gortex2

Id start by moving the antenna. A real antenna and not the little whip would also improve issues. As for grounding the hood. Your on a metal plate stuck to the hook by tape. Grounding the hood will do nothing for you. I'll bet if you checked continuity between the hood and the battery you will see its flows anyway. There are many better options for an antenna that what you are using. 

its a great antenna. Built like a tank more so then a lot of the other available antenna especially compared to it's chinacom couterparts.

If there are 2 groups that are like minded then the cost of a real good repeater on a LMR pair can be split by using DMR or NXDN. 1 group uses one time slot the other uses the other time slot. 
IMO there just isn't enough room on GMRS for digital and FM to live side by side. If you think the interference issues are bad now on GMRS just imagine what would happen to the FM users if everyone started putting up DMR repeaters all over and a few guys start running chatty things like automatic GPS telemetry. It will happen because data features like that are cool and useful. 
 

I forgot to mention something.  And this WILL draw the attention of the FCC and get new rules put into place.  Long abut the time that a situation does occur that puts these guys in harms way and the repeaters are overloaded and a group can't communicate out on their repeater because of the others the FCC will step in.  Not to help, but to create a ruling that bans the use of GMRS for these types of groups.  It's gonna require a group getting up on a mountain somewhere and someone getting killed for it to happen but it will happen.  GMRS is NOT for public safety and is NOT to be relied on for life and death communications.  It's a shared resource that we are provided by the government for personal and family communications.  Go read the rules and see where it says anything different.  Using the service for SAR is stretching it and using it for fire fighting or other life safety activities is certainly not what it's for.  Those activities are clearly meent for the public safety bands of the LMR allocations.  And if the groups are accredited and registered, I am not sure that there is even a licensing fee for them to get frequencies.  But there again, these are most likely self appointed groups that aren't serving any specific agency or jurisdiction.

Well, I am NOT going for the short answer.  And this reminds me of something said about ham radio operators. 
I there were 2 ham operators in a city, that city would have 3 ham clubs so each of them belonged to a club that the other one didn't.
That being said.  I fully agree with what has already been said.  Problem is that these groups are the self appointed types that have little to no outside support and do little to support government entities.  Reason I say that is simple, if they were working FOR some agency, the agency would provide them the ability to communicate.  If they have setup shop on GMRS, then they are one step removed from ham radio and wanted to go their own way and not deal with hams either. 
Which brings about the second possible cure that will never work due to mentality.  And that is SHARED resources.  One big repeater that multiple groups use for communications.  And if you run a community repeater controller that is multi-PL enabled, then they don't even hear each other talking.  We did this for YEARS in the LMR business.  Put a few high profile repeaters up that were setup as community repeaters and sold air time on those repeaters.  Not real common any more but it was effective.  But we are back to the problem of getting people to SHARE.  And that is where you are gonna get stuck. 
The third way to begin to deal with it is system design with limits on coverage area in mind.  Directional antenna systems, down tilt, decreased power (which ALWAYS pisses people off when you mention it) and getting the system owners and users to spend money for real radio people to design and install their systems.  Problem here is again money.  Ham radio is by far the cheapiest way to communicate for SAR and similar groups.  You are using repeaters that are typically owned by others, the license are cheap and the radios are just as cheap.  But unless it's YOUR ham repeater, you can't have exclusive use of it.  GMRS does get you a bit closer, has no test to pass and can be a cheap.  But again, if it's not YOUR repeater, no exclusive use.  So they spend as little as possible to put up as much repeater as they can so they have exclusive use of it.  And I know that's how they treat it because if they were sharing use with other groups, we wouldn't be having this discussion.  Actual designed and implemented systems that are tailored to cover a specific area are expensive.  Not so much the hardware as the design of it.  That requires knowledge that a typical GMRS operator frankly doesn't posses.   And that's not a dig on GMRS operators,,, it's just a fact.  So by the time you pay for all the design and increased cost for the antenna system you could have dropped 500 bucks and gotten a LMR license and been done with it.  Then you have exclusive use of your own repeater pair and can do what ever you want.  But they are too cheap to pony up the 500 bucks for coordination and a license fee. 
 
You are NOT gonna get more frequencies for GMRS.  And license holders have equal access to the allocated frequencies.  And contrary to popular belief, putting up a repeater with a different PL or DPL on the same frequency is NOT purposeful interference. By putting a different PL on it, you have shown effort to mitigate interference and you have just as much right to use that repeater pair as the other guy does.  Now this of course requires that the other repeater is closed access.  But at that point, you are left with no other choice.  So letters to the FCC are pointless. 
 
