BoxCar

Between here and there depending on where here is.

The terrain has a lot to do with contacts beyond the line of sight. UHF bounces off hard surfaces such as concrete and granite. Its very possible your signal was reflecting through canyons. Digital signals don't do well as the bit stream becomes jumbled through the multipath hops.

Reduce the power going into the duplexer as the losses caused by the duplexer is turned to heat. The loss in dB remains the same but the amount of heat created is reduced.

For the cheap "flat pack" duplexers it probably won't make any difference. The duplexer was probably lying flat when tuned though.

The adapter has to be listed as an accessory - but not always. If the battery used on the 15-PRO is the same as the model you have the adapter for, then it will fit. CCR makers change battery size and shape at will, so no guarantees.

A mag mount on a cookie sheet would also be a BIG improvement.

But you're not normal. A ton or so of bricks from a full load - on your good days.

Great choice - blame someone else!

Contact the local police/sheriff's office and ask for the name of the local company that supplies their radios.

That Bridgecom video is extremely basic. You need 4 things for a DMR radio, a radio ID, a contact, a frequency, and a zone or grouping of contacts/frequencies. Remember, EACH contact must have a frequency assigned which is not brought in that basic video.

J-Poles have no gain, therefore whatever power makes it to the antenna is what goes out as your signal. Some antennas by companies like Tram and Comet have gain which increases your signal toward the horizon with the same power going to the antenna. Gain won't increase the distance you can reach; it just provides more signal in the same area.

I will state there is a world of difference between Yaesu and Icom in their programming setups. I'm primarily Icom with a couple Yaesu units so I can compare a little. My Icom 5100 is easy to program from the front panel while the Yaesu makes me dig through several menu layers to accomplish the same thing. My recommendation is try both radio brands either at a store if possible or from hams in your area. Talk to them and get their likes and dislikes about each. I think your playing with both radios will lead you to the decision which is better in your case.

Ham radio does a decent job of monitoring itself to keep people and signals within their limits.

Greetings from a former resident of The Great Northwest along Culebra Rd. Left SAT in 89 for Florida, then to DC and the MD 'burbs before retiring to NC. You'll be busy for a while trying to get your head around all the information here and on the 'net.

That's really the responsibility of the repeater owners as part of the rules do state "not cause interference and accept all interference." As the service does not require coordination, it is the responsibility of the repeater owners to do the oft times laborious task of checking for other stations that may be affected or they may affect with their installation. (It's also the main reason I always tell new licensees 'No, you don't need a repeater.'

You mean they don't?????

Yes

Welcome, and let me unpack a little of what I believe are your thoughts and concerns. How far apart are you and your son? You can't count on two handheld radios being able to communicate with each other for more than a half mile. Of course, there will be times when the distance will be further but, I said guaranteed being able to communicate. Just as with CB, you both will need to be on the same channel in order to talk whether or not it is a simplex channel or through a repeater on the repeater pair. Right out of the box, the two radios will be able to communicate over the simplex channels but probably not over any repeater. You will most likely need to include tones on your repeater transmit channels to access (unlock) any repeaters which may or may not be in your area. Additionally, you will need to upgrade the antennas used on your radios to improve the distance over which you can talk. Antenna improvement is a deep subject I'm not going to get into but I will state height ground is the major factor. The next item you may want will be mobile radios which can be used in your vehicles or as home base stations. There are a great number of brands available and, like CB, they all will talk to one another. My advice here is don't overspend. Home-based units will need a separate power supply, and again, don't overspend. I use power supplies from Mean Well (also Meanwell) available on Amazon for a third of the price asked for "radio" power units. Many public safety agencies also use these supplies rather than the manufacturer's units or other "radio" supplies. A home based unit also means an antenna and coax. The coax cable needed is not the same one for CB. You will need coax that meets the same specifications as Times Microwave LMR-400 or better. Buying LMR-400 quality cable from Amazon is more miss than hit. Other than that, welcome to the rabbit hole.

Should be good, but I wonder about the antenna cable routing if the part moves.

IMHO you would be better off right now with a cheap handheld like a Baofeng UV-9 (Ham version). No need to have a call sign and you can program in channels easily with Chirp-Next. That will let you listen and get a feel for how amateur radio functions. Go to the ARRL site and look for clubs in your area that have web sites. Those sites will often list the local repeaters and any nets conducted showing the repeater, day(s) of the week and the time the net runs. You may have to add hours to the time shown as many use Zulu or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

@steveshannon There is nothing in the specifications stating they will pass DTMF.

If you want FARS, go ham.

The only thing is to ask the repeater owner if his hardware allows DTMF and if he would enable it. The little "suitcase" repeaters don't have the capability for DTMF.

And yes, you can use both digital and analog tones on many radios. You set the mode to CROSS.

There are no real courses available on GMRS and you'll quickly become confused trying to go through the YouTube videos several have put together. I would suggest you go to the ARRL website and look for a ham club in your area. The majority of the hams will be glad to answer your questions and give guidance. Of course, there are some members that will disparage you over your choice of GMRS but don't let them discourage you.