gman1971

If you didn’t find anything in the 1225 family of radios, you might not have been asking the right questions. Or searching too precisely.  
Cables are readily available on Ebay. The software is long EOL and readily found on the net. You can buy the software on ebay, too, but Motorola hasn’t charged for in at least 10 years. I’ll send it to you if you can’t find it. It runs best on an XP or a Win95/98 machine. I have a Panasonic CF-29 with XP on it and a real DB-9 serial port. I use the ribless serial cables. Everything Waris, 1225, Commercial, most Radius, older Minitors, and a bunch of other manufacturer’s stuff programs flawlessly with this setup.
 
The mobile M1225’s use the same cable as Radius, CDM, and CM. Same 1225 CPS too.
 
batlabs.com is full of reference info on legacy Motorola gear. There should be a model number chart there.
 
repeaterbuilder.com is another great resource for legacy gear from a number of manufacturers.
 
radioreference.com has many archived threads on programming and use of all sorts of legacy radios. The 1225 family is well featured there in the Motorola section.

Sounds like it.
 
G.

Look for brands like Cellwave, Sinclair and RFS. USA made only. I just checked fleabay and best mobile deal is 149.00 but I have seen used US made for around 100. I purchased a full size cavity for 150, so you just have to wait for a deal.

Firstly, glad to finally be here. Been a lurker for a while, and the FCC got back to be a few weeks ago, so now I can key up

Back story summed up, I'm working on a repeater for my family using a pair of Kenwood TK-862G/HG mobile radios (the 862G for RX, 862HG for TX @ 25 watts). I know there a lot of 'better' options out there for repeaters and mobiles aren't the best of the best, but its what I've got, so I'm using them.  I'm also using Tk-863G for mobile units and looking for TK-3402 HTs, but they aren't 'part 95a'....oh well, still looking.

Current situation, I'm trying to interface the two radios using the KCT-19 accessory cable. I didn't want to use the front mic ports, (I wanted a clean look in a cabinet) I figured the accessory port would be fine for this.  But, I cant figure out the pin-outs. I figured I could just take RX unit and run Receive detect output (CN4 #1) to the TX unit External PTT input (CN4 #7). Plan was to use CN4#1 to activate the PTT and just route audio out from RX to the mic in on TX. But that didn't work...anyone got any ideas?  I think I'm having issues because one is an active hi, and the other is active low?

I'll try to attach any information needed, .pdf, pics, anything anyone needs.  The pic shared is the PCT-19 accessory pin-out. CN1 is used for a separate control unit (I believe GPS), so ignore it. CN3 is horn alert, CN7 is PA..so disregard those too. CN4 and CN8 where the logical ports to use IMO.

 

I have shared similar stories with others over time that want to get into the radio hobby. Getting in cheap may not always keep them involved with poor performance. Buying quality equipment that works normally keeps them around a bit more. Its not only the subscribers but also when it comes to repeaters. A MTR3000 with a duplexor and DB404 is going to out perform and Baofeng back to back with separate mag mounts on an ammo can....but some people dont get that. 
 
(BTW not saying folks need to invest 15K for a repeater but my point was you get what you pay for)

I guess this was the culmination of what started with just a couple of Baofengs UV-5R back in 2013ish...
 
So, couple of days ago I finally bit the bullet and got my first XPR7550e, been eyeing those for a long time, form factor and performance, I've even programmed a couple for a friend, but never really tested them.... But now this one is mine... my own, my precious.... hahaha, and I just cannot even begin to describe how amazing this radio is. I ran every possible test I could think of, high RF noise, no antenna, ... everything short of an ISOTEE test (since the 7550e doesn't have an SMA connector)... and the 7550e beat every other commercial grade radio I own by an ample margin. Including EVX-539 portables, XPR6550s... and it utterly humiliated the garbage China radios... it demolished all those CCRS even harder than the EVX/6550 did...
 
We did a 1 watt range test, on foot, one XPR6550 at home, ground floor, and the XPR7550e, along with a few other radios on us. Remember, terrain around here is very hilly, not flat, this is Madison WI, where you won't find a flat piece of land anywhere... So, we walked exactly 1.89 miles distance on 1 watt, ground to ground, before the XPR7550e was the only radio left standing, the only one able communicate with the 6550 at home. Measured RSSI Signal strength on the 7550e screen was -118 dBm @ 1.89 miles. Considering this radio would still produce audible (and intelligible) digital audio all the way down to ~ -129 dBm, I think it still had, at least, 1/4 mile of range left on it...  The XPR7550e was using the PMAE4070A antenna, and all other radios used PMAE4048A antennas, except for the GD77 which used a Vertex Standard UHF antenna since it uses the sticking out SMA (female)...
 
