BoxCar

The one key factor in distance for radio is the height of the antenna. Higher antennas clear more obstacles and have a greater distance to the horizon. The next factor is the output power from the antenna as some antennas have a gain factor that negates losses in the coax between the radio and antenna.

I would tune it 2 1/2 MHz over the repeater's transmit.

Not so. I got a vanity while still a Technician..

Do you have the +5 MHz offset set?

Antenna spacing is critical when the frequencies are within the same band or one (or both) are using high power. CB is essentially HF (below 30 MHz) while GMRS is UHF (462 - 467 MHz) or 20 times higher in frequency. Your spacing should be at least a quarter-wave length of the UHF channels or 15 CM.

Amen @WRCQ527! Well said and directly on topic.

Won't help. They have wireless access.

Most ask for your call sign on their order forms..

Welcome to the world of empty pockets (A.K.A. radios).

With the GMRS radio vendors not requiring a call sign to buy a radio ...

Motorola and Kenwood are good brands but you are also paying a premium price for their brand name. As a great many consumer grade radios are made in China, Malaysia, and other countries with low cost labor, it doesn't always pay to always shop brands. Some of the Chinese radios are every bit as good as your favorites but your rant reminds me of the early PC days when the mantra among IT people was "Nobody gets fired for buying IBM." There were (and still are) PCs that not only rivalled the IBM brand but surpassed their products with greater reliability and features,

No, but he has only 8 toes left.

Dummy - each tone cancels half the interference from the S.A.D. HA.M.S.

Another way - Your antenna radiates your signal in a pattern that looks like a beach ball. If you push the ball on the top and bottom, the sides squirt out. The amount you squeeze is the antenna gain.

What @gortex2 says about contacting the local amateur club is the best way to go about installing your proposed repeater. A new install location will require an environmental impact study be completed for the new site. Adding your repeater to an existing site won't require the study. You will need to know what's already installed frequency wise. If the club already has a UHF repeater installed, there is a good possibility they won't want to install a GMRS repeater because of possible interference from the frequencies being too close together. In any event, be prepared to shoulder the entire cost of the repeater and antenna.

As your radios work on Simplex, it isn't squelch. Squelch stops the radio from processing a signal until the receiver has one greater than the squelch level. It will help diagnose any issues if we know the radio make and model.

Phew!!! I was afraid you were going to say it wasn't fairy science.

Who cares? People prefer posts that address the issue rather than what you do or don't do or think. People are asking for answers or guidance, rather than some irreverent comment from lurkers. Reviewing all your posts I can think of, you have not offered any help or guidance but only a snap remark about YOU.

I carry laminated copies as there are far too many that need/want to see a physical copy they can copy/manipulate. Many will not accept an electronic copy because it can be faked.

Why are you so combative? Are you trying to be a S.A.D. GMRSer?

To partially answer your question, visualize an AC wave. How often that wave cycles is its frequency. As the frequency increases, the waves become much closer together. At 465 million cycles per second (465 MHz) the distance the wave needs to complete one complete swing is quite short (measured in meters). Now think of that wave riding on a wire. The full wave starts at zero (the wire) then swings to an amplitude before swinging back to zero. That's one half of a full wave. The half wave continues on to repeat in the opposite direction (polarity) to complete the full wave. In radio we use the distance a wave needs to move on a wire as an antenna. We feed the antenna at the point where the wave crosses the zero point and cut the wire to the length needed. The full wave still needs to happen with the parts of the wave not on the wire being found in (on) the metal the radiating wire is connected to. The metal forms the ground plane and can be any shape as long as there's enough of ti.

Been using a sheet of steel like that for my base as well for over 2 years now.

The Bridgecom repeater is manufactured by Maxon, using two of their 50W UHF radios. www.maxonamerica.com

I wouldn't wrap the two around each other, but they should be okay in parallel.

My only suggestion would be for you to test for interference with the tape and panel. Not knowing your panel and how it is engineered, I suspect it contains only the electronics needed for the display and speaker. The audio from the microphone is most likely a pass-through, along with any signaling from the keypad.