Logan5

He may have bad cable or a connector. I have had this happen also compact LED bulbs dim and or flicker.

actually the R stands for repeater capable. I bought this radio and tested on our repeater, I returned them for other reasons.

It's an Egg cooker.

Motorola Talkabout MT351R

almost everything depends on the relationship you have with the other owners and BOD. You have some FCC protections for access to the airwaves, generally TV and satellite antennas. Yes an attic antenna can improve your access to the airwaves although less than ideal. If you have access to the attic, look for a PVC roof vent pipe, cut said pipe and add an inline "T" coupling, You could deploy a classic whip antenna in a push up out of the end of the pipe format. Like "Hogans Hero's" LOL Just make sure the water path is maintained or mitigated. there are many options.

I assume you already have a ground plane UHF antenna on your truck? Do you have any kind of home antenna deployed? Before you buy a repeater or any more radios. work with what you have first. a simple SMA to BNC adapter will allow you to use external antennas, You could have a Home ridge line antenna install and easily connect to it when you get home. That Tera radio is a nice set up. get some feedline and a yagi antenna for your home base, maybe a rotor if you have local friends or family you wish to communicate with. Consider learning to build your own base antenna. there are a lot of options if you are hesitant to spend a lot of money,. check your metal piles, I keep lot's of stuff that could be used to build antennas.

Just got my first GMRSv 1 from you guys. still programing. Thanks Rich.

That's fantastic, I would normally recommenced against locating a fiberglass antenna so close to gas chimney but good old PVC can more than handle it. my only other concern would be the metal chimney causing unwanted reflection, but if you have achieved your goal, no worry. I have wanted to try one of those Ed. Fongs, maybe now I build one.

Line of sight 8 to 12 miles with ideal antenna and height, some repeaters are linked. On special days you can talk hundreds of miles. no permit, cost of repeater: a few hundred to several thousand, depending on your requirements. If you like to tinker consider building from two old motos. Height is King, higher power in watts seldom improves a less than ideal situation.

However a Mag mount will rust your bonnet and cause metal rot.

I have a 55' tower and with an HT connected to the feedline and antenna as my base to an HT with a 14" whip antenna, can effectively communicate in excess of 10 miles. a higher power base radio will not make as much difference as the height of the antenna and the quality of feedline. On the HT end however an automobile ground plane antenna, even a MagMount will increase this distance even more.

Thank you sir. I love it.

up to 3 watts, nice looking, not bad specs. I guess I should consider reviewing a pair. a bit pricey

Yes, the repeater will not go online w/o a tone to open it up. I do not know Midland radios, but I think you need a translation sheet to set the tone. it will give you the midland setting for a given tone. Keep in mind the output tone of said repeater may not be the same as the input tone.

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.

You can purchase Belden products in many colors, easy to match the color of barrel tile, shingle or trim colors. a Mag mount antenna can be attached to any steel exhaust, kitchen or bathroom vent. Although not an ideal ground plane, again will out preform any indoor deployment. You will be amazed what you can make happen. Especially if you have the extra cash for the upgrades.

Why so much power? Do you really know how much power you actually need? Blasting the airwaves with more power than you need should be avoided. Maybe a quality gain antenna properly installed and that 5.1 watt radio will do the job. anything more would just be noise for other users.

Less watts and better antenna. You could get an exception to use a TV antenna, so make your UHF radio antenna easily attachable to a TV for proof if needed. If the complex offers MASTv, You may find a UHF TV channel that they do not relay through the provided cable. If you are ultimately forced to an indoor solution, you could attach a Yagi antenna to a fordable tripod and deploy in the house or on a terrace when needed. More watts seldom improves a less than ideal situation./

5.1 watt is good on UHF, they only preform at anything close to 8 watts on VHF,

did you simply view the entry in chirp to confirm the radio function, or did you disable and then re enable the FM function? It's worth a shot.

I am mostly experienced with the BridgeCom and it is configurable up to 23 different in and out tone combinations. from CTCSS to CTCSS or CTCSS to DCS so that's a lot of options. I am not sure if this is what is referred to as a voting system?

This is correct, Our local repeater also has a CTCSS to CTCSS pair I forgot about. and is capable of travel tone same tone in and out. so there may be options by contacting the repeater sysop.

The "no encoding" was the main reason I did not buy Midland. I enjoy listening. I did not know about mixed tones back then. Another good reason to chose another radio. Our local repeater used mixed tones. CTCSS/PLL tone to open the repeater and DCS TX.

the repeater you describe employs split tones. I think Midland is incapable of operating in split or mixed tone. But I only have knowledge of this second hand. You may try to set it up with the input tone prog,d into CTCSS/DCS TX and the output tone prog'd into CTCSS/DCS RX. I am sure others with more direct knowledge will chime in. Best of luck with it.

Yep from one BF radio to another they splatter, so the power registered may not be on freq. But side lobes that can be seen on a spectrum analyzer. Most have a nice tall peak on freq. but still have a 1/3rd to more than half the power on second and third peaks just a few clicks off. You get what you pay for, I use a few BF radios, they are what they are.