Billy

A radio like the Icom 6021 makes a very nice a very nice base or mobile, has 128 channels and is only a few dollars more than the 8 channel 6011. A full 45 watts and very nice audio. I use one in my car. I like the additional channels as the frequency split is 400-470 mhz and I have all the ham repeaters and simplex channels programmed in as well as the GMRS. Just make sure if you get one you get the 400-470 mhz version, their are a few other frequency split options. Software and cable was about $30, not a big expense and very easy to program. Power supply if used as the base will have to be 12+ amps as it does draw a bit. Good luck!

Or something like this! http://www.amazon.com/Solar-Powered-Attic-Fan-20-Ventilator/dp/B00B002WAA/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1375307015&sr=8-10&keywords=solar+attic+fan

Add one of the solar attic fans to the enclosure. The more the sun shines the more the fan spins.

John, curious, it looks like discone antennas and colinear mobiles with NMO ground plane adapters. For the life of me I cannot figure out the application. Looks great through.

Exactly, I like a full toolbox!

I do have FRS/GMRS Midland radios that get use from time to time. Neighborhood simpex. My son likes to take a radio when visiting friends in the area. I take them on the golf course also, my wife will usually go down to the adjacent beach while I play nine. So they do get used. I have a few older Motorolla FRS radios that I give out to the neices and nephews when they are playing in the yard. For those purposes and I am sure many others FRS is just fine, it wasn't intended for anything more. Similar to what Logan was saying I just think the marketing of the package radios has led to unrealistic expectations and let downs.

PastorGary, thank you! An excellent answer. My antenna is at the 32 foot mark. Not the highest structure in the area and just clearing my roofline. There are other non grounded satelite dishes and tv antennas in the area that are higher.

I have often thought about this myself. I have asked many people a question and nobody has been able to answer me. How much voltage/amperage can the average piece of coax actually carry. Say in a lightning strike or close proximity. Is the coax capable of transfering enough of that electrical currently to cause major damage inside the house. I am sure it is enough to damage a radio or similar piece of electronics but I would think that the coax would actually be the week point in the transmition. #4/6 wire is usually recommended for grounding, that little wire in the middle of the coax surely cannot transfer that much. I have seen lightning damage a few times and from what I have noticed the damage is generally restricted to the point of impact on the outside. I have my system grounded with #4 stranded (I know solid is recommended) wire into a 8' home depot ground rod. My antenna does not require a DC ground but I do have my coax on a switch that has a center off in case a storm is real bad and I remember to put it in this position. I sometimes feel this is overkill.

I have the AT-5888UV. It is about two weeks old. So far a good radio, I have not experienced any of the problems associated with the negative reviews. Still too early to give it praise, but here is what I have found: Audio reports have been good. The speaker is loud, which is nice. I am not a fan of DTMF mics in general and this one has a bunch of features, almost t00 many and is clumbsy in my hands. I also do not like the fact that the mic cable is on the side, I prefer the front as the side can limit mobile mounting options. Build quality is similar to the low end Yeasus which it kind of resembles, not as solid as ICOM. Detachable face is nice, comes with cable but not face plate mounting bracket. Mine came with the programming cable and software, quick and easy to use, nothing tricky. My watt meter is generous but it seems to be close to the power advertised. It is the same dimmensions as most new popular mobiles, Yaesu, Icom etc. and the mounting bracket is the same as my ICOM. It uses the same power cords as well. I like that is has a thermo controlled fan also, it is an extra feature worth having even though this seems to have good heat sink surface area. I hope it lasts as it has a lot of nice features for the price. It is difficult to find a radio that covers as much as this does. Time will tell. Bill P.S. The detective in me just picked up on your duplexer post. If it is already tuned to GMRS it stands to reason that the Ritron repeater was as well. Worth inquiring for the price you were quoted.

The Ritron Responder is a crystalized unit, a good one but unless it is already set up for GMRS freqs it will take work. If you think that a 8 Watt unit will suit your needs, and if you go 100 foot up you should get some good coverage look for a Ritron Patriot RRX-450 on Ebay. I have seen a few and they go for less than $200. The come with duplexer and are 100% duty cycle at 8 Watts. I have the upgraded 30 Watt version that I am using now. The good part is that I sent mine back to Ritron for tuning and aligning and they did a great job, included upgrades for only $90 something. The 30 Watt version does show up from time to time on Ebay as well. Good Luck, Bill Sorry, just read that a tower is out. Something to look at anyway.

Looked a bit further. The standard business model GU-16 comes with software and cable. The GMRS model does not but specifies that the dealer can reprogram different codes. It would stand to reason that the same software would work for both. That is the only problem that I see is the pre-programmed codes. I checked the FCC website and the Part 95 acceptance is there for the GMRS model and the Part 90 is there for the standard model. ERP as tested was 4.23 watts and .73 watts.

I bet that if an FCC check is done they are probably both Part 90/95 accepted. I will do some research on that. I am also sure that the generic Wouxum software would work. The speaker mic and accessories use the Kenwood jack as do most of the Chinese radios. I was just happy to see a new offering. Shows that people have a renewed interest in radio lately and I bet Wouxum did the market research prior to offering this model. I know that is the case locally. There are quite a few emergency repeater groups forming, Ham and GMRS.

