tweiss3

This is probable for many of the ham or single band antennas, but some of the magic in the "all-band" HT antennas doesn't appear to be improved by a tiger tail. Though, to be honest, the radio bodies are significantly larger and involve much more metal than say a FT3DR or Woxun GMRS radio.

On another note, I recently bought a Motorola HT-1250 for 6 meter use, and I needed to replace the antenna. The replacement came with instructions, and there were 2 different cut lines, 1 for with a RSM attached and 1 without. It was about 0.75"-0.5" different across the band. For those wondering, this is a helical antenna designed to cover 30MHz to 50MHz with a bandwidth of maybe 2MHz when cut.

At UHF, there isn't much discernable improvement, the radio body is more than enough counterpoise to the antenna. Now, when you get to low band VHF (50MHz) a tigertail counterpoise has the potential to provide significant improvement to compromised antenna systems.

It requires Professional CPS version R06.12.05_AA, which is the last version that permits wideband usage. It will work on Windows 10 64bit, but will not even install on Windows 11. Cables can be bought from a multitude of places, Bluemax49er hasn't let me down yet.

The Cadillac of quick meters is RigExperts. I have the Stick XPro, but the Stick Pro and Stick 500 also cover UHF. I chose the XPro because it does 1.2GHz. https://rigexpert.com/products/antenna-analyzers/ If you want to spend a ton of money on a professionals series, FieldFox is kind of one of the standard pieces of equipment for RF Technicians. If you want significantly cheaper, a NanoVNA will do the job, but it can be rather annoying to calibrate and use every time.

He's not, he is a dealer trying to peddle Hytera radios and repeaters.

The radiation pattern depends a lot on the height above ground, but even in a bad installation they can be very effective. https://www.qsl.net/kk4obi/EFHW Straight.html

Correct, its an end-fed half wave. The 40 does 10, 15, 20 & 40, but the 80 does 80, 40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 good enough for portable operations. I do have a tuner I can toss in the mix if I need a better match.

Correct, it does. I should say, the system he is working on is amateur radio, not GMRS, but the concept is not exclusive to any portion of FM radio.

It's not impossible to have low baud data in the CTCSS portion of a wide band signal, but it's very slow data, and you really then need to do modifications to the radios so that you can hear and decode the data in that portion of the transmission. You do loose your signal selectivity of Tone/DCS though. I was talking with a friend who has a 3 repeater system, and he is working on building a data dashboard using the low baud data from the RF links as described above. It is quite the project, and as mentioned, very slow data.

For portable, I bought an unun on ebay (was $15, couldn't build one for that cost) and put it in a PVC box: I then made a 40M long wire, and a 80M long wire, the 40M is in a chalk reel and the 80M is in a rope reel. The second chalk reel has paracord, the intent is to attach the chain link ring to the chosen wire, then toss the chalk reel in a tree, no need to deal with weights, and it keeps things from getting tangled. I think I was out a total of $100 all said and done to have a decent field antenna set that packs away easily, and can be deployed in about 10 minutes.

Is this in your car or house or office? In the car, many dashes are now digital screens, and a screen can cause interference in the UHF band. I've seen it be bad enough that my HT gets better reception on my hip at the 7:30 position where my body is between the radio and dash, even if it's way less than ideal pinned between a body and seat frame. In your house or office, you should try tracking the interference down. Keep it away from the screens and/or computer tower. It's amazing what 3 feet of separation can do. As mentioned above, double check your dual watch setting.

DOH! My mind skipped that 1 word. Anyways, UHF is great, you can use a 6" whip antenna and get great performance, plus be less likely to be noticed. I'll just say it, drill the hole and do an NMO mount. There, now I'll drop it.

Do you have the Bronco: or Bronco Sport: As far as I'm aware (I'm not in the market, so I may be wrong), but the Bronco, even with the hard top, is not a metal roof.

Not impossible, but improbable. Stico has one similar, but it's a bit more narrow banded, and made much better. https://sti-co.com/magnetic-flexi-whip-tri-band-antenna/ I still have concerns with a magmount on your Bronco. From what I just looked up, doors hood and fenders are aluminum.

No, wasn't meant in that way. With the cost of copper, or the PVC required for an EdFong, the cost difference is indistinguishable between a jpole and a commercially sold antenna. I've put up too many "good enough" antennas only to have more problems replacing them than it was worth just a year or so later. I can't find where it was documented, but there was a a study/model that showed a horizontal null with the jpole. I was able to find this null while rotating an edfong antenna. It's now used in the attic for a single frequency monitor where the null doesn't matter. I encourage everyone to build antennas of all kinds, and everyone should have one (or more) sitting around to toss up in a temporary setup. The jpole is almost perfect for that.

You are going to have to look for another option for an antenna. A bronco (not sport) will have trouble getting anything magnetic/ground plane on top. I'm not sure if the hood is aluminum, but if it is, a magnet mount is not going to work. You should be looking for a 1/2 wave (12-13") and something with a NMO or 3/8 stud mount. Location that has worked for others on a bronco are middle of the hood, side of hood, rear corner. You will need more than just the antenna, you need an appropriate mount for your location and the coaxial, some come packaged together.

You might be onto something there, just skipped the final programming before hitting the box.

Some of those are itinerants, some are not. That's an odd group of frequencies.

Like others have said, they are inexpensive, and can be built at home. If you want to experiment, go for it. The unfortunate thing is they are not that inexpensive when only a few bucks more you can get a real antenna that doesn't have a big null (see link above).

CS800D claims AES256, but does not support "Enhanced Encryption" (ARC4) as used by Kenwood and Motorola. I tried to get Jerry to add it, but he said "its a ham radio, why?"

Short answer is yes. Longer answer is depends on each antenna's sweep and what you are comfortable with. I specifically choose antennas that meet my intended needs.

I wonder if a 2 channel mixer would work in your scenario: https://www.amazon.com/TENEALAY-powered-control-passive-X21/dp/B09WDMYYBP/ref=sr_1_11?crid=1XLFC7M6VRV4Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4bQEOxlyEj8bOlCw2zKw3_3rnoi7s-PpUCUvllW2j67vtfzleIbvwsankw6gUQMNNN3qnxnVdjkERVcbCqcyWZINNy9LoeKZ3LxPQuyIadVUEXl9Nd-R6YEY--CCDWVOdTriTI0YhXmo-6fn8GRqjP1Eg4pLl1dFX9Xa0qzrSHynmNRxJyKPQdmftxyhhBQCKVefjz2djhWeIDNh3vK-s21eUrQWgaPRvlxNgRnokyCQAHGcVqkWJsilKHXv3bgk5DTAm0ivjiNyf5xLN15eZKidLoMhg3LMFEf8Xa4bbn_Zf4Poy_0_eaH5qj5UQJcXNo09_qOTXNjvzOKMUzW1EJjNsSdrYpAxmM2WRYsdFOaXZgu6ZtwouTOnuMONpRHZpEhTFnwjO7N9neTB2xBjUEtNr_YhYuruNmTNyu9RjHZ3ABp0wGpa_kyAoYuw7I_o.QA1I3W92xO6VV6l2FgL9sXWmcNRqC03_aEDDL2itOOY&dib_tag=se&keywords=stereo+mixer+2+channel&qid=1740410863&sprefix=stereo+mixer%2Caps%2C166&sr=8-11

I'll argue the -120 dbm number. Yes, that is the squelch spec for almost every radio now, but you can't understand anything at that signal strength, -110 dbm is the bottom end of what a trained ear can claim to understand. Either way, theoretical flat earth is nearly nothing compared to real life experiences.