marcspaz

I can't help you very much on your specific case, but I would like to provide a little feedback on radios and duty cycle. There is a common misconception that you can take a transmitter and run it at a fraction of its rated output power and get a higher or 100% duty cycle. This is false and you may break your radio. It is true that you will be able to get a higher duty cycle out of the PA(s), but if the entire radio isn't designed for repeater use and 100% duty cycle at some power level, it's going to be a bad choice. Whatever you end up doing, verify the duty cycle with the manufacturer.

Good deal... it's a heck of a performer. You're going to like the coverage you get out of it.

I don't have any specific recommendations. I don't operate QRP, though some of my friends and fellow club members do. I have been out in the mountains with them while operating and it it amazing to see how well they get their stuff to work. I would recommend finding a group or forum the specializes in QRP. That would be a much better resource of information. I suggested 40 meter because most people can/will only have one device. 40 meter is global comms day or night, while compared to other bands, such as 20 that works best during the day and possibly not at all at night... or 80m which works the best at night, but possibly not at all during the day. You can get much better efficiency and a smaller antenna with 20m, but you risk not having night time comms.

Great points! I forgot to mention that most of my VHF DX stuff is upper side band. Its a great mode. The transceivers don't run as hot, have a higher duty cycle and are much more efficient than FM or AM.

Hmm. That's less than ideal, isn't it.

There is a tremendous amount of benefits with Amateur Radio vs. GMRS. First, lets just talk about voice. On GMRS simplex, the absolute very best you can expect from a perfect setup, is going to be about 70 miles. Likely less. That would be mobile or base. With Amateur Radio VHF and UHF, the power limits are 1500 watts with no radiated power restrictions. That means with a little elevation, you are talking coast to coast on the higher portions of VHF and the lower portions of UHF. On the lower portions of VHF, you can talk to Europe, Mediterranean, Northern Africa, etc. Even in my mobile, I can talk to NY from Virginia on VHF simplex. With things other than voice... there is no limit to what you can do beyond no encryption. If you can dream it, you can do it on amateur radio. There is APRS, which provides transceiver location services. There FLDigi which is used for texting and simple messaging. There is WinLink which is a 100% radio-based email service that allows you to email other operators as well as people on the public internet. And much, much more. The benefit of HF and MF is, the ease of global comms as you drop in frequency. I was driving around in my Jeep today on an HF frequency that Tech license holders have access to. I talked to people in 3 different countries on 2 different continents with a simple 100 watt mobile radio and a whip antenna. It's really a lot of fun. As far as a base station goes, I don't use mobile radios for base a station. I have base station radios that I use for VHF, and a VHF/UHF repeater. I talk on VHF on the base for several hours a week, sitting in my executive desk chair. As far as the quality of conversation... I can't really say much about that. I would assume there are plenty of people to talk to without getting into religion, politics, etc. I avoid them like the plague. With regard to if it's worth it... that is a personal choice that each person needs to decide for themselves. I think it is. I held my Tech license for 17+ years before I got my General and had a great time. I also think the GMRS and FRS are great radio service and fill a nice niche.

Good point... LoL

Its unlikely flashing existing hardware will be an option. The electronic components used to make filters are designed for narrow use and may not be tuned properly for just a reflash. Think of it like a car on the highway. If you have a car that can travel at 200mph and the speed limit is raised to 200mph, you're good to go. However, if your car has a top speed of 80... it doesn't matter how high the speed limit is. You would have to re-engineer the car to go faster.

There is something called the Open Repeater Initiative or OPI. It uses 462.675 with a CTCSS Tone of 141.3Hz. The frequency was selected by a group of Repeater owners who wanted to create a standard for travelers to be able to have easy access to repeater while on the road, without having to search for a repeater or ask for permission to use it. The 141.3 tone was also selected as the "travel tone" standard. Scanning the frequencies is okay, but you may only talk for a couple of miles. Using open repeaters with "traveler" settings gives you a chance to reach the greatest number of operators for more distance and time.

That is a huge step in the wrong direction, IMHO. We need FRS & GMRS to stop sharing frequencies. Let FRS be low power narrow band and give GMRS operators more wideband frequencies. I'm tired of sharing the channels with 4 and 5 year old kids screaming at their cousin who is only 30 feet away, about how much they love play dough.