At that distance, 1.89 miles, even my best-tuned EVX-539 portable, with a really good Motorola GMRS antenna PMAE4048A, the RX light was just blinking but no audio could be heard. The XPR6550 was about the same as the EVX-539... the light would  blink, but no audio heard either.
 
All those LMR radios stopped communicating at about the same distance, or around the 1.5 miles mark, and at 1.6 miles the digital robotic/breakup made voice communication 100% unintelligible on all those. 
 
We also tested the following China radios on DMR:
Alinco MD5 (made by AnyTone)
Baofeng BF-1801Radioddity GD-77
Retevis RT-52
 
The Alinco MD5 was the best of the pack, it performed similar to the EVX-539/6550, and also used the same PMAE4048A antenna, but at 1.89 miles the light would simply randomly blink and no audio could be heard.
 
Then the BF-1801, the GD-77 and the RT-52... all those stopped receiving audio completely at about .5 miles from the house, that's right, these cheap pieces of utter crap weren't able to communicate with a Motorola XPR6550 after just 0.6 miles... and you wonder why you don't have any range with these CCRs?...  
 
I think its time to stop wasting money, start saving up for a 2nd hand XPR7550e, just like I did... mine is used, it has a couple of small scratches on the screen...  but those scratches on the screen certainly didn't stop it from demolishing the "mint condition" RT-52 and all these pieces of China garbage...
 
Yes, I know, you need the CPS, you need a cable, heck, you need to actually invest some money to field a XPR7550e... I know, I know it quite well, b/c I also started with x2 Baoturd UV-5R CCR radios... but looking in retrospect I should've gone directly with an XPR7550e, I can safely say that it would've saved me a lot of money, a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out why my radio range was measured in tenths of an inch rather that in tens of miles....
 
G.

I guess this was the culmination of what started with just a couple of Baofengs UV-5R back in 2013ish...
 
So, couple of days ago I finally bit the bullet and got my first XPR7550e, been eyeing those for a long time, form factor and performance, I've even programmed a couple for a friend, but never really tested them.... But now this one is mine... my own, my precious.... hahaha, and I just cannot even begin to describe how amazing this radio is. I ran every possible test I could think of, high RF noise, no antenna, ... everything short of an ISOTEE test (since the 7550e doesn't have an SMA connector)... and the 7550e beat every other commercial grade radio I own by an ample margin. Including EVX-539 portables, XPR6550s... and it utterly humiliated the garbage China radios... it demolished all those CCRS even harder than the EVX/6550 did...
 
We did a 1 watt range test, on foot, one XPR6550 at home, ground floor, and the XPR7550e, along with a few other radios on us. Remember, terrain around here is very hilly, not flat, this is Madison WI, where you won't find a flat piece of land anywhere... So, we walked exactly 1.89 miles distance on 1 watt, ground to ground, before the XPR7550e was the only radio left standing, the only one able communicate with the 6550 at home. Measured RSSI Signal strength on the 7550e screen was -118 dBm @ 1.89 miles. Considering this radio would still produce audible (and intelligible) digital audio all the way down to ~ -129 dBm, I think it still had, at least, 1/4 mile of range left on it...  The XPR7550e was using the PMAE4070A antenna, and all other radios used PMAE4048A antennas, except for the GD77 which used a Vertex Standard UHF antenna since it uses the sticking out SMA (female)...
 
At that distance, 1.89 miles, even my best-tuned EVX-539 portable, with a really good Motorola GMRS antenna PMAE4048A, the RX light was just blinking but no audio could be heard. The XPR6550 was about the same as the EVX-539... the light would  blink, but no audio heard either.
 
All those LMR radios stopped communicating at about the same distance, or around the 1.5 miles mark, and at 1.6 miles the digital robotic/breakup made voice communication 100% unintelligible on all those. 
 
