gortex2

As everybody told you in the other forum, the spacing was too close.
As for the cable length, yes you need to be fairly precise, and your measurements need to take the connector length into consideration. I can tell you that TX/RX Bird used to stock cables in 1/8" increments, and they would sell them to you at reasonably inflated pricing, but to me it was still cheaper than the time spent to make your own. Not sure if they still do that.
There's a reason I know how close they'll go. I was down this road with VHF combiners 20 years back, trying to make existing stuff work at spacing under spec. Don't try to jam 100 watts into the combiner, don't expect miracles, and pay attention to the size of the dummy loads you're dumping the isolators into. You will need something rated for more than 5 or 10 watts.

I agree they may be a bit more, but $150+/-  for a 15 watt mobile in either HHCH or not is expensive when folks are looking. Its simple. I had bought a DB-20 for my father and he hated it. He came from CB and just wanted a channel number and easy to change PL. The 115 was the perfect fit for him, then when my mother grabbed a new Jeep she wanted something with just the head. The 275 fit that bill. I run the 115 on all my tractors and utility vehicles. Its simple rugged to some extent and cheap. And anyone can pick up the mic and talk. That's the benefit Midland has. I agree features are lacking but as said a real radio person will grab another devise. Myself its an APX. But as far as simple the Midland is what works. This weekend my Brother in law was here with his side by side. I grabebd a couple midlands from my box of junk and handed him one to use while we rode around. Simple and effective. When we got back he got on Midlands site and ordered the 115 bundle with mount and antenna for his sxs.
I guess I am a bit biased to Midland for GMRS being my first GMRS rig was a midland (xstal radio I may add) that I had to wait 3 months for from the radio shop after giving a copy of our license to the vendor before he would order it..... Times have changed....but Midland is still the leader in the market and will continue to be for the simple folks who just want to order a radio and use it. 
 
Anyway we are way off the XTS5000 topic so I'll stop here. The XTS is a rock solid performer for UHF. If you can find a Vehicle Adapter and use the antenna, speaker and mic you will have a slick little setup. Ran one like that for years on public safety, ham and GMRS. Never installed an amp on mine because I would swap out handhelds depending on the days function but know many that run VHF or UHF amps with the VA that love them. 
The little brother per say is the XTS2500 and that is also a great little UHF radio. Bit smaller form factor and no XTVA for it but solid and in use for PS all over the country. 
 

I run the 272 in both my JK and JT. I like the size and simplicity. Just pick a channel and go. Great for wife also. 
 
If I need other than GMRS I can use my APX.
 

a commercial splitter will be at least 3db of loss so you may loose what you have now with the 5 mile range. You could get a decent omni antenna most like for the cost of the splitter. Splitting a TX antenna is not as simple as a T in between them. 
https://www.dbwave.com/pdf/medpowercombinersplitter/PAPD0200700270B.pdf
Not knowing the power level you are talking about here is a 50 watt, 3db port loss with N connector that goes for around $330.00. You can get a DB404 for a few dollars more.

Well to be honest that isn't a large price. I have installed ones that cost many times more than that in commercial applications. As with all radio services antenna systems can make or break a radio system. 1/2 watt UHF radio on a 5000' Mountain can talk alot further than a 1/2 watt radio in a valley. Antenna systems vary with costs and quality thats what gets the whole repeater debate going all the time. In the end you get what you pay for and if you have expectations of a Ferrari on a Fiero budget you will not be happy. 

And folks continue to wonder why Midland is so popular in the market.... For the exact reasons you both mentioned above. Simple. Basic. 

I think we’re going to hear more digital voice activity. There are plenty of choices for radios to use from the cheap Chinese models and the older but very useable commercial types all with digital voice features People are buying them and programming them up for GMRS and digital, either out of ignorance or just plain don’t give a sh*t attitude because I’m not going to get caught.
My feeling is the FCC will ignore it as long as possible until it reaches the point where the chaos on the band seriously degrades the usability. At that point they will have to make a tuff choice, either officially allow it with specific rules on where it can be used or get serious about enforcement. That’s what the FCC did with the rule changes back in 2017/2018 with the FRS/GMRS combo radios. The FCC gave up, though in the towel and just made the wide spread practice legal.

