marcspaz

I think, worse case, you don't get the performance you are looking for and the radio runs a little hotter than normal. I had a customer who installed their own mobile UHF radios and hired me to troubleshoot why some of them weren't working. Go to find out their installer pinched the antenna cable in the exact same spot on several vehicles, putting a dead short in the antenna cable. Not only between the leads of the cable, but crushed the cable causing it to short against the body of the vehicle. I ran new cables through a different part of the vehicle and the radios worked fine. It's been 2 years and they are still going strong. The video @OffRoaderX shared is a great real-world example of the types of margins you have with protective circuits. Even some of the most inexpensive transmitters have automatic power limiters which help prevent you from breaking your transmitter if there is a bad, broken or no antenna. These are called Automatic Limiter Control or ALC. Manufacturers do this to reduce warranty claims and unhappy customers, even if its the customers mistake. Coincidentally, it also helps prevent fires. They also install them on radios used in a service where things like power limits and spurious emissions need to be controlled.

@WRPQ991 welcome! Glad you joined the site! Don't worry about understanding the geek speak. It comes with a little time behind the mic and keyboard. I recommend using the search function, as many questions from new users have been answered in great detail. However, if you don't find specifics, don't be afraid to ask questions. Many of us are here to help new people as well as learn from each other.

I actually go offroad with a small group of Hams... there is usually much less conflict over what frequency we use. The conflict with GMRS is some radios don't cover all FRS channels or there is a lot of congestion. Especially at big events like the Boy Scout Jamboree, Mustang Week, Beach Week, etc. In Ham radio, if we adhere to commonly accepted spacing, there is an equivalent of 267 channels, plus digital voice, analog voice in AM, FM and SSB. On top of that, we still have hundreds of squelching combinations. Plus all amateur VHF radios cover all the same frequencies. It's pretty easy to just agree to use a quiet frequency. Me and my group usually use 147.525 MHz, C4FM modulation, group code 16. The chances of us hearing anyone else while noodling around the mountains or downtown Daytona are almost zero. That said, FRS and GMRS makes life a while lot easier for a family. Again, why I use it... mainly to talk to my family and a few very close friends and their families. The ease of use is what's so attractive for many families.

I have seen 5w and 8w handhelds and 30w to 100w mobile radios for Hams. The legal limit for an unlicensed operator is 800mw, but a licensed operator can go to 1,500w pep with no limit on effective radiated power. I'm unaware of anything else in the license free spectrum (outside of the Ham bands). This weekend, during the VA QSO party, a fellow club member made a contact at 75 miles. Outside of knowing he was using a mobile, I'm unaware of the rest of the working conditions for either operator.

I'm guessing he is more well suited for a guest appearance in the role of "some people".

@WRPG591 What's your problem? You are new to this public forum, but I am guessing you're not new to the internet. @Sshannon provided an answer, @PACNWComms expanded on the why, and then a couple of us confirmed those points made by the first two. If you don't like it when people try to help or contribute content, this group might not be a good fit for you.

As an avid off roader and someone who travels a lot to do it, I am not even 100% convinced of this. LOL I mentioned before that I know that there are groups, clubs, circuit series, etc., that have adopted a specific frequency/channel for their respective activities, but many of the groups I wheel with around the country just pick some random frequency/channel that everyone seems to agree on. Even professionally guided trail rides I have been on, the trail guides tend to use random channels between 8 and 14. The one time someone I was wheeling with didn't have a radio capable of being on channel 8, the trail guide told everyone to got to channel 7. So, it seems all over the place.

(insert anecdotal experience disclaimer here) The little traffic I do hear while traveling is little kids playing on channels 1 though 4 or the occasional retail store near the highway on 1 through 7. Hardly someone to "chat" with while I put miles behind me. In a real emergency I'll use a cell phone, 2m/70cm or HF radio. However, if every single one of them are broken or somehow not functioning for me, I'll call on channels 1 through 7 for help, because a little kid can get a parent to help me or a store clerk can call 911 in an emergency. Everything else seem like a ghost town.