We also tested the following China radios on DMR:
Alinco MD5 (made by AnyTone)
Baofeng BF-1801Radioddity GD-77
Retevis RT-52
 
The Alinco MD5 was the best of the pack, it performed similar to the EVX-539/6550, and also used the same PMAE4048A antenna, but at 1.89 miles the light would simply randomly blink and no audio could be heard.
 
Then the BF-1801, the GD-77 and the RT-52... all those stopped receiving audio completely at about .5 miles from the house, that's right, these cheap pieces of utter crap weren't able to communicate with a Motorola XPR6550 after just 0.6 miles... and you wonder why you don't have any range with these CCRs?...  
 
I think its time to stop wasting money, start saving up for a 2nd hand XPR7550e, just like I did... mine is used, it has a couple of small scratches on the screen...  but those scratches on the screen certainly didn't stop it from demolishing the "mint condition" RT-52 and all these pieces of China garbage...
 
Yes, I know, you need the CPS, you need a cable, heck, you need to actually invest some money to field a XPR7550e... I know, I know it quite well, b/c I also started with x2 Baoturd UV-5R CCR radios... but looking in retrospect I should've gone directly with an XPR7550e, I can safely say that it would've saved me a lot of money, a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out why my radio range was measured in tenths of an inch rather that in tens of miles....
 
G.

Thanks all!  Going to digest this and see where it goes.

I guess this was the culmination of what started with just a couple of Baofengs UV-5R back in 2013ish...
 
So, couple of days ago I finally bit the bullet and got my first XPR7550e, been eyeing those for a long time, form factor and performance, I've even programmed a couple for a friend, but never really tested them.... But now this one is mine... my own, my precious.... hahaha, and I just cannot even begin to describe how amazing this radio is. I ran every possible test I could think of, high RF noise, no antenna, ... everything short of an ISOTEE test (since the 7550e doesn't have an SMA connector)... and the 7550e beat every other commercial grade radio I own by an ample margin. Including EVX-539 portables, XPR6550s... and it utterly humiliated the garbage China radios... it demolished all those CCRS even harder than the EVX/6550 did...
 
We did a 1 watt range test, on foot, one XPR6550 at home, ground floor, and the XPR7550e, along with a few other radios on us. Remember, terrain around here is very hilly, not flat, this is Madison WI, where you won't find a flat piece of land anywhere... So, we walked exactly 1.89 miles distance on 1 watt, ground to ground, before the XPR7550e was the only radio left standing, the only one able communicate with the 6550 at home. Measured RSSI Signal strength on the 7550e screen was -118 dBm @ 1.89 miles. Considering this radio would still produce audible (and intelligible) digital audio all the way down to ~ -129 dBm, I think it still had, at least, 1/4 mile of range left on it...  The XPR7550e was using the PMAE4070A antenna, and all other radios used PMAE4048A antennas, except for the GD77 which used a Vertex Standard UHF antenna since it uses the sticking out SMA (female)...
 
At that distance, 1.89 miles, even my best-tuned EVX-539 portable, with a really good Motorola GMRS antenna PMAE4048A, the RX light was just blinking but no audio could be heard. The XPR6550 was about the same as the EVX-539... the light would  blink, but no audio heard either.
 
All those LMR radios stopped communicating at about the same distance, or around the 1.5 miles mark, and at 1.6 miles the digital robotic/breakup made voice communication 100% unintelligible on all those. 
 
We also tested the following China radios on DMR:
Alinco MD5 (made by AnyTone)
Baofeng BF-1801Radioddity GD-77
Retevis RT-52
 
The Alinco MD5 was the best of the pack, it performed similar to the EVX-539/6550, and also used the same PMAE4048A antenna, but at 1.89 miles the light would simply randomly blink and no audio could be heard.
 
Then the BF-1801, the GD-77 and the RT-52... all those stopped receiving audio completely at about .5 miles from the house, that's right, these cheap pieces of utter crap weren't able to communicate with a Motorola XPR6550 after just 0.6 miles... and you wonder why you don't have any range with these CCRs?...  
 
I think its time to stop wasting money, start saving up for a 2nd hand XPR7550e, just like I did... mine is used, it has a couple of small scratches on the screen...  but those scratches on the screen certainly didn't stop it from demolishing the "mint condition" RT-52 and all these pieces of China garbage...
 
