marcspaz

@Borage257 yeah, I wouldn't use that.

Plastic, aluminum or fiberglass? Have to be honest, I like to save money, but I also what my stuff to work when I need it to. If you are using a non-conductive pole (and there is no PVC in it) you can get away with it holding a wire antenna or a small NGP antenna. I would 100% guy it about 5 feet from the bottom so the bottom doesn't kick out and at the very top. I wouldn't make it a permanent fixture, but for mobile/temporary/emcomm, you can probably get away with it.

I could be mistaken, but the person who made that video doesn't seem to understand far-field antenna radiation maps. Not to mention, if you are like me and have a nice tall high-gain antenna on the roof or on a tower, when the wind blows, the antenna is going to sway around a heck of a lot more than factions of a degree... in many cases, several degrees. It does make a difference, but mostly on the fringe of your max range. The longer the distance, the more it makes a difference. I really experience this with my mobile HF radio when I am talking several thousand miles. if I am driving, I may be able to hear someone, but they can't hear me because I'm driving 60 mph and my 86"+ antenna is waving all over the place... impacting the take-off angle. If I pull over and point the truck in the direction of the station I want to talk to (my antenna is in the back of the truck, creating a somewhat directional dipole with the whip and body), I go from the distant station not hearing me at all, to getting a perfect signal report.

I was using the Comet 2x24sr for about a year. I am not surprised to hear your feedback. The antenna sucks. It's a compromise on all bands and wasn't designed to perform well on the 467 MHz range. Comet say the top-end in 465 MHz. Its an 'ok' antenna for close range split duty between Ham and FRS/GMRS if you are actually doing some type of SAR/USAR mission in close proximity on low power, but anything over 2 miles and I just can't get good performance out of it. And I think it's the design, as 462 MHz is at the top of the design scope and 467 MHz isn't even a part of it. I started off with the NMO version. I ended up getting a second one in a UHF mount and it had the same issues.

Agreed. Many years ago I had a 5 foot fence pipe I was using as an extension, trying to avoid buying "mast" pipe. It was literally just holding the weight of the antenna and transmission line. We had a about a 10-12 mph wind gust and the pipe folded. Totaled a $250 portable mast and a $300 antenna. The $100 I saved cost me $550. I have a satellite dish mount on the roof of the house, that I have my repeater antenna mounted to. So far, I has survived sustained 60+ mph wind and a few 90+ mph gusts.

It's possible, but not cost effective. A good quality commercial UHF amp is about $1,000 on the low side, and you may need to either attenuate the the repeater output for a 1w-5w input of a 50w amp or attenuate the amp output, as most commercial amps I have seen that take 10w in, normally make 100w out. After buying an amp, power supply, attenuator, and associated cables and misc. supplies to make it work, it would definitely be way more money than just buying a Quantar repeater for ~$1,200. Also, as others mentioned, I am not aware of any type approved amplifiers... so you run the risk of a "no-no" letter from the FCC, if they were to check your repeater site.

Agreed. Most of them are good ideas, but lack of standards makes it impossible for someone to pick the right solution. I would recommend portable HF radios first, and satellite communications second. Or both, if you can.

I don't think Sad Ham means what you think it means. Alex isn't a sad ham... he's a decent guy and so is Randy. The thing is Randy @OffRoaderX has been correct with most of his statements and he has some pretty solid opinions that I haven't really been able to rebut. However, Randy (or at least his online personality) also doesn't care if your feelings are hurt by the truth or his opinions, and that upsets some people... which I find THAT ironic! LoL

Not necessarily a taller antenna, but rather an antenna with a decent amount of gain (which are typically taller than a 1/4 wave). The terrain, elevation changes and who you are talking to in relation to those conditions will determine what the best antenna for you would be. Gain antennas are not the best choice in very hilly or mountainous areas, but are a great choice for relatively flat areas.

Picket fencing is not caused by the antenna movement. It's caused by characteristics of the terrain and the speed of the vehicle, compared to where the receiver/repeater is. Weaker signals are more susceptible to it because there is not enough energy to scatter enough signal to overcome shadowing from trees and buildings. It's a power/line of sight issue.

Swing and a miss. LoL

I would say no. There may be some lopsided power and performance stopping it, even if the transmitter wattage is the same. For instance... if the repeater has a full 50w going into the antenna (say a tower mounted repeater) and it has an antenna with a 10dB gain, it will have an effective radiated output of 500w. If your mobile is only putting out 30w-35w due to installation limits and you have a no-gain antenna, like a 1/4 wave, your only putting out 30w-35w. Even with the high gain antenna at the repeater site... there is no guarantee you are going to get picked-up by the repeater. Especially if the repeater has a poor receiver or is being de-sensed by some other radio on the tower causing interference around it. If you can drive closer to the tower to confirm, that would be your best bet. If you get within 10-15 nautical miles and it still doesn't work, you may be doing something wrong or have a problem.