It can be done but not cheap. We had a similar setup at a tower site. EMS Med system (462.xxx) with a 451.xxx channel. It was a mix of duplexer and combiner. No the cheap flatpacks. Basically 462/467 was on one duplexer (TX/RX 6" cavity) and 451/456 on another duplexer. Both antenna leads came into another TX/RX duplexer with notch/pass filters. It was very tight and 451-456  was about 80db out of the 462-467 channels. This was all custom built by TX/RX. No clue what it cost but just the 6" cavities (6 per duplexer), can't be cheap. Although it worked ok, the antenna swept about 460 so worked better on the 462 channel. 
I would think the bigger issue with your idea is getting an antenna to tune up good on 462 and 440. Thats a pretty big split. 

I do actually...will drop you a PM.

Most hams I know use GMRS and are licensed for it, but most people I know who have GMRS radios are unlicensed and are not hams.  
I see them as complementary services. Because I have a GMRS license my entire family can talk legally when we go on an outing. My ham activities are for me to learn and explore much more than simply talking on the air.  In fact, other than weekly net check ins I do very little actual talking on the air in ham radio. 

I don't care what other people do but absolutely no roger beeps on my radios.  The absolute last thing I would want with my professional quality commercial radios is for them to sound like FRS bubble packs.
I have played around with MDC1200 signaling in Motorola radios and Fleetsync signaling in Kenwood radios.  I haven't used DTMF signaling because it's too d@mn slow.  I put the PTT ID at the start of a transmission, not at the end.   It can be programmed as Pre or Post, or Both.  I like Pre instead of Post because it forces users to wait half a second for the Talk Permit Tone before speaking to allow receiving radios to wake up from battery save mode and allow for CTCSS and/or DCS to decode so the beginning of transmission aren't missed.  I've played around with MDC1200 and Fleetsync signaling but eventually turn them off because they are annoying.  Peace and quiet at the beginning and end of transmissions is a lot nicer.
 

It seems this question pops up on other websites about ever 6-10 weeks or so. This is what I have found, but have not tried it at all:
EDIT: I'll pm you the instructions I found
Historically, if you can find the files referenced above, you still have issues with current operating systems. Everyone who has tired it on their own lately has ended up utilizing option 4 and calling it a learning experience. I recommend you Give a few radio shops a call.

The majority of the repeaters are Motorola Quantars.. There are two ways to restrict access; the first is a singletone Repeater Access Code. The second solution is a Motorola MDC Repeater Access Code. Both of these are in addition to the CTCSS tones. We have also outfitted the systems with controllers to allow parameter changes remotely and the ability to shut off the transmitter remotely. About half have been fitted with smart plugs that allow a timing routine, this allows us to shut the repeater down at 2330 and turn it back on at 0630, but can be remotely turned on if the repeater is needed. A lot of our problems is when the derelicts know that system owners and operators are in bed. These are the times when the amplified microphones, echo mics and other nefarious activities come into play. Starting back in September of last year we also added real time recording of each system. The recordings are retained for 120 days per the policy within our by laws.  

I have been a licensed Ham and GMRS operator for over 20 years. I come from a career in Law Enforcement in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. Back in the late 90s most of the GMRS users on one of the high profile repeaters were mostly police and fire personnel. We all had fun playing radio, seeing how much we could reverse engineer our favorite batwing gear and respected each other. 
 
The repeater owner for that system had passed away so the repeater had went off of the air. Sure there were others but life, kids and other obligations were calling. So I took a break from GMRS and still played on digital in Ham. About two years ago I found a radio, dropped it in the charger and found that one of the local repeaters was still on the air. I immediately connected up with one of the members from our group in the 90s. He filled me in on the current condition and how much activity was taking place on the several GMRS repeaters in the city. So I listened for a few weeks......Wow was I disgusted! The lack of respect and decorum that these people have is appalling. The sad thing is most of them are hams (have been ran off of repeaters there) and are not even repeater owners...It's basically, I bought my $20 piece of crap radio and I'm going to do anything I want and no one can stop me....With all of this has came with profanity, music over the radio, keying up on top of others and other nefarious behaviors that some may relate to CB but I'm pretty sure its not legal there either. Plus being the son of a retired union truck driver, I used the CB when I was little and did not treat the service with that outlook. 
 
