Gman1971,
 
If you need to clean up that RF overload issue at your site a bit, I have had great luck at my Ham club's repeater sites with Olds Communication Inc bandpass filters.  We used to have issues at our 444.475 site with overload from the local ambulance paging service (on same tower) running 500 Watts on MED-9 (462.950). An Olds Ham UHF bandpass filter solved the problem.  Likewise at one of our 2-Meter sites, 147.210, we had trouble with a NWS/NOAA station running 1KW on 162.550 that an Olds VHF filter helped out tremendously.
 
I don't have any business interest in this company, and I am not being paid to advertise.  I just use these products, and know they work as promised.
 
https://www.ocicom.com/index.php
 
Click on the "Commercial" tab, and you will get the number to talk to Ralph Olds directly, and you can tell him what bandpass and bandwidth you need.

This is most likely a repeater site ID'ing - while repeaters on GMRS are not required to identify themselves at regular intervals like other radio services, many do this as a courtesy to let other users know that there is an active repeater on that channel/frequency.
 
 
The "travel tone" refers to 141.3 Hz, which is commonly used by GMRS operators on repeaters and/or simplex.  Here are some relevant links that explain in further detail:
 
Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System
Digital Code Squelch (DCS)
CTCSS and DCS Tones -- What's the difference?

Hmmmmmm, if you dont like your neighbor??....................,!!

The heat shrink I got is the stuff with sealer used for underground well lines. The glue is pretty tough. I have used it in the past and it works really well. Made by T&B. Hopefully mine is only up until spring and i start my tower install.

http://coaxseal.com/products/
 
Coax-Seal brand tapes.  The original.  The best.

handy sites / tools for the hobby I like this one also https://www.ve2dbe.com/rmonline_s.asp

I was assuming you had a tower, and wanted the best of the best.  Since you are talking about a simple push-up pole, I will have to agree with Radioguy7268 that the DB404 would be overkill, and might tend to overload the support pole when iced.  The DB404 would survive the ice, but might not survive the fall to the ground when the pole snapped.
 
My next best recommendation for you would be to look into a Comet CA-712EFC for about $150. Much lighter weight. With the money you save on the antenna, and since you are going about 120-150 feet for the coax run, I would take that saved money, and put it into an extremely low-loss coaxial cable such as LDF4-50A Heliax or similar.  If you can save 3dB of loss in your coax cable, you will literally be doubling your power to the antenna.
 
If you do decide to go with the Comet for GMRS, be sure to order the model with the "C" on the end.  The popular CA-712EF is a Ham antenna tuned for 430-450 MHz. The one ending in "EFC" is the commercial version, tuned for 460-470 MHz.

I'll toss in the dissenting opinion. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a DB404 dipole. Proven design with good spec's.
 
It's probably overkill for a home "base antenna". Especially if it's being mounted at the top of a 40 foot unsupported and un-specified "pole".  I'd be concerned about ANY 40 ft. pole for a home antenna. I'm also thinking that a base antenna in GMRS is mostly going to be used to control a distant repeater. If so, the repeater's location and antenna situation is more important than the base radio's antenna.
 
Use any decent 5 or 6 dB gain omni fiberglass antenna, and quality coax, and you'll hit 90% of the repeaters that you'd ever get with a DB404. You'll also save yourself a few trips outside during the ice and snow to see if your 40 foot pole is still standing vertical. You will probably save a few hundred dollars also.

I have use this site with really some good accuracy.
 
You put in your location, antenna height, for the base state, and then use a height of four foot to check your range. 

The following is a line of sight calculator for both VHF/UHF. This will not allow you to calculate around hills, metal and thick vegetation. But if you’re wondering how far you can talk. One important factor that is missing is wattage of each.
 
https://www.easycalculation.com/physics/electromagnetism/vhf-uhf-distance.php

I have one of these units but I haven't had the chance to throw them on the service monitor yet. Danny from BuyTwoWayRadios said they selected this model because it wasn't a radio-on-a-chip design, so the performance should be better than a lot of the CCR's. I haven't been able to independently verify that yet.
 
The radio does work, I programmed it for a repeater a couple miles away and I was able to talk between my Kenwood NX-5300 and this radio side-by-side via the repeater. So even with the obvious desense, they still worked. That's about the extent of my testing aside from scanning around the FRS/GMRS frequencies to see what else I pick up (which isn't much as this area is very quiet now).
 
myGMRS is also selling these on our shop, and we're working on reseller arrangements with several big names that are in the final stages. The goal is to have a GMRS-friendly shop where you can find type-accepted equipment and some non-GMRS equipment as well, like Part 90 and Amateur equipment. But if you're new to GMRS and have no idea what equipment you can buy, we'll have a clearly-marked GMRS section so you can buy something legal without worry.

Honestly, it's just enabled that way by default. It wasn't a conscious decision. It's probably for the best, like berkinet said. Someone will go crazy and like every single thing one day and just get annoying. 

