Sshannon

An antenna that's advertised as 6 dB gain, is probably 6 dBi, or 6 decibels of gain with respect to a theoretical single radiating point called an isentropic antenna. One of the simplest antennas is the dipole. A dipole has 2.15 dBi or 2.15 decibels of gain with respect to an isentropic antenna. That establishes an additive offset of 2.15 dB. Most antennas are labeled with respect to dBi, even if the manufacturer doesn't include the correct unit. But sometimes they're labeled as dBd, meaning the performance of a dipole is the reference point. An antenna that's advertised as 6.15 dBi is 4 dBd. And you will definitely not lose anything by using a magnetic mount.

A ground plane antenna doesn’t require a DC connection to your roof. Magnetic mounts make a capacitive connection to your roof in spite of the paint, rubber base, etc. I live in the mountains and a 6 db MXTA26 antenna is just fine. But it’s important to know whether that gain number is dbi or dbd. I would agree with Ryan if he was recommending not to use a higher gain antenna but 6 db antennas still have 3 db gain 10° above and below horizontal. That’s 17 feet of rise in 100 feet of horizontal distance. This guy likes the MXTA26.

I've heard that story before, but the Harvard Radio Club history says nothing of it: http://w1af.harvard.edu/php/history.php Wikipedia has an interesting page on the etymology of "ham". A couple different versions of that story appear there, but nothing truly definitive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

https://youtube.com/@TheNotaRubicon?si=9XHV-v3OWrko1aAh

In a sense, yes. Many mobile antennas require a ground plane. In the past the steel roofs of cars provided it but people who use magnetic antennas elsewhere simply use a cookie sheet.

Literally the regulations don’t require you to differentiate. They require you to ID and they say that unit numbers may be used, but unit numbers are not mandatory. If you ID at all you'll be doing better than most.

Make sure your gm30 is set to the right channel and has receiver tones cleared out.

I assume you mean RG58. It certainly might be the antenna, but I would consider the coax first. RG58 attenuates nearly 12 db at 400 MHz. Every 3 db is half of the signal or power, so 3 db loss is 1/2, 6 db is 3/4, 9 db is 7/8, and 12 db is 15/16 of the power lost. Coax is fine, as long as it’s a type that’s compatible with the frequency used.

Let me clarify this a little. There are 22 FRS frequencies established by FCC regulations. Modern certified FRS radios can transmit on all of them. Those frequencies are grouped into three groups: 1-7, 8-14, and 15-22. The frequencies established for those channels are not sequential. The two groups with channels 1-7 and 15-22 are limited to 2 watts ERP (effective radiated power). But channels 8-14 are limited to 1/2 watt ERP. All of that is laid out in the FRS regulations here: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-B GMRS regulations allocate those same 22 frequencies for use by GMRS radios and add 8 more channels which handheld and mobile GMRS radios may use to transmit through repeaters. Those eight channels are referred to in regulations as the 467 MHz Main channels. So, the groups are channels 1-7, called the 462 MHz Interstitial channels; channels 8-14, called the 467 MHz interstitial channels; channels 15-22, called the 462 MHz Main channels; and finally the eight repeater channels which the FCC calls the 467 MHz Main channels, but some manufacturers refer to as 23-30 while others call RP15-RP22 or something similar. The GMRS regulations limit mobile (including handheld portables), repeaters, and base stations to 50 watts on the Main 462 and 467 MHz frequencies, but on the two Interstitial groups, output power is limited. On the Interstitial 462 MHz channels (FRS 1-7) GMRS radios are limited to 5 watts ERP. On the Interstitial 467 MHz channels (FRS 8-14) GMRS radios have the same 1/2 watt ERP limit as FRS. Furthermore, for GMRS, only handheld portable units may transmit on the Interstitial 467 MHz, so base and mobile GMRS radios are officially prohibited from transmitting on 8-14. Various radios handle that differently, but that’s the regulation. However, by regulation, FRS and GMRS radios are permitted to communicate with each other on those 22 channels which are shared between the two services. That’s clearly established in 95.531(c) in the FRS regulations and 95.1731 in the GMRS regulations. Here’s a link to the GMRS regulations: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E I hope this helps.

