OffRoaderX

Radios seems to attract a certain type of person, often with similar personalty defects... 

Two can be as bad as one. It's the loneliest number since the number one.

One is the loneliest number. 

50W is good, especially when you have a long-run of that leaky coax, to get more juice squirting from the antenna.
50W is also good to step on the other guy that is irritating everyone but only has 20W.. all else being equal.

Are you talking with your friends on the trail, or trying to bounce signals off the moon and talk to strangers across the planet?  

If you are using your radio for talking to your friends on the trail then SWR of 1.4 is fine and SWR of 2.4 is good enough. Stop overthinking it and just enjoy the radio.

Probably something to do with VHF propagating better/more fars than UHF and because NOAA does not care if you bought the wrong radio. I'm sure some radio-dork will chime in with a 10-paragraph explanation saying the same thing unless i'm totally wrong, in which some radio dork will chime in with a 20-paragraph explanation saying I'm wrong.

Because they know that for something as important as NOAA people will purchase the correct radios to receive them.
And, what if they DO start transmitting on UHF? - then someone will want them to transit on HF, because their HF radio can't receive them.. Then someone will want them to transmit on commercial FM, becuase their car radio can't receive them. Then someone will want them to transmit on CB, because their CB radio cant receive them.  Then someone will want them to transmit on 1.2Ghz because their cellphone cant receive them.
The more i think about it, the dumber this question gets.

If these radios are "disposable" after 3 years, I'd probably rather spend $150 versus $400 and go with a Radioddity or Btech.   In my usage the benefits of this radio are outweighed by the issues I've had with it (and its high cost).  Honestly I have used the Radioddity DB20 ($90 radio) as my "base camp" radio for a couple of years (along with a 30' mast).  It gets battered and is exposed to the elements while camped (I mag-mount it to the rear "galley" of my camp trailer exterior while camped) and it has never let me down and always works, never exhibiting the weird glitches the KG1000 seems to exhibit.  It just "works"...
 
 

I had a very early unit and the antenna came right off. Since then I have seen reports ranging from people just needing to give it a rough-twist to get it off to not even being able to get it off with a crowbar and a hammer.
For BTech to get certification for the radio the antenna must be non-removable (because it transmits data).. Once word got out that they were easily removable it looks like BTech upp'd their glue-game.

Aluminum will work, but your mag-mount wont stick to it as well as a cookie-sheet..  However the wife will probably complain less about using the foil vs the cookie-sheet.
I'm sure that "some people" will leave a more detailed, 10-paragraph explanation complete with the molecular differences between steel and aluminum and the RF calculations, all just to say "it will work" ....

Because they know that for something as important as NOAA people will purchase the correct radios to receive them.
And, what if they DO start transmitting on UHF? - then someone will want them to transit on HF, because their HF radio can't receive them.. Then someone will want them to transmit on commercial FM, becuase their car radio can't receive them. Then someone will want them to transmit on CB, because their CB radio cant receive them.  Then someone will want them to transmit on 1.2Ghz because their cellphone cant receive them.
The more i think about it, the dumber this question gets.

Because they know that for something as important as NOAA people will purchase the correct radios to receive them.
And, what if they DO start transmitting on UHF? - then someone will want them to transit on HF, because their HF radio can't receive them.. Then someone will want them to transmit on commercial FM, becuase their car radio can't receive them. Then someone will want them to transmit on CB, because their CB radio cant receive them.  Then someone will want them to transmit on 1.2Ghz because their cellphone cant receive them.
The more i think about it, the dumber this question gets.

Because they all have a better signal/are closer to the repeater than you, and you have an HT with a small antenna/are further away/have more stuff between you and the repeater.
The best thing you can do is connect to a bigger/better/external antenna or get closer to the repeater.  A mag mount stuck to a cookie-sheet placed up high/near a window can work great.

Based on my tests of both radios, they absolutely will talk virtually the same fars.

Because they know that for something as important as NOAA people will purchase the correct radios to receive them.
And, what if they DO start transmitting on UHF? - then someone will want them to transit on HF, because their HF radio can't receive them.. Then someone will want them to transmit on commercial FM, becuase their car radio can't receive them. Then someone will want them to transmit on CB, because their CB radio cant receive them.  Then someone will want them to transmit on 1.2Ghz because their cellphone cant receive them.
The more i think about it, the dumber this question gets.

Because they know that for something as important as NOAA people will purchase the correct radios to receive them.
And, what if they DO start transmitting on UHF? - then someone will want them to transit on HF, because their HF radio can't receive them.. Then someone will want them to transmit on commercial FM, becuase their car radio can't receive them. Then someone will want them to transmit on CB, because their CB radio cant receive them.  Then someone will want them to transmit on 1.2Ghz because their cellphone cant receive them.
The more i think about it, the dumber this question gets.

Because they know that for something as important as NOAA people will purchase the correct radios to receive them.
And, what if they DO start transmitting on UHF? - then someone will want them to transit on HF, because their HF radio can't receive them.. Then someone will want them to transmit on commercial FM, becuase their car radio can't receive them. Then someone will want them to transmit on CB, because their CB radio cant receive them.  Then someone will want them to transmit on 1.2Ghz because their cellphone cant receive them.
The more i think about it, the dumber this question gets.

Probably something to do with VHF propagating better/more fars than UHF and because NOAA does not care if you bought the wrong radio. I'm sure some radio-dork will chime in with a 10-paragraph explanation saying the same thing unless i'm totally wrong, in which some radio dork will chime in with a 20-paragraph explanation saying I'm wrong.

It means you were talking to a Sad-H.A.M. doing a poor job at disguising himself as a regular GMRS user. Next time ask him to reply using simple, plain, regular english that normal people understand.

Probably something to do with VHF propagating better/more fars than UHF and because NOAA does not care if you bought the wrong radio. I'm sure some radio-dork will chime in with a 10-paragraph explanation saying the same thing unless i'm totally wrong, in which some radio dork will chime in with a 20-paragraph explanation saying I'm wrong.

Except for the term “sad ham.”  😄

By the way, there is no "GMRS vernacular". 

It means you were talking to a Sad-H.A.M. doing a poor job at disguising himself as a regular GMRS user. Next time ask him to reply using simple, plain, regular english that normal people understand.

It means you were talking to a Sad-H.A.M. doing a poor job at disguising himself as a regular GMRS user. Next time ask him to reply using simple, plain, regular english that normal people understand.

It means you were talking to a Sad-H.A.M. doing a poor job at disguising himself as a regular GMRS user. Next time ask him to reply using simple, plain, regular english that normal people understand.