marcspaz

All repeaters are privately owned. The only way to know for sure if you must ask for permission to use it or not, is to find the owner and ask. Some owners use sites such as this one to do unofficial coordination, to notify licensed operators what the purpose and the status of the repeater is. However, not all owners do. Your best bet would be to listen for a license ID to be transmitted or try calling the owner of the repeater on the simplex (input) frequency. Not sure why there is so much traffic on that frequency in your area. The only channel that I am aware of that has nationwide recognition is 20. I believe it is called the Open Repeater Initiative. You put your radio on repeater pair 20 with a standardized "travel tone" and as you travel around, you can use the repeaters that are using that combination.

I bought all of my working gear from Motorola. The first round of hardware came from Amazon, and I think they were counterfeit. https://midlandusa.com/product/micromobile-mxta11-6db-gain-antenna/

I forgot to mention; don't trust your SWR meter when you take readings at the radio. All that tells you is the circuit is balanced, not how well your antenna is tuned. This isn't an "I think" situation where I am applying theory and got lucky. I am using a $600 antenna analyzer to tune the antenna to a 1:1 match on 27.185 MHz. Just the mount and a straight 102" whip has a 2.8:1 match and a 108" antenna has a 2.1:1 match on the same frequency. I verified my analyzer against another operator's analyzer... getting the same results. I have personally done the same setup on 3 other vehicles other than my own, with the same results.

Okay... so, here is the dirt. Most antenna makers use the wrong velocity factor when calculating antenna length. They calculate it like a cable, which is totally wrong. Most makers either make a 102" whip or they load it like a 102" whip (Wilson 1000, Wilson 5000, 4' Firestick, etc.) The proper length for a 1/4 wave antenna is 114 inches. A few companies (such as MFJ) make a 108" whip, which if used with 4" spring and a 1" tall heavy duty stud mount gets you to 113", which is still an inch too short. It is really close, though. Also, when you install an antenna, you need the antenna to be as high as possible. The roof is preferred. Keep in mind, the lower the antenna, the more the body of the vehicle is shielding / absorbing the radio signal. If you have a van or SUV and you do a bumper mount, your antenna is worthless. Antenna cable length is also critical. Don't use small cable. An 18' RG58 cable with 259 connectors will give you the best performance. The best results I have acquired while stationary, is using a bracket at the top of the body tub, a Wilson heavy duty mount (stud), a Wilson 10" antenna extension (actually measures 12") and a 102" MFJ whip. When my SWR is properly set, the total antenna length is 113.75" AND above the body of the vehicle. I am using a Galaxy CB, which is the best in the industry as far as I can tell. I am able to talk 25+ miles with 1.5 watts dead-key, 2.5 watts modulated RMS. When skip is active, I can talk to Huston Texas. Now, here is the problem. The whip is terrible when your moving. The wind blows the antenna on a serious arc. Whatever is in front of you will be able to hear you very well and for a long distance because the antenna is bowed so the signal is directional. However, no one behind you is going to hear you because on the back side the antenna is point to the ground, right behind your vehicle. So, when you are on the move, the Firestick is your best bet for omni-directional comms. So, when I am driving, I use the 4' Firestick because it has 102" of wire wrapped around it. I take the Wilson heavy duty mount (stud), a Wilson 10" antenna extension (actually measures 12") and a 4' Firestick, and still talk about 18 to 20 miles. When skip rolls in, I can still talk to Flyin' J's just south of Huston. Just to let you know how good my setup is... completely stock, I get the same range out of it as 2 friends of mine using tuned CB's and a 450+ watt HF amps. Also, the rubber cap on the Firestick throws the match off. Just leave the cap off. Don't fall for the marketing hype.

I have 3 of the Motorola 6DB gain antenna's on 3 MXT400's in 3 different trucks... all the best performers of all the antenna's I have tried. I have been through 4 different ones as well. The 1/4 wave is also a great choice, but the Motorola 6DB just works better for me.

I think it was a bad mistake. Little kids and their families use these frequencies and all I hear from 7am to 7pm are flaggers at a near by construction site using profanity non-stop all day long. One dude literally uses more curse words per sentence than not. Every sentence starts and ends with an f-bomb. I'm so tired of hearing it. AND... there is no way the are compliant as far as radios go. They are 5 miles from me as the crow flies and they are using handhelds. I've been thinking about going over there to get the company name, take some pics, and do a little radiogate to send to the FCC.

Holy crap! I saw that video a while back. That was an amazing recovery.

That's a sharp ride!

The people I was talking to advised me that my signal and audio levels would drop lower after or during the first word. One person told me that before I would even talk, his radio would read 5 s units, and then instantly drop to 4 s units before I would talk.

Oh, wow... that is a huge difference. Basically everything is grounded separately. I didn't think it would be a ground loop after discovering is coming in over the antenna like recieved signals, not over the power lines. Also I had a battery go tango uniform while winching. I figured I stressed my alternator. I really think it's either this specific installation or the radio. I have had 3 other am hf radios in it, including a current dedicated 10m am rig currently installed, and it doesn't happen on any other radio.

