generalpain

Hi. You may find that most people get into GMRS specifically to communicate with family and friends during group activities, not to talk to strangers. Seeing that's not what you're looking for, I hope you're able to find those in the Manchester area who want to make connections with others outside their normal groups!

Putting ferrite beads on your power cable won't do much in this case (as you've observed). Ask your neighbor if s/he will allow you to put some ferrite toroids on the power cord for their charger. Start with the AC line close to the charger, and if that's not enough, try on the DC side, too. It is likely that those cables are acting as antennas. Also, you may have eliminated your power supply as the cause, but how have you confirmed that this unit is the cause of the problem?

Not necessarily. If the person/repeater you're hearing is using 50 watts, and you can only use 5, maybe not if you're far away. That 50W radio can be heard for a greater distance (all other factors being the same) than the 5W radio.

Not to discourage you, but most GMRS users get their licenses only to talk to specific family and friends, or for a specific activity (like off-roading). Most aren't listening for, nor will they respond to, people they don't know. It isn't personal; that's just not what they got their radios for. You can try it, and you might make a few contacts. I just want to set your expectations.

Do you know what the rationale there was? There shouldn't be any benefit to BNC connectors in your situation, and adding more adapters in the feed path will actually reduce effectiveness slightly (all other things remaining the same). A better antenna than the one you are using, and height, are the most sure ways to improve almost any situation.

That metal chimney will have unintended consequences for your SWR and for where your signal will go. I can't tell based on a photo, but raising the antennas above that chimney will eliminate any problems (in addition to adding a ground plane as kb2ztx advised). Regarding the distance between two antennas... it doesn't matter that you're not transmitting on both at the same time-- if they are too close, you could damage the one that is not transmitting. Raising one higher than the other will help with this problem. Can you add a mast to the one that is attached to the chimney to get it above the chimney? That and adding ground planes will help immensely.

Interesting. Nice thought that would potentially allow the victims or those with the victims to communicate with the rescuers. I wish there would be a nationwide standard for this. But doomed to fail.... Channel 3 is not the same on all radios. Privacy code 7 is not the same on all radios. Why use a privacy code at all during an emergency?

If a new ham came to me with the question about "which digital voice mode" to use, I would suggest looking up the repeaters in their area to see if there is a clear front-runner. Around me, it's like 50% FM 40% DMR 10% all other digital voice modes To me, it was simple-- I went with DMR because I wanted access to as many local repeaters as possible. Of course, if you will mostly use a hotspot, then we're back to the original question.

If you are willing to wait for the manufacturers to design a radio and get it certified by the FCC, yes. I suspect we're looking at a couple of years before a radio that's legal for FM CB is available for sale in the US.

There are actually 22 GMRS frequencies. How did you even pass the FCC GMRS exam?