wayoverthere

The best way is via the 'contact us' link at the bottom of the page, as that goes directly to the admin. That said, your call sign is generally still linked to your profile regardless of your username, even if a little less obvious than if it's your display name on the forum.

So...I had a longer post put together on mobile browser, all typed up, used ARRL's RF Exposure calculator, had a screenshot...and the forum said "NOPE!" and deleted the whole thing. The shorter version is that running the calculation using 5 watts, 33% duty cycle (5 min tx, 10 min rx), at 462.550mhz and 2.1dbi, it spit out a safe distance of just shy of a foot for controlled space (informed operator), and not quite 1.5 ft for uncontrolled (uninformed bystanders), though perhaps 2.1dbi is a little overestimating a rubber ducky. bumping up the power and/or duty cycle pushes the distance out further. IIRC, when i ran my calculations for my "shack", it was something like 3 ft at 50 watts, controlled, and either 4.5 or 6 uncontrolled, for UHF, and a bit more for VHF. Based on that, i read that "occupational use" disclaimer as the manufacturers' attempt (even if FCC forced) to ensure the operator is informed of the RF exposure involved, and can adjust their exposure accordingly, whether with less TX time, lower power, or moving the radio away via remote mics. i suspect many of the 5 watt limits came down to balancing allowable exposure with being able to keep a reasonable amount of talk time.

I had a longer post I'll rewrite later on a computer. In short, i take it as needing to be aware of exposure requirements.

My vertex standard handhelds all display a similar label as well, both the newer dot matrix and older segmented EVXs, the p25 824 and 829, and then straight analog 924.

If you're wanting to talk simplex, the Midlands aren't a bad option. While their simplex channels are indeed narrowband, it's not really any issue if the radio on the other end is set for narrow as well. They're also about as foolproof as it gets, save having to reference a table in the manual to translate tones to codes in the menu. The db20-g is a solid option as well, though a hair less foolproof in gmrs mode, and allows a lot more freedom unlocked...great all arounder (I have 2 of the anytone version, at779uv). They will have to be reprogrammed when switching between modes (locked vs unlocked). Also very close in size to the mxt115...there's comparison pics somewhere in another of my posts (that I'll try to find). Edit: they're in my "gear" album.

i'll have to look at it again, but i think it did; it's currently tucked away in the spare parts bin now, to futz with another day. it has a coil in the middle, but it's the wound into the wire type (like the MXTA26), not adjustable/removable, so it'd just be the base. if i dig into trying to tune it, i'll dig out the nanoVNA, see where it's actually happy. in the end, i think it's just a little short to be very happy on 2m.

short version, dual band NR72b...tested on 3 different mag mounts, roof, cowl, bed corner, and on the trunk of the car, both center and edge. all close to 2:1 swr on 70cm, and 3ish on 2m. Then found a little slip of paper in the package mentioning "direct grounding required", so i ordered a fender bolt mount and matching cable..that got 1.5ish on 70cm, and still 2.5ish on 2m, so off it came. later decided to order a different comet (sbb5) to go on that mount, but haven't gotten around to putting the mount back on and finding an actual good path to route the cable into the cab. the one thing that diamond has worked okay on is mag mounted on an 8"x12" piece of sheet metal..2m still sucked, but 70cm was like 1.05:1 edit: also tried it on a midland nmo mount (so239 to nmo), with a nagoya ground plane kit (both short and long radials...no better there either.

I won't say it's the end all-be all, but center roof mag mounts have worked well for me in almost all cases, both on ham and gmrs. good ground plane doesn't hurt either. I think the lip mounts are more common to have the mixed cable with a short run of something thin to pass the seal, and something with less loss for the rest of the run. I also have a fender bolt mount I'm planning to try, so I can run a bigger antenna without being an overhead height issue. I have one diamond (dual band ham) antenna that wasn't happy on anything, though...wish I'd left the fender mount on when I was testing that, as it's on my to-do list to put that back on so i can run a little more antenna without overhead clearance issues.

Through hole or mag? This one is a hole mount, rg8x cable: https://www.arcantenna.com/products/laird-antenex-mab8xp-3-8-thru-hole-nmo-mount-vehicular-nmo-antenna-roof-mount-17-ft-rg8x-cable-pl-259-connector-included This one is a mag mount with rg8x cable: https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/shop-all/mobile-antenna-mounts/nmo-mobile-antenna-mounts/265-magnetic-mounts/278-nmo-magnet-mounts-no-connector/7556-laird-connectivity-gb8x-detail I have a Browning mag mount that's also rg8x cable, but I can't for the life of me remember where I got it...I thought antenna farm but I don't see it listed. Arcadian also has one listed with "low loss 195" cable, too.

