gortex2

So i have mine with 2 channels programmed. One on high power (25 watts) and one on low power (10 watts). When I have a 50 amp hookup its on CH1 HP when im dry camping its on CH 2 LP.

There are some online programs to show you range. As said above height and antenna gain is everything. You can put 50 watts out on your garage roof and not talk as far as 5 watts on a 2500' mountain top.

So for the 5th wheel I would use a standard base style antenna. I run the Laird omni. Its only 20" tall and I use the provided brackets on my ladder on the back of the MH when i get on site. I have also used it on my fiberglass flagpole but found I didn't gain much range even going up 15'. Its the FG4500 below is one place that stocks them. https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1096&products_id=1057 I have a 25' piece of RG213 that is N Male on both ends. I connect it to the antenna and drop it down behind the ladder. I run it to my compartment that has a GR1225 currently. It works really good at campgrounds and the NASCAR tracks I frequent. I used it at JJ2020 but other than me on it I never heard another jeeper. https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=342_343_1438_1411&products_id=6843 I really want to swap out to the RT97 mainly because I dry camp at the NASCAR tracks and the GR is a power hog. I pull the fan power when I am not on AC but still at 10 watts it uses more power than I want. My hope is to swap to the RT97 also so I can jsut wire it to a switch and power on, vs swapping from power supply to battery every time I use it. You could probably use the same antenna with a 3' jumper if you can carry it to a high place and strap the antenna to something to keep it up. An old camera tripod may be perfect for that combo. Not sure how much battery you would need. Remember the more you talk the more battery needed.

I don't know of a part 90 dual band DMR radio other than maybe a high end Kenwood (can't recall the model). Its in the thousands of dollar range. Sorry although they may print stickers for the CCR stuff I don't classify any as real part 90 radios... JMHO. Good luck on your journey.

There is a nice GR1225 ready to go for $300 on this forum from a member...Id spend that before buy 2 baofengs, a vox repeater controller and a amplifier... https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/2372-motorola-gr1225-for-sale/

What you are trying to do will not work. Repeaters are only on GMRS. Purchase a GMRS capable radio and you can install your own small repeater. It will not be cheap endeavor to do it correct. Plan to spend a few hundred dollars at bare minimum.

It will work fine, however you need to remove the raptor on the top under the mount also. Most NMO mounts are desighned for thin metal and adding a "thicker" surface may cause some issues with install. It really depends how thick you sprayed it. On my JK its pretty thin on the exterior parts and my antenna mount if fine.

462.675 / 141.3 has been the unofficial designated channel for some time. 25 years ago our React team had a repeater on that channel and monitored it on the interstate. They have since folded up as most REACT teams in the late 90s'. There is alot of comments on this and FRS 1 if you do some searching. If your looking for this to call for help, find another means as not all recognize nor monitor this. I know our SAR teams have it in our radios but rarely scan it.

OK. You need to explain this one. There are 8 GMRS frequencies only. Repeaters always transmit LOW and is how many of the GMRS radios sold on the market support. I dont understand why you would not use defined frequency plan. I mean do you mean different TX and RX pairs ? IF so not sure why again. Please explain your question.

I think the idea of this topic was to explain that a cheap repeater is not going to do what you want. To do it right costs money. Its really no different than the ham world. How many guys have a 440 repeater in their garage at home vs on a mountaintop ? Not many. Those that do did it to cover a small area. I look at GMRS the same. You can take 2 mobiles and strap them together with a cheap duplexer and cover 5-10 miles in your village/town with a decent antenna. I have one at home on my barn just for my 10 acres and local around the farm. Its not meant to get to town or cover a large area. But 2 Baofeng portables back to back with mag mount antenna's is not going to do what you want. The issue is daily someone joins the forum and says they need a repeater but they are using junk equipment to begin with and dont want to spend the money to do it right. As for your other comment about commercial repeaters on towers being illegal please share where in the rules it says i can't have my repeater on a combiner with a RX antenna on the top of the tower in a multi-coupler ? As long as I meet the power requirements and TX antenna height I am good to go. A well designed commercial setup will outperform most expectations.