I can confirm the   Maxton Data cables work well mine has the prolific chipset the link that berkinet provided is what is needed for those cables 

I think you wanted to say: no drivers are installed If that is the case, you can find the drivers on Maxton's web site.Once you have the drivers installed you should be able to edit the device in the Device Manager and select the appropriate COM port. You would need to set it to 1 or 2, and then make the corollary change in the programming software.
 
OTOH, maybe you do not actually have a Maxton cable. The 2 most common USB chip sets are FTDI and Prolific. FTDI drivers are available from their web site. Prolific drivers are also available, but because that chipset is commonly forged, the Prolific drivers may not actually work if your cable uses forged chips.
 
You can determine the actual chip set in use through the Device Manager. What you want to look for are the Vendor ID and Product ID. They will probably be shown as 2 digit hex numbers. Like a9ac. For more information and specific instructions for Windows, see this web page.

Few if any uhf radios go all the way to the 50 watt level. That's fine though, as there is no discernible difference between 40 watts and 50 watts.
 
I strongly recommend that you avoid those Midland radios. They are nothing but rebranded Chinese radios with a hugely inflated price tag, and their performance is subpar. A real commercial radio in the standard 25 watt power level will outperform it, and the commercial radios are also available in a 40 or 45 watt version. Best of all, you can buy two or three good condition commercial radios plus programming cable and software for the price of one Midland MXT400.
Or, skip the programming and buy your commercial radios from a seller who will program them with the frequencies you need.

Welcome to the forum

I just noticed a banner ad (Look Up) from buytwowayradios.com for a newly certified GMRS radio from Wouxun.   I wrote newly certified since the radio was actually first certified for Part90 in 2012 and has now been certified for Part95.  There is a lot more information on this Reddit thread.

I can sign under this. I use GMRS on the trails and on camping trips. Our family outings are safer and more entertaining because of the use of GMRS radio.
 
Thinking about "doing radio" as a hobby? Get a HAM ticket, get a part 95 or part 90 UHF radio that can also work on HAM bands. TK-880-1 (part 95) works just fine on 70cm, I'm sure other Kenwoods and Motorolas do too. There are (were?) a dual-band Part 90 Alinco mobiles out there.

I can't stress this enough... Radio is not something to do (generally speaking).  Radio is a tool you integrate into other aspects of your life to either make those other activities easier, more entertaining or safer.  If you are buying a radio as a source of entertainment, you are likely going to be very disappointed unless you're a ham and can find people to chat with around the world.
 
As far as picking a base or a mobile, there are some serious restraints for UHF (GMRS/FRS/70cm Ham/etc.).  One is, its a line-of-sight application.  If you don't have an antenna that is at least 50 feet higher than the terrain around you... your not talking very far.  100+ would be better.  Trees, buildings, hills, etc all cause interference.  At ground level, you will get to the horizon line, which is about 3 or 4 miles depending on how tall you are (and what's between you and the other station).  As you get higher in elevation, the better your coverage will be. If you're mobile, you can drive to an area where you can get better performance.
 
Some examples would be, at 1200 feet I got a solid 50 miles on GMRS mobile with 40 watts, mobile to mobile.  At the same elevation I can also talk to a repeater in northern Virginia with an antenna at ~980 feet, while I am in central Pennsylvania with my 40 watt mobile.  Same 40 watt GMRS mobile, but on the blind side of a commercial building, I experience high static mobile to mobile.  Normally I can only talk about 2.5 to 5 miles car to car. 
 
Just some food for thought.  I love GMRS and really enjoy having radio comms as part of my life.  I wouldn't discourage anyone from getting into the hobby.  You just need to be realistic about expectations.

Ok,  this information somehow got ignored. So...
#1, it probably isn't anyone currently active on this forum that you are hearing, otherwise they might have responded here by now.
 
#2, There is only 1 repeater near you in the MyGMRS database that is listed as being on 462/7.725. That repeater is/was located in Monterey Hills and belongs (or belonged) to a local CERT group. It was listed as members only with no access information. Also, that listing is marked as being out-of-date.  There is a repeater on .725 in Crestline, but I am not sure if you could het that.
 
Of course, there are plenty of repeaters that are (unfortunately) not listed in the database. So, it could be the CERT group you are hearing, or someone else.
 
You might want to look at the map and browse the database to see what might be near you and accessible.

I thought max legal was 50W? could it be, perhaps, a super high gain antenna? I mean, with 50W and a 9+ dB antenna on a mountain top you'll get pretty darn far... 
 
G.

For $200, I'd like to at least have a basic control head, whether it's a detachable head that mounts to the radio or a handheld control head. It's a brick without a working software environment.

Yep sealant lined tubing is all I buy these days, I still have a lot of the old stuff, I use when appropriate. Definitely check E-bay, several sellers with assortments and or bulk discounts if your stocking up.

have repaired a few antennas using heat shrink tubing worked great and cheap

For $75 I’d buy one just for fun. But, at ~$200 I would make sure it is returnable. Also, it appears they saved money by not hiring a translator.