Logan5

They are likely using "CCR's" cheap Chinese radios at 1 to 4 watt's as few of them can be turned down to 0.5w. these are people that think by using FRS frequency's they are legal, however they are far from legal. I assume you only use the FRS for the kids? you have a GMRS license, get the kids new radios for summer.

Log out? I never log out. Slow? I thought it was me.

No sir, I have only worked with 7/8" my tower won't be going up for a few months, I have considered buying 60' of 1/2" N type terminated to experiment with in the mean time. there are a few good deals on e-bay still need to check with local HAM shop to see what he has, but e-bay is usually half his prices. I still buy a lot of stuff from him, especially if I need it the same day or if I'm already there for something else. I was thinking of a n type barrel lightning arrestor around the tilt over pivot point, when I retract, I disconnect and screw on a dust cap. this way the cable can continue down the tower to the ground, where I would temporarily guide it into a track or maybe a piece of PVC pipe, very lite bend and should never kink. I am glad to have this time to fully think this whole tower thing out. once erect I hope years go by before I have to retract it again. I will also have several telescoping mast along side the garage for experimental use, shortest feed thru garage wall. I am still waiting on UPS to bring my 10.2 db yagi today. got to go.

Yes JohnE, I like the LDF-4 50a and is much less expensive than 7/8", I am actually looking at a tower mounted environmental enclosure. the tower is 48, foot fully erect, if the enclosure is mounted on the tower at eye level, I would only have 45 feet of 1/2" or LMR 400/600? not sure LMR 600 is worth it.. Another member here on the forum offered to let me use his tower, I would put the Motorola FTL675 there, but it's still in the shop. I like the 1/2 also but concerned about what happens when I retract the tower for maintenance, since it doesn't flex well, I will have to be very careful.

I have two separate bookmarks on my tool bar. you could also just bookmark the main site and enter the forum, and click the bookmark again to go back. either way, it's and easy work around for a non mission critical bug. best of luck. I think you will also find as the new wares off you will go back and forth less.

Very good, glad to be of assistance. This is a good place. Please consider a donation to www.myGMRS.com

I just purchased a home in a community. We chose this particular neighborhood because it has a voluntary HOA. There are no by laws or restrictions. neighbors volunteer to do things in our community and the HOA fee is not required to be paid. We have an automated guard shack with Traffic control "lite deterrent" at best, but it also has cameras and DVR. I obtained a telescoping and tilt over tower with a spade "stick in the ground base, I had originally planed to give it a more secure install in concrete, but that would make it a fixed structure. giving code say on where and how it is installed. a non fixed tower does not require a building permit or code inspections in my county or city as long as the retracted tower is less than 35 feet tall. I am certain I would never buy in an strict HOA ever, for more reasons than just radio towers. I also require solar panels on my roof and prefer to paint my house any color I wish. I once obtained a heap of high quality driveway pavers from a free cycler, I ask why he was giving so many good pavers away, he said they just bought the house and after they moved in the "community welcome wagon" arrived and told them that the pavers of the sidewalk must match in color and shape the pavers in the driveway. since the previous owner sold, they had all the power to force them to do as told. They also gave them a few color swaths they could paint house and trim colors. any deviation required written permission from the HOA. They had 2 weeks to get proper window coverings up and they claimed that white unmarked pick up trucks "considered commercial" were not to be parked in front of homes after 5:30 pm. I would never agree to anything like this. I don't know why anyone would.

Very nice, We will be up in that neck over the next week. unfortunately my mobile repeater rig is still in repair. but I see a few GMRS repeaters in the area. we are also planning Orlando to hit SkyCraft Surplus and then head back to Fort Lauderdale.

Thank you Pastor Gary, I only run Times Micro and Andrew LMR400 with plans to go to LDF 50a minimum when I install the tower. my actual conduit run is about 8 feet and is only for the next month. I did not think of the wire hanging under it's own weight on this install, although I have considered it wile planning my future tower. I wish I was better at making my own cables. I have found I am much better off having them made. This all makes me think a "Mast/tower mounted environmental enclosure" as expensive as it is, as a much better option. some have room for 2 repeaters and even a space for backup battery's. With as short of cable runs as possible the expense would surely be worth it. I would still want a run straight to the garage for experimental antennas and my base station, not sure I can afford 7/8" not sure I will be happy if I only do the 1/2 LDF

