Coffeemaker

The gutter ground plane is so bad, the SWR is below 1.1 on all 3 bands. But what do I know?

I have a similar problem with my attic GMRS antenna. Even 50 watts doesn't make the trip to the repeater and back any better than an HT in my backyard. The problem is likely the shingles. Try a mobile antenna mounted to a gutter on a side of the house with a clear view to the repeater. It's nice and stealthy and works a charm!

While you can't talk over another user, should the repeater not have a PL tone, you might use your own PL tone to reduce the chatter each of you hear from the repeater. My radios will show a signal on the frequency even if it has a different (or no) PL tone from the one you use. Can you put up a tower or some sort of elevated high gain antenna at one home and avoid the repeater?

Why?

I have had great success with an automotive trunk lip mount and a Comet tri-band antenna mounted to my gutter on 146-224-445 Mhz. It is stealthy. I used a strip of 3/16" x 0.090" brass to reinforce the gutter against the crushing load of the clamping screws. I found out UHF will not pass through my roof/shingles much at all so I had to use outside antennas. I have a 2nd lip mount and GMRS antenna for my GMRS base station. The gutter makes an excellent ground plane. It is narrow, but has significant area. The best antenna would be a high gain vertical with sloping ground radials mounted on a tower that's taller than all the surrounding trees and buildings. https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/antennas-mounts/base-antennas/gmrs-base-antennas/gmrs-omni-directional-base-antennas/1085-comet-ca-712efc-detail Each +3 dB doubles your Effective Radiated Power and the gain applies to receive also. Each +10 feet in height above 20' adds about 2 miles of range.

Yeah, so far Chirp doesn't support it. All this seems odd. I can add all the new transmit "channels" I want to my Wouxon radios.

Chirp does not, yet, support the GM-15 Pro radios. Radioddity said "it is not fully compatible" in an email to me. I was not able to edit the DIY channels with the GM-30 software. I was also not able to add new channels in what appeared to be empty memory slots. With RT Systems software I can add receive frequencies all I want. I have 10 GM-15Pro radios to program for a group. So I bought the RT Systems software intending to add new channels with Sq Tones for my group and leave all the others alone for monitoring. Well, that didn't work either. While troubleshooting on the phone with the nice lady from RT, we discovered the GM-15Pros are locked and will not transmit on any, other than the factory programmed memory channels. My workaround is to take the .550 - .725 high power channels and edit them for the group. I'll just have to use one of my better radios to monitor for other traffic on the frequency. The GM-15 radios are still rather decent and sound good. They get full quieting into local repeaters AND are cheap enough that if you leave one on the roof and drive off, most folks can afford the loss.

The Radiodity GM-30 software is not fully compatible. It will not populate empty memory spots, ie it will not add new "channels".

Increasing 5 watts to 10 watts is +3 dB. Is that worth it?

TippCity625 is a good repeater without much traffic. I have been able to hit it as far south as I-75 and Needmore Rd with a 5 watt HT. Seems like the operator told me the antenna was on a silo, so it's not really tall. That makes it susceptible to the small hills in the area.

But mostly due to built-in error in the meter? The ultimate question was, "do I need to adjust the antenna?" And the answer is clearly enough, no. I'll repeat the test on my Miata. It is shorter and MA's much Al in it.

I have an old rat shack CB swr meter, but they are reported not to work well on UHF. So, I bought a Surecom SW-102. Connected to my Wouxun KG-905G, I get an SWR of 1.00 to a Midland MXTA-26 antenna on the roof of my SUV on all GMRS channels, and about 5 watts. Is that believable? I get 1.25 to 1.33 and 4+ watts on the repeater channels. Darned Good. I've never seen 1.00 SWR. I have a Firestik CB antenna with sloped ground radials in my attic that shows 1.02 -1.03 after several trips to tweak it and I thought that was amazing.

Even if it is, it is a worthwhile investment to keep the whole world at arm's length.

Can you hit the repeaters in Crossville? They have elevation on you.

?