kidphc

I actually carry 2 antennas to use.  Depending on where I am, I swap them around.  I use the 6dB gain antenna when I am relatively flat areas, but if I am driving through the mountains (like when I go offroading) I use the 1/4 wave antenna.

Also if you don't want to work with hardline for 100 foot runs LMR600 can work well. Hardline is still less lossy.
Have you tried adding an extension to your mast mount? This could help with far receive. Having a good antenna helps, but uHF really likes height. Even with that said, its a matter of luck sometimes. Sounds like you were experiencing some light ducting in the early morning, that wasn't there at night.

Love this thread!

I have an 8Ft fiberglass antenna in my attic. Fortunately, I have a vent right over my ground location and it was the shortest run. Lately, everyone is trying simplex more. I can hear them but its noisy since the antenna is indoors.
i however, plan on installing a mobile antenna on the peak of the eaves of roof side. Which again would be a straight run down to the grounding point. Why is this important? Ground wiring or installations shouldn't have 90 degree bends. Plus it will reduce the cost of the install by using the shortest amount of LMR400 or Heliax, which will end up being a majority of the cost of your install.
I plan on using a mobile nmo base mount. They really are for temporary installations. The maintenance is higher, which is a problem. Why not a base vertical? 3 letters HOA. Should hide a tons better then a 1 inch round white fiberglass tube. From the front of the house it is about 54" to the installation point. So really 2 downsides. One N type connector, and maintenance up.
The  mount i plan on using. https://a.co/d/beQaNDn
This is an option as well. Do you even know if the vent pipe is steel or aluminum? If it is aluminum, not going to work. With bends in antennas, it can cause a  impedance shift at the bend throwing you out of the band you are trying to use. We often don't want bends in our antennas. You see tractors all the time with their antennas at 45 degrees, since the antenna bends when driving. They do it to keep the Swr swings  low. You are going to take a compromise antenna, and make the install a compromise, couple the metal roofs proximity and you are making another compromise.  I expect a thread on why you are only getting 1 mile on simplex at 50 watts and can't talk to a repeater without hash when it is 5 miles away.

Local repeater because of myself and Rolund (a local super user, why he's a regular on about 7-8 repeaters) pretty much have to have a Round Robin system ,since now a days our little conversations have attracted more than a handful of users.  Jokingly, said we should just assign a net controller or at least some system so we do not double as much.
FYI. Rolund has been on the Harrisburg repeaters and is a regular on the Mount Holly, Ellicott, and Towson nets.
It really depends on the repeaters and the personalities that use it. Some won't even respond unless you know them or are asking for a radio check. You get the same thing with ham repeaters.
Just keep calling out on the repeater and have conversations. You'll probably end up with some people with like minded thoughts. That is how it starts, then it goes into in person meets, and spending holidays with them...lol
Also look at the GMRS zello groups, there is someone usually looking for somebody to talk to.
 

Local repeater because of myself and Rolund (a local super user, why he's a regular on about 7-8 repeaters) pretty much have to have a Round Robin system ,since now a days our little conversations have attracted more than a handful of users.  Jokingly, said we should just assign a net controller or at least some system so we do not double as much.
FYI. Rolund has been on the Harrisburg repeaters and is a regular on the Mount Holly, Ellicott, and Towson nets.
It really depends on the repeaters and the personalities that use it. Some won't even respond unless you know them or are asking for a radio check. You get the same thing with ham repeaters.
Just keep calling out on the repeater and have conversations. You'll probably end up with some people with like minded thoughts. That is how it starts, then it goes into in person meets, and spending holidays with them...lol
Also look at the GMRS zello groups, there is someone usually looking for somebody to talk to.
 

Sometimes people do. Really depends on your local repeaters/linked repeaters.

2x24sr definitely is a very big compromise antenna. I think At mid GMRS Band around 465, it was about 2.1 SWR. The Laird 5/8 over 5/8 hasn't been cut, but by the factory cut chart 472 is right around 1.75 in its stock form. Still waiting on adapters, will take measurements later.  The Laird completely kills the Comet in everything from weight, construction, and rigidity. If you have held a 2x24 you know it is heavy antenna that feels unbalanced(like it is a sword or something) when in the hand, the Laird feels about 3x heavier.  I might get rid of the 2x24sr, because good grief the antenna is so stiff the mount is always shimmying.
Yes the Laird 5/8 is 2x-3x the cost of the Tram or its competitors. I feel it is justified. Plus the famous Laird center contact pin, no more bending tabs. Even the center pin on the Laird makes the Comet push center pin, feel like a chintzy toy out of a gumball machine.