 
 

Persuade the emergency groups to move to LMR/Business band...

Been a dead issue since June 17 2021

Most commercial antenna's will work much better than the ham/hobby stuff people buy on amazon. Laird makes gear for public safety, and commercial markets. The antenna is one of the most important parts of the equation when it comes to RF so buying quality normally helps. I do run that antenna on some of our SAR vehicles for our TLMR stuff. Works well.
 

Most commercial antenna's will work much better than the ham/hobby stuff people buy on amazon. Laird makes gear for public safety, and commercial markets. The antenna is one of the most important parts of the equation when it comes to RF so buying quality normally helps. I do run that antenna on some of our SAR vehicles for our TLMR stuff. Works well.
 

I know a few around me use VHF marine channels as I'll hear them on the river talking to each other. We carry a few in our SAR command post for this purpose. There are tons of models of marine grade handhelds out there with various features including wx alerts and beacons. I'd go that route. 

My wife is a Scout den leader and we went as a family to a fall campout. The Scout camp has pretty spotty cell reception and in the past we've had trouble getting calls to each other when needing to coordinate the "divide and conquer" with the two kids being in two different groups traveling around different areas of the camp. I picked up a couple of the KG805M's thinking that MURS being VHF would cover better than GMRS due to the amount of woods and slightly rolling terrain at the camp. I was impressed with the audio quality and we had clear signals the whole time just using the stock antennas. I programmed them with a couple copies of the 5 channels using different CTCSS and DCS just in case there was other traffic on the channels but they were completely quiet. Being so far out of town we were nowhere near a Wal-Mart or anyplace else of the sort.
I do have a GMRS license and have a pair of KG935's as well as a couple of Kenwood TK3180's programmed for GMRS, but never tried GMRS out there to get a comparison of how well it would work (wasn't going to try to talk the wife into carrying two different radios). I did run into two other families that had GMRS radios, one had some sort of bubble pack radio and I never got to talk to him to ask how well it was working, and the other group had Baofengs for the adults and something simpler for the kids, maybe a Retevis. The dad said they had encountered some dead spots there at the far corners of the camp.
In any case, I thought using MURS for this particular application worked out very well and felt like the KG805M's were a cut above some of the cheaper stuff out there. I did buy a BTech MURS-V1 but wasn't thrilled with it and will probably just sell it off. The programming capability in it was very limited compared to the 805M's which I was able to program with some extra receive-only channels I figured might be useful, namely the local NOAA weather radio and Skywarn 2m repeaters in case the weather got dicey.

Except that the RT81V isn't accepted/type certified for MURS. If it was, it would have a fixed antenna, max 2 watts and just 5 frequencies. Thus, the bend.
In reality, the MURS world is a free for all with all types of 4 watt portables being programmed up on those channels as simplex users. I see that with the FRS channels in UHF also.

It's also not Part 95 certified. I'm talking about radios certified to use on GMRS.

OK, here's what is being misunderstood here.  There was a time the the FCC issued repeater pairs to new GMRS license applicants.  These were from the 8 repeater pairs laiid out in the rules pertaining to the service.   You typically would get two pairs to use and this was to more or less act as 'coordination' for frequency use.  That was stopped and all license holders had unrestricted access to ALL 8 pairs to be put into use or to be used to access other repeaters.  Repeaters back then were more 'private use' that what we are doing now with the service where a few put up big repeater systems that the rest enjoy the coverage of.  Some charge for that access and others don't.  But the bigger point is that we all can use ALL the repeater pairs and WE as license holders are now responsible to do our own frequency coordination.  Now that isn't a bad thing as long as both parties involved are willing to work with each other.  At the point one or both parties decide to not be flexible, then it turns into a mess that the FCC will NOT get involved in unless the regulations on the books are broken.  At that point the pull the license of the problem individual or individuals and the problem is again solved. 
Guessing this is the basis of what you are understanding with the statement you made.  It's partly correct but not close to the truth. 
No big deal.  We all are learning every day.  And hope to keep learning.
 

VHF marine HT’s might be the way to go as long as they are used on the water. They are license free as far as I know. Many if not all will float if dropped into the water. Something a GMRS HT likely won’t do. Nothing worse than watching a $100+ radio sink out of sight.