So I called the "flagship" or high profile repeater owners and said we have to do something. Hell, one of the repeater owners was even called and exploitive word that is not appropriate for this site, while he wasn't on the air and on the repeater that he pays for a nd supports on his own. We had operators telling the repeater owners they did not have any rights to restrict their use and that all GMRS repeaters are there for free use of the service and there are magical unicorns in the air farting dollar bills,,, ok so I made up the last. 
 
At the beginning of this year I began to draft an initiative to change things and bring class and decorum back to the service. The GMRS community in the city consists of about 140 operators. The majority of which are good, rule and law following individuals and do not wish to "freeload" as the small amount of individuals that have no skin in the game wish to do. Since forming, the Association has Incorporated, elected board members with the five founding members, adopted by laws, obtained a EIN number and received our 501c3 determination from the IRS which is huge. The Association has adopted a Operational Policy and Code of Conduct that all members must accept when petitioning for membership. The membership fee will be $40.00 per year. We have also registered as a charitable organization with the Kroger Company and Amazon. Our activities are described as expanding the education and technical abilities of the GMRS radio service while available to assist any public service agency in the event of a declared disaster with Emergency Communications. 
 
So that is where we are now. The applications will go out this week. The dues program will go live on June 1st, 2022 with a two week grace period for payment. Long story short; if you are not a paying member in good standing your repeater access will be revoked by the repeater owner as described in 95.1705. The relationship between the Association and the repeater owner is clearly explained in a executed memorandum of understanding for each repeater. We currently now have nine repeaters involved. The Association also has within it's powers to create a committee to evaluate any repair/maintenance reimbursement from a repeater owner. 
 
Within our operational guidelines, we have also restricted the use of the service to being another Ham repeater to talk about Ham Radio topics. If you want to talk about ham radio, there are a plethora of 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 40cm and 33cm repeaters in our area that sit silent in idle at all hours... Go there.... We also have operators passing GMRS callsigns around like they are ham radio operators, 15 minutes! use your unit number, you are taking up Airtime and hogging the repeaters. Another bad habit from the hams is not thinking about what to say before you key the mic. Operators will key up and uh uh uh and oh wow plus others. I understand my public safety background broke me of it, think about what you are going to say before you key the mic, say it and listen... You cannot hear someone else while you are yappin...We have also instructed our members to stop the Q codes and 73s, GMRS is a totally different service from Ham... If you want to talk ham radio, use one of those many repeaters that sit silent 
 
Now you are probably reading this and thinking, wow, pretty drastic......
 
No, absolutely not, the repeaters we have here are all owned by individuals. That means they are PRIVATE property, if you do not want someone to be at your property or to use your property you have the right to say that. That up to this point has not been respected. Imagine this, you are sitting on your couch, your door swings open, some guy from down the street kicks in your door, starts bashing your house apart and leaves.. What is the difference when people are doing what was described in the above, or stay keyed up for long transmit times, just resetting the TOT and not letting the repeater come up for air.
 
Our organization has been received by the masses very well. A repeater is a complex and expensive piece of equipment. 80% of our repeater equipment is equipped with the capability to restrict access on the analog system. We will evaluate if we decide to use this as it will keep anyone who does not have the correct access information into that repeater with MDC technology. Other than that we are looking forward to getting our membership trained with the ICS modules and becoming more involved with our communities in any way we may serve.
 
Just my story and my two pennies on radio clubs in GMRS. I have said from the beginning of our endeavor, we must do this right and thorough. I believe we have built the foundation.
 
Take care,
Jamie

OK. I think we all agree you dont like GMRS, dont like the rules of GMRS and dont like the FCC. Simple solution go find another service to use. 

To me there is no need for it. None of my radios have it. I also see no reason for it. 