@PACNWComms I have a portable repeater to use in the field and a repeater at my house. Neither of them get turn on unless I need to use them and no one outside of my ARES/RACES team and my household members know how to access it.

Did you use the directions on pages 21 and 22 of the manual to program the offset so when you transmit, the transmitter shifts up to 467.7MHz and back to 462.7MHz on receive? If not, that is going to be the issue.

The weather report isn't reliable on any radio. Lol I would see if you can reach the repeater owner to confirm the tone. Also, I am not sure how new you are to using this radio, but are you sure you are on a repeater channel?

Eh... people will get used to it. It's It's good tool to weed out the weak. Have you ever spent any time in court? This is exactly what happens in court. Someone is accused of doing something wrong. The defense team points to the code, rule or Tort Law that exonerates their client. The prosecution points to the code, rule or Tort Law to get a conviction. Many time they are both looking at exact same source and just looking at it from a different perspective or trying to use circumstance change the prism. Then its up to the judge or jury to decide who is right or wrong. Our laws and rule are so convoluted that much of it is contradictory or no longer rational. There is a book you may want to check out. Three Felonies A Day by Alan M. Dershowitz and Harvey Silverglate. The whole concept of the book is that our laws are such as mess that the average person commits an average of 3 felonies a day, while just living a normal life. Here is the Amazon description:

QFT! I have been chatting with folks like Axorlov for some time... I think many of us have figured out when we're messing with each other and when we're serious. Though it may not seem that way to others.

Now that IS a different conversation. It's okay... you guys can call it whatever you want. I know that regardless of any protest here, you at least agree enough that you know what I'm talking about. If you want to call it something other than what the FCC and industry manufacturers do.. have at it. Who am I to judge. LoL

But how can you disagree? They are literal channels on the radio too? Even advertisers call them channels... here is a quote from an advertiser... "This radio utilizes 15 GMRS channels and eight high-powered repeater channels". Regardless of if you find use in 0.5 watts in a mobile or not... it's still a legal option and a channel and totally in scope for a conversation about what channel to use while on the road. May not be a great option, but its still an option.

FCC calls them channels, so I do, too. § 95.1763 GMRS channels., (c): "467 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, control and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels."... "The channel center frequencies are: 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250 MHz. "

@HCCFCA The Tram 1174 (taller of the two) is a half wave antenna and should work fine with the suction cup mount. The 1126B (shorter of the two) will require a ground plane. That means you are going to need to buy a ground plane kit or you are back to a mag mount or lip mount for the shorter antenna. As I mentioned earlier, you may have some luck flipping the upper bracket 180 degrees and getting the antenna over and as close to the roof as possible.

@Citizen Thank you for the question. I can see where is can be hard to track, but hopefully this clears it up a bit. Lets look at a test case, say when we are inside the Earth's atmosphere and there is absolutely nothing in between you and the other station. We could be on top of two mountain peaks, for example. If literally nothing is in the way, including the curve of the earth and all other conditions being equal, watt for watt VHF signals will travel farther than UHF signals. Where the clarification comes in and explaining the real world results above, all has to do with obstructions. Radio waves do not perform the same at every frequency. At some frequencies, signals bounce off of literally everything. At other frequencies, literally every object absorbs the signal. At still over frequencies, the radio waves pass through everything. Then, there is everything in between. At some frequencies, singals will be absorbed by some things, reflected or refracted by others, and still pass through some. So, it just so happens that when it comes to wood and steel (trees and metal buildings), those materials just happen to absorb signals between 130MHz to 300MHz at a much higher rate than a signal between 430MHz to 500MHz. Because their land and surrounding area was a combination of cleared land and heavily wooded, the trees simply cause more signal interference on VHF than UHF, by absorbing more of the signal. So, in that one specific case, UHF was the better choice because of the terrestrial interference. Hopefully that helps a bit. Let me know if you have other questions.

