[Base Station Antenna options]

I hate to admit it but I had set the privacy tones incorrectly. Still learning, that's for sure. I was able to hit it with the 115 with no problem.  Yes - I have line of sight and since swapping the 115 with the 400, I can hit the repeater easily even on the low setting(about 5 watts) at 31 miles away. I do like the way that the 400 works better than the 115 or the 275. It's seems to be more sensitive on the receive side as well. Is it worth the extra $100? Maybe. I'm wondering now if I should upgrade my antenna or if this is good enough to do everything I want? 

Also, SWR is in the 1.15:1 range.

[Base Station Antenna options]

Hello WREC915, 

I am currently using the same radio and it is my first GMRS radio. Also using the same antenna, but haven't had any luck talking to anyone on a repeater or even on simplex.  I know the radio is working because I have two motorola hand held radios and I can hear my mobile on them. It is hard to find a repeater in my area that is not private use and I'm not able to get the PL tones to them. Let me know how your MXT 400 works because I am thinking of doing the same thing you are, but not sure about midland.

Good luck

retiredpc in Tennessee.

 

This is my first setup as well. The goal was to communicate with my Mom 6 miles away in case of SHTF. I installed the same setup at her house as well but used a much shorter feed line and hers has worked perfectly since day one. Mine has had some struggles but eventually got them sorted out. Now I just want to see how far I can go. Once it arrives and I put in some testing time, I'll let you know how it compares with the 115.

[Base Station Antenna options]

I am using the 712EFC antenna with Timesmicrowave LMR400 for my household repeater. Now my range isnt too great because of the height, (17' above ground, thanks to not owning my property and the landlord being afraid of the insurance costs of a tower on his land) but upgrading the feedline and antenna nearly doubled the range I had. (Originally I was running RG8X and a Diamond 200U)

 

Still there are other factors in play. What is the terrain between your house and the repeater you are trying to hit? If there is a mountain or very large hill between you and the repeater, chances are you'll need a taller antenna structure, not just a higher gain antenna. If you have a ton of pine trees, you may find the new setup (Higher power and better antenna) works well for you as it punches through the trees. You may also benefit from a lower loss feedline meaning less dB loss for the radios receiver, and more power getting into the antenna from the transmitter.

 

So the 712EFC was beneficial and you would recommend? If I go that route, I'll also upgrade my feedline to 1/2 Heliax. Just want to make sure it's going to make enough difference to help.

 

As far as terrain is concerned, I'm in the high desert at about 5000 feet. There are very few trees and I have a direct line of sight to the repeater, according to  https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/ .  

[Base Station Antenna options]

I'm currently running a Midland MXT115 with an Ed Fong antenna. It works great and I can reach 18 miles easily thanks to being in the foothills and having the antenna mouted 10 feet above my roofline.

Getting a little greedy, I'm trying to hit a repeater 31 miles away so I can reach a family member that's 45 miles away. Using the Scada line of sight tool, all looks well as the repeater is on top of a mountain. My MXT115 isn't reaching so i just ordered an MXT400 and would like to upgrade the antenna, if needed.

If I may, I'm looking for recommendations for a new antenna that won't break the bank but will give me that little extra nudge to hit that repeater. I'm looking at a lot of them online and reading reviews but it's nice to get some real world expertise from people using them. I'm currently leaning toward the Comet CA-712EFC. 

In case it's needed, I'm using 65' of Belden 9913 as my feedline.

Any help/advice will be great. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1/2 Heliax questions]

Great advice. Thank you.

[1/2 Heliax questions]

Just inherited some 1/2 Heliax and looking for some learning. I will be running about 75 feet. The bend radius will be difficult on both ends but I think will be easiest at the antenna for the drip loop. At the radio, I plan to use a 3 foot piece of LMR400 or the like to give the flexibility needed.

If I did the same at the antenna with a short jumper, will having two jumpers create too much loss?

Any advice will be great.

[Receiving lots of noise]

I installed 3 ferrite beads just below the connection at the antenna and one large approx 15" diam drip loop below that. It's Belden 89913 (free cable) and extremely stiff so the 3" diameter balun is out of the question. It's mounted on an 8' peice of PVC that puts the antenna base about 6' above my roof line.

I'm very happy with the results but will now need to see if it is indeed affecting the receive capability. I've tested out as far as 12 miles before all this noise started. I'll try again and see what happens.

[Receiving lots of noise]

Both of us are using Midland MXT115 radios set to high power (15 watts). To my knowledge, nothing nearby causing RF noise.  There's not a lot of GMRS being used where I live so I never get to hear any one other than my mom or kids playing on their walkies. Those never sound good. The noise I'm hearing on my end is similar to a white noise generator. Steady and not varying.

 

Before I saw your responses, I spent some time trying some things. I read about installing a drip loop and ferrite magnets just below the antenna connection. After I tried that, my noise went away. I'm not sure if those changes actually fixed something or just by taking it all apart and putting it back together, mistakenly found the problem? Definitely unsure as to what exactly resolved the issue but if you have any feedback on the changes I made and if they are likely to help, I'd be happy to receive the feedback. Thank you.

[Receiving lots of noise]

New to GMRS.  Setup a home base station for my self and my mom. Same setup for both of us. Ed Fong GMRS antenna, MXT115 radios. She hears me with very little noise or static. I hear a ton of noise when she transmits, same on all channels. We are 6 miles apart, fairly heavy suburban area but not many tall buildings and nothing over 4 stories. I am 500 feet in elevation higher than she is. Both of our antennas are roof mounted. I'm using 65 feet of Belden 9913 and she has 30 feet of generic RG8x. I'm assuming that it's the 8x but before I replace it, would like some thoughts/advice. Thank you.