2x24sr definitely is a very big compromise antenna. I think At mid GMRS Band around 465, it was about 2.1 SWR. The Laird 5/8 over 5/8 hasn't been cut, but by the factory cut chart 472 is right around 1.75 in its stock form. Still waiting on adapters, will take measurements later.  The Laird completely kills the Comet in everything from weight, construction, and rigidity. If you have held a 2x24 you know it is heavy antenna that feels unbalanced(like it is a sword or something) when in the hand, the Laird feels about 3x heavier.  I might get rid of the 2x24sr, because good grief the antenna is so stiff the mount is always shimmying.
Yes the Laird 5/8 is 2x-3x the cost of the Tram or its competitors. I feel it is justified. Plus the famous Laird center contact pin, no more bending tabs. Even the center pin on the Laird makes the Comet push center pin, feel like a chintzy toy out of a gumball machine.

Might be difficult to detect, given that FM itself is sort of "doppler" -- the frequency is deviating around the center (tuned) frequency to carry the voice signal.
Now... AM (old CB with a 10ft 1/4wave whip bumper mounted) I could see doppler, as the carrier frequency is moving around (along with the side bands) it would show as a tuning error. SSB it would show as a change in voice pitch (as the offset from tuned frequency determines pitch, and if the sideband is moving en-bloc, the pitch will move with it)

Sorry to hear about that misadventure with the NMO. I always remove interior lights and use inspection mirror and tiny flashlight to have a good visual of the roof crossbeams to avoid this exact scenario.

Mag mounts can work really well. I hate the rust spot it left on my Suburban after 2 months of use. Not to mention the pinched coax.
Personally, I say drill the hole. If in doubt, drill from the inside. It is harder to get accurate measurements, so it might no be centered properly but atleast you won't have my problem. I got lazy and paid for it.
If it works for you and you are ok with the compromises. Then you do you and blank out the nay sayers.

I don't believe I have ever used the "AT" option exe to change the mode. I just programmed the radio with it set through the CPS. I just updated the firmware, V1.27, and rebuilt the code plug. Nothing unusual when I programmed the radio and the code plug was built for the expanded RX and TX range. Maybe somebody else can share their experience.

This was my experience with the Anytone D578 mobile rig too; I got it because it seemed well regarded, triple band, DMR with all the bells and whistles. Everyone raves about them.
Using it on analog repeaters revealed some pretty obvious selectivity/rejection problems that the Kenwood TK790/890 setup I had in the truck did not have at all; you could hear it cut in and out with pulsing of SCADA systems on the way in to work (which are fairly low power), next to public safety vehicles, really anywhere there was any sort of remotely non-weak signal present. Packed it up and sold it it within a week and concluded I'm not a fan of the Anytones. I suspect folks like them because de-sense is not as obvious in DMR mode, but RF is RF, and you're still dependent on a receiver doing its job even if you're not directly listening to a discriminator.
Switched back to the TK790/TK890 setup, and will be adding XPR4550 to the truck for DMR and calling it good. It seems a good swiss-army knife is expensive to come by at a resonable price.

I've spent too much the last few weeks.
I located a vendor in the Netherlands that still had, or access to, the discontinued Kenwood TK-D300E radio. Just got an email from them with tracking number so it should ship today or tomorrow. With just the belt clip and radio core, both new, cost me 271 Euro's with tax and shipping. That now gives me two, one used and a new radio.
https://www.kenwood.eu/files/file/comms/uk/brochures/nx/TK-D200_D300_V4.1.pdf
Then just a day ago a seller on eBay has a complete kit, radio, battery pack, charger base, antenna etc., all NEW for a TK-5320 FM/P25 radio with the 400MHz to 470MHz band split.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/275450179209?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=sUiBWWytRDK&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=j_t98fioS_6&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
https://comms.kenwood.com/common/pdf/download/TK-5220_5320_Specsheet.pdf
The price was $250 total with free shipping. Knowing what stupid high prices used P25 radios run I purchased one, the price was way too good. That gives me three of these in my collection now. Still looking for a second VHF version, TK-5220, that the seller isn't trying to rape you on price. The VHF stuff sells for significantly more than the UHF gear.

APX 7500/700 series came in 2 bands depending on how it was ordered. Any of the 2 bands could be in the radio, including UHFR1 and UHFR2 (I have a mobile like this). Our SAR team ordered them with VHF/UHFR1 in the past. 
APX8500/8000 series can be purchased in all bands. 
All depends on flash code in radio. APX8K series can be upgraded to add bands not ordered originally but the flash is not cheap. The 7K series was a board swap and is not supported any longer in terms of upgrades of band changes. What you buy is what you get in that regard. 

Well, I've managed to get some successful spots on the map with aprsdroid on an old cellphone (no sim, wifi off), mobilinkd tnc3, and a uv5r...if that helps at all

On my Alinco, analog APRS positions are sent either at the beginning or end of PTT or at periodic intervals.  I had it set to report periodically on 144.390, regardless of the channel I’m using.  It seems to work just fine and I can see my history on APRS.FI.

Not Annapolis Roland... but the other one. Haven't talked to him

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I don't care about girlfriends cheating and don't see how that pertains to this.  I do appreciate the constructive advice though and will do my best to be a good boy in the GMRS world.  Thanks for helping a newbie, seriously.

The buddy in Annapolis and I talk on wheaton every night around 6. Keeps me company on my commute home. Roland2 is a bit worried about Roland1 (back in the hospital for complications after recovering form Covid).

I thought you were suppose to meet up with M.W. about bull run. /shrug.

Ashburn would be an incredible location. I hope this pans out.

The Baltimore guys are hosting a meet and greet. I imagine M.W. will be there and so will Roland (keeps reminding me about it). I am going to try to make it.

Gmrs meet up american legion post 109 butus md. 1:30-4:30

It wasn't me talking about shakes....lol

Maybe we can meet on air. Wheaton makes it to Annadale. My mobile to Wheaton not so much. So it will be tough since we are just a hair apart. Might be able to do it on 2m repeater. Gmrs is not as good setup mobile or base. Base in Rockville is a 20g (20w) using a n9tax slim jim converted to blade antenna mounted 2 stories up in the house. Ok, but nothing like the x200 another 10 feet up in the attic.

Sorry to all for the cryptic message. It is to respect the repeater owner. None of us want to get on his bad side. If you access any of the repeaters for a month you will understand.

×** if you want access pass us info privately. We will be more then happy to pass it on. He does check on you (license etc. And monitors the repeaters. Plus if you are an ass in the air we will tell him.

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You can look here at this site. Has a load of useful info on the D878 and its derivatives.
http://members.optuszoo.com.au/jason.reilly1/868mods.htm

I know who you are talking about for the most part. Didn't know this area was so saturated. I am not talking about parrot repeaters and little home grown systems. Some of the stuff around here put well funded amateur setup to shame in the same respects they are at lmr commercial setup levels and locations. I use to be a big 2m repeater fan due to coverage. Shock more and more everyday with what gmrs can do.

I think part of the problem. Is that they need to be published and easier to find.

Finally, got the coveted list from no other then M.W. Now I want to cry. I thought this area was devoid of anything but react repeater. Which turn out are his, several of many repeaters!?

Do we have perfect coverage no. Still some holes. In his plans from what I get, aka remote recievers. Linking, in his wish list, technical problems, ie is etc.

I still firmly believe publishing and actual coverage areas are part of the problem.

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This might help a bit to decipher between 868 and 878. I always thought the 878 was the successor to the 868.




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I know who you are talking about for the most part. Didn't know this area was so saturated. I am not talking about parrot repeaters and little home grown systems. Some of the stuff around here put well funded amateur setup to shame in the same respects they are at lmr commercial setup levels and locations. I use to be a big 2m repeater fan due to coverage. Shock more and more everyday with what gmrs can do.

I think part of the problem. Is that they need to be published and easier to find.

Finally, got the coveted list from no other then M.W. Now I want to cry. I thought this area was devoid of anything but react repeater. Which turn out are his, several of many repeaters!?

Do we have perfect coverage no. Still some holes. In his plans from what I get, aka remote recievers. Linking, in his wish list, technical problems, ie is etc.

I still firmly believe publishing and actual coverage areas are part of the problem.

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