@HCCFCA, the Tram 1174 is a half wave antenna and the bare minimum for an antenna with no ground plane. The 1126B is a quarter wave and requires a ground plane. Based on the pictures you shared, you would need to move the suction cup mount closer to the roof line, center the mount on the window's leading edge and rotate the upper potion that holds the antenna 180 degrees in the mount... making it so the 1126B antenna is over the roof. That may improve the SWR, but the quarter wave will never work as good as the half wave in that type of mount. Even if you put the suction cup on the roof instead of the glass, I think that mount is entirely too tall for a quarter wave antenna. The only other option would be to buy or make an NMO UHF ground plane kit/adapter.

As I mentioned... the concept is in a theoretically perfect scenario. I actually field tested this for a customer while working a proposal. They had a 5 square mile piece of land that was hilly and about 50/50 cleared/wooded. The branch chief insisted that every radio (assortment of HT's mobiles and 3 base stations) were all on VHF. I explained that the heavy woods and metal building don't impact lower frequency UHF as much as the upper portions of VHF, but he didn't believe me. I ended up taking 2 other of my employees and ran field tests around the whole property, and then got out on the road and started a long distance test. Because of the woods, VHF didn't even cover half the property while 5w UHF HTs did. Plus, we put a portable antenna up 40' and hooked an HT to it and could talk mobile to HT to just short of 10 miles outside the property. The VHF radios didn't make it more than 2.5 miles up the road. Moral of the story? Theoretical perfection and practical application are rarely friends. LOL

To someone with no tones set, it may sound like chaos. LOL So, a couple of things. One is, Yes, the strongest signal wins. If someone is talking to you with a tone, your squelch opens and a second or even third station starts transmitting and your radio hears them at about the same receive strength, because your squelch is open you will hear all signals at the same time. If the person you want to hear is far away and another station is close by, the close station can cause enough interference that your squelch won't open when the person with the same tone transmits. Bottom line, if you felt like you had the airways to yourselves, then the tech worked. You were having conversations between conversations.

Generally speaking (terrestrially), watt for watt, the lower the frequency the further the signal travels before it spreads into oblivion. With that understanding, if GMRS and MURS had the same power restrictions, MURS would provide better distance. However, with GMRS, there is more than a 20 dB power advantage. Therefore (at least hypothetically) GMRS is going to be the better option. Now, there is an epic amount of variables that can change those results, but generally speaking...

None of that sounds right at all. A VEC is an Amateur Radio Volunteer Examiner Coordinator and has nothing to do with repeaters. The ARRL doesn't coordinate any repeaters. If the local amateur radio repeater coordinator says an area is saturated and won't coordinate any new repeater pairs in your area, you can still put up an uncoordinated repeater. You just have no bargaining chips if your uncoordinated repeater has interference from a coordinated repeater. And, still, none of any of that is an impact on GMRS because NO ONE coordinates GMRS repeaters. Not the FCC, not the ARRL, not VEC's, not coordinator agencies such as TMARC.

I think you are right about this. I also hear it in areas where there are several repeaters on the same pairs and close to each other. If there are two or three repeaters in the same 30 mile radius that one user could pull up on rCh20 for instance, it helps the listener or the person you are calling know what machine to respond on. My numbers are 328 and my buddy Danny's numbers 976, as an example. So, I'll hear or say something like this on the air... "Danny 976, Danny 976, this is Marc 328 Tampa 675." Which would be me calling my buddy Danny, letting him and other know I am on the Tampa Ch20 repeater pair. This is really common to help people when they are scanning, too. If your rig is not configured to stop scanning when a signal is heard, you know what channel to go back to or what memory you have configured for either that network or direct repeater.

@wrci350 Nice! I had no idea there were base/mobile radios out there. About 3 years ago, I tried to buy one and couldn't locate one.