Because it is always good to have options I cam accross this new marketed HT. It is made by Wouxum and is Part 95 FCC Certified. http://www.powerwerx.com/wouxun-radios/powerwerx-gu-16-gmrs-handheld-radio.html

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BaoFeng-BF-888-S-UHF-400-470-MHz-5W-CTCSS-DCS-Portable-Handheld-2-way-Ham-Radio-/310644233807?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item4853d6d64f There you go. I have the 666's but there does not seem to be any real difference that I can tell. I think the 777's are 3 Watt only. All use the same software the BF-480. Check the cable and make sure you can use the UV-5R. Also check for Boafeng Commercial radios. They have a few smaller units the size of the UV3R that are 2 Watt but look like a nice little radio.

I have the 666's, paid $42 for the pair. Same cable as UV5R so if you have that you are good. The program is the BF480 program available on the Baofeng Website. Pretty basic program but it works. They are decent radios for that price, 5 watts high, 2 watts low, 1500 mah batteries and charger. Same antenna as the UV5r and speaker mic works as well. I just wish the batteries were the same, they have a different mounting, that would be nice.

They are programmable and will do what you tell them to do. He was wrong, they work fine for repeater work.

Different tools for different jobs! I don't think it comes from arrogance so much as it does real world experience. I have HT's that would be classified as "bubble pack" and I have HT's and Mobiles that are both Ham and Commerical name brands costing several hundred. I prefer the commercial radios for quality and durability. That being said there is a place for cheap radios for emergencies, a trip to the beach or vacation. But in my experience you cannot get the same quality from a $50 GMRS radio what you can from a good Icom or Ritron commercial radio. 10x the power for one, versatility of being able to upgrade the antenna and battery packs that last. Audio is another good area, my Midland GMRS radios just do not sound as good as my other HT's. JMHO Bill

If you are looking for a cheap and quick durable radio look at the Baofeng commerical/industrial types. Bf-666, 777 and 888. Look for the 5 watt models but the 3 watt ones work well. They are 16 channel 400-470 mhz and usually run around $20-25 delivered. They have a few models marketed as Commerical radios that are a few bucks more and are built a bit better. But anyway what you get for $20 bucks is a decent sounding 5 watt radio with a 1500 mahr battery and charger and a detachable antenna. They do the repeater splits and hold like 200 PLs and DPL's. Programming cables are about five bucks and the software is downloadable through the Boafeng website. I have two of the 666's that are in my go bags with a Nagoya NA-701 antenna upgrade (10 bucks). To put is simply they work and are perfect for environments where your expensive HT shouldn't go. Far better than any bubble pack.

WB725NY is up and running. On my meter I have 25 Watts to the antenna, better than what I had hoped for. I didn't want to say anything prior to this out of fear that I may jynx myself but I have to send praise to the Ritron folks. They took in my machine after I had tried to align it and broke a VCO adjustment Pot. So I sent the entire radio to them for alignment, tuning of the duplexer and to have it set back to wide band. The technician at Ritron replaced the pot as an upgrade, they replaced the noisy fan with a very quiet new one, tuned the duplexer and set the transmit from 12 Watts to 25 (he said 20 so I will say my meter may be off). As of now it is running and sounding great for a total of $92.75 which includes the cost of shipping back to me. Good Job Ritron. Nice to see a company such as this. I will start some propogation testing as time allows and adjust the maping on this site accordingly. Bill And just if anyone is looking for a innexpensive repeater, with this work I am $325 into it. That doesn't count JohnE's time which is priceless.

Good Points Gary. Sectioned towers are relatively easy to install but the sections can cause all kinds of unknown RF and electric anomolies. Always better with a direct path to ground and good grounding materials. I trick I learned when installing towers was to use 8' of threaded rod for the base fastners. Even though one will only use a few feet of concrete by driving in the threaded rod 8' down the structure itself will provide its own grounding. A good and untapped source of radio towers are old street lamp posts. They have nice bases for rotors (with access panels) and are usually in excess of 24 foot. One can easily put up another 10 foot or mast without guy wires. As for weight they are cast aluminum and not hard to handle, hard to get home but not hard to errect. I had one with a my back yard growing up with a 11 meter beam. Best darn CB setup I have ever seen. My father had four 1" pieces of rod, 8 foot down. I personally observed it take a lightning strike that shook the house, deflected and found the a broken TV antenna down the block. We were fine but the Fire Department had to visit that house. But that is the way most municipalities ground their street lighting and a good tip. Voltage through coax is another topic all together however.

Got an update from Ritron today about the repeater. I is all alligned and tuned. They replaced the fan that I thought was too noisey, appartently it was on its way out. The tech was able to get 20 Watts out of the duplexer which he said should give me a little better than 65% duty cycle. It needed a few upgrades that they do automatically upon service which was nice. So hopefully I will get a package in the mail next week and be up and running.

The Ritron RRX-450/460 are Part 95 Accepted. My RRX-450 is at Ritron now getting a makeover for my GMRS Repeater setup. I have the 30 Watt model, the standard is 8 Watt but full duty cycle at that number.

I use the Ritron SLX Uhf's that are part 95 and 90 accepted. Good radios but not cheap. The are new models, one specifically for MURS but cost is about $199, that is why I did not mention it earlier. The Jobcom RTX-450's can be had on Ebay, 11 Channel 4 Watt UHF (some VHF out there as well) commercial radios that are also 90 and 95 type accepted. Programming is easy but the software is not cheap. I have the software for all the models above if anyone needed radios programmed.

In the Navy we had a word for those "Paper ***holes". Sorry Pastor, no looking to be vulgar but it was funny to me then and funny to me 25 years later. Good suggestion!

That is my concern. It was one of the reasons that I went with a unit that I can easily program and change PL's, it has a few options and can mix DPL and PL. We shall see, so far the channel is unoccupied. Bill