Borage257

There is something to tropospheric ducting on UHF ( at least that's what the local old timers say). Some days before storms, I've been able to talk to repeaters 75-100 miles away on my rubberducky antenna and HT. Before I got my antenna up high, there were repeaters I couldn't get into except in the late evening and very early morning. I am in a relatively flat are out near East TX.

I made one (see "Rate my Yagi" post). Using my 5W HT with the antenna height being about 7', I was able to get into some repeaters about 40 miles away. Standing on my roof (antenna height 31'), I was able to do 75 miles. I imagine a better made yagi would do even better.

LOVE that radio. Small and compact, great for go box builds!

Height is might, lmr400 or better for long feed lines. Get an antenna up higher. Try an Ed fong

That's a ham HT, if you are using it on GMRS frequencies that's all it will do unless you unlock it. I would recommend looking at the Btech gmrs-V2, UV-9G, GM-30 etc. These are GMRS radios and will work on GMRS frequencies. An easy test for receive is to put in the WX channels.

Here’s a link to some pdfs. PDF [1] has what you want https://wa6bgs.us/faq.html

This tool will give you a good idea of lines of sight. https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/ Remember RF can be a little funny, but this is a good start. Look around at different ways to make a 20'-30' mast. Ask your local ham club too, there are many ways to skin this cat. Check FB market place, etc for masts too.

A better HT wont help, you need to get your antenna higher. if you want to try this with you HT, look into a N9TAX roll up jpole with 16' cable. Assuming a 5' radio height this will put the antenna at 21' vastly increasing your range. Granted you have to support the antenna with a rope over a tree limb or have the antenna lashed to a fiberglass pole and attached to a mast of some sort. For more permanent installations you can think of getting pretty high up. In my relatively flat area 25'-40' is good enough for most things. The higher your antenna the longer feed line you'll need. "regular" RG-8x wont cut it. You'll lose a ton of signal (line loss).

1/2" fiberglass rods can be had

The N9tax jpoles are pretty good for discrete mounting too. If the roof and insulation allow (ie not metallic) a small yagi in the attic might work too.

I use this 72" driveway marker and zipties. Then I hose clamp it to my mast.

Ed Fong (very responsive), tram browning 6140

I have the N9TAX GMRS/Murs w/16' and BNC connector. Use it on my mobile/Base. I love it. Gets me out to repeaters 30-40 miles distance. If you need to mount it to a pole, lash it to a 5' driveway marker using zip ties.

probably one of the better radios in its size/class.

Ive got one and am happy with it.

Roll up jpole mounted on a fiberglass driveway marker. Lash it to the side of your pack.

They’re in marketing, not engineering! And we know what kind of promises marketing makes….

walmart has cheap cookie trays and step bits... or this might be helpful https://www.409shop.com/409shop_product.php?id=124688 googled "surecom groundplane"

For every lock there is a key.

Antenna height and low loss cable matter more than watts*.

They sure are, send me all your CCRs so I can properly dispose of them.

Sometimes people do. Really depends on your local repeaters/linked repeaters.

I would be mounting it some thing like this. A driveway marker serving as primary structure for the antenna while the pole serves to elevate the assembly. There are about 18" between the bottom of the slim Jim and top of the wooden pole. Currently the antenna sits about 20" off the gutter.

Would the Homedepot option work for a camping/emcomm set up?

aluminum https://www.homedepot.com/p/Unger-24-ft-Aluminum-Telescopic-Pole-with-Connect-and-Clean-Locking-Cone-and-Quick-Flip-Clamps-972980/313314116