65° and sunny over here ?

Nice!

That's one nice thing ill mention for the xpr6500's I have...the port cover is one screw, but it has a loop around the antenna on the other end, to keep it from getting lost (hopefully)

Mine are a mix as well...the yaesu and vertex vx, and the wouxun uv7d are sma-f on the radio; the ft4x, wouxun kg805g, and the baofengs are sma-m. The vertex evx and the moto xpr's are similar to a sma-m, but don't have the channel around the edge for the "lip" on the standard sma-f comnector...their version of sma-f has the inner part flat with the end of the threads. BTech stock antenna (sma-f) on the left, vertex evx stock on the right https://i.imgur.com/q1X5Bqg.png

I wonder if it's a leftover from their older firmware's/configurations that didn't allow split tones. That way, repeater 15 could have the tone filter, and simplex 15 heard everything else that didn't have the matching tone.

That, 100% agreed. Reading the definition of a control station almost sounds like what we'd commonly think of as a base ?

With the definition in 95.303 (the "other fixed stations only" part, I picture it as an rf link to tie two repeaters together. A base, on the other hand, might talk to mobile.or.portable users.

The spendy option is the bulletproof diesel 3rd brake light mount, which slots in between the light and the body, and gives one or two nmo mounts. They run in the 350-500 range, depending on 1 or 2, and truck. https://bulletproofdiesel.com/collections/antenna-mounts At the more reasonable end are geotool.com and breedlove, primarily stake pocket mounts. Geotool does require drilling in some, in the bottom of the stake pocket only. Afaik, both options ring in under $100. https://breedlovemounts.com/store/ols/categories/stake-pocket-bracket https://www.geotool.com/antmount.htm On the inexpensive end are the bracket mounts that go on one of the fender bolts and sit in the gap between hood and fender. Both generic and model specific options exist, and range from $15 to 40 or so. https://www.amazon.com/Laird-Technologies-Shaped-Antenna-Bracket/dp/B004Z8RT3O (this one is $17.50...going to be switching one of my mag mounts to this shortly, actually) american radio supply has a few ford specific brackets: https://www.americanradiosupply.com/2015-2020-ford-no-hole-antenna-fender-mounting-bracket-am-412/ valley enterprises also has a wide variety of specific and generic fender mounts https://www.valley-ent.com/store/brackets/

Yes, the mxt500 (and 575) are repeater capable. The information you saw that only mentioned the 400 may predate the introduction of the 500 & 575, as those were introduced somewhat recently compared to the 400.

In my area, there is a fair amount of public safety stuff in the 450-465 range, and also around 150-155.

The current photos of the mxt115 show it with the lighter plug, and the older one I have in a box does a well. Can't find it in the photos, but the "in the box" for the 275 references it including a 12v adapter as well. https://midlandusa.com/products/mxt115-micromobile-2-way-radio

sorry to rain on that point, but I can at least speak to the 805g...Wouxun's unmodified software will allow you to combine any of the GMRS RX frequencies with ANY of the in-bounds transmit frequencies...the lockdown for part 95 certification is strictly software based (as i've alluded to elsewhere), it only gives you in bounds frequencies to choose from the drop-down that is the TX frequency column. I have a couple screenshots (that successfully loaded to the radio) with 462.550 as the RX, and both 467.725 and 467.7125 as associated TX frequencies. I also grabbed one showing the drop-down for the TX frequency column.

Sounds like the perfect use case for the anytone at779uv/radioddity db20-g/retevis ra25 triplets. 20 watts on high, small package. The btech gmrs 20v2 would fit the bill, though being a newer model, there isn't a ton of feedback out yet. The anytone/radioddity, on the other hand, has a fair bit of exposure, including among the membership here. (I have 2 of the anytone's, actually...1 in the truck for gmrs, and a 2nd in the beater unlocked for ham use). The Midland options (mxt115, mxt275) are there as well, if their limited feature set meets your needs.

There was a push in the past for channel 20, but that's kind of gotten lost since, and there isn't really one solid answer. As @wruu653 alludes to, there been a fair amount of discussion on it on the forum.