LoL yea, looks that way. With what I do for a living, I actually type truncated a lot (talking about log files, databases, etc.). My phone constantly changes correctly spelled words to other words it thinks I mean. I dont proofread enough and I keep sending messages I don't mean. An example.. a friend asked me if I wanted to buy a bicycle he was selling. I replied that I was to fat to ride a bike, but my phone changed it to I was to gay to ride a bike. Needless to say, my friend was very confused.

Many fire and police in the US are on trunked digital systems that are encrypted. There are very few that are using analog radios and that traffic is usually chatter. Nothing worth listening to.

This is not directed at you, but I would like to use your post as an opportunity to make a relevant comment... There is an old saying... it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

If someone comes in and acts like they are owed help, while chastising people for not giving them enough help. That, in my opinion, is a snooty entitlement attitude.

I am starting to think we have a troll.

But we are no longer talking about GMRS... we are way outside of the scope of the purpose of the forum. It just so happens that some of us have experience outside of GMRS, so we may be able to help with other stuff. And honestly... I just have general ideas. I still need to get on Google myself, so I can make some specific recommendation. It seems reasonable that if I have to use Google, than maybe I just point you in the right direction and then you do some research. Why should we do all the work for you just because you are new to this. Just because some of us are kind and want to help, that doesn't mean we owe you anything. You will have to do the work. Having a snooty entitlement attitude isn't going to get anyone anything except for ignored, IMHO.

Richard made a great recommendation above with the Sat phone. That is really the best bet for coms. I didn't think of it because it is very expensive and requires you to have an account. I default to HF radio because that's what I do, its cheap and doesn't require paying for an ongoing service. But, if you have the funds... Sat coms is likely the best solution. The Amateur Radio community considers anything 150 watts and down to be low power. Saying you have or should use a low power radio can be misleading due to that. QRP is Ham lingo that is typically used to abbreviate the point that you are using low power to communicate, but typically 5 watts or less. An affordable example of a radio would be a XIEGU G1M HF radio. Also, kits are available from companies like QRP Labs. You can make your own end-fed wire antenna for a couple of dollars. Or a dipole. There are a ton of video tutorials on YouTube that show you how. For a battery... a small 12.5v lithium ion or gel cell should be fine. they are between 50%-60% lighter than lead acid batteries. The lighter the better.

Get your Ham license and buy a 7 MHz (40 meter) HF QRP radio, a small 35 ah battery, a folding or rollable solar charger (optional) make a wire antenna you can toss up in the trees. Call Mayday. No one local will hear you, but many people throughout the nation will and you can ask for help. I have had someone give me grief about this in the past, saying it doesn't do any good to talk to someone on the radio who is 3 states away and my response is always the same.... if I'm stranded in the mountains of Virginia, someone in Georgia, Maine or California can call 911 just as easily as someone in a nearby town.

In your case of emergency communications while hiking... unless you are at a mountain/hill top, no one is going to hear you more than a few hundred yards in some cases. 1 to 2 miles best case. That includes repeaters. In the general population of non-radio tech people, there is a huge misunderstanding about how radios work. In the mountains, FRS and GMRS are better than nothing, but there are much better solutions. That said, if you get to a mountain or hill top, depending on the rest of the terrain, you can possibly get 10-15 miles of coverage. They are good for keeping in touch while camping, of course keeping terrain in mind, since it is a line of sight service.

The entire mast is made out of fiberglass. The antenna is a small metal wire inside of a 10 foot fiberglass pole, too. Lightning looks for the path of least resistance. Compared to a nearby tree or a metal mast and wire guys, my antenna system is more isolated from ground. Therefore less likely to take a direct hit.

The repeater outputs are on the simplex frequencies. You can talk on any frequency your license covers, regardless of if a repeater nearby shares that frequency. Additionally, you don't 'always' need the owner's permission to use a repeater. While all repeaters are privately owned, many owners will allow any licensed user to use it. I would recommend making a best effort to contact the owner and ask. Sometimes, I have actually hailed the owner on the repeater.

That is a very nice thing to say. I appreciate it.. but you did all the work and figured everything out. I just shared some personal experience. Btw... I had a great time talking with you through all of that. I am very glad it finally all came together.

G.... it was a joke. LoL I could be wrong, but I think the only SMA antenna mount is on an HT.

Agreed... SMA would be my preferred connectors

Well... other than a spherical pattern. You can have apparent gain in 360 degrees around the radiation element vertical axis, but only 60 degrees wide on its horizontal axis, for example (using horizontal and vertical for the non-tech folks).