WRUE951

Like Boxcar said, study the radiation patterns for each of the antennas your looking at.. Don't go with the first one someone recommends as the best. It may be the best for them but crap for you.. My home is setting about 2800 feet overlooking a huge desert valley with long range mountains in every direction. I'm setting about 300 feet above the city i live in. I recently got a Laird 4607 7DB Base antenna and found out it lacked the range i had with my prior Hustler G6-450-3. I never looked at the radiation patterns for the antenna before buying. The Laird antenna has a sharp low narrow elevation pattern.. So i was not getting the range out of it. The antenna is meant to be setting on a high mountain top where a downward slope pleases its targets Setting 40' above my house worked good for short range. Long story short, ended up ordering another Hustler, which is 6 weeks backordered now. Gigaparts is a good source to get the antenna pattern information if they sell the specific antenna you are looking at. They are also a good source for information and have reasonable pricing DX Antennas is another good source based on what i hear.. Do your homework, Antenna's are expensive.. Don't be 'that guy' (me) making costly mistakes.

not much to find on the FG4607. Gigaparts sent me this. They said the antenna works great at high elevation. Apparently the Hustler has a wider and lower elevated pattern.. I ended up ordering another Hustler on a christmas deal.. Going back to what worked good for me

I'll somewhat agree with Marc, antenna is the most import piece of in arsenal to get out. But not every antenna is treated equal. Power does help. After testing/playing with four different antennas ranging from $25 bucks to nearly $400, i found the $400 antenna is the poor looser over distance (in my situation)... My little home brew copper j-pole seems to be the big winner.. My old Hustler was a winner as well.. After studying some (very little) antenna theory i'm finding that antenna take off angle has a lot do do with how far and how well it can transmit/receive. The current Laird i use for base has a sharp low angle take off angle and I learned is meant for mountain top applications not 40' above your home. Most of the signal is basically hitting dirt, not elevated air. The J-Pole has a wider pattern where it works better at lower elevations. I think Power helps more with a J-Pole over a higher gain narrower patter antenna. I'm by far not expert in Antenna theory but i am trying to learn more with it..

At the end of the day, more power does help. Thank-you

i have both versions of the J-Pole, both home brew and favor the Copper J-Pole over the Twin Wire J-Pole.. I use the copper j-pole for a portable repeater while camping. Getting the SWR's to perfection on the Copper J-Pole is a major PITA so i came up with a method for adjustability (see pics). Not shown in the attached picture, i had to grind down 1/2 inch on one side on each of the adjusters. The adjusters are made from a modified crimp on copper splice (Home Depot) and removing the internal rubber gaskets, cutting the splice in half then tapping for the set screws. It works great, i'm able to get 1:2 - 1:3 on my repeater channels (18)... The Copper J-Pole has talked roughly 90 miles, I've gotten about 60 with the Twin Lead version.. Both better than my home Base Laird FG-4607 and i can't figure out why on that one..

i run a copper J-Pole (Home Brew) on my portable Maxon repeater (40W), in my RV mostly up in the Sierras near and around Crawley Lake and Mammoth. The last weekend of last Sept i talked with Terry on his base station in Tonapah while relaxing at my RV , about a 90 mile hop. When i switched to medium power he lost my contact. On high power he hears me loud and clear. So im gong to debunk those that say power does not mater. Yes it does!! And BTW,, the copper J-Pole is a nice antenna, they perform well.. KB9VBR gave me some tips on getting one to work aside from what the calculations tell you..

mentality thing...

My favorite HAM HT is the Hytera HP782. And i even have GMRS frequencies plugged so i can 'listen' in... Of course, i grap my Baufang if i want to XTMT...

Opinions and Bias is two different matters.............In other words, why listen to someone else's opinion forced upon me.. NOPE!

Yup and I agree.. Like turning the Ch away from something you dont want to hear, the same applies to tunning into something your going to disagree with.. Pretty much why i never watch CNN or FOX... Saves on blood pressure pill.

GMRS repeaters are intended for family and friends :-),, Personally, on my repeater the only thing not tolerated is profanity and name calling.. Anything else goes, for the most part.. being civil is the important part.. There are 4 repeaters including mine here in the desert and politics is defiantly a frequent topic, especially in the last few months.. I've never heard one time where conversions got 'heted'. Disagreements Yes, but nothing that got carried away.. I'm one of those people that follow the rule, "if you don't like what you here, hangup or turn the channel"

Ho Ho HO,,, I hope Santa brought you enough radio stuff to keep you busy for the next year.. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

MyGMRS is not an official GMRS Repeater management tool.. It's basically an App you use at your free will.. There is no official management system for GMRS repeaters. It's your responsibility to set up your GMRS repeater without interfering with other users.. If you are one of those unlucky person trying to set up a repeater in an area like New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Penn, where a single licensed GMRS user has decided to install dozens of repeaters and you can't find an open channel, well guess what, you are allowed to select whatever GMRS channel you desire and set your repeater use on it.. It's just up to you to make sure you don't interfere.. As long as you are not interfering, the other repeaters have no right to tell you to move or cease your operation.. Tell them to pound sand.. Just be nice.. Have Fun

