WRTC928

I'm of the opinion that you shouldn't break the rules by accident. If the radio isn't type-certified for GMRS, I think the user should at least know that. Apparently, some people wouldn't use the radio if it isn't type-certified, at least so they claim. Probably nothing official will happen to someone who makes a pest of him/herself, but they'll certainly earn the hatred of a lot of fellow radio users. Of course, pests usually don't care or they're even happy about being hated, so that's not really a deterrent. The person who figures out how to put an a-hole filter in a radio will be able to buy a private island.

This is incorrect. Almost every Baofeng I've bought had a 15" antenna -- not folded but bent around the interior of the box. I'm looking at one right now. Upon removing them from the box, they spring to life. In fact, they usually try to jump out of the box as soon as I open it. So far, I haven't seen one that took so much of a set that it wouldn't straighten out.

It sounds like the Baofeng just doesn't have the "legs" to reach the repeater. Even given the same nominal wattage, some radios just have a little better reach than others.

Even better

You can, however, get a magnet-mount antenna tuned for GMRS and put it on top of your vehicle, then use an adapter to attach the radio to the antenna. That will almost certainly give you a better signal, both transmitting and receiving. Antenna Adapter There are other magnet-mount antennas that some people like better, but this one has worked well for me. Feel free to solicit opinions.

What @SteveShannon said. However, Baofeng Tech has branched out in recent years and are having some equipment made to their specifications by other companies. That's probably why they have kind of backed away from Baofeng Tech in favor of BTech. As a general rule, the Baofeng products they sell are a bit more expensive than from other suppliers, but they often have a couple of extra features and they do back up their products and provide support for them.

I can't think of any reason it wouldn't work, but I can think of all kinds of reasons it wouldn't be allowed.

That's my understanding. There's a lot of weather between a sunny day and a full-on direct lightning strike, so we want to protect against as much of it as we can.

Ah, okay. The wire isn't really carrying a current in the usual sense. Good. 8 gauge wire is a lot cheaper than 4 gauge.

On the bed rail of my truck, I got good SWRs with the Comet except on the 2m band. I use the 2m band a lot, so that was a no-go. However, on the roof of my car, I get SWRs < 1.5:1 on 2m, 70cm, GMRS, MURS, and -- to my surprise -- even 1.25m. I haven't had an opportunity to find out whether it actually performs on 1.25 meters, but at least it won't blow up my radio. So, yes, it's a ground plane antenna, but it was better than I expected without one. As I said earlier, I thought the SG7900 was an NGP antenna when I bought it, and since it performs just fine where it is, I'm going to leave it. Excellent SWRs and farz on GMRS, 70cm, and 2m. I guess it is a no ground plane antenna -- at least on the bed rail of my truck. I'm currently running a Comet SBB-224 on the car, and boy is it a good performer! It didn't like the bed rail either, but it really likes the roof of the car. It's officially a tri-band (2m, 1.25m, 70cm) but it really reaches out on GMRS as well. It has a 1.2:1 SWR on MURS, but I've never actually tried it, and likely never will. Still, it's there if I need it. The 2x4 actually has a little better farz on 70cm and GMRS, but not by a lot. That's why I'd like to know how it performs on 1.25m. Likely the 224 will go on the truck if I ever get around to having an NMO put on the roof.

Okay. For some reason, I was thinking 8'. That's still a lot of ground rods for a 200' run. The code is a minimum. My thought was that for such a long run, a heavier wire might be preferable. If so, I'm okay with absorbing the extra cost. I can't think of any way to go under 30' of asphalt without cutting it.

My question really is whether it's safer to leave the antenna connected to the radio or to disconnect it. I assume a direct strike may fry the coax even if it's properly grounded. I can replace an antenna and coax; it's my house and myself I'm concerned about.

200' of 4 awg copper wire is about $300 which isn't prohibitive, but if you have to add another ground rod every 8', that's going to get into some serious cash, aside from the work of driving 25 ground rods. In my case, I have to cross about 30' of asphalt. Is there any reason I can't cut a groove in the asphalt, lay the bare wire in it, and fill it with asphalt patch material? Is there any disadvantage to burying the wire where it crosses grass?

So, what happens if the antenna is adequately grounded and you disconnect it from the radio? I have assumed the electricity would follow the path of least resistance to the ground and the coax would be at minimal risk. Is that incorrect?

The hood is aluminum IIRC. Hopefully that will be adequate if we mount it on a fender or hood lip mount. A lot of people seem to get good results that way. Since I already have the SG7900, it will cost nothing to find out.