marcspaz

I'm glad I have been a positive and helpful voice... but are you sure you are thinking of the correct site? You are not a moderator or admin so you can't delete posts or threads and this site doesn't have a "block" feature. The most you can do is hide someone else's posts from your view. Even if you hide someone else's posts, everyone else can still see the posts and you can still select to see any individual posts you want, by clicking on a link where their post placeholder is. Just trying to help and find out what's up.

Did I miss something? Seems like civil responses here.

Your power levels are so low and you have so much going on, a dummy load and power meter won't tell the whole story. You need an antenna and feedline analyzer. If you can find a used one cheap or a friend who has one, it would be worth checking both antenna circuits at the house and mobile. If there is a Ham or CB shop around, they may have one to test with, too. I think your expectations are more than reasonable for the gear you have. Either the HT's are too poor of quality on the receiver side or something is broken.

You obviously have an adapter of some type, going from the HT's (assuming SMA or reverse SMA) to the antenna cables (N/SO239/etc.). I am curious if one of the adapters are damaged or has very high losses? I would find a shop that can test them for you. I live in an area where the average elevation change for about 40+ miles in any direction is about 200'. Depending on where I am, my handhelds talk anywhere from as little as 1 mile with noticeable static on the back half of the mile, all the way out to repeater 22+ miles away. You have to keep a few things in mind. Assuming all your gear is perfect, you are only going to talk a max of about 15% further than the visible horizon. Also, in densely populated areas there is a lot of RF interference from homes, businesses, electrical lines, even traffic lights have two-way radios on them now. All of this will desensitize your receiver and your transmitted signal gets harder to hear. So, if you are 5'5" tall and you hold the radio in front of your head, on a perfectly flat location, the RF horizon is only about 4.5 miles. If you have a 100' high hill a mile in front of you and you want to talk to someone on the other side, its not going to work. I have seen mobile to mobile comms with 200+ watts on each end, fail on Amateur radio UHF band segments, with as little as a 150' hill being between me and the other station.

Repeaters make the service a very powerful tool. There is a repeater 22 miles away from me, about 1100 feet higher than me, with no obstructions. I had a 5 minute conversation with someone, yesterday, using a 5 watt handheld. Peer to peer (simplex) can be kind of tough, though, depending on the terrain where you are. Have fun!

I hope it works out for you. Feature-rich radio, for sure.

No... that is not correct. A fixed station is determined by its intended and actual use, not its hardware. An example would be to RF linked repeater controllers talking exclusively to each other. Two stations that are base stations and have high gain antennas are not the same thing, since you can (and likely will) talk to mobile and portable stations as well.

LOL QFT!

This is only because most people have no idea how to pick a proper antenna and install it correctly.

Just connect the main power and the power sense wires to the positive connection of the power supply.

Yes... in fact, I have had some potential customers that were using CB radio and opted to stay on CB after the sticker shock. Very few of my non-government customers actually follow all the way through. I've all but stopped servicing private business because the penetration rate was under 20% for more than a year.

Okay... I'm tracking now.

I'm not sure if any of you ever got a communications license for a business before, but it is really expensive and time consuming. I charge customers around $3,000 per site, for a single frequency, and I'm not even the final coordinator. They charge as much as another $500 per application. I have seen applications take months... even beyond a year in some cases, if the FCC asks for changes or amendments in order to come into compliance. And you can't legally operate until the license is approved. That means all of the engineering documents are submitted, surveys are submitted, etc. You could spend $10,000-$15,000 for a small, local commercial radio system for just one frequency and a few radios. Many businesses find it much easier and cheaper to stick to free services like FRS and MURS for that very reason.

I'm confused. GMRS is no where near 403. Its 462 and 467.

The Laird B4505C and it sub-models (BB4505CR and B4505CR) are non-tunable, pre-factory tuned antennas. If you recall from my Gain and SWR thread, I mentioned that some antennas are not designed to be tuned by the user. You need to read the product manuals for tuning instructions. In this case, you would have had to looked at relocating the antenna or checking for damage. Tuning isn't an option for you. Unfortunately, that antenna is likely toast. Even if you get a replacement whip, the chances of getting it within spec is almost zero. The whip being 0.5mm too high or too low could cause issues. I would recommend buying another antenna.

@Lscott... There is a Hobby lobby near my house that was/is using MURS channels. I can hear them at my house, 11+ miles away. No way are they running legit power or equipment. Many businesses are doing the same thing on the FRS/GMRS frequencies around me, too. It's mind-blowing that the mall has an ERP of 70 watts. What on earth could they need that kind of power for? Around here, I can talk 10+ miles, full quiet with 2 watts on a 50' mast.

I have a set of Motorola radios I use with the family, and occasionally for outdoor stuff. I drive around with them on once in awhile too. I hear people (mostly businesses) using them pretty regularly.

Yep.. I used to go to Thompson Raceway Park every year for a drag race called the Buckeye Brawl. Takes about 5.5-6.5 hours to get there depending on traffic and weather. Nothing like driving a 10" pro-street race car 800 miles round trip.

I'm a computer scientist and communications engineer. That last thing I want to do is more digital when I'm out of work. I have a WinLink account that I have never used. No FT8, no FLDIGI, no DMR. I love warm analog static. LoL Besides, face to face to enjoy company... not to talk shop. Familiar subjects just helps get the convos started.

I forgot to post these after I took the picture. Keep in mind, for the sake of this topic... this is not very portable @ 67lbs. http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/HAM-GMRS/20200723_190831.jpg http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/HAM-GMRS/20200723_190844.jpg

Fantastic. I appreciate the lead. I will check them out.

I just checked them out.. wow, their warranty is great. 11 years on the 100 ah deep cycle. But its almost $1,000. I may go this route if the solar system I have will charge it... but I'll be crying the whole time. LoL

This is great advice. I would love to get an LFP and it may be next battery. My system primarily runs off of the solar panels and the battery is there to handle heavy draw spikes when I need to use the amp. I think I need a different solar system to switch to LFP.

Duracell. I'll share a picture tonight.

25-35 ah battery will give you hours of 50w use. If you go 5w or 15w, you can use a smaller 10-15 ah battery and still run for several hours. I have a 100 ah SLA AGP battery that I can run a 100w radio for 11-12 hours at 50% duty cycle. My battery weighs almost 70lbs, so unless you need it, I wouldn't go that large at all.