gortex2

a UHF 1/4 wave is 6". Not sure why you say they are all over 7". Not in UHF. As for the phantom think of that as a rubber duck jammed inside a pepper shaker. If you have local repeaters that are good it will work ok but are junk for any distance.

The base of those is just like a standard NMO and open under the plastic. They will fill up with water in rain and wick into the cable.

Most of us use the Larsen NMOKHFUD NMO Mount. It isn't 100% waterproof but way better than the others. I normally slip a piece of self sealing heat shrink over the cable and I have yet to have one get water in them. My JK is at least 10 years old and still works fine. They work really well. https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=264_266_291&products_id=1125

1/4 wave UHF is solid and great off road. Run it on both my JT and JK along with work trucks. All go off road.

XTS/XTL Series and now APX

Not sure what your trying to do but your not going to get a vanity call sign in GMRS. Thats a HAM radio thing.

For NMO hole saws the Laird or Ripley is what you want. The Ripley is actually what Motorola sells. For crimpers get a decent set. In the end they will last years. I got mine from Tessco almost 20 years ago and all three sets are still going. I know DX and other places have decent ratchet crimpers for 1 or 2 here and there but if your doing more than 1 a week spend the money. Also double check the dies that come with it and has the right ones for connector you are using.

I'll be in UWARRIE this weekend for the JJ Academy. Will post my findings. Last year only 2 guys had GMRS and most of the chatter was on FRS channels.

On a mobile or portable 1 minute TOT is more than adequate.

I have run a 890 (actually 690, 790 and 890) in my old truck when I was in NY for SAR work. They were great radios. All of mine were remote head. Rock solid. I probably would still use them but we switched to MDC identifiers for SAR and didn't want to cobble encoders in them. At one point my 690/890 was dual deck single head.

See the thread above. While you can put up a cheap repeater if you want one that will get used and works well you need to spend some coin. Lots of info in the link above.

MXT275 is the way to go. Throw the mic in the glove box or center console and no one knows its there.

This was mentioned in the pst by other members. You pay for quality. Thats the biggest thing that leave members leaving GMRS. If you want quality service dont spend $20 on radios

Its really about antenna and line as has already mentioned. Power isn't necessarily the factor. If your only talking to the repeater on a 4 watt HT having a 50 watt repeater wont make it work better. In the LMR world we would "balance" repeaters all the time to get them close. Also as said above. Take a portable and hook it to your antenna system. If it doesn't work a repeater wont help.

Thanks Rich ! Im back in. Thanks for all you do for us.

Rich when i try to login i get the same question again telling me it needs a username and wont let me use my current one. Only way past was to add a 2 again. If you merged the accounts I dont care at this point.

This is for Rich I guess. When i logged in it made me change my profile name. I just added a "2" to my current name. Would not allow me to re-use my name. Thoughts ?

Agree. Id be worried how far from center I'd go. I normally tune my flatpack style ones dead center of GMRS band so it can go up or down a channel or 2. Much more it does show issues the further away from center.

Another advantage of 16 channels is you could put different PL DPL combinations in each channel with the same frequency. In GMRS that can be good.

Also remember there is loss thru a duplexer. Cheaper the duplexer the more loss. Depending on how it was tuned I have had them come in the shop with almost 3 db of loss. That's half your power. The only true way to know is to have your duplexer swept and see what the loss is on it. If its got high loss or off frequency that can cause the PA to heat up and drop power. Quick way to test is to drop the radio to low power and see if it does same thing,. As other said you dont want to run any 1225 on high power if you want it to last. I've replaced hundreds of PA's over the years. All my GR1225 run at 25 watts max. My low power units go into TPL amps.

There is no need to drop a headliner if you use the right tool for the job.

I do but all my part 90 gear works on ham, gmrs and public safety. If going after part 90 stuff make sure the band split is correct.

As said I'd try to find the HHCH for the radio. If not there is a company that makes a console face plate for your center console. I just did one in a 2019 Denali for my buddy. Holds 2 radios.

You would have better luck with a 1/4 wave on the mount than that antenna. Inside is litterly a circuit board with a brass strip. Its about as good as a rubber duck.

When in the Jeeps simplex. When around one of my repeaters we use the repeater for range. Its mostly to talk to family or friends, not a chat line. If I wanted to listen to that I'd turn a ham radio on.