I'm seeing the same thing. You may need to email the owner and ask them what it is. Good point. I forgot some meters need at least 5w to give any reverse reading.

It's actually fantastic. Anything under 1.5 is great. Over time, I would keep an eye on it, is all. Make sure it doesn't creep up on you. 2:1 or less is good, less than 3:1 is safe to use but not ideal. 3:1 or higher and I would stop using it until its resolved. The attic install may be where the shift is coming from. If there is something metal within 2 or 3 feet that is larger than about 5"-6", it may be giving you a bit of resonance. Not a big deal though. As I mention, just make sure it doesn't get worse over time.

Welcome to GMRS and the forum! There shouldn't be any 'noticeable' change to RF performance. Any measurable notice will likely be for the better. Just swapping radios should not impact your SWR or antenna performance. The KG-1000G is a nicer radio with regard to features and both 50x1's I had were under powered. They ran a tad hot too. Just my opinion, the KG-1000G sounds a bit nicer on the other end, too. What repeater are you looking at? We can look at the listing for you and see if it appears differently. Keep in mind that you have to sign-in to https://mygmrs.com/ separately from https://forums.mygmrs.com/, otherwise the tones for private machines needing approval to use, will not have the tone displayed. However, after you login, they should be listed. Your SWR should not change with increase in power. If it does, something is wrong with your system. Either a bad antenna, bad cable or incorrect length of cable, bad connectors, etc. You may even have water inside the coax.

I mean.... it should work as long as the UV-9G supports split tones (I don't know if it does), but its more complicated than it needs to be. A more simple solution (more likely to work) would be to set the tone mode to Tone, and set just the Tone value to 88.5 (assuming that's the correct tone), ignoring the ToneSql field.

I laughed pretty good on this one. LoL I know it's hard to believe, but I have seen enough people ask this question that I figured I could post it in one spot and just link it. That way I don't have to type it over and over. I know what you mean about the meters, too. I have a Tektronix analyzer sitting on the shelf of my office. $26k when it was new,, a million years ago.. I do like the cheap meters because their good enough for pass/fail, which is all most GMRS operators need. Plus, if I put screen grabs from the analyzer up, the people who need to know what it says, can't understand what they are looking at. But, yeah... here we are. LoL

Can you provide a link or part number for the Laird antenna? Want to be sure I understand what part we're discussing.

Sorry to disappoint you, but that is never going to happen. It needs 13.8vdc for full power. The transmitter would need to be installed within inches of the alternator, and even then, it would only be at full power when the alternator it making at least 13.8 volts or more. You will lose 10w for every 1 volt the alternator drops. You're chasing something that is impossible with certified over the counter radios. It's 50w under proper operating conditions. Not 50w regardless of how poor the operating conditions.

If you are testing it in the vehicle instead of on a quality regulated 13.8vdc power supply, the test is null. You still haven't accounted for the power source concerns, which is likely the actual problem.

There is a lot more to it than just power. UHF is a line of sight service and things like trees and terrain make a difference. Where you are compared to everyone else makes a difference. If you move 1 foot in one direction or another, depending on whats around you, that 1 foot could make the difference between another operator hearing you perfectly or not at all. You could also be dealing with things like receive sensitivity on any given radio. A 1 watt difference does make a bit more of a difference when you are at a 4 or 5 watt power output, compared to starting with 20 watts... not so much. That said, if you increase your power 100%... going from 4 watts to 8 watts for example... you will see an slight increase in range, but we are talking measurements in feet or maybe yards... best case.

True... I was being a tad facetious. The lightning strike is coming no matter what. However, I have had nearby strikes hit my antenna right next to the house, but have never had the house hit. I guess my point is, your lightning protection can give electricity a lower resistance path that can do damage if done incorrectly... damage that may not have occurred if the resistance was higher and the strike didn't hit the house/arrester at all.

To follow-up with what Stone said, if you are going to put a grounding system in with spike/surge protection, it needs to be perfect or you are just improving your odds of getting struck and having stuff get broken by making a better grounded lightning attracter. During lightning season, I just disconnect the cables and toss them on the ground when the radio is not in use. I never lost anything but a single antenna and transmission line due to an indirect lightning strike. Zero damage to the house or anything else around the antenna. I guess the point of my story is, execute with perfection or don't waste your time.

I agree... inexpensive radio. I'm not surprised. I'm guessing the volt meter in the radio was an after-thought. When you key up at 50w, does the voltage display on the radio level off at 13.6vdc - 13.8vdc during full draw?

@Rican Hopefully this helps. Even if BuyTwoWayRadios.Com is willing to exchange the radio, I doubt that will resolve your issue. It's possible, but resolving any issues you find in this list are more likely going to bring you improvement over what you have currently.