Yes, I know, you need the CPS, you need a cable, heck, you need to actually invest some money to field a XPR7550e... I know, I know it quite well, b/c I also started with x2 Baoturd UV-5R CCR radios... but looking in retrospect I should've gone directly with an XPR7550e, I can safely say that it would've saved me a lot of money, a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out why my radio range was measured in tenths of an inch rather that in tens of miles....
 
G.

I have several LFP, Lithium Iron Phosphate, batteries. Gave up on any type of Lead Acid since they tend to get wrecked if you don't keep them on a battery tender at all times to trickle charge. The LFP's can be charged up and sit around for months or longer, great for emergency use, and they don't discharge hardly at all. In fact for long term storage it's recommended NOT to fully charge them. Try that with a Lead Acid type and you will kill it.
 
The LFP batteries have a higher terminal voltage, around 13.3 VDC to 13.4 VDC when charged making them a better match to mobile equipment that expects a nominal 13.8 VDC. When the battery is nearly discharged, 90 plus percent, the terminal voltage is still around 12.8 VDC more or less. A Lead Acid battery is around 12 VDC when its at 50 percent capacity. Most mobile equipment spec's 13.8 VDC at +/- 15 percent so the low voltage cut off is at 11.5 VDC. You won't get most of the capacity out of a Lead Acid battery before the electronics starts to shut down or misbehave. 
 
The down side to LFP batteries is the cost and you need a special LFP charger for them. If you do buy a battery make sure you get a charger for it.
 
I also have several MPPT charge controllers for solar panels. The charge controllers are used to keep the battery packs up.
 
The link below is for a company that is friendly to two-way radio users for batteries and chargers. I have one of the 6 amp-hour packs for portable handheld radios and one of the 40 amp-hour ones for fixed location use.
 
The charge controllers I have are from this company below. I have several of the GV-5 charge controllers for LFP batteries.
 
https://sunforgellc.com/genasun/#gen_product_row
 
The company below has decent prices on solar panels. I have a couple of the 50 watt, one 30 watt, and a couple of the 10 watt mono crystalline panels. 
 
https://www.renogy.com/solar-panels/
 
If anybody has a need for a pure sine wave inverter this company has some good products. I have the 300 watt version with a builtin GFI.
 
https://gpelectric.com/product-category/inverters/pure-sine-wave-inverters/
 
For connections I use Anderson Power Pole connectors. A good source is from Powerwerx. Also one or two of the DC inline power meters comes in handy too.
 
https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power-powerpole-sb-connectors
 
https://powerwerx.com/watt-meter-analyzer-inline-dc-powerpole

Just a note about that. I've had very good luck using toothpaste to polish up the plastic screen on several radios I got used. I got scratches out I thought would never clean up. It takes a lot of work to rub out the scratches, toothpaste is a VERY mild abrasive. I used it straight from the tube on a paper towel while using a fair amount of pressure. Tilting the radio so the light reflects off the surface is a very good test to see how the polishing is going. I wipe the screen down with a wet paper towel first so I can get a clear view of the surface. At the end I sometimes use an electric toothbrush to do the final polishing. I did spend about an hour or more on the more damaged screens.
 
On several radios when I got done the screens could have passed for new if you didn't do a real detailed examination.
 
If you can't get a replacement case or don't want to spend the money the above procedure works well. Nothing like getting a used radio at a good deal, then clean it up where it looks almost new. 8-))   

Yes, the XPR7550e has some great performance. There's also a plethora of programmable audio options, and you can purchase (or not) a bunch of minor EID's that will enable things like Face-down mute, Enhanced Noise Cancellation (SINC+) Receive Audio Leveling, and Bluetooth.
 
One point about your testing - be real careful just swapping around antennas just because they fit the connector. I think if you do a back to back test with the standard EVX ATU-16D antenna, you'll find an improvement over the PMAE4048 Motorola antenna. I think if you measure the length, you'll see that the Vertex "Standard" (Pun intended) antenna is a bit shorter.
 
I've also noticed that the aftermarket Vertex antennas available by the dozen on Ebay seem to have issues with breaking apart internally due to over-torquing.

True. However... a) he was a guest. Hopefully he will join at some point. Also hopefully, maybe someone else will benefit from this discussion.

If the cable is exposed there is a good chance its done b/c once air gets inside of LMR400 the rusted braid will act as a giant noise PIM generator when rubbing the shield foil.
 
I would just replace the cable with something new, silver plated N connectors at the very least. Heck, I would just use that as an excuse to ditch the LMR400 and go with a FSJ4-50B Heliax feedline... best move I ever made, btw.
 
