Trying to help someone get into GMRS in rural Michigan...Near Marshall

[WSLH454]

I've got a friend in Michigan that needs some way to communicate with several neighbors within a 3 mile radius. I mentioned GMRS and repeaters etc...First of all none of the neighbors are tech savvy lol. I looked for any repeaters near them, and I'm not sure they could lock on to any repeaters. I didn't see a repeater that was close by. Battle Creek is 12 miles away but I didn't see any repeaters there. Maybe I missed one? Charlotte has a repeater, but doesn't look like they could hit the repeater from Marshall. My next idea is to just have them get some 5 watt GMRS radios, which they should be able talk to each other within 2-3 mile radius. Having access to a repeater would be nice to have though. They'd need an easy to use radio without all the bells and whistles. Something very simple to use. Any ideas etc...as to what to suggest to them is appreciated. 

[Lscott]

1 hour ago, WSLH454 said:

They'd need an easy to use radio without all the bells and whistles. Something very simple to use.

The primary consideration is getting an antenna OUTSIDE of the house. A simple cheap whip type would work at those ranges. The coax would connect to hand held GMRS radio. 

From my experience even inside of a house the typically rubber duck type antenna will have issues getting out more than a mile or so. The signal gets blocked by the house and or other surrounding property. 

If they can't, or won't, put up an outside antenna then the next best thing is using a roll-up type hanging near a window. That will work better than the rubber duck antenna at least.

A few people have tried a mobile magnet mount type antenna stuck on a small cookie sheet placed by the window too.

[WSLH454]

4 minutes ago, Lscott said:

The primary consideration is getting an antenna OUTSIDE of the house. A simple cheap whip type would work at those ranges. The coax would connect to hand held GMRS radio. 

From my experience even inside of a house the typically rubber duck type antenna will have issues getting out more than a mile or so. The signal gets blocked by the house and or other surrounding property. 

If they can't, or won't, put up an outside antenna then the next best thing is using a roll-up type hanging near a window. That will work better than the rubber duck antenna at least.

A few people have tried a mobile magnet mount type antenna stuck on a small cookie sheet placed by the window too.

Yeah I'm going to suggest a few things to them and see what they want to do. An antenna outside would certainly help them. I'm 200 miles away from them so I'm not going to be able to help much. FRS radios would be the easiest for them to use, but I don't see those working out. GMRS 5 watt would be their best option. My understanding is most of these are older women that live on this road, so no tech guy to help them out with setup etc...

[amaff]

2 hours ago, WSLH454 said:

My next idea is to just have them get some 5 watt GMRS radios, which they should be able talk to each other within 2-3 mile radius. 

That REALLY depends on terrain.

I can talk to my parents almost 5 miles away as the crow flies, simplex, with 5W handhelds, but we're both up on opposite hills overlooking a valley, so we have basically clear LOS to each other. If we were both on flat ground? Maybe if we were out on the salt flats in the west desert. But other than that? 

It would take some experimentation at a minimum. Antennas on roofs would help a lot. Or if 1 of them is on elevated terrain relative to the others, maybe get a 'portable' repeater set up with an exterior antenna at their place that they can all talk through. There's certainly options, but being 200 miles away doesn't help.

[WSKY396]

14 minutes ago, Lscott said:

The primary consideration is getting an antenna OUTSIDE of the house. A simple cheap whip type would work at those ranges. The coax would connect to hand held GMRS radio. 

From my experience even inside of a house the typically rubber duck type antenna will have issues getting out more than a mile or so. The signal gets blocked by the house and or other surrounding property. 

If they can't, or won't, put up an outside antenna then the next best thing is using a roll-up type hanging near a window. That will work better than the rubber duck antenna at least.

A few people have tried a mobile magnet mount type antenna stuck on a small cookie sheet placed by the window too.

I can attest to the mobile mag on a cookie sheet. Just putting it in my backyard and placing it above head level seemed to make a world of difference even with the house blocking line of sight. It somehow works better than in line of sight near a window on the second floor.

[WSLH454]

4 hours ago, WSKY396 said:

I can attest to the mobile mag on a cookie sheet. Just putting it in my backyard and placing it above head level seemed to make a world of difference even with the house blocking line of sight. It somehow works better than in line of sight near a window on the second floor.

I'm thinking of testing a mobile mag antenna on a cookie sheet where I'm at. I've got a few 15" whips coming for myself so I'm going to try them for myself first.

[WRZK526]

Try seeing if they can just get some handhelds of decent quality and see if they can all talk to each other. As for wattage in this case or most cases doesn't matter as much as line of sight. If they are all that close probably not going to be a problem. I would suggest all getting the same brand and the same model. Most come in packs of two so they could just order a two or three pack and share but would have to buy extra charging stations. 

I have had Midland GXT 1000 for a few years and have gotten 3 miles easy. Recently bought the GXT 3000 and today talked to a repeater 50 miles away. Depends on how much money they want or can spend. As for simplicity anyone can turn on, set the channel lock it and leave it if they are talking just to each other. If they want to possibly use a repeater in the future they will have to get a license. If they just use channels 1-7 probably no one will care.  

[beerftw]

For a few miles even high end ht radios can struggle if too many houses are inbetween, or the houses have steel or aluminum siding, or if they use them in the house.

 

  A simple solution is to use either ht radios or mobile base stations with power adapters and have proper antennas mounted above the roof lines, so long as you are not living in a terrain with the ups and downs of a roller coaster like I am that should be beyond sufficient and reliable. The expense of the antennas and the height of the antennas are not important so long as they are tuned proper for gmrs and that they sit above the roofline and give line of sight.

 

  All radio types above hf use line of sight, but some types are more forgiving than others, vhf like 2m ham or 6m ham can much more easily bounce around or get carried beyond obstacles, gmrs is in the uhf band, it can do the same as vhf but with much less efficiency. Lower frequencies tend to travel farther and get more help from outside forces, while higher frequencies can sometimes better penetrate obstacles nearby, hence why your wifi router at 2.4 ghz can go through steel buildings sometimes just fine but have a very short range, while a gmrs signal may not be able to even transmit out of a steel building worth a darn or recieve in it but can travel 30 miles with no obstructions.

[beerftw]

On 2/5/2026 at 8:31 AM, WSKY396 said:

I can attest to the mobile mag on a cookie sheet. Just putting it in my backyard and placing it above head level seemed to make a world of difference even with the house blocking line of sight. It somehow works better than in line of sight near a window on the second floor.

I currently do that without the cookie sheet on my trailer house with a nagoya tuned for gmrs, the roof is galvanized steel and the siding aluminum, but just slapping it on my roof that 19 inch nagoya gets much better reception as it is above the obstructions. I actually bought it for the car as I planned to get a gmrs base station and proper whip antenna in the future, but being mobile and also capable of working off a cookie sheet or a steel roof made it too convenient for the moment.

[WSKY396]

54 minutes ago, beerftw said:

I currently do that without the cookie sheet on my trailer house with a nagoya tuned for gmrs, the roof is galvanized steel and the siding aluminum, but just slapping it on my roof that 19 inch nagoya gets much better reception as it is above the obstructions. I actually bought it for the car as I planned to get a gmrs base station and proper whip antenna in the future, but being mobile and also capable of working off a cookie sheet or a steel roof made it too convenient for the moment.

Same here on the convenience, especially for trying to figure the basic things out before spending more money.

I live in a flat roof 2 story townhouse with a thin metal covering, I’m tempted now to put the mobile mag on the roof to test it.