SteveShannon

It would be at the expense of some low or null spots along the sides of the antenna. Everything with antennas is a trade-off.

Also, a Yagi-Uda antenna and a small spot where you can see through the trees might work really well. If you only intend to communicate via the repeater why waste RF in any other directions?

Take the comments about the Ed Fong antenna with a grain of salt. Most of them come from commercial radio guys who are accustomed to heavy duty commercial quality. Good enough is good enough and the Ed Fong antennas have a place. I'm eager to hear how the Tram works. If your trees lose their leaves during the winter you may find you get better reception until the spring.

If trees are the problem I wouldn’t recommend getting the x30. There’s nothing wrong with it; it’s just not going to solve the tree problem. Instead I would try to get above the trees or to the other side of them.

That would sure do it. Green vegetation is pretty effective at attenuating UHF.

So for instance, here’s the pattern of the Diamond x50 https://www.diamondantenna.net/x50arad.html Compare it to the X30 https://www.diamondantenna.net/x30arad.html See how the X30 spreads out more, up and down from the centerline? If you’re far above or below that centerline you’ll see low signal strength.

Could be. Yes, definitely. A high gain omnidirectional antenna has a flattened propagation pattern when viewed from the side. Some repeaters use phased antennas that concentrate their RF toward their intended users, casting it slightly downward usually. If someone were at the same height or higher than one of those arrays they could see a lower signal strength if they raised their antenna higher. It’s like being above the beam. But I don’t know that’s what is happening.

Unless an antenna is physically broken, simply changing from one omnidirectional to another probably won’t make a radical difference. I’m really curious about moving the antennas higher and losing the Orlando 700. You say that happened for both the Ed Fong and the Diamond? What is the difference in height between the two locations (the Ed Fong or Diamond antenna and the Orlando 700?) Are you higher than the Orlando 700 antenna? What’s between the two locations? Did you use the same feed line for both mounting heights? How long and what type? I wouldn’t expect a big difference between SWR of 1.5 and 2.0. Too much energy is wasted chasing a perfect SWR. Not that it’s wrong to tune an antenna, but you have to look at the entire system. For instance, using feed line with super high losses can result in a really low measured SWR. Ill be interested in hearing how the Tram works.

And those are specifically sold as having the capability of being joined together as a repeater.

The duplexer doesn’t shield against RF getting into the case. It only filters to prevent the RF from the transmitter from entering via the antenna port on the receiver. You might expect that the metal chassis provides a shield, and to some extent it probably does, but every wire that enters the case can function as an antenna, whether it’s the power cable or microphone. So, like I said, I suspect that some experimentation will be required. Maybe it’ll work; maybe it won’t.

Sorry, when you said “I think I have enough room for a 3db ghost antenna between the roll bar and the top” I wasn’t thinking of a soft top. In my mind I pictured a short stubby antenna between the ground plane and the metal of the roll-bar. I shouldn’t have said it sounded like a terrible position. Any antenna is better than none. Everything affects everything. Higher is almost always better.

Thank you for reporting them.

There are several mobile GMRS radios. Any of them will work with the UV-9G radios. You just have to tune to the same channel. If you set a CTCSS tone on one you have to do it on the other.

It’s really going to depend on how the software orders the scan. Do you create scan lists of specific channels? Do you have multiple scan lists or one big one? Or is there just on-scan and off-scan for each channel. If you remove the RX tones for everything, how does it do?

Welcome to MyGMRS! Thank you for your service! 250 acres is a nice size parcel (I wish I had it!), but depending on its shape and topography you might be able to get by without a repeater. In fact, unlicensed FRS radios might even be sufficient. A square mile is 640 acres; a 250 acre square is 3300 feet per side. Of course thick vegetation and hills could drastically change the range you get and maybe you intend to go outside of the parcel.

Is it on a label beneath the battery?

Perfect example of why a commercial radio isn’t ideal for people who just want to buy a pair of radios off the shelf, get a license, and talk to their family while recreating.

I just wedge mine between my seat and the center seat or console. The attached picture shows the radio in my pickup.

Two or more different entries in the list or on the map for a single repeater. The repeater database appears to have a bug that allows a person to select an existing repeater and create another record but registered to the person, whether intentionally or unintentionally. There have been several.

Other radios have it. Just search for “Dual PTT” on the Radioddity site and you’ll see some. https://www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-gt-82?currency=USD&variant=43125797912754&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0bunBhD9ARIsAAZl0E2cfSPRfVSBZaeE0zi13S3iAiwe8QKltRXp4KMm_VnboRBYm9wpK8kaAmpVEALw_wcB

I use a Radioddity DB20G with a Midland MXTA26 antenna. I connect the two with a Midland MXTA13 magnetic NMO mount centered on the steel roof of my 4Runner. The whip on the antenna is much taller than the roof rack. For a handheld I use a Garmin Rhino with built in topo maps. It displays my location and the locations of my friends who also have Garmin Rhinos

Sandwiched between the roll bar and the roof sounds like a terrible idea. I’d rather have a 6dBi (or better yet dBd) antenna up high. Not all antennas require a ground plane. It’s entirely possible to get an higher gain antenna which doesn’t require the metal of the vehicle for a ground plane and can be mounted high, such as on the roll bar.

Is it possible that it just floats back up to 2 volts? Would a simple 10k pull-down resistor to ground prevent it from floating?

UncleYoda, something you might try is to first save the configuration from the gmrs profile, then open up the radio so it can cover uhf up to 470. Then re-upload the GMRS channels you saved. That might leave the radio open to programming other GMRS channels wherever you want. And yes, I do have this radio, two of them actually.

1. I don’t know. 2. 50 watts is the maximum power output for GMRS for the main 462 and 467 MHz channels.