G.

This site will create a radio coverage map for any location, of your choosing. No guesswork.
 
Radio Mobile online.
 
G.

First I would get the GMRS license, send the FCC a check, you get the license. No exams...
 
Here is what I would do:
 
A couple of UHF Motorola Maxtracs, a repeater controller cable, a mobile UHF duplexer, mated to a 1/4 wave UHF antenna placed @ 30 foot AGL via some Heliax FSJ4-50B feedline. Set to 25W... Done.
 
With that kind of base you won't need much of a portable, as you'll have range to spare....  in fact, the base will be so good that even 8 dollar Baofeng BF-888S will feel like a mlllion bucks...  
 
G.

Well, yes, but... Since that filter costs anywhere from 2x to 9x the price of the CCR it would be used with, the money would probably just be better spent of buying a decent radio in the first place.  Which is, I think, the point everyone is trying to make anyway.  

CCR's are the free samples of crack of the radio world.  I bought a 70cm Baofeng Mini when they were on sale for about $10 shipped not realizing to get it programmed the way I wanted it would cost more for the programming cable than I paid for the radio. Then the programming software wouldn't run on my Mac and I had to program it from the Dell laptop I use at work. I have several of the local 70cm repeaters programmed into it but have never had the opertunity to try it close enough to hit any of them.  It does receive if you are line of sight to the towers at least 5 miles away, I have done that with it; its almost worth the $10 for that alone.

Without trying to go too far off track - what I've got (as an example for the OP) is the RMN5127A mic. It's got the 4 way navigation key - but no display. Those run @ $100+ (new) as an add-on option to the XPR mobile. You would probably also need an optional Mic cord extension to remote mount the radio under a seat & not need to stretch the std. mic cord, or just have a convenient place to plug/unplug the mic cord if you want a "hideaway" option.
 
What I've got looks like the attached photo:
 
 
 
There's another member on here - Cory, who has the HHC mic option for the XPR5550e.  

There is ZERO chance that it will work on simplex, ground level with GMRS.  You have a huge ridge line that runs almost parallel, just a degree of two off, but one town is on one side of the ridge while the other is on the blind side of the ridge. 
 
You need HF NVIS for reliable comms (probable between 1.9MHz to 3.8MHz) or there needs to be a repeater on the high point of the ridge line about half way between the two towns or two, 200'+ towers on each side of the ridge, in each town.

There are, unfortunately, several listings in the repeater guide that for various reasons are not operating. But, is it possible the problem is with the way you have your radio(s) configured? In a previous post, you wrote
 
The Cobra is not repeater capable. However, both the Zastone and Icom radios should work just fine. The issue is those are not specifically GMRS radios. They are general purpose UHF radios that must be properly configured to operate with a GMRS repeater.  The Zastone can be configured with CHIRP. The Icom requires custom software. I believe the version you want is ICOM CSF3001 PROGRAMMING SOFTWARE. A Google search will turn up a few purchase options.  Then, for both radios you will need the correct programming cable.
 
Once you have everything together, you should be able to program the radios and access a repeater. Just remember, the Transmit frequency is always 5mHz higher than the receive frequency. For example: Transmit on 467.5500 mHz and receive on 462.5500 mHz. If the repeater requires a tone (digital or analog) to operate, you need to set that under your transmit settings. To get started, you do not need to enter a receive tone, you can set that later after you have everything else working.
 
If you need help with a specific repeater you can post to the Private Discussion forum and include the frequency and tone information.

UHF and VHF are both Motorola XPR5550 with handheld control heads.

Hey folks... I have been seeing a lot of antenna related posts lately. Some info I have read lead me to create this post.  I want to try to help people understand design types and how antenna SWR and Gain are impacted.  I am not going to get too technical, because I don't want new people to feel lost or leave with more questions than answers.
 
As an FYI, while the concepts apply to all antenna types, I will be focusing on vertical antennas, such as what we use on our vehicles.
 
First, lets discuss basic antenna standards and why antenna length matters.  The best way to describe how basic antenna length is relevant, is by comparing an antenna to a speaker.  Pretty much everyone understands that a speaker vibrates to make noise. We also understand that small speakers do a better job at making very high frequency sounds (tweeters) and really big speakers are better for making very low frequency sounds (like a sub-woofer).  Antennas are the same way.  The lower in frequency, the bigger (or longer) the antenna.
 
