LeoG

It'd be nice to have such a flat area. I'm in a river valley with mountains on either side. North and south you can get many "fars" but east and west are limited to about 5 miles max before the signal is blocked by rising ground. And even in between the larger mountains are tall hills that will cut off different areas from reception.

Abbree AR 805S GMRS I bought this because it was $8.00. Figured I'd try it out. My BIL uses the TD H3 for inter-building communication when he is running cables for internet/phone/etc in large buildings. I figured this might be a good antenna for him because it's very small and looks pretty rugged. After I got it onto my H3 1st thing I did of course was to key up my local repeaters. From inside my house I was able to connect to one 7 miles away and another 17 miles away. No conversations as I know from inside my house my 771G antennas struggle for voice communication from inside. I was already surprised by this antenna. I didn't expect them to connect from inside my house. Next test was to connect to the repeater 21 miles away. Even my 771G antenna can't connect from inside my house. So I took a walk outside and did a radio check. Got a response and was told I was making the repeater. I explained I was testing a new antenna while I was walking about and he said I was going in and out of the repeater. So I stood still and repeated my message. So at 21 miles away using a 4 watt H3 I could connect although it didn't seem to be a great connection. But never the less I was able to communicate although maybe no what you would consider reliably. But this was never the intention of me getting this antenna. I never thought it would do distance like it has. Next, try to connect to my own RT97S repeater. This is already tough to do because my repeater antenna is below the tree line and doesn't really get to the vicinity of my house. I walked up to the top of the hill because I live half way down. I tried with the 805S and it did not connect. Again I tried with no such luck. I used the Smiley Rubber Duck and that one didn't connect. I tried with the Nagoya 771G and was able to connect. I walked one block over and this is more a direct line of sight, but still with a hill in the way. I was able to only connect with the 771G. I did the same thing later that night and was able to connect with the Smiley and the 771G but not the stubby antenna. So my conclusion is the antenna has limited range although I was able to connect to all 3 repeaters in my area. Even though I didn't do any voice tests on two of them I am confident it would be satisfactory for both since I was able to connect to the farther repeater with voice. I need to buy a 2nd one and do some simplex testing. I expect to be able to connect to about 1/2 mile clearly and maybe up to a mile without much quieting. Still kind of impressed with the stubby antenna. It's only 2" tall and I didn't expect it to do well at all. For close in communications this makes a tiny H3 even more because you don't need an antenna sticking up. With the antenna on the radio from bottom to tip of antenna is only 5.75". I did not do an SWR test because I don't have the adapters, so that's something that needs to be looked into.

I get over 48 hours on time with a good amount of receiving and light transmitting in the wake hours. I think it's great to get a full day out of them no matter what you do.

I have an interesting situation where I can take advantage of stratospheric ducting when it aligns correctly. I'm in the upper section of CT and when the ducting happens I can communicate with a repeater on LI NY but I have a 700+ foot mountain in the way. I can hit the repeater using 25 watts and 5 watts. The repeater by way of crow is 67 miles away. I have no idea what path the signal actually takes but I'm sure it's longer than 67 miles line of site. So power really doesn't matter when you have a clear path. It's only when you have to punch through obstacles that you might need more power.

They all sound crappy on my analog FM receiver....

Seems late night is a better time to connect. I was able to connect on low power, 5W out of the radio with an effective power out of 10-11W off the antenna Apparently this just mesmerizes me.

Got it this morning also. But right at the bottom. Had to put my squelch on 1 for it to break through. Thought I put this up already.

Looks like right now is a good time to try.

Looks like Sat 8am will be the next good time to try.

Well last night late I was able to hit the repeater. Signal was pretty weak whereas when I heard it the 1st time it was pretty good. About 50% on the signal meter with OK quieting. Definitely need atmospheric conditions to be right to make the connection. Still don't know how I get around that mountain.

Exactly. LOL

Must have been some atmospheric aberration to allow the signal to get to my radio. Tried again today to listen/hit their repeater with no success. A bit disappointed, but shocked I was able to hear it in the first place.

But his repeater system lives on. Figured I do a shout out. Never really expected an answer. After the rain started I lost the signal. If it's not raining tonight I'll check to see if I can hear it again. Maybe it was just a weird fluke that the signal worked itself around and got to me. But it was coming into my radio 5x3 on the meter with mostly good modulation of the people. Some random static I assume from the distance.

I'm receiving a signal from the 575 LI East End repeater in Northern CT when I clearly should not be able to receive or hit this repeater, which I can. I've noticed the low level signal on my radio which is set to a much more local repeater. I figured out what the output PL tone was to isolate it and listened in. Figured out the PL input and was able to hit it. Right through a mountain, unless their antenna is 590 meters above ground level. Not sure if this is something I can receive/hit regularly or not.

Seems as though somehow I can hear your 575 LI East End repeater up in Windsor Locks, CT

Playing radio by yourself isn't fun. LOL

If you build it they will come. If there are no FM CBs there is no ability to talk on the system for the normies. So the businesses take a risk in producing the radios to see if they will be bought.

You have no idea how many people would be banned on the forums I moderate if I had no morals or merits. But I can constrain myself and my feelings and they, unfortunately are still on the forum. It's just another job you have to do within the constrains given.

I set my KG20+ up as a base station using a Pyramid Power supply. The description fooled me into thinking this was a 7 amp power supply when it is really a 4.5 amp. 7 amp is the surge rating. Either way, it works fine and I have full output from the transmitter. I get between 20 and 25 watts out depending on the frequency. I don't transmit that much on the base station as it's more for the wife to listen. But so far the power supply has performed to spec and the radio works just like it should.

Originally the same amount of channels in CB as GMRS. 23 for CB and 22 for GMRS. The they went to 40 and added SSB which just annoyed people. Just like putting digital on GMRS

Probably done by truckers to help their brethren.

Says no linked repeaters. Clearly means you aren't allowed to use a linked repeater. That is how the citation will go. But I agree with you. Needs to be specifically stated. Any ambiguity in the law should benefit the accused, not the govt.

Now that's getting into the nitty gritty. There is no regulation saying you can't use a linked repeater. There is (seems to be) a regulation saying you can't link repeaters. Again the FED will assume that one means the other. But as you said, it isn't written anywhere.

I don't think CH9 being an emergency channel was ever an official decree. It was made that way early on. I could be wrong.

The members of the club used it knowing it was a linked repeater. When I used it, it was my first time and I was clueless to it being linked although I figured it out after 2 days from hearing conversations way out of range of the repeater I connected to. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.... Which is something I never bought. Because law enforcement and the judicial have so many laws and antiquated laws on the books no one can keep track of them.