wayoverthere

Not to mention that antenna and cable improvements help both transmit and receive. For illustration, I tested some unlabeled cable (15 or 17ft) that came with a Midland mirror mount. With 43 watts measured at the radio, it measured 23 watts at the antenna end. Switching to a 35 foot piece of abr400 (and all other factors the same), I now had 35 watts at the antenna.

Broadcastify.com I think most of the "scanner" apps get their audio feeds from there too.

What about mounting off to the left in that view? Thinking 2 or 3 sections of top rail for the mast; it'll cost a little extra in coax, but I'd want to get it away from those utility lines, both for potential RFI and for drop hazard. That attic vent could be a nice spot for the coax to exit, though.

Not sure about Madera, but Fresno PD and fire are also still largely analog (on uhf), if you get bored.

BNC seems to be pretty common with some of the portable hf gear; the xiegu x6100 and g106 do, elecraft's new kh1 does, and iirc, the icom 705 does as well.

TL/DR: minor gripes with how they report inventory, and shipping. no direct experience with their customer service, as I haven't needed to use it. My only complaint with Radioddity relates to their website. I ordered a Xiegu G106 and DE-19 package deal, which they showed as having US stock, with 5-7 day shipping (iirc, on the shipping). However, it shipped from China instead, and according to the tracking took 3 or 4 days just to get dropped at the shipper. Total time was just over 2 weeks to actually receive it. Partially my bad for cutting it close, but I was kind of hoping to participate in one of the contest weekends, but the radio didn't get here in time...I skipped ordering from Amazon because the price difference would have been over $100. Aside from the G106, I also ordered a GD73 dmr radio from them awhile back. Got hit with a foreign transaction fee by my credit card on that one (didn't realize at that point they were international), then problems with DHL about delivering the radio (shipped to a PO box). also had a bear of a time setting up the radio, between not a ton of into for it, and me having zero idea with DMR codeplugs. That surprise foreign transaction fee put me off for a long time, but it looks like they've added paypal support between then and when i gave in on the G106.

I think you're probably in the ballpark on their reasoning. The console is a good way to hide wires, too, especially if the radio body is going to hide under a front seat. For my truck, my modifications were dropping a relay in the path to one of the receptacles so it would shut off with the key (normally, both are hot at all times). Given your Lincoln shuts off power after the delay, I'm thinking going as far as relay is unnecessary, but you could put a switch in line with hot side of the radio wiring to effectively "disconnect" it when you want to. The difficulty is where to put a switch, and insulating the back side of it, depending where you decide to hide it...still looking for ideas on that.

If they're indeed each fused for 20 amps, the receptacles should be able to handle the 575 no problem (50 watts is usually around 10-11amps draw on full power). From there, the weak point is likely a 12v plug. I would want to 'improve' inside the plug so that little spring inside isn't the sole current path. Alternately, if the back side of any of the three receptacles are easily accessed, perhaps tapping the wires behind the scenes would be an easy minimal impact option, depending on the connectors. My older truck is also a ford product, and used basic spades on the back of the 12v sockets, which made for easy modifications; I'm thinking in terms of a short bit of a Y harness between the existing wiring and the receptacle, to give the radio somewhere to plug in but keep the socket usable when it isn't radio time. if you can match connectors, it could easily be removed without a trace, too. in terms of mounting, ProClips has a couple options that could work well for the mic/display; the high center mount might work well for the KG1000G remote head, though this side mount may be better suited for the midland. just throwing out some ideas...hope it helps, but feel free to disregard if not.

FCC rules is the answer. Receiving almost anywhere you want is fine (the old analog cell bands being an exception), but transmit is the kicker. For gmrs, the radio needs part 95e certification, which disallows the ability to transmit on any non-certified services (aka ham). Dual certified radios were a thing, but more common under old rules (when gmrs was under 95a); there are still a few older models floating around (mostly Kenwood and Motorola) certified for 90 (LMR/public safety) & 95a, but they'll be uhf only, and mostly require taking a gamble on used equipment.

There's a couple listed near Auberry, but you have to have the "show stale repeaters" toggle turned on (this is the case for the Park Ridge machines as well, which are both listed as open. Auberry 575 is listed as open, while Sierra 2 is listed as permission required. Both listings have the same frequency and tone, though, so I'm not sure if it changed hands and an old listing wasn't removed or what. I also found a new listing for the Joaquin Ridge machine with the "stale" option turned on.

Park Ridge 700 is said to have the better range. Park Ridge 675 is the secondary machine. There used to be one on Joaquin Ridge near Coalinga that was called Central1, which I've been able to reach from Tulare on a handheld, but I don't see it listed anymore. I think I saw something previously about it being a "legacy repeater" as the owner had passed away and that they were trying to put things in place to keep it running, but it looks like they were not successful.

I'll have to look at what they're called, but TCARC has a couple on park ridge that may be in range

You have headroom to spare. (Time for another radio? ) My 20 watt rated at779uv runs around 5A draw on high, and even my 45 and 50 watt radios (btech, vertex, icom) don't top 11A on high power. Haven't checked the idle draw for the anytone, but with 2 vertex single band vhf/uhf radios and a btech 50x1 all monitoring, my psu was only showing around 0.5A draw (yes, half an Amp).

There's one from Alaska I hear on nets sometimes that uses "Frozen Radio" for the FR in his call

So...I still stand by the statement that RIch can best say what that section of the site will and will not accept in that box. That said, I created a "Test" repeater listing to be able to poke at the settings (marked it offline, etc). Still not sure what kind of code it's using, but I did successfully create a link with the little "chain" icon (4th from the top right, in blue in the screenshot). typed in the text I wanted, highlighted it, hit the link button, and pasted in the url I wanted it to point to. Seems to have worked: Hope it's at least a little bit of help.

If you have some roof rack bars/rails, those may help with keeping the cable off the roof between the mount and tucking into the hatch. That may bring it back to a lip mount being the best option. This comet has a short section of thin cable to help with squeezing past the seal, and limits the amount of cable available outside to rub. Closer to the hinge also limits how much you need loose to allow range of movement with the hatch, but may complicate routing while leaving a drip loop. (I know...Always compromises somewhere) Back to mag mounts, though, I've largely used Midland mag mounts, have to check the brand on one other (edit: it's a Browning), along with a late 90's radio shack mag mount and cb antenna. Even with antennas up to 3 ft, comet 2x4sr or double 5/8 Browning, the only time I've had one come loose was when the whip directly and solidly hit something, like a good sized branch. Lots of light hits with no movement. I can't see something like a "hatpin" 1/4 wave having enough leverage to knock the mount loose, and is only 6" tall. On the hatch, you can likely get by with a 1/2 wave (which tend to be around 12-15" for 450-470 mhz) and still clear the garage.

I'll also suggest protecting the point where the cable turns the corner into the hatch. Been running mag mounts (1, 2 or 3) on my truck for the past 3 years or so, and you can see the "rub" where it turns to tuck in behind the door seal

@rdunajewski is the Rich in question. And racking my brain in the meantime as to what it might accept.

I don't have access to a repeater page to test, but have you tried html or bbcode? Iirc, bb code would be url=http://whatever within [], while html would be a href="http://url goes here" within <> brackets

Comet also makes a couple generic brackets that are basically an s bend, and use one of the fender bolts to hold the mount just above the fender. This is the shorter one, I believe there is a "tall" option also.

It looks like they've moved to a club requiring dues, probably why they switched the channel to requiring a password (I got bumped out by that move too, btw). Their webpage seems to be offline, but they have a club page on the site, if you want to go that route: https://forums.mygmrs.com/clubs/49-broadnet-gmrs-repeater-systems/

If you're talking about needing a password to connect to a certain channel, identifying the channel may help with getting you pointed to the relevant contacts (or otherwise providing help). I've definitely run into a couple that I hadn't been on in a bit and either needed a password, or had been bumped out of the "trusted" group.

i haven't tried with the radioddity software, but i've had success running other radio programming software in Wine (if you have that available).

honestly, I've rotated through a few, looking for that elusive combination of good signal and overhead clearance. current is a Comet SBB-5, on a fender mount (Comet, i believe, with a Midland NMO cable); it gives me some extra gain, but being mounted lower means it clears pretty much everywhere, and still has the option to fold if needed. Comet 2x4SR - good signal, but got tired of folding it for the parking garage (ran it on a mag mount on the roof) 1/4 wave Signal Stalk - worked great pretty much everywhere, but a hair too long for the parking garage at work mounted on the roof Comet SBB-1 - only seemed to give up a little signal vs the Signal Stalk, but short enough to clear the parking garage (basically a mobile rubber duck)...i still keep this in the truck for low clearance situations. I also have a 1/2 wave Signal Stalk (the low temp version), but the numbers are ~3:1 on 2m...analyzer shows its sweet spot is around 142mhz currently, so trimming it a little is on my to-do list.

Definitely cross shop the accessories separate from the radio. That said, I've been happy with mine, and have a couple channels set for a 1 way crossband repeat. The remote head is great for flexibility, with the plus of being able to connect the mic to the control head or radio. Compared to the ftm400, I alsonget along better with icom's menus vs yaesu.. I haven't been super impressed with the Bluetooth, though., even with icom's Bluetooth dongle...it's good inside the car to not subject my passenger get to whatever I'm monitoring, but the range was maybe 10 or 15 ft at most when I had it on my desk in the house, and it's worse in the truck...much further than just out the door and it's breaking up.