IF others have there radio set with CTCSS/DPL they are not going to hear you regardless of what you do. If your in CSQ mode you will hear them but they will never hear you. Just as you have experienced with your RT76P. You need to determine what PL/DPL/Code the others are using. I ran into this at JJ last fall with a user that bought a radio online, didn't know how to program it and had no idea what PL/DPL he was on. After an hour of trying each tone i finally found what he had programmed and made him write it down with the channel so if others asked he could share. I have found this to be quite common with 4x4 folks cause they just buy a radio and use with no license or understanding of the radio.

Make sure you not only add channels to the scan list but set the timer to scan. If the stop timer is zero it will never scan. You should see SCAN on the display or another indicator if in scan on an ICOM

Did you look at the repeater list on mygmrs.com ?

I understand that. My comment was based on my installing of public safety systems its a habit to use the same stuff on my GMRS. Plus most of my repeaters are public safety part 90 re-use.... This was for my repeater only. I still encourage users to ID as stated in the rules.

Most of my repeaters ID at 30 minutes. Regardless if it is or is not in the rules that's how i do my Public Safety stuff so that's how i did mine.

MURS does not allow DMR. Nor does GMRS.

Lightening protection should go at the point of ingress to your house/garage prior to the radio. If you have an antenna on a mast run cable down mast and as soon as you enter building you would put protection there.

You get what you pay for. If you have cheap radios then using a cheap meter isn't going to help much. Spend a bit more on the equipment you need to test and you will be pleased. Most likely youll also find all this cheap stuff is not going to perform well enough.

A repeater will not get you into the net either although many that do tie in via repeater. Also as reference Warrenton did have a repeater (I used it in the past). If you look at the map and click outdated listings the info should come up. I doubt it is connected to any nets but may be wrong. I can say none of mine are connected to any network's.

Make sure the other radios dont use PL/DPL.

I think the issue with Part 90 vs Part 95 stuff for items like a repeater is you will most likely spend alot of money on stuff that wont perform to your expectations. I have said over and over you get what you pay for. To spend $320 each radio, then at bare minimum $300 for a decent flatpack mobile duplexer (not what Id use but alot do) your at $ 1000 and you dont have an antenna or hardline. For $1000 I can order a decent used GR1225 repeater, tuned and programmed and still have $500 in my pocket for antenna and hardline. There are Part 95 repeaters out there if folks are insistent on them from cheap to expensive and I'd go that route before 2 mobiles velcroid together....

In a nutshell if you plan to use repeaters near you (after asking for permission) then you would use wideband as the majority or repeaters are wideband. If you only plan to talk radio to radio and never use a repeater FRS and narrowband is fine. I could type a entire document on pro and con of each but if you search you will find a ton of info.

As said many of times its all what you expect to get for your hard earned dollars. If you want a quality well performing radio you buy a LMR/Part 90 radio that was designed for the band in the first place. If this is new to you and you just want to dabble as a user and want something a bit better than FRS then you get the CCR such as above. Yes some CCR are better than other but some are worse. Over the last 3 months I have noticed the increase of membership and new members wanting to know why folks aren't hearing them on repeaters and why there UV5R doesn't talk 30 miles to the repeater. If you want to play with the good stuff you need to spend money. GMRS isn't about chatting with folks on the repeater you don't know. The radio in the original post appears to be a decent GMRS radio but everyone will give there opinion on them. I personally use only part 90 radios in all my vehicles and house, and repeaters. However my parents have the MTX in all there vehicles as do I in my off road Jeep. Why because it serves the purpose needed only. I looked at a few GMRs mobiles for my parents and none were simple, turn on and talk on the channel I tell them. The Midland was. So for their purpose this fit the bill perfectly. back to normal programming.....

The ICOM is a solid performer. We still use many in VHF band for SAR work. As long as you don't need more than 16 channels its a great little radio. Most get crazy and think you need 100 channels in your GMRS radio. If you have a few specific repeaters you use and some simplex they are great. Simple is always my method. As or Motorola comment, agree no clue where that came from. I can assure you my APX8000 is about the best radio I have ever owned. There are many quality MSI products used and new.

I plan to order the same repeater for my motorhome this spring. I run a GR1225 now but the power draw when im dry camping is more than this one so my plan is to swap. I already have my GR1225 turned down to 10 watts so think it will be a nice plug/play swap. It should be an ideal little repeater for small coverage locations in a campground or from your vehicle.