SteveShannon

It’s a 20 watt radio now, but eventually he might want to install something like an Icom IC-7100 which requires 20-30 amps. If necessary we’ll run the positive back to either the fuse box or the battery, but first we’ll look for an existing unused power point.

What bands do you want? I have a Diamond BB7V that might be okay if mounted high.

At high RF frequencies the signal travels along the outside of a conductor. That’s called the “skin effect.” So, the inner portion of the conductor becomes less necessary. From Pasternak: In some applications, a hollow metal center conductor can be used to decrease weight and cost while increasing flexibility. Yet this solution is specific to high-frequency applications that do not need to channel high power at low frequencies.

Feast or famine! Too much traffic or “why is everyone so quiet?”

That's what I suggested to my friend and he intends to do that. We can see which circuits have no fuses; we just don't know if there are wires coming from them into the cabin somewhere, and if so, where. I thought since the Taco is pretty popular that maybe someone on the forum had already gone through this exercise.

Exactly! And there isn’t anything wrong with wanting to have a pointless small talk with someone on GMRS.

Gee, I can't figure out why people don't want to make pointless small talk with you. Best wishes!

We were testing on 2 meter. He doesn't have a GMRS license (or much interest in GMRS) but he is a ham. He just wants to leave the power port open since it'll be a more permanent installation.

What is it that you think people should be saying on the air? What is it that you say on the repeater? Maybe you could be the one to start the ball rolling. GMRS is not ham radio, where people actively seek out people to strike up conversations on the radio just because the radio is there. GMRS is more designed to be a utility for two people or an entire family who wish to communicate, generally while doing something else, possibly recreational like hiking, biking, etc., or possibly as a business, like farming or ranching.

A friend of mine wants to permanently mount a radio in the cab of his 2022 Tacoma. I know conventional wisdom says to run all the way to the battery to avoid engine noise, but testing with the radio connected to the power port in the cab hasn't resulted in any noise. So, do any of you know (first hand knowledge preferred) is there a convenient power point in the cabin already, perhaps connected to an unused fuse in the fuse-box?

Unfortunately i don’t know anyone in your area. I’m in Montana. A Yagi antenna gives you the greatest gain, but it’s very directional. With your situation of wanting to hit two different repeaters in different directions you would either need to rotate the antenna to change repeaters or have two antennas and an antenna switch. Are you allowed to have a tv antenna? Are you certain that you can’t receive from either repeater? I always suggest listening on the correct frequency with no tone, just to see if you can hear. Adding the tone at that stage just adds another variable that can confuse matters. If you can hear the repeaters your trees are not an insurmountable problem.

That’s right. In the forums a person can tag out if they need, for whatever reason. In a chat a person feels a greater sense of commitment which might not be welcomed.

A third vote for asking in the forum rather than direct chat. Questions in chat benefit one person only. Questions asked in the forum may benefit others. I guarantee you’re not the only person with these questions, whatever they are. Don’t worry about asking what you might consider a dumb question. As long as you ask it sincerely and honestly, someone will have the patience to help. Also, my experience, from asking questions a few years ago, is that people tend to forget any missteps anyway.

That’s pretty nice! I’ve been considering getting a flagpole anyway. One thing though, that RG-8x attenuates a lot of signal at GMRS frequencies. You might want to consider upgrading to LMR400 at some point.

I believe your reasoning is correct. Unfortunately, when I tried to look up any Canadian GMRS licenses I was unable to do so because only USA addresses are supported by the license search utility.

That’s more like it. The big one on the left in the picture is female N. The smaller one on the right is a male N. A local Elmer helps, but if you don’t mind us occasionally getting flustered we can help you learn some of the basics.

My problem is that i don’t get offered to become a premium member because i am one. But if you go to the repeater page and scroll all the way to the bottom, maybe the bottom ribbon has the link to become premium. It’s $50, which is about 2 1/2 times what I pay for other forums I want to support and I have urged Rich to offer something in the $20 range. I believe he would make up the difference in revenue because more people would be willing to pay the price. He has indicated an interest, but this isn’t his day job and it hasn’t happened yet.

And for the ability to extract data from the repeater database.

Maybe, since beginning to unlink the mygmrs network, Rich has decided not to sell subscriptions also. Try writing him. I haven’t met him personally, but I have corresponded with him and he always comes across as very reasonable.

Go to your account, click on manage subscriptions:

What Digi said is exactly right. Gain in one direction is stolen from somewhere else. What are you using the antenna for? Do you expect to turn it to point in a particular direction, such as pointing it at different stations? Or do you want to just receive every station in a circle around you? Wil they all be at the same level as you or will some be higher and some lower? Personally I’m satisfied with a 6 dBi gain antenna on my roof. The repeater that’s 3000 ft higher is still easy to reach.

It is possible to do a database extract from the mygmrs database as a text or CSV file if you’re a premium member. You would still probably need to manipulate the data columns to match whatever your software expects to see.

I haven’t, but is that gain dBi or dBd?

Well hell, I guess I’ll just throw away my GMRS and ham radios. GMRS is specifically geared towards family use.

I don't think you need a "more powerful antenna." 7.2 miles isn't terribly far. Any reasonable outdoor antenna up on your roof (maybe in an upstairs window even) should be able to do that. Try removing the tone squelch on receive on the repeater channel. Do you hear the repeater?