SteveShannon

The KG905G is a dedicated GMRS radio. It’s also a much better radio than the Baofeng BF-F8HP, which is simply a higher priced UV5R.

You may want to consider using a quality cable with an N connector rather than using an adapter. N connectors are sealed and less susceptible to weather related damage.

Welcome to MyGMRS. There’s a forum established for problems with the site. A question similar to your was asked a few months ago. Maybe this will help:

Right? Good airflow!

A J-pole is an interesting antenna. It is a half wave end fed antenna (long side of the J) connected to a quarter wave match (short side). It has about the same gain as a dipole. It can be easily made by hobbyists using copper tubing or stiff wire. If you make it out of twin lead (flat antenna wire) and your name is Ed Fong you can call it an Ed Fong antenna. For end of the world scenarios it's useful to know how to make one. Here's an interesting video describing how it works.

Well, a minimum 2 mile range is difficult to guarantee in the mountains. There will be times you can get 20 miles from five watts and times you can only get one mile from 50 watts. Power isn't necessarily the predictor. Terrain has much more to do with it. Almost any mobile GMRS radio will have similar range. If your line of sight range is limited to 1 mile because you're going through a bunch of switchbacks, it won't really matter whether you're using 5 watts or 50. Look at a bunch to see what features you like, rather than using range.

A J-pole has 2.2dBi gain and the specs for the MR004 are 6 dBi. That's four dBi better. You don't say what kind of a J-pole you would pick, but I don't know of any that are better materials. Stick with that antenna. If it disappoints you, then start looking at something different.

That's great!!! It could only have been better if it said "NOTARUBICON".

Pretty cool, Marc!

Ideally no tones are set. Most users generally resent a manufacturer presetting CTCSS tones. Some manufacturers have occasionally been stupid however. There is no standard.

Otherwise have a friend listen to the repeater while you transmit to see if he can hear you.

You’re fine ? I would suggest moving closer and ask for another radio check. Are you certain you have the offset right and the transmit tone? The Morse ID in response to your transmission should indicate that it is I think.

Best of luck to you. I’m no expert on Allstarlink, but there are some on the forums here who have a working knowledge. I suggest describing the problems that are giving you a headache.

It could be because it’s like a copy of a copy. It has to be modulated by the original transmitter, then demodulated by the repeater receiver, then modulated again by the repeater transmitter, then demodulated again by your receiver.

A lot of people use painters’ poles. It depends on how you attach your antenna to the mast, but it doesn’t really have to cause problems.

And sign up for notifications from rpilocator.

Raspberry Pi are becoming available. I recently bought a Pi Zero W for $15 and a Pi 3A+ for $27. You just have to sign up to be notified at the various approved sellers.

That sounds like the perfect application for the RT97 or 97s. There are also those antenna bases that you roll one of your tires over. That might be nice if you don’t want to unhitch a trailer.

What does the other end (the PL-259) look like, since that's the end the reviews said could be removed? Some do not rely on crimping or soldering and can be disassembled. More frequently the center conductor is either crimped or soldered into the pin.

Best is not an Ed Fong. Of the three you listed it would be at the bottom. I would probably pick a Midland MXTA26 on a pie plate over the Ed Fong. Nor can I believe that either Axorlov or Gortex2 said Ed Fong was best and that you “literally copied” from them. Many use the DB404. I don’t have a repeater and I don’t have experience with the DB404, but the spec sheet makes it appear to be a good commercial quality antenna. The Ed Fong is an end of the world, what can I come up with if I have a piece of flat antenna wire and a chunk of pvc pipe design. It is useful for teaching antenna theory and it’s interesting as a waypoint towards antenna zen.

Just as too much is made of power output, sometimes we overstate how little it matters. Obviously power matters or we could all get by with 100 milliwatts. Higher power, especially a factor of ten does make some difference, but where it’s really noticeable is in signal to noise. You’ll typically receive better slightly audio with less background noise when receiving a signal from a higher power transmitter. A better and/or higher antenna will do the same thing but helps on reception also. The real takeaway is that there are other things you can do that truly will increase range much more than transmitter power output, such as a better and/or higher antenna, or a better receiver.

But where does it get its Node number?

It would depend on whose network you're trying to join. They would assign it. If you're trying to join the MyGMRS network, go to this site: https://network.mygmrs.com/ and register and see if you can get the attention of @rdunajewski. I suspect he's the guy who assigns node numbers.

RFI coming from the vehicle electronics or charging system.