marcspaz

Check out the equipment reviews threads. Lots of good info. Best bet will be a part 90 radio. Many here have had good luck with them, compared to the newer GMRS specific radios.

Talking about running low power... I have found that the distance coverage for usable comms is near unchanged, going from 5 watts to 40 or 50. Typically 1 s unit or less. I almost always just run 1 watt unless I am working a repeater that is more than 10 miles away or deaf.

You are good to go with the antenna. Its pre-tuned. Just be sure the negative side is properly grounded, add a ground strap from the hood to the top of the inner fender and the common ground under the hood or the negative side of the battery. You will see improvements with CB performance, too.

If they do that, I would buy one in a heartbeat. EDIT: Well, after the beta group helps work the bugs out and they release version 2.0. LOL

You hit on some very good points. I always say each band/service has its purpose. If I am talking close proximity while Oscar Mike and don't need/want my signal circling the globe, UHF is perfect. VHF can be good for local. Around here I get between 9 and 15 miles on simplex with just 5 watts on 2m. I get about 35 miles on 10m and 100 watts. Then when I need state/regional... 60m or 75m NVIS. Around the country and/or global, 20m and 40m. That is the very reason I tell people that Amateur Radio is the best all-around solution. We have an option for every type of comms needed. I mostly use CB and GMRS for comms compatibility with friends who are not Hams. I helped get my friends GMRS and CB stuff setup. I personally have a Galaxy DX 959 and a 1/4 wave steel whip. We all spent time grounding all the body panels, antenna mounts, etc., to get max performance. I can talk 8+ miles on AM almost no matter what. On SSB I am talking 16+ miles reliably... 22-24 miles regularly (squelch wide open and 21 or 22 signal report). Originally, we were comparing CB and GMRS. Bringing Amateur Radio into the mix, I fully agree with you, 40m is outstanding for long range comms. I was on 40m while driving around in my Jeep last night. There was a contest going on and I could here people from Virginia, as well as coast to coast. I even talked to a guy in Berlin (DK7YY) while driving around. Some of the folks in Cali where kind of quiet, though. Going back to OP's statement about GMRS being better for trail riding... I think its all opinion based. While I like the range of CB better, I like the audio quality of UHF FM and extremely low height of GMRS antennas. I'm less likely to snap an antenna. Anyway, I don't really believe in better or best. I just believe in the right tool for the job. That is why, in my Jeep, I can work 80m/75m, 60m, 40m, 20m, 11m, 10m, 6m, 2m, 70cm, and GMRS. No matter what needs to happen, I got it covered. ;-)

Yes... yes it is.

Still no wideband. Still no split tones. I don't expect that to change anytime soon. Just an assumption on my part, but I think the target market for their GMRS products are non-tech people who want an OTC product that works out of the box with no special knowledge or prep.

Agreed. I only say that I agree that is a family oriented service because family comms are the most common uses. Especially because of the FRS overlap. It's kind of like saying automobiles are commuter tools. Its the most common use, but there are lots of other uses. For instance, my car is a portable power supply for my radios. LOL Not many people know what the origin of being a Ham (or ham fisted) comes from. It's kind of a funny story about people being snobbish. LOL CW folk (and most Hams) wear it as a badge of honor.

I agree to a certain degree, focusing exclusively on mobile comms, if we take repeaters out of the mix. My own opinion... CB is a much better stand-alone (peer-to-peer) radio service. In a mobile application, with 12.5 watts on SSB, I can talk 8x further than simplex UHF using 50 watts. Also, a few times a month, skip lets me talk around the country with 4 watts on AM. I can talk to central Texas on UHF, too, but I need to be on a mountain top, using a 5 element beam and 1,500 watts. That said, if you include repeaters, UHF FM radios provide great audio quality and coverage area. Though its still only local comms.

I have used VOX on my FRS radios with an in-ear (under helmet) speaker/mic to talk to my spotter while on road course race tracks. It's good to have comms with a spotter to tell you if you have panels coming loose, high body roll (wrong suspension tuning), smoke/liquid coming from the car, missing an apex or brake zone point, etc. I also use GMRS and FRS when we go 4-wheeling, to spot drivers or to get a spot while rock crawling. Many times, the terrain we are driving through is so complex that tire placement needs to be accurate within a few inches. Drivers typically can't see the tires and rocks under the vehicle. So, they need a competent driver/spotter to provide guidance on exactly what to do with the vehicle. That is just 2 examples. The opportunities for radio to make life safer and more entertaining are endless.

