FloridaMountainMan

I too started on the UV5R and quickly went to the more durable UV9R, (also based on the quoted wattage outputs on the 3 different UV9R models) so I bought all three models to test the output. None of the three have a wattage of 13 watts like advertised, (5 watts would be bragging) but so far am happy with how much more waterproof it is when compared to the 5R that "hot miked" with me dropping sweat onto the top port. And the bigger battery in the 9R is a plus, (for now as i plan to upgrade in a month or so to something with a little more power).

That has to be the sweetest mobile/field based antenna I've seen to date!

Hi everyone another NOOB here LOL! Got my GMRS license back in March but have held off getting active till my antenna was complete, (the radio God's have spoken and it is not operational woohoo)! I'm in beautiful serene Edgar Florida where i can hear the frawgs fart LOL! I'm operating on a custom engineered ROHN fold down tower (my lower guy line stainless aircraft cable should arrive this week to finish up the tower) on a Diamond dual band antenna topped out at 65', (I've spent the past 3 months installing the tower and the concrete alone bout killed me). I'll be doing some upgrades to my hoisting methodology in the coming months as it's just too hard for this retired/disabled 60 yr old man to be fighting with, (a mighty mule 4K pound hand crank winch at present). Guy wires are isolated/8' ground rods driven at the base of the tower as well as each guy wire/line anchor (where 660 pounds of concrete are poured for each anchor). I'm getting little traffic on my little Baofeng UV9R HT for now, (plans on upgrading the radio to a little higher wattage in the coming months AFTER I get a tuner to see what's going on here). I'll try to slow down and get a better pic of the tower in the coming days as it was pouring down rain when I raised it, (and even the upper guy wires hadn't been isolated or put onto the turnbuckles yet in this pic). Thanks for leaving the door open for me and hope I don't have too many questions for ya'll!