SteveShannon

While you’re doing that I plan on hanging an end fed half wave antenna from my eaves and then connecting a NanoVNA to see how it looks.

The General rule of thumb is one half wavelength above the ground, but a large conductive surface like a roof can act like a reflector causing other problems. I wish you the best and I’m curious to see what you learn today.

P.S. I found a short book that describes the effect of the ground plane and antenna height above the ground plane. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/IR/nbsir79-1605.pdf Here’s an excerpt: “When the antenna height is replaced by 2H, we again obtain the same result as that given in eq (5). This implies that the field strength measured by a receiving antenna at a height of 2H meters above an imperfect earth (a is finite) is approximately 6 decibels more than that measured by the same antenna at one-half of the previous height, when the distance to the transmitter is very much greater than H. This difference in measurement results is solely due to changes in the transmitted field strength by the imperfect earth.” Also this earlier thread here on the forum discusses a similar question:

At this point, right after you mounted it at the same height at the Sirio, and before you removed the counterpoise, what was the SWR on 2 m and 70 cm? This is a perfect example of everything affecting everything when it comes to antennas, isn’t it? I would probably put it back the way it was designed, with counterpoise and additional height, and see if it receives better on GMRS even though you would not want to transmit into that 3.5 swr. I’m also curious what a sweep looks like at the different heights and three different bands and with and without radials. i think your loss of receive sensitivity might be due to the effect of lowering the antenna and the resulting change in field. You may be better off using the two separate antennas for the bands they were designed for, x50 for 2 m and 70 cm and the Sirio for GMRS. I really am interested and will be following this.

Guest Sal, First you register for an FRN. That’s free. Then you pay for your license. Only after you pay for your license does the fcc issue a call sign. Your call sign is printed on your license. The FCC usually notifies you (using the email address you registered with them) so you can log on and download your license. It usually takes a day or two. Then a couple days later you can update your account here. Good luck! p.s. Notarubicon has a video that explains the process on YouTube.

Thanks! That’s good to know. I knew there was a 97p; I didn’t realize it did DMR. I agree; DMR isn’t allowed on GMRS. I read somewhere on this site (maybe in this thread) that both the 97s and 97p have an external port that allows an auto-ID.

Just let it play and see if you hear people make contact, ragchew, and then leave. I’ve even listened on statewide digital talk groups and heard them go quiet for long periods.

Without knowing which repeater my guess is that people are simply not transmitting. Monitoring the repeaters here I very seldom hear people talking. If I’m misunderstanding the question I’m sorry.

I couldn’t say it better than wayoverthere. Set the right tone frequency for xmit and turn tone on. I would not turn on the receive tone (tone sql) until you are certain your transmissions are activating the repeater.

I’m curious why you don’t get a ham license then? You’ll have a much greater number of repeaters to use, more bandwidths to play on, higher power for transmitting, the ability to talk literally around the world on longer wavelengths, and a free license. Of course your license won’t cover your entire family from grandparents to grandchildren, and all your siblings, like it does for GMRS and you might have to actually study to pass at least the technician class test, but at least for now the license is “free”. Also, the ham license will also be changing to a $35 fee at the same time the GMRS fee changes to $35. A lot of people use GMRS radios without paying for a license. They just don’t usually announce it by whining about someone else’s license costs.

Welcome! The most dynamic source of information on GMRS is YouTube. There are lots of videos, including some from a person or two who frequent these pages. But if you want to learn about radio, study educational content that has been created for amateur radio. All the technical information about how radio works is directly applicable. Of course licensing as well as the rules and regulations for GMRS are different.

You bet.

In the store associated with this site the RT97S, is for sale for that very purpose. The 97S has an external port which enables connecting it to the network. I don’t believe the basic RT97 can be easily networked.

The RT76 is a handheld radio. Why do you think it’s a repeater? Do you perhaps mean the RT97?

One problem with things that do everything is that they soak up the entire budget with no redundancy. What’s your backup to it?

There’s really not a right or wrong. If that’s how you want your radio that’s fine. Did something seem incorrect to you?

Unless you transmit location data; then the antenna cannot be detachable. Why? Not a clue.

You’re asking to use someone else’s property. This provides them with means to contact you.

The RT97 has a duplexer built in. A duplexer allows the receiver portion of a repeater to hear while the transmitter is transmitting. That’s why the transmitter must transmit at a separate frequency. A duplexer is a filter to prevent the outgoing signal from the transmitter from being received by the receiver. The duplexer must be precisely tuned to the frequency you program into the radio. If not, the repeater simply won’t work, unless you use two antennas, one for transmit and one for receive, and separate them, usually vertically on a tower. I don’t know if that’s your problem, but unless you program your RT97 to match how the duplexer is tuned, your repeater won’t. 450m-520m sounds like the bandwidth or range of frequencies your RT97 can be programmed to (450 MHz to 520 MHz). That says nothing about what frequency it’s actually set to, just its capabilities. There’s no special programming that makes it work better with an Anytone 878/868. The RT97 is strictly analog FM. Boxcar already explained that the receive frequencies on the repeater are the converse of what’s on any radios you intend to use. Best wishes. I’m hopeful that you can get it sorted out. My limited understanding of duplexer tuning informs me that I don’t have the right equipment. It would be easier to program the radio to match how the duplexer is already tuned.

Not everyone responds to a “call sign testing” message. We don’t know what they’re testing. I’m more likely to respond to a “call sign listening” message because I know they are waiting for a response.

Maybe this will help: https://www.buytwowayradios.com/blog/2012/07/weatherproof_gmrs_radio_guide.html

Correct, your transmit (Tx) tone is the input tone to the repeater. The repeater then transmits using its output tone, which you receive (Rx), so its your receive tone. I recommend leaving your radio’s receive tone unset until you’re sure your transmit tone is working and the repeater is hearing your transmissions. You’ll hear everything on that frequency that way. Then, once you know you’ve got the transmit tone right you can always set your Rx tone.

Unless you’re actually planning on driving your UTV under water, it’s doubtful you need full waterproof rating. Something that’s splashproof is more common, especially for a mobile radio. Watch some of the videos on the notarubicon YouTube channel. He is also on this forum as @OffRoaderXand isn’t quite as likely to try and talk you into something that you may not need.

I am. I know of the RFinder. Not really interested in the price, sorry.

The Garmin GMRS radios work very well at transmitting their gps location to another Garmin GMRS radio. The top end radios have topo maps built in or more detailed maps can be added. They are prohibited by FCC regulations from passing their gps locations through a repeater though.