Great antennas.....have used these and similar variants for years on fleet vehicles for commercial and public safety users. This version of coil also does not get caught in car wash brushes or cloth flaps (we tell end users to hand wash the cars but they do not listen) as often as the exposed coil version too. 
Some have lasted so long that they only fail (after years of use) when the center conductor spring has corroded into  pieces, breaking the connection between the antenna and NMO mount. This is in a very wet environment, the Pacific Northwest, so everything gets wet over time.
As for the 12 miles, you should try again as they do tend to get a bit further out, depending on what you are talking into (in my case it is a UHF repeater network, so 12-16 miles is common with a GMRS mobile.

Back some 25-30 years ago, .675 WAS an FCC declared Emergency/Traveller Assistance channel. This was back in the days when one's license only authorized TWO of the 8 main frequency pairs (simplex& repeater; Channel numbers did not apply -- you only had channels 1&2/A&B; channel numbers were only standardized with the 2017 reorganization of GMRS and FRS). If one's license did not list .675, and one had a radio that could tune to it (unlikely in those days as most were using LMR units with just an A/B channel switch and had to be programmed at a dealer for the licensee's two frequencies*) it could only be used for Emergency/TA purposes. If the license /did/ list .675, it was just plain general use frequency.
 
* The Maxon GMRS 210+3 was a bit of a wonder radio in 97; it had the 7 interstitials (usable without being listed on a license), .675 as channel 8, and then had 9&10 programmable (officially by a shop, but the programming manual was included with the unit) for the channels on one's license. Programming CTCSS was available via front panel.
It wasn't until 1999 that the "2 main frequency" license restriction was removed.

1/4 wave on roof is ideal especially on a GC. Drop an nmo in the roof and dont look back. You will be much happier.

In the middle of unpacking and found my old GMRS base from my motorhome. We had it mounted in our 5th wheel with a 1/4 wave UHF whip on the roof. When we got the Motorhome I had it on a try band larsen that I would use for the scanner when needed also. Cool part was it would run off the DC power pack if we had power, a 12V cord or batteries. I ran rechargeable in it and when at NASCAR races it would charge all day on solar or generator then run all night on battery. It went off multiple times while in Charlotte one year when the track got warned for a tornado. Had it go off for other severe weather events at other tracks and campgrounds over the years. The antenna was a BNC so you could use the one on it or the mounted antenna. Definitely a cool box for the day. Maybe some day I'll use it again.
 

My pre-reorg (decade old) GXT1050s have three power levels -- H approaches 5W. With the reorg it is now classified as GMRS (my Motorola bubble packs, similar era, meet the power requirement, but has repeater ability, so also is now classed as GMRS)

The point of the restrictions on MURS, FRS and GMRS was to limit the range so they could be generally practical for families to use on their block.  

Allowing repeaters was letting a genie out of the bottle that made a lot of people consider uses beyond the original limiting method/device. 
My worthless opinion is if you want something more, just get it. "It" being a business or ham license.  All the great imaginings of what might be possible with changes already exist in the ham world. 

Stop trying to make GMRS into amateur radio. 


Sorry for the musings of a "sad ham" 

As a rough rule of thumb it is often said that doubling the height of an antenna will give a 6 dB increase in gain. Although this will depend upon the actual situation and a host of caveats, etc, studies have shown that it is generally not too far from the truth.
This kind of goes hand in hand with what Marc is saying here.  But of course there is a point of diminished return on investment.
To go from 10 to 20 feet or 20 to 40 feet would be a good investment in getting your signal out there, but if you are at 300 feet, the cost alone to double that is going to be too high for the perceived gain you get from doing it.
There are other factors in play here of course such as topography of the land around you, so consider this to be pretty close to correct over flat ground, but in hills and valleys your mileage will vary.
But, as mentioned before by both Marc and myself, height is king when it comes to antenna's.  And it will have a more dramatic effect on your signal than doubling your power. 
 

@MichaelLAX my issue with you is you continually tell folks to use uncertified radios for our service. Your the troll here. Have you noticed others have left the site over your BS ? Doubt it cause you dont care. Go back to your basement and play with your action figures. Maybe California will break off the US and we will all be happy. 

If the HT is capable of exceeding 2W output or is capable of accessing repeaters, it WILL require a license. The 2017 FCC reorganization granted FRS radios up to 2W output (likely ERP, so fixed antenna to prevent adding a gain antenna -- except for the 0.5W ERP 467MHz channels). Radios sold after that reorganization must specify either FRS or GMRS -- no more bubble-pack FRS/GMRS radios.

Uh, you didn't answer my question (if I had one) because I'll already knew other radios would work if you want to do that.  I don't mod anything or break the rules for now.  If the whole system collapses then that is the time.