WREY478

If you are going to do a Base setup, and I encourage that you do, the most effective setup for what you seem to need is to have the Middle residence have the Base. Now granted... all of you should have a base! But that may or may not be practical in the short term. IF the Middle location has a decent base with a good antenna, and good feed line, at or above the roof, you'll be amazed how much range 'they' will have with lesser powered HTs and mobiles. 40-50w mobiles and base stations should have no problem getting 10miles out. Granted, terrain always dictates, so this isn't exact in every application. An attic antenna isn't a terrible way to start with the base station either. Even a mobile antenna on a mag mount on a pie pan or piece of sheet steel (old computer tower) up in the attic will get you increased range with the height. The roof will inhibit the signal somewhat, but the height will gain more than the hindrance. Be sure to get an SWR meter for this frequency range. It's a must have for new stations and something you'll use many times down the road. Surecom's are popular, among others. Have fun and good luck with your setups!

Comet 712EFC is a great choice for a base antenna. I have mine mounted on a tripod on the roof of my house. Approx 30' or so off the ground. Works great, light weight, no tuning, priced right.. what's not to like?

I also bought in with this brand and am now phasing them out. Midland and BTech are really the only companies playing the GMRS marketing game. If the input tone is not the missing tone, you have 2 choices for Open Channel listening: 1: Channel Up... Channel Down...: Since the Midlands add 8 extra repeater channels, you can split the tones by splitting the channels. Use the regular simplex channel as the Rx and then channel up to the repeater version of the same channel to Tx with a different tone. Channel down to listen on a particular tone.... channel up to talk on a different tone. Since the Rx tone you need is missing, just leave the Rx-simplex channel Open, no tones. 2: Use Monitor/open squelch: Set your Tx tone on the repeater version channel and then open the Monitor button and just put up with the white noise in between key-ups. This will open up the squelch with no tones on listen, and automatically go back to your set Tx tone when you key the PTT. This is much easier than the above method, as you can leave it on a single channel. You just have to put up with the white noise until the next individual keys up and you get some strong Rx. My Icom 6061D shows up today and the midlands will probably go on the auction block. At least the 40watt radios anyway. I too really like that mxt275 by Midland. I have 2 of those and will probably keep them. Other than lacking real Tx power, they are great little radios for lots of reasons And they have Good Ears. -jb wrey478

Copy that. Masting will commence. My mobiles were just my intro into all this madness. Used to use uhf at the golf clubs in the old days before cell popularization, and has been fun getting back into the old tech, with a new format. Back then it was all simplex and dtmf tones to control irrigation centrals and employee comm.

My house is an old tri-level, so the roof height is just about 4-5' less than a standard 2-story. 10' on a tripod sure seems like a lot of potential weeble-wobble in the wind, but this is why i pose the question to the experts. I do already have a 5-element yagi, and plan to try it out first. Then possibly option for a 12 or some variation of yagi higher than a 5. I know that Buddy Moyer uses a 5-element on his tower to hit the local Indy 550 repeater with no issues whatsoever. But, his yagi is also 70' off the ground, mounted to his repeater tower there in Greencastle. My concern is that i get it right from the start, whether that is 2 antennas or 1. I've already accumulated quite an array of mobile antennas with various testing and i don't want that expense or hassle when going roof top. Ideally, i want to set the track in motion and know that i'm going to have decent success with the investment. Appreciate the response and all you guys out there making this fun for the rest of us. -jb

Looking for opinions on a gmrs base antenna setup. Currently using a mobile nmo 5.5db whip on a mag mount, on top of my furnace chimney. Plenty of steel ground plane and it seems to work OK, but not great. 12' of RG58 with the mount and about 20' of RG8x to complete the feeder. This puts me around 3.5db loss in the coax. I can just barely pick up 2 different repeaters, each about 40miles away on a clear day with the monitor/squelch wide open. Not the most ideal situation and i want to improve it. First consideration is that i need 2 different antennas, a yagi (12-element PCTEL MYA45012) on a rotator and a 9db gain omni (Comet CA-712EFC), both on a switch. Seemingly, this would give me all the options I'm looking for. Long range sniper antenna with the yagi and good around-town simplex with the Comet. I will be improving the feeder lines significantly with lmr400, 600, or maybe even 1/2" hardline. All 'N' connectors and 'N' ported switch to keep loss at a minimum. Both would be mounted on separate masts (yet to be installed) on the roof, about 15' apart from each other. My question is.... would a DB404 be equal to or superior in hitting the 40mile away repeaters? And if so, is the DB404 really all i need? From what i have read of Corey's DB404... sure seems like thats all i would need. However, I'm concerned with my urban location in the swamp of Indianapolis, lack of height on my roof, and trying to break a signal out of the trees as well as the lower lying swamp ground that is my neighborhood. The price for the 2 antennas and feeders will end up costing about the same as just going with a DB404 out of the gate. Thoughts? (no wifey-poo considerations and i could care less what the neighbors think) -jb wrey478