Two points that have been made, that I agree with, are that GMRS is "family" radio communications (definitely not a rag-chew community) and you can't judge its success or failure by repeater use. I would like to add that, because this is a low power, line of sight service, you can't judge the popularity by who you hear... not at all. With limited exception, UHF radio waves (where GMRS lives) either leave the atmosphere or get absorbed by the ground. Where we live, the numerically subtle elevation changes are actually somewhat drastic. There can be hills and low spots that only vary 100 feet, but that variation can occur over 200 yards of road/trail distance. So we end up with a bunch of natural earth walls blocking UHF RF paths. What all this comes down to is, depending on the noise floor and your location compared to the location of the other station, you may not hear anyone more than a mile or two from you. I am just to the south of you, in Woodbridge. When I am at my house, using 40 watts, my mobile will only get about 1 mile. However, if I drive 6 houses up the street, I go up 100 feet in elevation and can talk 5 miles on simplex or 20+ miles to a repeater in Warrenton or the Alexandria repeater. All that said, I think the radio service is increasing in popularity. Many people use FRS and GMRS for outdoor activities. I spend a lot of time camping, 4-wheeling, and at car shows. Many people are moving away from CB for camping and 4-wheeling and going to GMRS. Mostly because the GMRS radio performance is much more forgiving than CB and many people can't get their CB to work more than 100-200 yards. With some of the OTC GMRS kits that come with mag mounts, its almost impossible to screw up the install and get a couple miles of range on average. In the arena of outdoor stuff like car shows, food festivals, art festivals, etc., GMRS and FRS become a great tool for family to stay in touch. My family has 3 HT's and while we are at these events, we use the radios when someone goes on a food/water run, to go look an an exhibit without the whole group, as well as commuting to the location, allowing us to find each other to all meet back up. So, I think it is popular and gaining popularity. Just remember, use the right service for the desired purpose.

Diamond X200a.

I thought about that, too. One of the biggest things stopping me is there is no information on how big the center hole is. I need something that accommodates a 2" mast base. I can always reach out to the sellers. Just haven't yet.

I was thinking about getting one of the tripods with a 8 foot base and 5 feet high... but $200 vs the $25 for the 3 footer I have. Man.

I don't think it's going to work, regardless of where the antenna is in the house. Around here my handheld only gets out about 1 mile on average. On a great day, I'll have splashy comms at about 2.5 miles... but that is purely outdoors with minimal obstructions or elevation changes. The reason the repeater is working for you is because its using a great antenna on the roof of a building that is close to 100' above the ground. Have you done any testing yet?

I have a few questions. Are you trying to get coverage from building to building, specifically or are you looking to get coverage on the ride to/from home? Is she using a mobile or handheld? If she is using a handheld in he building, what floor is she on? Where she works... are there buildings visually blocking the path to the house? What is the elevation of the two locations. I live in Woodbridge and commute to DC on occasion. The RF noise levels are very high in our area and the radically changing elevations as we make our way north/south makes continuous comms almost impossible on UHF while driving. Point to point fixed station requires elevation and good antenna placement.

That's a good idea. It is volunteer work and it does get expensive. I may go that route if needed. I was going to use the spikes to stop sliding side to side, but I have some notched 10 lb weights I was going to drop on each foot, to help prevent tipping. The board idea sounds good, but I will lose the ability to easily transport and setup since I am using an SUV. If I had a pickup, I would just toss it in the back.

I've seen this before. I like them, but have had trouble finding one at a reasonable price. The one I have right now is supposed to be bolted/screwed down to a building's roof. So, the footprint is very small. It's not ideal for tall setups.

Today, I put together a new portable repeater antenna setup together. I do a lot of work with Amateur Radio Emergency Service. Often, we need a repeater setup so our people can run around with HT's and still be able to communicate direct with everyone. The antenna is setup for 2m, 70cm and GMRS. In all services, the SWR is 1.2:1 or better. It's sitting on top of a fiberglass mast. The total height is 47 feet from the ground to the top of the antenna. The bottom of the antenna is 40' from the ground. My son Nick is next to it to use as a reference. I tested it out on 2m. Full quiet to another station 40 miles away, with only 5 watts. I'm pretty happy with that. On 70cm and GMRS, I was full quiet to a repeater 22 miles away with just 2 watts. I am pretty happy with this setup. I am going to be doing a training drill on March 28. We'll see how it goes. http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/HAM-GMRS/Pot_2m-440_Repeater_Antenna_2.jpg http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/HAM-GMRS/Pot_2m-440_Repeater_Antenna_3.jpg

Most coax doesn't have a minimum or minimum frequency cutoff. Almost all commercially available cable is usable from 0.3MHz to 3GHz. Some higher. Coax cable attenuation ratings are tested at 750MHz, for instance. The big things to be aware of is the conductor thickness for the power levels (not too thin), the impedance (which is not frequency specific), and the length of the cable. Most people have no idea how much matching the coax length to the wavelength (or half-wave length) impacts performance. However, most of the stuff we do in VHF and UHF, unless you are doing really high power (1,000-1,500 watts), the performance gain is negligible. It's most noticeable at the bottom end of VHF and lower. With GMRS, as long as the impedance is correct and you don't have some crazy types or numbers of adapters, you should be okay.

I laughed so loud I woke my wife up. A friend of mine was going to put one on his Range Rover. I told him to just give me the $10 and sell his radio, because the end result would be the same, only I will at least be able to get a cheeseburger and a coke. LOL

I wrote a couple of opinions about it in the reviews forum. Take a look. Not my cup of tea, performance wise. Lots of nice features, though.

You're welcome. Yes... the antenna works great for me on GMRS. At the power levels GMRS works at, any SWR 2.0 or less, you are safe. 1.5 or better, you should get good performance with minimal power loss.

http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/HAM-GMRS/X50a_462.jpg http://fiveguysracing.com/marc/HAM-GMRS/X50a_467.jpg

I have a Diamond X50a on the roof of my house. It's been up there on the original install for close to 20 years and it runs great. I'll hook up the antenna analyzer when I get home so you can see what it does on GMRS. I have a few Comet antennas for the mobile radios, but not for a base. Can't help there.