WSKF472

Thank you both. Engineer by education and profession. Regularly get caught up in the minutia. Appreciate everyone for the advice. routing the coax this weekend. Regards, WSKF472

Hello Everyone. First of all thank you for everyone's continued input and suggestions, it is very much appreciated. I finally have gotten everything for my base station here in NE florida and as im setting everything up, i decided to test my Ed Fong GMRS Antenna With my Wouxon 1000+ with 50' of Coax (LMR400). When i was holding the antenna with a Surecom SWR meter in the middle, i was getting varying SWR levels of a gratuitous nature. When i Tx'd at channel 1 at 5watt it was a perfect 1.0 SWR. As i moved up to the 50 watt channels (Chn 16), i noticed that my SWR fluxuated significantly (1.0 to 2.1) depending on how and where i was holding the antenna. Im looking for any root cause for this, potentially the cheap extension cable between the SWR meter and the antenna. Any advice for a rookie? WSKF472

Thank you everyone for the advice and suggestions. I really do appreciate the community outreach. Ok. So current plan is to investigate the following antennas: Comet CA-GMRS and Diamond SG7900. Plan on testing some handhelds that i have on simplex to gauge interference of the solar board at some known distance intervals. Finally to quote WRUE951 it might be time to rebel a bit, i will investigate some external ideas, might be time to run for the HOA board. A follow up question regarding "External Antennas" i live in a thunderstorm prone area, is there some sort of documentation regarding lightning grounding some one could advise on. The wife is very supportive of my new found hobby but dosnt want the house struck.. I will update this post with follow up pictures and results of testing, thank you again everyone for the advice and council. WSKF472

Thank you for the response. Unfortunately, im on the south side of Saint Augustine, the closest repeater i have to me is palatka and green cove springs. High level wants is to be able to communicate with my elderly parents ~8 miles out, and learn more about this hobby to eventually get my technician licence and have my wife be able to get ahold of me in my truck while im mobile around the city. I have a mobile antenna currently and will be testing a similar setup to test range of simplex within the attic. I will update this post when i make some purchases.

Thank you for your support, and prompt reply. Attic is 5' tall, surrounded by this solar board and 2x4's. No other metal other than the alluminum gutters on the Left Hand / Right Hand Side of the roofing. Looks like one 110 power cable running down the left hand side. Thank you for your advice. WSKF472

Good Evening, GMRS newby here. I am sure there is already a post somewhere within this group, however for brevity i figured i would start an additional post. I have recently procured a 50W mobile with a 13Amp power supply and am attempting to figure out the best antenna solution for an attic antenna solution. Live in a HOA so exterior solutions are out. Ive read a bunch regarding J-Poles / Di Poles etc.., still a bit in the weeds. I live in a single story house, attic height is about 20-25' to the rafters. I am looking for general recommendations advice, on where to start. Thank you for your time and comments. WSKF472