Search the Community

Hello all, New to GMRS and radio in general. I have the infamous Baofeng UR5+. Ive purchased the NA-771 antenna for one of them and the UT-72 mobile antenna for my truck. Me and the wife have been experimenting with them and not getting very good coverage. At 1 point I was on the roof while she drove just a short distance before losing her. 1.5 miles to be exact. So today (monday) we took them to work where I have access to a roof atop a 10 story building. I went to the roof (10th floor) with the NA-771 and she went to the 3rd (top) floor of her work with the rubber duck and we tried to talk with no luck. She then went outside to my truck and plugged into the UT-72 mobile antenna. A little static is all she got from me. I got nothing from her. This distance is less than 5 miles but right at it. I can see her work place practically. Cincinnati is in a bowl. I can see the ridge line that encircles the city. Basically our 275 loop I can fully see from that building which is 20 minutes in every direction. Ive already bought 3 radios and 2 additional antennas. I purchased over the weekend a roof top antenna that is specifically for GMRS 462mhz from Michael the J pole antenna guy. I was going to purchase the LMR400 cable but now Im hesitant in putting alot more money into this if its not really going get me the distance Im looking for in an emergency situation. I live in a suburb of Cincinnati and the majority of my family lives about 10 to 15 miles out in the country from me. I want to buy a 50 watt base unit but Im afraid to sink more money into this if Im nonly going to get slim results. I read how peolple swapping their factory antenna for the ones Ive bought increases their coverage so much. Im not buying it or Im doing something terribly wrong, I only see 2 repeaters in Cincinnati and they have not given me permission yet. But from my limited understanding is if I cant even talk 1.5miles then how on earth can I reach a repeater thats 10 miles away or better? Side note I used the chirp to program the radios so they'd all be the same. thx guys for any help. Nice site by the way. Very cool.