gortex2

For the most part those self-labled "private repeaters" are very low profile "garage repeaters" and have a very tiny footprint anyway... Very few people can afford to pay monthly rent for tower space.

The line exists because Canada has long ago reserved those frequency pairs for their own use! That is why using them is forbidden to GMRS operators.

That simply is not accurate. NSEA* has a repeater on 462.675/467.675 141.3 for well over fifty-one years now! Call sign is also the oldest in Illinois: KAA 8142
NSEA | History | GMRS | Repeaters | Projects | Skywarn
*Note: located in Parkridge, Illinois and covers most of Chicago.

As said many repeaters are not listed on any site. I have multiple that are not listed, nor will ever list them.

Never say never but no. Just pick up a standard 1/4 wave uhf mag mount on amazon.
 

It's an important line. My house lies about 1000' north of the line. Lines A and C also affect Part 90 LMR and Amateur Radio where every UHF LMR system requires coordination with Canada and and ham radio cannot use 420-430

For years GMRS 462.675 was the emergency channel in many folks area's as channel 9 was in CB. Many REACT teams had repeaters for this channel. Prior to SAR in CNY React had a repeater and got given to SAR when React faded. It is still on the air to this day on 462.675. While it was used more for SAR stuff before local VHF systems flourished it was used randomly by hikers on the FLT. There is alot out there on GMRS 462.675 (CH20) being used for this. I knw many monitor this channel while traveling still (my Priority) with the travel tone. 
As said in the end unless the FCC designates a frequency its going to be up to an individual or area to use what they want. Personally I think CH1 is the smartest channel as most never leave it.  On my last Jeep ride that's basically the channel they said to go to if you can't get an answer on the trail channel.  My guess is its simple and basic and most radios all match on CH1. If you use the travel PL on it you wont hear all the FRS users who just got a Christmas radio. 
On a similar topic State of Wyoming designated Channel 3 and PL7 (307) as a search and rescue channel. People are giving 100 reasons why it wont work. So no matter what gets picked some will like it and some wont. 
As for scratching the Line A idea I can't argue as it takes forever to get public safety and LMR licenses above Line A also, but its the rules. Saying to disregard the rules is not what GMRS users should be promoting. We should be promoting following the rules as well as getting a license. 
 
 

For years GMRS 462.675 was the emergency channel in many folks area's as channel 9 was in CB. Many REACT teams had repeaters for this channel. Prior to SAR in CNY React had a repeater and got given to SAR when React faded. It is still on the air to this day on 462.675. While it was used more for SAR stuff before local VHF systems flourished it was used randomly by hikers on the FLT. There is alot out there on GMRS 462.675 (CH20) being used for this. I knw many monitor this channel while traveling still (my Priority) with the travel tone. 
As said in the end unless the FCC designates a frequency its going to be up to an individual or area to use what they want. Personally I think CH1 is the smartest channel as most never leave it.  On my last Jeep ride that's basically the channel they said to go to if you can't get an answer on the trail channel.  My guess is its simple and basic and most radios all match on CH1. If you use the travel PL on it you wont hear all the FRS users who just got a Christmas radio. 
On a similar topic State of Wyoming designated Channel 3 and PL7 (307) as a search and rescue channel. People are giving 100 reasons why it wont work. So no matter what gets picked some will like it and some wont. 
As for scratching the Line A idea I can't argue as it takes forever to get public safety and LMR licenses above Line A also, but its the rules. Saying to disregard the rules is not what GMRS users should be promoting. We should be promoting following the rules as well as getting a license. 
 
 

Thats why we still carry them for SAR. They are simple radios and just work. 

Yep, brand new antennas on my Vertex HTs from MOL for about $1 cheaper than the ebay special, and got to my door much quicker.

HT1000 is a pretty decent radio. Don't be fooled by the specs in the receiver sensitivity, as the HT1000 VHF model has a pretty darn hot receiver... which also has selectivity to boot too... the claimed specs are -118 dBm (0.28 uV @ 50ohm) 
Personally I would go with the HT1250/HT1550... with the full keypad... but... that's just me.
G.

Those in a pack are not real Motorola antennas. IMO, buy directly from MOL, I buy all my XPR antennas from MOL directly, as giving money to the counterfeiters only makes the problem worse.
Those counterfeit SMA antennas are much worse than the genuine Motorola antennas I've purchased directly from MOL, as measured with multiple antenna analyzers.
Also, to be clear, most "official Motorola dealers" on eBay price gouge the heck out of you, and most are lazy that take a week to ship stuff out.... My experience with MOL has been pretty much great, I know, some people have had some horror stories, but not my case... and most antennas I've purchased directly from MOL took <48 hours to show up at my doorstep, at a lower price tag.
G.

