SteveShannon

It depends on the nature of the comments and the response by the “someone” who played a siren. Ideally a single comment by the repeater operator would be sufficient, but life is never ideal.

Map view works for me as long as I leave it on “Satellite Street” view. I see colored dots with numbers signifying densely located (for the scale) repeaters and if I zoom in the individual repeaters appear on the map. If I change to “Light Street” or “Colored Street” views it says that a problem occurred and dumps me back to the zoom level showing the entire USA in Satellite Street view. I’m using an iPad with an older version of iOS. It’s old enough that I cannot upgrade to newer versions of software for some things. Perhaps my problem, but in any case I do see the repeaters on the map. It took a little while (maybe 30 seconds to a minute) to populate the map at first, but now seems quicker so I assume, that they’re locally cached. Worst case let me know what area is in your route and I’ll zoom in and get you some screenshots showing the repeaters.

Without some kind of update the site doesn’t know the repeater is running. Presumably nothing needs to be changed; just touched to inform the site that the repeater is running.

Look at the repeater directory that this site provides. You can search by city.

The simplex frequencies are exactly the same as the frequencies the repeaters transmit on. Unless you hear a repeater ID you might have no way of knowing they are not simply talking using simplex.

A repeater that hasn't had an update in over a year.

He ended up replacing it with a real repeater: https://youtu.be/0pRKQFuJJ9o

I can kind of understand why. LMR400 is generally marketed as a drop in replacement for RG8. In most aspects it could be considered an upgrade. I can also see your reasoning in considering LMR400 to be a subset of RG8.

That’s really a definitive work on lightning protection and grounding of radio installations and I usually mention it, but one thing it doesn’t discuss is bonding to an existing residential service. It’s absolutely the best though for someone designing a repeater installation up on a mountain.

The differences between RG8 and LMR400 are fairly great. In fact their similarities are fewer than their differences. They share the same outside diameter. They are both 50 ohm coax cable. Heres a website that discusses the differences. https://www.utmel.com/components/rg8-vs-lmr400-faq-differentiate-the-differences-between-them?id=1969#cat6

Probably the only one who can answer that is @rdunajewski.

Page 10 might be a better fit for your case. It depicts a separate tower and does indicate #6 wire, but notice the additional ground rod. Yes, the bonding conductor should be buried.:

Yes, and if you want to improve it even more you sink an 8 foot rod every 16 feet along the way. But you might be allowed bare #8. I’ll go check. According to this you’re allowed to go as small as #10 copper: The bonding conductor or grounding electrode conductor may be installed either inside or outside the building [par. 810.21(G)]. The conductors must not be smaller than 10 AWG copper, 8 AWG aluminum or 17 AWG copper-clad steel or bronze [par. 810.21(H)]. It is not necessary to use a separate bonding conductor or grounding electrode conductor for operational and protective purposes – one conductor can serve both purposes [par. 810.21(I)]. See page 9 of this document: https://reeve.com/Documents/Articles Papers/Reeve_AntennaSystemGroundingRequirements.pdf

No

I’m not sure. The trunking systems around here don’t use that kind of antenna.

Yes, if you set a frequency with no tones and another GMRS (or even FRS) radio goes to that same frequency you will be able to talk to each other. All GMRS radios should be capable of tuning the frequencies you have with GMRS in their name. All GMRS radios are capable of using simplex.

Because 10 codes are in common usage and don't hide meaning.

Prohibited GMRS Uses: (3) Coded messages or messages with hidden meanings (“10 codes” are permissible); It's very clear. "No one knows what the codes mean except us" literally means "Coded messages or messages with hidden meanings."

That's exactly how I would understand it.

Yup, cell phone antennas.

It is rated at 10 watts, but I still think you’ll be surprised at the slight difference in range. Urban areas are difficult. Are you planning on using it on GMRS? Or maybe I ought to ask how you’re planning to use it and what kind of range you hope to get? On the seven interstitial 462 MHz channels you’re limited to 5 watts on a handheld. On the seven interstitial 467 MHz channels you’re limited to 0.5 watts PEP. I would be looking at something like the Wouxun KG-935 for GMRS.

Not usually. Possibly in thick vegetation, but it’s really not enough extra power to make a difference for most circumstances. In free space quadrupling the power might get you twice the range. Free space means there’s absolutely nothing between the two stations. UHF is primarily line of sight and increasing power doesn’t change the curvature of the earth or remove other physical obstacles.

One of the things that you’ll quickly learn, either by recommendation here or by use there, is that power is highly overrated as a predictor of range. A good receiver that has both sensitivity and selectivity and a good antenna are much much more important than getting an 8 watt output radio versus a 5 watt radio.

That’s not inclusive!!! You must say “Radiosy Radios”.

Not the same kind of map, but a very comprehensive listing is at repeaterbook.com.