Still haven't fixed it. I think I need a big cap on my alternator or I need to have the alternator rebuilt/replaced.

Wow! That looks great and is one heck of a deal! Congrats! Looking forward to seeing the new thread. It was based on signal reports from other stations. As soon as I got the reports, since the radio was nice and cool, I automatically assumed line voltage drop would be the most likely problem. The next thing I would have looked for was SWR (bad antenna ground, etc.). Going back a bit more than 20 years ago, I worked in radiotelegraph. RFI is most frequently caused by either proximity to the antenna being too close, bad RF shielding on the transmission line or improper output grounding. That is not exclusive, but frequent.

I'm so jealous. I was just looking at the FT-857D... but good grief, that is expensive for a mobile. Please let me know how you like it. Especially if you do the MARS/CAP mod. I may pick one up in a couple of months.

I ran a 4 gauge line from the battery, through a 100 am circuit breaker. Then connected it to a 100 amp circuit block, with each fuse bus being rated for 30 amps. From the fuse bus block, I ran 14 gauge. All bolt down except for the fuse itself. I think I should have run 12 gauge, and then I wouldn't see any drop. Its all run through the interior and don't feel like pulling it all apart. Too much work. LOL

If you are new to radio, hopefully this will be helpful information for getting the most out of your radio. Normally, when I install a radio in one of my vehicles, I cut off all the connectors and run my own lines from the battery to the radio. Occasionally, my GMRS radio gets moves between 2 vehicles, so I left the factory T connector on it. Turns out, that was a big mistake for performance. I had a few people tell me that my signal would be very good for a second and then rapidly drop to a weak signal. I ran a field strength test and the voltage would peak at 77.5 V/m on initial key, and almost instantly drop to 65.7 V/m. That is a huge drop. Knowing what to look for, I measured the power from the battery on the cold side of the T connector and it was 14.0v while on stand-by. However, when I key up, the voltage dropped to 12.4v. A couple of times, it dropped to 12.1v. On the hot side of the connector, there was only 0.25v drop on key-up. I cut the T connector off and soldered in some Power Pole connectors, which have more surface area and much higher spring tension. Now, I only have 0.25v drop on the input of the radio and my field strength is holding steady at 77.5 V/m while transmitting. To give you an idea of how much drop that is in usable power, it is the equivalent of changing your antenna feed from about 37 watts to 50 watts (assuming an antenna with no gain and 100% antenna efficiency). So, if you want to get the most out of your radio, ditch your glass fuses (weak squeeze connector) for a blade fuse and replace your factory T connector with either a fully soldered connection or a high quality Power Pole style connector. Note: I could resolve the 0.25v drop if I run a larger diameter power and ground cables... but it's not worth the effort for my application. Hope this helps.

LMRS will never go away... ever. As good as trunked networks, WebEOC and FirstNet are, they will never be reliable because they are all reliant on a single massive infrastructure to exist and be configured correctly to work. Anyone who has ever worked a true SHTF mass casualty, mass municipality response, knows that NONE of those networks work in the affected area. LMRS only requires that an EMP or Nuke hasn't gone off near unprotected radios, and you're moving voice, video and data around the world.

The purpose of Digital Private Line (DPL Tone) is so many "user groups" can share the same channel without causing harmful interference to each other. The technology is extremely proficient at its intended purpose. The radio still receives a signal from a radio that doesn't have a matching sub-tone. The radio just discriminates between received signals and only opens the squelch when your selected code is detected. You can literally have 280 groups on one channel, all having different conversations, and not interfering with each other. Go to a major public event (like a Boy Scout Jamboree) and suddenly, 22 channels is no where near enough. Enter DPL on a modern FRS/GMRS combo radio and now you have the ability to have the equivalent of 6,160 channels. Even at a major event, the likelihood of interference due to things like splash, inter-modulation, etc, is almost zero. Especially when you are only using 0.5 watts of power. I see your point, I just disagree. "Familiar" and "intuitive" are words used to describe ease of ability to naturally understand how something works. That understanding ONLY comes with experience and repetition. No one is born familiar with anything and no one is born "intuitively" knowing how to do anything but suck and poop. Everything else is a learn skill. I already answered that question above (my first 2 paragraphs in this post) How you handle any harmful interference you may cause is up to you. If you don't want to use DPL.... don't use DPL. By no means is the feature "ruining" the radio service. It is extremely beneficial to the radio community and has been for 70 years.

Use of smartphones is way more complex than bubble pack radios. I know plenty of 6 year old kids that can run a smartphone like champs. Adults have no excuses. As far as FRS radio compatibility goes, 100% of all FRS radios are compatible with each other. It is mandatory per federal statute and FCC rule that all protocols must be published before use and strictly adhered to. The original set of continuous signal-controled selective signalling (aka Continuous Tone-Coded Squelch System, CTCSS, Tone Squelch) has been published since 1952 with ten code. The last revision was made in February of 1980, introducing the current 38 codes, which still includes the original ten codes from 1952. Today, you would need a working radio that is within months of being 40 years old, before your tone options start to become limited. Even a radio that is almost 70 years old, CTCSS is still compatible with a radio made today. Given FRS was not even a thing prior to 1996... there is zero compatibility issues with any FRS radios from brand to brand and model to model. Also, Continuous Digital-Coded Squelch System (aka CDCSS, DCS, sub-channels) is in the same boat. It was originally released with 38 digital signals, now has 121, including all original 38 codes.

Welcome! What kid of rock hunting do you do? Decorated (painted and hidden) or precious and semi-precious? And yes... GMRS and FRS is way better than trying to yell. BUT... my kids still tend to ignore me on the radio, too. LOL

Forgot to mention... There are very good, legacy radios that are capable of being legally used on GMRS frequencies. However, an overwhelming majority are used. You can find them in good working condition, but likely in need of some minor programing. There are several members who have posted many threads on them. I would recommend joining the forum, reading some of threads and ask questions where/when appropriate. The second generation MXT400 is a good "new" radio, in my personal opinion, compared to other "new" options on the market. However, there are some things to be aware of as far as its limits are concerned. Again, that is discussed in detail in several threads too. Keep in mind that there are two generations/revisions and the first one was lacking reliability in the opinions of many. Myself included.

I can't stress this enough... Radio is not something to do (generally speaking). Radio is a tool you integrate into other aspects of your life to either make those other activities easier, more entertaining or safer. If you are buying a radio as a source of entertainment, you are likely going to be very disappointed unless you're a ham and can find people to chat with around the world. As far as picking a base or a mobile, there are some serious restraints for UHF (GMRS/FRS/70cm Ham/etc.). One is, its a line-of-sight application. If you don't have an antenna that is at least 50 feet higher than the terrain around you... your not talking very far. 100+ would be better. Trees, buildings, hills, etc all cause interference. At ground level, you will get to the horizon line, which is about 3 or 4 miles depending on how tall you are (and what's between you and the other station). As you get higher in elevation, the better your coverage will be. If you're mobile, you can drive to an area where you can get better performance. Some examples would be, at 1200 feet I got a solid 50 miles on GMRS mobile with 40 watts, mobile to mobile. At the same elevation I can also talk to a repeater in northern Virginia with an antenna at ~980 feet, while I am in central Pennsylvania with my 40 watt mobile. Same 40 watt GMRS mobile, but on the blind side of a commercial building, I experience high static mobile to mobile. Normally I can only talk about 2.5 to 5 miles car to car. Just some food for thought. I love GMRS and really enjoy having radio comms as part of my life. I wouldn't discourage anyone from getting into the hobby. You just need to be realistic about expectations.

Welcome! FRS and GMRS is getting really popular in the east coast offroad community too. While the range is not great without elevation, the quality of UHF FM comms is top-notch. Its always good to have a common use radio for brown-fan moments. It may seem like there are not many people out there, but as a former emergency comms person, you will be pretty surprised how crowded the channels get if something goes sideways.

We do things a bit different at my house. My wife and kids ID with our license number, no special designation. We call each other by name. My kids often refer to me as "Dad" while we are talking. Just plain English, normal convos. There is no requirement to ID as anything special "per station", as all stations and users in my family are covered under that ID. So, we don't. Now, me personally, I am the exception. Likely from decades of passing formal traffic and Ham contesting with clubs. If I am talking to my family members on the radio (repeater or not) and someone calls our call sign, my family will NOT respond. Rather, they wait for me to respond. Because I am the trustee/license holder, I will reply "Calling station, this is ABCD123 actual." followed by "Go Ahead" or "You're acknowledged.", and wait for following comms. If I am the only member on the air, I only ID with the call sign. Also, when there are multiple people from the family talking, they clear a frequency with the call sign, and I will clear with the "Actual" designation.

Edit: Jones be me to it. LOL Drawback of typing on my phone instead of the PC. Just briefly, you have the transmit and receive transposed. You want the repeater to listen to 467.575 and transmit on 462.575. Radios that will use the repeater listen on the repeaters output 462.575, but shift up to 467.575 when they transmit. This is how the channel pairs are setup. Also, you will need to tune the duplexer. The band pass and band reject filters are extremely tight. You're either going to need to hire someone with the right tools to do it or spend some decent time and money buying and learning how to use a spectrum analyzer, tracking generator or VNA and some other tools. The only benefit I can think of to having the two units programmed with the same in/out values is that they can switch roles if needed. Such as if a decoder fails or a transmitter final amplifier starts to go bad, you can reverse which system does what job while waiting to do repairs. I have only worked with diplexers which are similar. Hopefully one of our other members with experience with tuning the duplexer can give e you some more refined information.

Yea, lots of vendors use it as a quick method of switching to simplex mode. I think its more of a pain than just switching to to simplex, so I don't use it.