"A GMRS travle channel should not be a repeater channel simplex only"
So what do you mean by this. We only have 8 repeater channels. Are you proposing to use channels 1-7 which are 5 watt low power ? 
For me I dont want someone camping on my repeater pair or using it as a  "road" channel. If your set on a designated channel I'd pick a 1-7 channel. 

Never say never but no. Just pick up a standard 1/4 wave uhf mag mount on amazon.
 

I own the Ellicott City and Towson repeaters and I also know of quite a few repeaters in the DC area that are not publicly listed. This will probably arouse some disbelief by some here, but there is actually a repeater on almost every single pair surrounding the DC area. Some of which have pretty significant coverage. Unfortunately, they don't have an IDer (illegal btw), so we've never been able to reach the repeater owner (I suspect most of them are owned by same person). So, without getting direct permission from them, I would tread lightly. Most of them work on the traveler's tone 141.3. 

Hello! Thank you to everyone for there input! I have the flashcode here 104270-001000-1 and it's a model 1.5. If I'm not mistaken, it's a UHF/VHF unit so it should be able to work right? Plus I can have some frequencies for scanning like weather and railroad. I only have intentions and desires for analog at the moment until I can work my way up to an Amateur Radio license.

So we are focusing on something that rarely happens and there is no real rule out there to tell us which way to go.
Sadly we spend more time talking about non compliant CCR radios and every other topic on this forum than true GMRS chat. There used to be a few good guys on here that were not only knowledgeable but involved heavily in GMRS as well as other services. 
On a similar topic our threads appear to drift off topic alot....
Done ranting. I'll go play on P25 LMR now...

No wideband key needed for APX line.

I'll jump on this topic against better judgement. 
 
If someone gets on my repeater without permission and is stupid its on them. If i gave them permission i take responsibility. There is no keeping idiots off a repeater if they want to no matter what we do. Just take it with a grain of salt. 
 
Back to reqular programming.
 

This comes up often in some use cases, such as the bridges of ships, where the radios are mounted overhead, and the antennas are only a few feet above them. The higher the power of the radio, the more separation you want between the radio and its antenna and any other radio/antenna combination that could interfere with it. More so with radios that have plastic cases and minimal shielding often only being the heat shield fins. You risk damaging the radio by using them too close to the antenna or another radio and its antenna. As for cable, thirty feet is not much, and as long as it is shielded with low reflected power, checked with a meter, that power is going out the antenna....you do not want your radio next to that.

Being neither has a true ground plane it may be worth adding a ground plane vs moving them. Maybe its just the picture but i see no ground planes on either antenna. Those are both mobile antenna's so without a ground plane are both not going to do much. 

I guess it really depends on the area. Most of the areas I work in the RACES/ARES groups get limited funds from the county. Instead of using it to get good equipment they prefer cheap with quantity. When the hardline connector cost more than the antenna on the end of the 1 5/8" hardline you should question your goal. JMHO. 

I think he just means something other than the one it comes with.  Midland's 6db antenna isn't a bad choice, though i've seen a few recent reports of bad ones from amazon, either out of tune or cut, though those may have been returns that were resold.
realistically, pretty much any antenna tuned to cover 460-470 mhz, or 450-470mhz (more common), single band or dual band is going to be solid.  i ran a browning 5/8 over 5/8 for awhile (tuned for 410-490), and it was pretty much perfect (1.1:1 through the band) on a mag mount on my truck.  the beauty of nmo mounts is there's a ton of options for antennas and you can swap at will.

In my area, I recall when Cert (Community Emergency Response Teams) bought blister pack Motorola Talkabout FRS/GMRS radios, and taught people how to use them in their community, along with having a survival (then a 72 hour kit). I now see many Baofeng radios, and dollar store or thrifty survival kit items, of course new in the wrapper. My inject here is to go camping, or without power for a day, and see how the gear works. Can you stay warm, hydrated, fed, and sane. The local public utility replaced a transformer and there was a known 2 hour outage, and one neighbor of mine ran a generator the entire time to watch football. (No health issues or medical devices that need power, just wanted that TV). I know people that need that television, or latte, and any interruption could be a problem for their survival.

I just had this conversation with a EOC director about the amount of CCR junk in boxes. He stated thats what the ham guys wanted. The county spent alot of money on hardline and installs for the ham club to order and request a $60 antenna on the top of the tower. Its sad that hams are that cheap and they wonder why more and more they are shoved out of any large incident. Sorry your CCR isn't going to work better than my APX8000 in an emergency....