The reason for this is because, like a speaker, antennas resonate (or vibrate) the best at one very specific frequency.  As you go higher or lower in frequency, you are moving away from the antennas resonant frequency  This becomes important for several reasons.  One is because the closer the antenna's resonate frequency is to the frequency you want to transmit on or receive on, the more range and fidelity you get.  Another reason is because the energy that gets sent to the antenna must go somewhere.  If the antenna is not at the correct length to vibrate at the desired frequency, that energy gets wasted by being "reflected" back into transmitters, as well as desensitizing receivers. 
 
Any energy that gets reflected back into the radio is typically identified by the Standing Wave Ratio (SWR) or the ratio of transmitted (forward) energy vs. reflected (reverse) energy.  Here is why we watch SWR.  If your transmitter is putting out 50 watts, and your meter says you have an SWR of 1.7:1, that means only 45 watts of energy leaves the antenna and 5 watts goes back into the transmitter. 
 
A high SWR not only causes power loss, but it also generates heat as well as applying reverse electrical energy to the parts.  If enough of a percentage gets reflected back into the transmitter, it breaks.  It is very well documented that with the current technology we have, the threshold is an SWR of about 3.0:1.
 
So, now that we understand, on a very basic level, why antennas need to be a specific length to work the best, and also have a basic understanding of what SWR is, lets discuss antenna design.
 
So, what's the standard?  An isotropic antenna.  This is a theoretical antenna that radiates equally in all directions with the same intensity.  Basically, a perfect sphere.  The antenna is said to have a power gain of 1 in the spherical space all around it and has an efficiency of 100%. The concept of an isotropic antenna is often used as a reference antenna for the antenna gain.
 
What is antenna gain?  Glad you asked!  There is a lot of science behind that... so I am not going to bore you with science.  Instead, lets talk about food! Everyone loves food and its pretty easy to understand.
 
So, the concept of gain is this... you only have 100% of your energy available.  There is no such thing as an antenna magically giving you more power.  You know the perfect sphere radiation pattern mentioned earlier... well in the real world, the closet we have ever come to creating that, actually looks more like a doughnut.  Imagine a perfect doughnut. 
 
Sounds yummy right?  Well, you only have 100% of the doughnut.  What do you do if you want the doughnut to be wider, say... to fill a box better from side to side?  I mean, its a whole doughnut.  Easy... you squish it from the top and bottom.  Then the doughnut gets shorter from top to bottom, but the food has to go somewhere.  So, it spreads out wider or "gains" width in sacrifice of height.  Well the more you squeeze from the top and bottom, the wider it gets, but loses height until the doughnut is perfectly flat and the 100% of the doughnut as been spread as far as possible.
 
The squished doughnut thing makes sense, right?  Antennas that have "gain" do the same thing.  They squish the radio energy doughnut, forcing it to be wider to cover more distance, but at the sacrifice of signal height.  This means that while you can transmit and receive further side to side, you lose elevation. 
 
Lets imagine you are at the bottom of a hill and your buddy is at the top.  If you don't squish the doughnut, he can hear you because the doughnut is at its full height.  But if you squish the doughnut, people further away at your level will now hear you, but your buddy who is very close at the top of the hill will not. 
 
So, gain has a trade-off.  If you live in a hilly or mountainous area, you may want to avoid high gain antennas, so as your elevation changes, you are less likely to lose touch with someone.  Compare that to being on the water, in flat(ish) desert or talking aircraft to aircraft, you may want a very high gain antenna, because there will be no significant elevation differences. 
 
Now, from here, we could talk about the benefits of stacked phase element antennas, takeoff angles and a bunch of other stuff.  However, unless you have a more advanced understanding of antenna propagation and design, and plan on getting into some high-tech stuff, it will likely cause more confusion.  Not to mention, for what we are doing... those items are almost not relevant when it comes to helping you pick the correct antenna for your application. 
 
So, let talk about how gain and SWR can really be confusing and how numbers can trick you into making a mistake. 
 
Remember when we discussed antennas needing to be a specific length to resonate at the desired frequency?  Well, many high gain designs cause the antenna to properly resonate at only small segments of the frequency spectrum. Basically, what these means is (as an example) instead of being resonant and having good SWR across 100 megahertz, the antenna design may cause the antenna to only be resonant and have proper SWR at 10 small groups of frequencies inside that same 100 megahertz range.
 
