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As a preface, I should mention that I am rather green in the whole GMRS scene but I have some experience from my years in the emergency services, so I understand the bare basics. I only ever had to set up mobile systems and that was few and far between. I've maintained quite a few emergency vehicles and did a full upfit on one which turned out beautifully. For my long term setup, I want to pop a hole to the outside of my house for a base station antenna to be mounted at the roof but I need to locate a good mounting point, penetration point, and pathway to my base station setup. I also want to install the cable in conduit to protect it if i have to run most of it externally, intall a proper grounding system for lightning protection and tie it to my data grounding system I built to ensure equal potential. This being said, I have a lot of work ahead of me for that Install. I would like to temporarily set up my base station and mount my antenna inside the basement up between the floor joists near my base station location. I'm looking at horizontal mounting to keep it out of the way and looking at a ground plane. Here is a list of supplies I have so far. I plan to use a different antenna when I mount it externally on the roof. -AnyTone AT-5888UV Mobile Transceiver -BTECH RPS-30M 30 Amp Compact Regulated Bench Power Supply -Nagoya GPK-01 (21" Radials) NMO Mount Ground Plane Kit -Midland - MXTA26 MicroMobile 6DB Gain Whip Antenna -PL259 UHF Coax Cable My main question is with the antenna orientation and ground plane. The antenna mounted vertically would be ideal but I just don't have anywhere to mount it besides in the floor joists. If I mount it horizontally with the whip pointing toward the exterior butt plate of the wall, will I get decent signal reception? I should also note that some of the stuff I bought with intentions of reusing it on a mobile setup once I get the base station situated. I wanted to make sure that what I bought for the temporary solution wouldn't go to waste.

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.

As the title suggests, does anyone have experience with antenna performance when mounted under a truck topper such as Leer or ARE? My understanding from reading the several threads where this is mentioned is that fiberglass will not impact antenna performance. For reference I will be mounting under a Leer QR topper on a Ford F-250. I currently have the antenna mounted on the corner of the hood but I am considering a change due to car washes and to provide an overall cleaner appearance and profile. thank you!

Hi all, This is my first post so please be gentle. I decided the family needed an alternative means of communication and started reading about the options, deciding on GMRS. I'm a total newb - bought the Midland GXT1000 3 pack and the MXT115 for my car (and just got my GMRS license). I'm doing tons of reading to learn about how GMRS works and this forum is awesome... but I'm having trouble here and on the web/youtube finding something that shows how to do a clean radio install for an automobile, more specifically, the antenna cable. Since I'm seeing the cable and antenna for the MXT115 aren't that good, I'll certainly be replacing them before doing anything destructive to my car, but are there any tips for doing this and/or good links that walk through it? I'm mechanically inclined so should be able to do this myself but if the answer is "take to a radio shop" I'm open to that too because what I don't want is to end up with rattles and noise because I didn't put panels back in right (though I do find sometimes that the care I take for doing various jobs is better than the pros because I do lots of research and *care*). That's a lot of words to ask about an antenna (oh, any recommendations on the antenna are also welcome) but figured I'd introduce myself too. Thanks all, Bob