Borage257

Yes, a mobile with antenna AND a mobile as base station at home with an antenna 30' above ground level would solve some ore most of that problem. ? Getting clear of the berms would help.

For a magnetic mount antenna, you'll need an adapter cable/fitting if the antenna doesn't match the radio. You don't necessarily need a mag mount to transmit from a car or truck. You get calls and texts while driving right? While some signal may be blocked and reception may be reduced a tiny bit, a car has enough glass for you to talk on your radio. I transmit regularly to a repeater about 12 miles away from inside a metal building. Its not perfect, but I am perfectly readable. You losing signal with your wife is likely not a function of being in the car. I cant talk to my wife when she is on her HT and I'm on mine 1.5 -2 miles apart. Terrain and location (rural, urban, suburban) have a lot to do with range too. Bottom line: Height is king, get that antenna up higher if you want "more Fars" (put the antenna on the roof of the car) and check for local repeaters. Btech sells the Nagoya UT-72G for about $35, it comes with the adapter for the radio too. I've had good luck with mine so far.

check this out

This. I have one and use it daily as a base antenna. If you get the 5' fiberglass driveway marker, you can zip tie the rollup to the marker for easy mounting. Or make up a throw line for more mobile use.

That sound like a highly local question. Check Radioreference (RR Database Home) for your area.

I know it is, but you gotta smoke with the pack you got. I'll be getting some better terminations soon(tm). The cable was found in a pile of junk out in the truck yard where I work.

Glamour shots and meter readings. 40 miles from my roof top. SWR at 468MHz is 1.024

What are the best practices for grounding? If I have an antenna on a fiberglass pole how do I ground it?

The antenna kinda works. I tested it briefly pointing away from my local repeater I still got a squelch tail, but i was able to faintly pick up a repeater about 40 miles away. I have a broken tape measure I will likely turn into a better yagi. Would ferrite chokes work better than my attempted balun?

I've been looking for information on hair pin match considerations. Post the wrong answer on the internet to find the right one!

That tool is called a Yankee Screwdriver or a push screw driver. I have a few stanley/bailey pattern planes, a European style scrub plane and few other ( brace and bit etc). Use em too when I have a mind to.

Better a bad start than none at all. Roast my "junkyard" yagi, not a soldered joint in it. No idea what SWR is. It was cut with a center frequency of 465MHz. Hasn't been tuned yet. The NanoVnA is in the mail.

The programing software on this page may work. https://www.baofengradio.com/products/uv-9g

Are you using the correct radio profile? Check this chirp link for which profile goes with which radio https://chirp.danplanet.com/projects/chirp/wiki/Home

Radioddity.com, Baofengtech.com. search Ebay for used higher end radios.

BTech announced another GMRS HT yesterday. Apparently it supports HT to HT texting, gps and bluetooth ( for programming with a phone app).

I've found this to be helpful as well. https://www.fccbulletin.com/tx

1st GMRS radio: UV5G Current: UV5G

Which Motorola radios are those?

@SshannonWorking on getting some longer coax to mount the Slimjim (or other antenna) above the ridge line. I dont have much info on the specifics of the repeater other than the height AGL. I was wondering if it has to do with the car being such a large ground plane. The mag mount ( mounted on my window AC in about the same position) yields similar results to the Slim jim.

@KAF6045Most of the repeaters in my area are "up hill" from me with their tower footings sitting 100' to 150' above sea level than my house. @Sshannon Kinda, When I'm visiting friends at higher elevations (+100' to +150' in relation to my house) i can get better reception. Another oddity to throw in my current antenna (rollup slimJim/Jpole on a fiberglass rod) kind of in a corner on my house (a "concave" corner so to speak). There are aluminum gutter in the corner about 18" on one side and 28" on the other. The antenna does not currently clear the roof. Another oddity: When i put the radio in my car ( car has a Nagoya UT-72 G magmount) I can hit and receive from another repeater about the same distance from the one in the original post.

@KAF6045From what I gather, all my local repeaters are on 400' towers, so that would make sense. I'll be putting my antenna above my roofs ridge line soon. That may help some. Height is Might!

@SshannonThe Tones are correct. On cooler days/evenings, I can get clear responses from the repeater with tones in place. I've noticed I can get squelch breaking repeater responses when the outside air temperature is less than 90*F.

It doesn't really, as the night goes on the signal gets stronger.

Can hit the repeater well with some background "snow"(as per the guy on the other end), but can only hear the return with the Monitor button pressed. What would cause a decent repeater hit, but poor return signal? 1. The CTCS tones are programmed correctly 2. Radio is an AT779UV, Antenna rollup Jpole at 15' ( going to add height later) 3. The "trip" is 36 miles "uphill" from my antenna through suburban/town and country foliage etc.