Watch the two videos linked below for a better understanding.  In the first video, I have a Diamond NR7900A mobile antenna.  It has 3.7db gain on VHF in the 140MHz-160MHz range, and 6.4db gain on UHF in the range of about 440MHz-500MHz.
 
You will see that while measuring the SWR (or the antenna and cable resonance) you will see that in the VHF segment, the SWR varies somewhat quickly, but only has a single swing, from high to low and back to high inside of about 20MHz.  When I switch to UHF and test the higher gain portion of the antenna, you will see the the SWR bounce up and down a few times as I sweep about 30MHz. 
 
This shows that the higher the gain, the more the antenna design may actually make it so the antenna is not usable on your desired frequency.  Of course this all varies by brand and model, but the principle is still universally true.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh6w46VM_Ng
 
Now, in this second video, we are looking at a UHF 1/4 wave antenna.  This antenna is considered to have a gain factor of 1, and any number times 1 equals itself... so effectively, no gain.  You can see that we sweep over 50MHz and while the SWR wavers a little, the SWR is stable compared to the high gain antenna and 100% safely usable through the whole spectrum, never going over 1.4:1 from 440MHz to 470MHz.  Again, reinforcing the idea that the closer the antenna is to the desired resonant frequency and the less you squish the doughnut, the broader the usable frequency range will be, the broader the geographical coverage will be, the less risk of losing power due to poor SWR, and less risk of damaging your transmitter.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5GiPLzVzbg
 
So, to wrap this up, I want to discuss antenna tuning.  Some antennas may need to be cut to the proper length to resonate on the desired frequencies.  This is typically done with antennas that either have no loading coils (1/4, 5/8, 1/2, 7/8 wave length antennas for example) as well as some bottom loaded antennas. 
 
A bottom loaded antenna is an antenna that has a whip that is not the correct physical length to be resonant on a desired frequency, but the coil of wire on the bottom makes the antenna electrically the correct length.  General speaking, for VHF and UHF, I recommend staying away from antennas with coils in them if they have been physically shortened for looks/clearance reasons.  These antenna work, but are not very good performers. 
 
That said, there are some antennas that are "pre-tuned" at the factory to perform correctly in the indicated frequency range.  These are typically gain antennas that have a collection of coils and capacitors on the antenna to help create the phasing and properly stack the elements.  These are referred to as LC networked antennas.
 
If you have an antenna that has stacked phasing and/or LC networks and you can't get a good SWR... unless the manufacturer provides directions on how to properly do so, do NOT trim the antenna to try to achieve the proper resonance, as you will only damage the antenna.  The coils, capacitors and whip elements are precisely cut to work together.  If you do not get a good SWR, either you need to pick a new location to install the antenna, the antenna is not properly grounded or the antenna is damage and should be replaced.
 
If you do trim a stacked phasing and/or LC network antenna, in most occasions, the antenna never gets to the proper length regardless of how much you cut the whip and you end up tossing the antenna in the trash.  If you get it tuned to a target frequency, it's usable bandwidth will be so small that the antenna will not have any real value.  I have seen some people try to tune high-gain antennas, get them tuned to about 1.7:1 or even 1.9:1 and as soon as they tune 10KHz in one direction or another the SWR skyrockets. 
 
I hope this helps with some of the antenna questions.

You're welcome, sir. Just remember: I started out with only a couple of Baofeng UV5Rs...  
 
IMO, its all about the tools you have, not the radios: they say tools, tools, tools, you can't get anything properly done without the proper tools. Having a VNA, an SG, or an ISOTEE, a RF power checker, etc, a far more important thing to have than having fancy Moto radios.
 
G.
 

Hi there,
I own several Motorola and Vertex Standards radios and I am not an expert, far from it. I also have a very large CCR collection, radios like the Wouxun, etc. These CCRs served their purpose which was to got me hooked in this hobby, unfortunately I kept buying them for too long before I realized I made a mistake. Why? B/c after trying nearly every other CCR out there, the moment I tested my first XPR6550 I realized I wasted all my time and my money for far too long on these CCRs. Yes, you can call me a Moto snob now, I am not BTW,... whatever... its your money... Point is I am not an expert, and just don't hate CCRs, but they sure have a lot of limitiations. Once you acquire enough knowledge/gear/equipment to perform useful measurements on your own, you'll begin to realize the same thing I did: why these radios are just called CCRs.
 
If you need range you are going to need a lot more than a portable Wouxun, especially if you live in a suburban area; a lot more than a high gain antenna and an 11 feet pole (like Moses ). For these CCR radios, i.e Wouxun, et. all, you'll need a lot of filtering, and I mean, LOTS of it... Then, the more gain you have in the antenna, and the higher up you raise it, the more RF signals you'l pick up, which is good, but unfortunately not so good for those CCRs which can't deal with such a rush of incoming RF, why? b/c they lack any front end filtering (back to why you'll need filtering)... So what do these CCRs do instead? they desense like its going out of style. What is desense? Desense is like when you have to close your ears at a rock-and-roll concert to hear your friend trying to scream you something... radios have to reduce sensitivity (desense) to be able to hear anything.
 
Don't believe me? well, I guess I would've not believed myself talking about this when I got started either... But here are some real numbers obtained with an ISOTEE and a signal generator. So, hooked up a GD77 to my a Hustler G6 GMRS (6dBd) antenna, placed 40 feet AGL. Measurements read the GD77 desensed ~40 dBm... Yes, you heard that right, -40dBm... it doesn't sound like much... but a -40dBm desense means the radio is now useless. I wish I could tell you this was the only CCR radio that showed this massive desense, unfortunately ALL my other CCRs (under 180 dollars) that I tried desensed about the same figure: -40dBm. That is why they are called CCRs b/c they aren't that good. Now, for comparison, on the same Hustler G6 antenna, placing a portable Motorola XPR6550, also unfiltered, I was able to hear the Signal Generator (SG) all the way down to RF site noise threshold. The usable sensitivity on the GD77 was measured at -72 dBm, and the Motorola XPR6550 usable sensitivity was -116 dBm (unfiltered). To give perspective, on the stock rubber duck antennas, the GD77 had a -100 dBm usable sensitivity, whereas the Motorola XPR6550 had -118 dBm usable sensitivity. (see correction values at the end)
 
If you want range, you should start by acquiring measuring tools. To me, a VNA, a Signal Generator and a simple ISOTEE changed how I see the hobby completely... Now I can unequivocally measure things and make an informed decision, rather than an educated guess, or a guess, or "bro'science".... and those tools are just "basic tools" compared to what more expensive service monitors can do. Once you have measuring equipment you'll be in a position to measure things like noise floor, cable quality, connector quality... and you'll be able to tune your own filters, cavities... After you have those tools, then you'll quickly realize you need better radios than a Wouxun. Nowadays, when high quality radios like the XPR6550 can be found used on eBay for ~100 bucks, there is literally zero reason to own a CCR for GMRS... While some XPR6550s might be a bit scratched, some might be rehoused... etc... they still work great for GMRS... and how much better than a CCR? At best, ~21 dBm better than nearly all CCRs I measured with rubber duckies... at worst, -44dBm better using a high gain 6dBm base antenna placed 40 feet AGL. 
 
Again, I don't hate CCRs b/c I now I own Motorolas and everything else is is crap. I still own a ton of them CCR and they are great, just not when the word range is involved. For small stuff, like giving to your 3 year old to start liking radios, loaners... plenty of uses.... all great, but once you find you like the hobby, don't be fooled by the CCR's fancy color screens, bells and whistles, gazillion contacts, etc etc... Buy high quality used commercial grade radio(s)... which might or might not even have a screen, screens don't make radios great... good RF performance does... and there are a LOT of good used commercial grade great radios on eBay (like the XPR6550.) There are also many very helpful members here (like @Marcspaz, thank you) who will help you setup these commercial radios if you are stuck.
 
G.
 
EDIT: Correction, after going over my notes the ISOTEE figures I quoted from memory for the rubber duck are actually for a 1/4 wave magmount, and the Motorola XPR6550 UHF is -116 dBm and the GD77 is -93 dBm...  I am sorry for the mistake.
EDIT2: The rubberduck I just performed the test with the ISOTEE, and the Motorola XPR6550 yields the same -116dBm as with the 1/4 wave, and the GD77 is -96 dBm. This was measured in the quietest RF place in my house with a noise floor of -123 dBm average. on 462.600 MHz.