VETCOMMS

That APX 8500 sounds like the most universal quality commercial radio due to it's wide frequency range. I realize we're on a GMRS website but how do others use this radio outside of GMRS? I thought I saw on the Motorola website this radio transmits at 100 watts?

Ok thx. Was just curious what others did.

Just curious how others do this, but when programming a repeater into a mobile there's only so many characters allowed. I put in an abbreviation of the city where the repeater is to help me select which repeater depending on my location when I'm driving. I would like to put the repeater call sign there as well but not enough space (Anytone radio). How do others program their repeaters in?

This makes it sound like for the average Joe (me) that has minimal experience in this GMRS/radio hobby there's alot more to it than simply plugging in Chirp. I'm not skilled in this and don't even know what it means to do alignments so I'll either pay someone to program it or stay with the lower quality boxed GMRS radios.

So I just had a thought. Does anyone know how often local law enforcement/EMS switch out their radios? Do they auction that type of equipment or is it best to go through used-radios.com?

Thanks for that, I wasn't sure if the radio I mentioned can be turned down when programming. I'm not sure what you mean about the published split being -1. Does that have to do with narrowband? So to program is it similar to using Chirp? That's the extent of my programming experience.

So is this an example of a Kenwood that's relatively straight forward to program? https://used-radios.com/kenwood-tk-890h-uhf-450-490mhz-mobile-radio-advanced/

Wow! All things I never thought to ask. Thanks for sharing!

I've read commercial radios are much higher quality and recommended to those who can afford it and would like the benefit of a radio with better components. I also read it can be challenging to find software to program these radios but that some here can help with programming. My question is two-fold. 1. Is one brand easier to program than another? Ie-Kenwood vs Motorola 2. To get help with programming do I ship the radio to someone here or can they send me software and walk me through the process? Just learning how it all works.

This may have been what I had been hearing about.

WRVD brought up something I was wondering about. Thx for that. I'm also curious about the different duplexers. I've heard the term notch used. Is there a thread about duplexers that already exists so we don't beat a dead horse about duplexers?

I think Randy's videos helped me understand the tones keep me from having to listen to others but offers no privacy at all. What I wasn't sure of was whether farmer group A and Wrtz family B could use the repeater simultaneously

But to make sure I understand, the two different groups with their different tones could not transmit at the same time, correct?

Thanks for the replies. So because I'm new to repeaters this may be a dumb question. If I put a Retevis repeater on a grain bin would I be able to program it to operate on one set of frequencies for the farmer to use and a second set of frequencies for my family to use?

So in the top picture, the higher the gain, the more focused or narrower the beam of RF that's emitted, correct? And using the lower image, that particular antenna radiates more RF to the right because that's the larger cone coming out in that direction. Am I understanding this stuff correctly? I'm not a HAM and don't have lots of radio transmission experience but it's always interested me....

Absolutely, I think I've seen the radio wave disbursement pattern with antennas before. Not sure what the actual term is for that with colors and blobs going out in different directions from the antenna. What I don't know is if on a 50 to 100 foot tall tower there is much of a dead spot area to be concerned about or if that's more for the big boys that have antennas way up high. Along the same lines, I think mygmrs.com will email me to tell me to mark if my question was answered but I don't know how to do this. Are you familiar with how to say, "yes, it helped me"?

Thanks for that explanation Sshannon.

Can someone direct me to where I can learn about what it means to have an antenna with "gain"? In the context of a repeater antenna, does a higher gain omnidirectional antenna have a larger "dead spot" area near the tower then? How does one calculate what this dead spot size/area is? Or does it really apply when doing shorter tower hights of 100 feet or less?

What do experienced installers do to choose which antenna for such application? I saw an omnidirectional Laird 4505 and other antennas but there's a lot to weed through. So how do you decide?

Thanks for that WRKC. I've got a couple farmers I still need to ask and the answer very well may be no but can't hurt to ask. The local sheriff has a tower maintained by RA Comm so again, that answer might be a no as well but can't hurt to ask. The grain bins are the only other tall option around.

I'm curious if any of you have experience with installing repeaters on tall grain bins/grain legs or Harvestore style silos. If so, how did you protect the repeater from the elements and were there any unique challenges to using a silo/grain bin compared to putting a repeater and antenna up on a tower?

Then I saw this and started to get excited but it's DMR.

The suspense is killing my hemorrhoids. When will this mystery company release more info on a 40 watt repeater? I wait not so patiently for Xenu to bless us with such a device.

I learned about a website called lidoradio.com that might be helpful to some wanting additional mounting options. I'll take a look at the cupholder holder as well. Thanks.

Im curious if others have ideas on how to make a portable radio stand/holder for a small mobile that I can easily take the radio between a half ton pickup and a small SUV. Anything out there that fits this need already?