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So I am super newbieto GMRS and not that technically inclined. I have been studying for my HAM license, but wanted to get GMRS radio (license) to get some experience. I bought the MXT275 because it was relatively plug and play, had decent power, and not too $$$$$. The big issue is I have a Bronco (very little if any flat horizontal metal) that rules out many of the traditional mounting locations and this reduces the type of antenna I can use. The stock mini, I put on the inside rim of the way back window (metal under plastic), but is inhibited by in the vehicle, low stature and week groun plane. I tried the Nagoya UT-72g mounted on Pizza pan on a plastic go box in the way back. Many of the same issues. I bought a window clip mount, but it is a SMA Female attachment for antenna, so have to use adapters. I used a 48" Abbree Tactical (only not driving), but this as wellas the other antennas recieve but do not transmit very well. I went to Quarry Hills in Quincy Mass this AM, huge rock hill, which has a perfect 360 line of site to the whole south shore, Mass area, but nada (there is a very tall microwave tower just to the north...which might be blocking signals. Now SWRs for the three are b/w 1 and 1.8 and nowhere around me, even this Quarry Hills did I get a single contact who recieved my call...or at least was willing to acknowledge it. As I said I am not technical so I am avoiding more complicated antenns instalations. I have checked the settings in my Midland, as well as The Baofeng UV 5G plus I have been trying also while in the car. Cant really test as homebc my town area is very wooded, lots of houses and I dont gave the resources, brain or body, to put up a mast or get on my house to put up an antenna. Basically stuck with Car options and jury-rigged pizza pans with a mag in my house...which by the way, is old 1938 NE with horsehair plaster over chicken wire...very Faraday-esque. I am stumped (doesn't take much).Can someone give me any tips on how to address my issues? Thanks in advance.

My recently purchased house is situated on top of a small hill and has an antenna setup (from a former owner, no longer used) with both yagi and dish antennas at the apex of the roof. With no nearby homes or trees to interfere, I think this is an ideal spot for a GMRS repeater antenna but have to wonder if the existing antennas could be repurposed. This would be ideal since they are already grounded and coax is wired through the walls to locations where the repeater could be installed. From what I have read elsewhere, seems the answer is that I need to remove these and install something tuned for GMRS, but I know little about antenna theory so checking with this group.

Hello, all. I have a unique situation for my base station setup and wondered if anyone could offer some advice. In the past I ran a Sirio CX 455 antenna. It works really well for GMRS and I believe it's based on a JPole design (not requiring a ground plane). But, it's limited to higher frequency UHF. Again, perfect for GMRS and the SWR is 1.01 on 467 and 1.02 on 462. I'm also running 35' of LMR 400 with N connectors and the antenna is about 19' high. Here's the interesting part: my roof is made of metal tiles. Coated, galvanized steal to be exact and they are not bonded or grounded. I know, weird, and this is what makes things a bit complicated. Since buying the Sirio antenna, I got my technicians license and wanted to upgrade to a dual band antenna. Many local radio nerds rave about the Diamond X50 so I purchased an X50NA at HRO. I understand it's not ideal for GMRS, but I think the SWR compromise is worth it. So, I mounted the X50 on my mast, which is metal and grounded, standing about 2' off the roof, almost at the peak of the roof. I climbed down the latter and went into my office to check the SWR. It was about 3.5 on the GMRS bands. I was expecting something like 1.6 or 1.8 which is typical of this antenna. Rechecked my connections, tested and re-tested. Still, the SWR was very high. That's when it dawned on me that the metal roof is probably causing my problem and acting as a ground plane. I went back on the roof, removed the ground radials from the X50 and checked the SWR. It was much better, about 2.1 for GMRS. So I moved the antenna down (closer to the roof) and the SWR dropped to 1.02 on GMRS. This made the 70cm SWR high though. Eventually I found the sweet spot where 70cm was where it should be and 467 was at 1.6 SWR. VHF SWR is near perfect BTW. The one thing I noticed and thought was strange: the X50 doesn't hear as well as the Sirio did. The X50 measures lower on the S meter for repeaters that would normally be higher (actually, all of them). All transmit reports are good. Is it possible that removing the ground radials effects the receive signal? Is there some way I could better use the metal roof as a counterpoise? is the reduced receive signal just a result of this antenna not being tuned specifically for 462/467? Below is a picture of the roof. The antenna in the picture is not the X50, but the Sirio.

Probably this has already been discussed over the years. I finally got around to testing a couple of my mag mount 70cm or 440MHz ham band antennas on my Wouxun 805G GMRS. The SWR was below 1.5:1 even with a very undersized ground plane. Probably would have been much better with a larger ground - like on an actual car. Both of these were dual band 2M/70cm antennas. So, for my money, these ham antennas will work just fine. Many are tunable so you can tweak them in even better. If your standards are higher you can make your own decision. Since there are many more Ham band antennas available they offer a better selection and price. In my case I already have these antennas so it's a no-brainer. They're free. Vince

Ok, I would like to cover all the current antennas on the market today below 400 dollars for a repeater. I would like to know from experience from the repeater owners. I realize that antenna height, location and coax play an important factor. The current antennas that are below the $400 mark are Comet, Tram, Diamond ect. I currently use a tram 1486, and works ok, but I believe it lacks the gain the manufacture claims. The Station master is a good antenna too, but it is near 900 to 1000.00 dollars and out of budget for some users. Any feedback would be appreciated.