I have 3 of the Larsen NMO mounts in my roof. 1 of these with the rg58au and 2 with lmr200. They are great mounts and will recommend them over others. There's a little cap on the bottom that covers the center lead solder point. You can put a dab a silicone on that but I don't think it's needed.

Spend the money on a good NMO mount. The Larsen HF mount is ideal for a fender bracket. Just slide a piece of heat shrink over the cable to the mount. I have run them on multiple vehicles and they will outlast any basic cheap mount. 
 
https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/shop-all/mobile-antenna-mounts/nmo-mobile-antenna-mounts/266-permanent-hole-mounts/289-nmo-3-4-hole-mount-no-connector/larsen-nmokhfcx-detail

I use LED Outfitters and have for years. My FD back in NY ordered alot from them. They make quality stuff.
We take the JK to UWarrie a couple times a year. Planning JJ2022 in Uwharrie in the fall as well as Greenbrier. Was in TN this weekend with the JT for jeep stuff.
 

@gortex2 that's awesome that you have so much time in. There are not many people I have met that stay that dedicated for that long.
Stinks to hear SAR in your area is lacking. That is such an important role.  Honestly, the last SAR/USAR training I have done was over a decade ago and the actual use was almost 21 years ago.  About 3 days of rescue and about 3 weeks of recovery.  I hope I never have to use those skills again, but with the weather we get, we should still be training. 
The JT and JK sound like they are decked out very well.  If you ever do any offloading and want to make a weekend trip to Rausch, AOAA, Uwharrie, etc..  drop me a note. I am a member of a few clubs and we do a group trip at least monthly. 
I use a Z Automotive Tazer to control my factory lights, auto park, and some other features. All of the commercial lights came from LED Outfitters in NY.  I have been using their hardware for about 5 years and I am very happy with them.
 

Been doing Fire/EMS and Search and Rescue for over 25 years. To be honest I enjoy fire/ems, but I really like Search and Rescue (Wildland). I use radios much more with SAR as well as ICS and other tasks. Been involved in some large scale incidents and at one point was looking to be more involved but work moved me to VA and the area I am in SAR is a joke. Its sad as alot of training in NY came from VA and they were in high regard. Anyway I'm still a life member in NY and go up quarterly for SAR training. Dont have picks right now of my JT, but run the APX 8500, FTM400 and have both a 275 and CMX760 I can swap in when needed. Been meaning to get some lights on it but time has not permitted. 
Our JK does have dash lights, APX8500 and Kenwood 700 with both the 275 and CMX also. 
Work truck has multiple APX8500's, 7500's and a CMX and has lighting. 
 
PS - Like your setup in the JT on lights. I need to find a decent package for mine. 

That's pretty much true actually.  Getting an antenna designed for 430 to 450 to work as efficiently and with a proper SWR on 467 Mhz is gonna be difficult if there is much gain to the antenna.  And HAM antenna's are pretty much all designed as gain antenna's.
I am not saying it will not radiate power at all.  Hell I ran a VHF radio on a DB-404 (UHF antenna) and was talking 90 miles with it.  Now I was talking to repeaters on tall towers and it was mounted at 110 feet on a tower that sits on the highest point in the whole county and is within 200 feet of the highest point in the entire state (1549 feet, Ohio) but it would have worked BETTER if I was on a proper antenna for the band I was talking on.
 

Ditto; all our hubs are recorded 24/7 and retained for 90 days, asterisk makes this cake to do - literally one configuration string and a cron job.
I do it primarily for my own entertainment, but also in case there's somebody using it in an emergency and a record of events is needed later on. We're also close to the southern border here so it wouldn't be the first time we've had some 'odd' traffic show up and work its way through the system; that goes straight to BP, and is one of the primary reasons we don't post our tones anymore without a slight sanity check first.

Sorry I use it on all my radios so I know which radio is being used. Each radio has its unique ID. With many users on a repeater its nice to keep track of who just called. JMHO 

Up until I did the rack swap at the site I WAS recording everything on two of the three repeaters.
I will be again once I get things completely set back up.  Why is it an issue?