WSAK388

Power matters, but in my experience it doesn’t matter as much as elevation, line of sight, and other factors. As an anecdote, I can JUST hit my local repeater 33 miles away from my back yard on 20 watts with about a 20’ mast height, but I was barely readable. Turning the power up to 50 watts, I was able to punch through and be heard well. On the other hand, from a slightly different area with a cleaner LoS to the repeater’s location, 20 watts is plenty to have a great conversation. So yes, power matters, but all the power in the world won’t make up as much ground as location and elevation.

I didn’t have this problem. Using the Radioddity software I was able to reprogram DIY 1, 2, and 3 to three local repeaters, just changed the frequencies, put in tones, and edited the channel names. Is the software not allowing you to change the DIY channel frequencies?

$4-$500 for just the radio means pretty much any popular GMRS mobile is in your budget. It might be worth asking what your level of investment is for installation. The DB20-g mentioned above is what I have in my truck, plugs into a cigarette lighter. Get a cup holder mount, a mag mount antenna, figure out coax routing to your radio and you can be stood up in an afternoon. For a 50 watts mobile, you’ll have to do some wiring to the battery. For another antenna other than a mag mount, you’re drilling holes. Budget wouldn’t drive this decision as much as how much work will you do to install it. And that’s all assuming you say mobile and intend to install this in a vehicle. If you want to install this in a home as a base station, budget for a DC power supply, and put aside more money for a mast, coax, and anything else you need to stand up an antenna. Welcome to the rabbit hole.

There’s a couple Facebook groups for Louisiana GMRS users and one for SE Louisiana repeaters specifically. Come make some friends, probably more around than you realize depending on where you are. The New Orleans repeater is on GMRS Live and it pretty active.