I've got it now.. the VM is really no different than running a Sandbox which i do. The only problem with the Sandbox, you have to reload it every time you shut it down. It sounds like the VM is the same but since you can set up several you leave them running and toggle as needed.. The Sandbox works for me as i don't venture to HTML sites that would put me in danger... When i was doing the AutoCad KeyGen thing i did run all that in the Sandbox along with my browser for VirusTotal.. Before i executed the KeyGen, VirusTotal lit up like a Christmas Tree and interestingly the KeyGen came from a trusted source.. I also run any open source software through the sandbox and check it before i actually install on my machine.. I had originally thought Sandbox was not available with Windows 10 but learned different last night, it is available under Windows 10 Professional. The VM is interesting and i'll end up playing with it.. Thanks for the info.

i'm just trying to wrap my hands around how a VM would benefit most everyday home computer users. If just for testing/expermiting with software, Windows 11 and IOS have sandboxes for that purpose.. I can see for business pourpose on a larger scale how VM and VN is a huge benefit. I run both Windows 11 and Linux on my Windows box through a separate boot. Can you actually run both without rebooting with a VM? Now that would be cool if you could, that might get my fancy.

Unless im missing something, a VM or Vertical Network is not particle for a single user. We had to use a VN at work where everything was cloud based.. Nothing was installed as a separate operation on our desktops. Everything ran off the VN.. And it worked pretty well too. It was funny how everyone had their own personal laptops setting next to their desktops so they could run their favorite programs on the side.. Of course those lap tops could not be connected to the network but they did set up separate WiFI for Internet access.

a topic in Gigaparts forum suggested using virustotal because of the false triggers and apparently it works. Awhile back I got stupid and decided to try running a KeyGen for latest Autocad.. I almost executed the download but then decided to try running the download through VirusTotal, it lit up.. yea I did end up subscribing to Autocad 360 Ouch!!

that test was ran from the downloaded file from the CHIRP website.. Apple and Windows 11 will place your download files in a 'Sandbox' which is a safe place for downloaded files.. from your download directory you would run your download through something like VirusTotal before executing your download.

Never had any issues with CHIRP out of the dozens of radios i've programed.. In fact, personally i prefer CHIRP over RT Systems

I run all my download installs through VirusTotal.com and just ran the recent CHIRP download and it is safe..

Good Find..

I log all my antenna test so i had a reference to look at when i got the Hustler rebuilt with the Hot Water pipe.. Yes the SWR did go up sligthly after the rebuild. Now, i don't know if that was due to the different radome material or stress to the internal antenna from the bird strike which is possible. Looking back i wish i would have done a SWR test on the antenna without the radome for that reference.. I've always heard that different radome materials changes the velocity factor.. I think this would be worth researching,, It would be nice to see actual data measurments showing these results.. If i find anything, i'll repost here.. As far as PVC vs white and gray holding up under UV. White PVC will self destruct pretty fast under UV exposure. I've seen that happen. Gray PVC will hold up but it will discolor. I know this from a short section where the Fiber Internet installer placed on my outside wall two years ago. There is a section where the sun beets down and you can defiantly see the discoloration but it's not brittle, it's holding strong.. I think over time, any material will evently destruct from EV rays..

i wouldn't let that jack ass get to you.. Everyone with a right mind knows the man, or whatever he wants to refer to himself as, is a self-righteous idiot..

I appreciate the offer but we already have that mounted 50' up.. I found some fiberglass tubes on ebay they are real antenna raydome tubes but seller required a large qty purchase.. Also found some on a google search with the same deal. Large qty.. Curious where you are finding it?

My Hustler used ground radials where the Laird does not. I'm far from being an antenna expert but I'm thinking this may be the difference.. BTW, i actually have the 7DB version of the Laird. I just know the stations further out are a no go where the Hustler had no problems.. I think the lobes are a bit sharper and work at a different elevations with the Laird vs. Hustler.. Ed Fong's Antenna uses schedule 20 PVC pipe, (thin wall) and you can't find this stuff anywhere, hardware stores no longer sell it. The Hot water plastic pipe i used is actually thinner and stronger than sch. 20 PVC. I believe Steve Shannon found the material used in this pipe (above).. It will be interesting to see how this material will hold up in the outside environment - time will tell. A bird smacked into the Hustler antenna and the material was so weathered (see pic) the antenna just buckled at the impact.. The antenna was only two years old, i cant imagine the weather getting to it so quickly, maybe just a bad batch of resin????.. At first, i didn't know what caused the antenna to buckle but then found several large black bird feathers nearby that could only come from these large black ravens that fly around here. There would have been no way of salvaging the old radome without shorting by several inches and now as an afterthought, I probably could have made an extension on the 3D Printer.. Too late now, i have already hacked up the old radom.