kidphc

A lot of ghost/stubby antennas are loaded coils. So efrectively more coil than antenna. All the ones I were looking at where essential 5/8ths antennas and the gains would match with a standard 5/8 coil nmo antenna with appropriate matching assembly. Funny enough they are almost the same size. The ghost antennas were a tad shorter. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I usually put the loop at the lowest point before entry into the house as a drip point. Outside that pretty well covered. Good catch I neglected feed line loss without some swr and power level readings it could be very well be part of the problem. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Outside of clearing the trees. You could try a quality yagi and rotator. You will be giving up omni directional gain for a concentrated beam gain. So much so it's often worth putting a yagi up with an omni directional antenna above it. 2x coax and a switch at the bottom in the shack. Unfortunately, not many remote switches for gmrs frequencies. The beam will also act as a groundplane for the omni when done right. The pine trees will still hamper things. Another thing to try is a pre-amp. Not sure why you can get hin with your hand set but not the base. Should be the other way around. I mean you are on the ground with the hand sets. Something isn't right with your base by the sounds of it. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

It is really no different then cb. Just really the wavelengths. Hence why we jokingly call it uhf cb. Hopefully, it doesn't get as bad. Yes you can mount two gmrs antennas on the same plane. I would recommend unplugging (antenna port on radio) / turning one off when the other is in use. Rf will still leak into the other radio's finals. 11m/cb is not a damaging harmonic (not even sure if it a harmonic, to lazy to check) of 2m/70/gmrs. As long as the antennas aren't too close shouldn't be a problem. My 11/10m antenna is on the rear hatch (driver side of hatch). The 2m/70cm on the hood and the gmrs on the center rear hatch about 3 ft from the cb antenna. Never had problems with it even when using 10m at 50w. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Randy do you have a term for a salty GMRS user.? Way too many coming out of the woodwork nowadays. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Military use it to give a signal report. Or the pilot on the drop ship says it to let you they are in the pipe and have a nominal profile. [emoji854] Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I should add I have a ham radio with the antenna mounted almost in front of the driver on a hood hinge mount. The other antenna for gmrs is about 9" in front of the rear hatch on the roof. Roughly about 6 feet of separation and not even on the same plane. Welp, I have blasted the ham radio with the gmrs radio and vice versa, remember 70cm is real close but far also from gmrs frequencies. The Yaesu xtm400 (ham on fender) doesn't seem to care when I use the 70cm portion on the Motorola xtl5k (gmrs and ham p25). But the other way around the Motorola gets pissed (overloaded). It seems the Motorola is a lot more sensitive than the Yaesu. So normally I shut down the Xtm400 when using the Motorola and vice versa. Makes sense to me about the sensitivity. I mean new the Xtl5k were like $3k new and the Yaseu was about $500 new. Curious to see if the Harris 100m is going to be the same situation. Especially, since the harris will be on a triplexer with 3 different antennas. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Yes, it could. Especially, if the frequencies in use overlap or are harmonics. Even if they aren't overlapping or harmonics of the same frequency, the fact they are close to each other will effect performance. Rule of thumb is try to keep separation of antennas at least one wavelength apart of the lowest. You won't really know the effects till you try. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Illegally yes. Unlike ham, gmrs repeater pairs are channelized and the repeater pairs are pre-assigned. This includes input and output frequencies on gmrs. Someone tried it locally by reversing a repeater pair. Which on gmrs is illegal. You can, run into a host of issues. One of the big ones is looping between the 2 repeaters, until one times out or burns up. Whole host of reasons not to. Usually, easy fix is get the antenna about 100 feet up in the air (tower, tree, building) clear of obstruction. Then you'll average 12-18 miles of foot print (give or take 35 watts). Of course, mileage will vary with terrain and with repeater wattage/equipment. May I ask what spurred this thought process? Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Use the equipment regularly. That way you will understand what works and doesn't work. Watch videos/research on questions that may arise as you use the gear. Rinse and repeat. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Good to know Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Yes aluminum will work as a ground plane. Just not with a magnetic nmo. The foil is non ferrous so the magnetic nmo won't adhere thus no real capacitance. There are plenty of guys running around with drill through nmo mounts on aluminum surfaces. Hell alot of antennas are actually made with aluminum. Most common being tv antennas. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

If you could get the repeater high up and close to the edge of your coverage, then you could theoretically double your range. As far as the second question. No. Anyone with a scanner can find you. Anyone with a frequency counter, sdr or just plain radio could find the repeater. Any radio that could listen to the frequency (has it in its frequency range) with a tone decoder. Could decode the pl.. You want privacy and encryption. The commercial license and setup are probably going to do what you want. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

If there was no squelch any channel without a tone would stay open. Then scan would be useless. Again it is probably the s9.. turn it down to s1 and see if the frequency stays open. EDIT: Just saw a clip on the 575.. squelch only shows s9. Then you can set squelch. Maybe the new 275s have newer firmware that mimic the 575. 6min 20 seconds in. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Don't have the radio. But I am going to infer that "s9" = squelch is set to 9 out of 10. Hopefully, someone with the radio can confirm. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Aliexpress and one other store are the official ones if that matters. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Have you thought about hatch or hood mounts. Or the wanna be... high clearance bumper with antenna mounts.... Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

That laird is pretty short antenna, is it any of it viewable above the basket? If anything the basket is probably causing some screwy swr and radiation patterns. Hence, why I have been eyeballing low profile flat racks or just ditching my roof rack on the landcruiser. From some anecdotal, both by the butt meter and nano vna, testing I did with 1/4 waves and such even when I had a z71 suburban, the big boy roof rack played havoc on shorter antennas. If they are mag mounts try to keep about 6-10 of roof underneath the antenna and recheck swr. Then bring it closer to the roof rack you should also try making contacts. The roof rack or other accesories close by will give you grief. If you can clear these obstacles you probably will get better performance. One landcruiser, owner on expedition portal had a rack made. Company became prinsu, but either case he had it made with ears on the back that were also a bit folded. To mount two 1/4 wave antennas. What he failed to mention is that he had to strap (ground straps) parts of the rack to the interior roof to main continuity between the rack and roof (improving his ground plane). The ground plane size and shape can and will affect performance. In your case I don't think it is a ground plane issue, but more helps to a degree. I believe you are seeing these results due to where the antennas sit in relation to the basket. I also think you should mount them to the hood and double check swr numbers to make sure all is good. Another note paint types for antennas are really going to matter on the active element more than the ground plane. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

It means the repeater is for REACT members or they are the primary users of said repeater. Radio Emergency Associated Communications Team. Here is a link to a local REACT group near me. In my county they use CERT teams. https://www.howardcountyreact.org/]https://www.howardcountyreact.org/[/url https://montgomerycert.org/] Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Do you guys have a business radio license, much less really need dmr? I imagining yes, since it is a security team you guys probably also want encryption, which is legal with the business radio license. This radio unfortunately does not have encryption that I can see, so nix that comment. Being kenwoods they are probably pretty decent. Maybe lscott can chime in since he is a kenwood fan. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

You got a pm. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

NX-5600HB Is that the one that was for the CHP? I thought California patrol pulled out of that and Kenwood nixed the project. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Thank you. But beyond my current knowledge scope. I have a few guys looking at options. So if we figure it out, I will pass it on. Unfortunately, there are no p25 low vhf band options. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Tell me if you find a suitable amp.. since that .09 watts of output make it pretty difficult. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I haven't had to. But regularly follow AARL wilderness protocols when out in the woods. Especially, around George Washington National Park in Wva. Dad lives close by and if you aren't right by a town, you often don't have cell service. Really wish all radios followed NEMEA standards for GPS data. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk