Lambda

That Laird 4502 is classy

Hey, Thanks! I do pull into a carport every night, so the twist on height may be just the ticket. And thanks for the note about NMO options, as I haven’t ventured down that path before. I’ll be sure to report back if I grab one!

I don’t feel so alone anymore

Thanks @Socalgmrs If not the antenna and components, only other weak-link would be the 805G it’s attached to. But that HT is flawless itself. Coax, pigtail, etc all look good. Would have to be a solder issue in the base or something. I’m only pushing 5w max, but can’t trigger the repeater that the stock-stubby GM-30 can inside the car. Also no SWR yet because I don’t have a meter. Need to test it with my buddy

Picked up a BTech Nagoya UT-72G for my SUV. Very poor RX/TX, even though plenty of steel roof ground plane. My stock-stubby HT outperforms it from inside the vehicle. I plan to buy another antenna to compare against before returning it. So, what are your favorite magmount options? Primary use is Simplex. Urban hills (no buildings over 10 stories, but plenty of hills. 3db?). Need to stick with removable for now. No drilled holes. Would consider bracket mount for top of rear hatch (but worse ground plane?) I haven't done SWR sweep; don't wanna focus on numbers just yet - would rather stick with analogue comparison initially. It'll be easy to compare. The UT-72G is performing noticeably worse than any HT in the vehicle. Thank you. [UPDATE] I purchased a TRAM 1192 to test through-glass before I spend more on sexier magmount options. Will update.

Hello, You are free to use 1-22 for TX/RX (transmit/receive). Unless you’re in a densely populated area of radio hobbyists, you may seldom if ever receive a response on those channels via simplex (handheld-to-handheld) simply due to limits of range. If you are hearing RX frequently on those channels, and still never get a response (for example roadwork, daycare, schools, etc) it’s likely because they have tones set on their radios to not hear unintended traffic. If you can, I suggest grabbing an inexpensive radio to loan a buddy who will do simplex tests with you. Fun, of course, and really helpful to understand the behaviors of 462MHz propagation. Additionally, see this link for the GMRS channel chart, specifying usage parameters: https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/FRS/GMRS_combined_channel_chart Have fun!