Yes, the regulations state that you can use a GMRS radio to communicate with FRS radios. Both services use the same frequencies. Either service can transmit to the other.

FRS and GMRS channels are the same except for the 467 MHz frequencies that you transmit to a repeater using GMRS. If you have a GMRS radio and license you can transmit at higher power on some of them.

A little known fact is that the toaster doubles as a dummy load…

We get ham points. Every hundred points allow us to describe our medical condition for five minutes.

Both the FT-710 and the IC-7300 are SDR radios. The IC-7300 is a few years older than the FT-710, but it's very popular. It's pretty obvious that Yaesu had the popularity of the IC-7300 in mind when they brought out the FT-710. In fact, a lot of people referred to the FT-710 as the IC-7300 killer. Although I lean more towards the FT-710, I don't think you could go wrong with either.

No, it happens with any company. I bought a Comet SBB-5 that had a high (4.5:1 or so) on one band. Unfortunately I bought it from a private party to save $12 compared to the best retail price I could find. I emailed the Comet distributor and they diagnosed that it sounded like a bad capacitor in the base unit. I could have sent it in to be serviced, but instead I bought a new base for $24. It works perfectly. I like Comet antennas and if I ever figure out how to disassemble this base unit I’ll fix it.

It seems that everyone is assuming that Ethernet level digital signals are being carried between the head unit and the radio body. Do you know that is true?

I don’t know what’s necessary for a masthead antenna, but there are dual band commercial antennas like this Laird that target the right frequencies better than antennas for 2meter/70cm: https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/antennas-mounts/mobile-antennas/vhf-uhf-dual-band/451-commercial-dual-band/219-high-gain-dual-band-antennas/8909-laird-connectivity-ab150-450cs-detail

Out of curiosity, what frequency pair do they use?

Yes. That’s true. GMRS is intended to be a service using retail products that comply to part 95e. It’s not a service designed to encourage experimentation or require tuning before use.

I have to agree that the Yaesu FT710 Field would be a good choice given your budget. It tunes from 30 kHz to 75 MHz and has a great set of features that enable picking signals out of the noise. It’s $200 off right now ($900 at the major radio dealers) Here’s a link to the Sherwood report which attempts to rank radios by receiver quality. Not everyone thinks it’s perfect but it really does a pretty good job of documenting measurements. It doesn’t discuss features or transmission power or anything else but receiver measurements. Based on this report I would also recommend the FT710. It’s number 4 on the chart. It’s nearly indistinguishable from the FTDX10 which is ranked third. I have the FTDX10 and it is an outstanding receiver. Of course the antenna is possibly the most important part. Fortunately you don’t have to spend a lot of money to build an antenna. I built a 40-10 meter end fed half wave which could be lengthened to 80 meters easily. Even though the antenna isn’t expensive it seems to be very good at receiving. http://www.sherweng.com/table.html https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ysu-ft-710-field?seid=dxese1&gclid=CjwKCAjwxLKxBhA7EiwAXO0R0DrCK5Hr5po5ilM0GetFkyhA1YqwTg5UulW-DVxwhpJ4JG1rX6AciRoCFv4QAvD_BwE

Definitely a nicer response than mine.

What is wrong with you? People should be able to ask questions without you being a jerk.

This article explores your question. The difference is very slight: https://www.hamradio.me/antennas/when-antenna-tilt-matters.html

With the exception of 146.52, the 2 meter simplex calling frequency, there are no “basic ham frequencies”. Repeaters in one area are programmed differently than others. But by learning to use repeaterbook, you can discover the frequencies in use local to you. Similarly, emergency frequencies differ from place to place. The GMRS frequencies, bandwidth, and power level are fixed by regulations, but from place to place different repeaters use different channels with different tones. So, unless you find someone in your area who has already done it, you’ll need to build your own. Fortunately, I think Chirp has the ability to import settings for local repeaters, emergency frequencies, and even GMRS frequencies. I don’t remember which menu heading it’s under, but Notarubicon probably has a video that covers it. Yup, the menu is Radio-Query Data Source. He explains it well at about 11:55 in the video. The video is here: