coryb27

Don't rule out a 1/4 wave on a magnet mount in the center of a 18" pizza pan. Believe it or not this will talk almost as good as a mobile if you can get it in front of a window.

Some local groups have interfaced Zello to a repeater or group of repeaters. The Zello channels are members only and require gmrs licence for access. I have no idea what Node 200 is and I have and operate nodes and servers on the myGMRS network. This website hosts a network of GMRS repeaters that are linked using VOIP. You can se emore here. myGMRS Network

Hello, Well this is a lot to take in. so lets start with the hand held. At best your going to be limited to users within a mile. This also takes into account most of the bubble packs you hear have a PL or DPL programed on them so they will never hear you. I live in a condo and was lucky to get second floor with attic access. I run several commercial UHF and VHF antennas in the attic and am able to talk simplex 25 miles with other base users. As far as repeaters, I can work 11 from my house with my attic antenna and 50W radio. You can purchase a Motorola CDM1250 in the GMRS band for $100, Power supply for $50, a good mobile antenna in the GMRS band with mag mount $50 and a 16" round pizza pan $10. Try to get the antenna outside for best result. This would greatly increase the chances you will contact somebody simplex or finding a repeater you can access with humans using it. I am not going to lie this is exactly how I get into GMRS, a TYT UHF radio, laird antenna cut for 460-470 a pizza pan and recycled power supply, look at me now...

I currently pay $100 an hour for my climber under 500'. I supply everything required for the install, the ground crew, hard hats for the ground crew and a set of quality HT's for tower to ground coms. Climber comes with all his own gear, cable tools for grounding and connector installs, ropes, safety equipment and the key Insurance. No commercial tower operator is going to let an uninsured person climb a tower so if somebody tells you otherwise its most likely not true. I can asure if something goes wrong you will most likely get a trespassing citation as I am sure Crown Castle or American Tower did not wave the insurance requirement.

Connecting to the Midwest Hub would be the proper way. I recently added the state hubs to allow us options as we have a lot of traffic. I am talking to Rich about the connection issue, not sure whats going on. Corey

I was going to toss this out on the air!

https://shop.mygmrs.com/collections/repeaters-and-accessories/products/repeater-linking-bundle

I would try that beam you have, feed it with some LMR400, A 10' mast in a 3' tripod is only 7', point that beam toward Greencastle see what you get. I have had great success with 10 foot, inch and a half electrical conduit, its cheap and strong for smaller antennas. Stop wasting your money and mobile antennas you will never get good results.

If you use the beam I would go with less gain on the yagi for a more usable beam width. I had a 5 element on a rotor and was able to work repeaters 45 miles away at my last house. Yet again a DB-404 30' off the ground in my attic with 45 watts gets me into my chain o lakes repeater 35 miles away full quieting and I have talked simplex to other base stations 25 miles away. How high can you go? A 3' tripod and 10' mast on roof may just do the trick.

I scare the kids that are using the GMRS repeater outputs on simplex, I bet my XTL5000 base is the sound of god with its desk mic. I have even had some parents yell at me for freaking the kids out.

I tried an Ed Fong j-pole in the attic 6 years ago and it went in the trash 10 min later, worthless as far as resonant, basically a nice dummy load. Several years ago I purchased an Andrew DB404 for my base, still 30' in the attic but I am able to hit my repeaters 35 miles away. I regularly talk simplex 25 miles without an issues. As with anything, you get what you pay for. http://mwgmrs.com/mygmrs/uhfbase2.jpg

This raido uses a VCO or voltage controlled oscillator, its tuned by setting the voltage into the VCO. Its an easy fix but requires a multi meter with a 5 place decimal and a spectrum analyzer. This is not done in the programing software. Did somebody use a magic screwdriver trying to get more power out of this radio? If not changes in the VCO voltage could be from the power circuit that feeds the VCO. Lots of variables to look at, if its programed properly the issue is in the reference oscillator. PM me if you would like to arrange tuning with an Agilent 4401A Multimeter and Areoflex 2975 service monitor.

https://link.mygmrs.com/map

I hope to write some of these at some point, just waiting for the site rebuild

i posted this a while back, the DB-404 is an amazing antenna for the attic. Living in a CONDO i know all about the HOA as I am the president of ours. I am able to work simplex 15 to 20 miles and repeaters 45 to 50 miles away. If you scroll down I included some photos. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1367-antenna-for-base-in-apartment/