Well the past week as been interesting, It started when I realized that with my feed line lengths I could gain another 6 to 7 feet of antenna height with some adjustments. Since I was running a program on my computer to clone my old hard drive to a new SSD that took 2 whole days, I decided to get on the roof and raise it up. The first time I did this I pushed too hard and pulled the LMR400 out of the N connector. I tested it here locally and it seemed to work fine, but as soon as I got just a few blocks from base I could no longer key it up. then I could not even key it up locally. so I shut it down and decide to redo it from scratch, during the redo I found I had pulled the coax out and was shocked . I was sure I had destroyed the repeater. I went to HOmeDePot and got a 10' conduit of 1" dia. and raised my antenna to the Maximum height. After powering up I had a very clean and clear connection with another user who uses a 7.1 db yagi from several miles away. since I had to pick up a friend at the airport in an hour I figured this would be the best time to test. in previous installations I have never penetrated downtown to the south. as I crossed the river, I was still getting a clear signal and well over halfway to the airport still no problem breaking the squelch. I arrived at the cell phone waiting area removed the truck BNC connector and added my MJF antenna and had a very clear conversation with the previous user on his yagi. seems I did not damage the repeater and I at least doubled my range, maybe better. I have my LMR400 running thru 10' of conduit, I have been told that running coax thru long spans of metal conduit can cause strange things to happen, anyone know more about this? my antenna is easily 33' to the ground plane. it's amazing that 6 feet makes that much difference.

Hey Dan, What part of Florida?

I also liked the anytone dual band with crossband until I read the reviews. most of the bad reviews seemed to make note of the sound quality not being as clear as it should be when in local mode. as one review wrote that sound quality in crossband repeater mode was as good as any other radio. I wonder if using an external speaker and a higher quality mic might fix this problem? either way I am still saving for a good mobile unit and have decided to wait for a better radio. not to mention one I can get away with. The other half does not like antennas or a radio mounted like an old CB, so I will need one that is in the trunk and just faceplate in the cab. eventually I want to go with digital Hytera hand set's, but they are very expensive and can only be used in analog mode on GMRS. so I was thinking of a good digital mobile rig, "run in analog only on GMRS" until he get'shis HAM lic. but I have not seen any and I am sure they are expensive. I saw the new "Cheap Chinese digital radios" ccdr's but they did not seem compatible with standard current digital modes of other manufactures like Icom and Moto so those are out. I am cool with digital radios as long as they can revert to analog if necessary or to communicate with analog only radios.

Lucky dog.

having browser troubles again, very sorry. for some reason the 3 links ran together. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...C-13-83A1.docx http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...CC-13-83A1.pdf http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...CC-13-83A1.txt

http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov edocs_publi...C-13-83A1.docx http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...CC-13-83A1.pdf http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...CC-13-83A1.txt

these are the FCC communications regarding this matter. I am just now reading these. http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...C-13-83A1.docx http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...CC-13-83A1.pdf http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_publi...CC-13-83A1.txt

REMEL, INC. AND ITS CORPORATE PARENT THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC, INC. Notified Remel, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Company, Inc. of their Apparent Liability for Forfeiture in the amount of $30,000 for unlawful operation of radio frequency devices on a General Mobile Radio Service frequency for more than nine years. Action by: the Commission. Adopted: 06/13/2013 by NAL. (FCC No. 13-83). EB I got this from another site just a few min's ago. user:Dantian I had to share it.

we could discus how the FCC should have never allowed the bubble pak radio manufactures to include FRS freq's on GMRS radios to begin with. or vicea versa, FRS created the need for radio manufactures to included molded non removable antennas on their radios. I consider the non removable antenna part of FRS to be the most limiting factor, any radio that includes FRS frequency's can not have a removable antenna . FRS at a half of a watt into a "tuned gain" antenna would not be too bad.

Way to go, sounds like very good propagation. going to read your other post to familiarize myself with your set up. I have had my repeaters up for a couple of months now and it is quite enjoyable to hobby with, experimenting and testing equipment. gives you a sense of power, not to mention the comfort of knowing you are able to round up family when the Cell phone service is shut down or is taken down by a man made or natural disaster. the best advice I have been given, is HIGH high quality antenna as high as you can safely get it, with as short of feed-line as possible. LMR400 is ok, but Heliax is much better.

Actually the Motorola ms350r radio does have offset and PL tone ability and do work with repeaters. all though not very well.

Great thread. I have a couple BF888's, is very similar to this radios spec's. About 3.6 watts When I got it I immediately programed it to GMRS only freq's and it works great with an MJF antenna. amazing range and works fine with the repeater, except that loud screech at the end of transmission. is also great for the dumb dumbs we have to share these radios with, as I have one of these radios all 14 channels are the same, so no accidentally changing channels by the user.

yes, I was having other internet problems and a local thunder storm at the time and thought it was on my end. also it was an odd error report. reminds me of another web site that forgot to pay their DNS routing bill.

hahahahahahahahahahahaha

a mobile rig can be both a base station and a mobile unit. move it when needed. have a space with a 12v battery and charger for the base, grab it and your trucks already to go.

Then spend the extra hundred bucks and get better.