Obligatory new user message

[Jody]

Just signed up earlier today, and wanted to offer my hellos.

 

Many many moons ago I dabbled in CB (those moons were in the late 80's), and for a little while held a class three radiotelephone operators license (which I think is now a general radiotelephone operator license) as part of broadcast classes I took in high school. Through most of that time I had an interest in obtaining an amateur radio license, but never could get proficient enough to morse to pass the novice test.

 

I recently caught the bug again, and decided to actually jump in with both feet. Just got my GMRS call sign, and was kind of taken back at the current cost compared to what it was the last time I looked at it; and am going to start prepping for the amateur technicians license soon. (hooray for no code test!)

 

My only radio at the moment is a Baofeng UV-5R, and still just has the stock antenna. There isn't much GMRS activity around me (at least that I can pick up with the stock antenna), but I have been enjoying monitoring some of the 2m, and 70cm traffic around me, and hope to stumble across a few more GMRS users to make contact with soon.

 

 

If anyone has any recommendations for a good antenna for the UV-5R to use with GMRS, or a good 2m/70cm antenna for when I to get that license, I would appreciate the info. I've been out of radio for so long it's all a bit overwhelming.

 

[PastorGary]

Jody - Thanks for registering here and Welcome. You are among friends and as soon as the holiday is past, we'll have more participation here to get you started in the right direction for antennas and with any questions that you may have.

 

Are you going to be operating that radio as a temporary base station or as a mobile or both?  That may determine which antenna(s) might be applicable to your installation(s).

 

Please feel free to log in and use the search feature at our main website to locate systems in your general area.     >>>   http://www.mygmrs.com/browse

[Jody]

Thanks for the welcome, and early too. If I'm ever awake that early, it had better be from not having gone to bed yet.

 

For the foreseeable future the Baofeng will likely be my sole transceiver. At some point I'll probably look into some dedicated hardware, but disposable income isn't so disposable as of late. While I'm not against different antennas/transceivers for different jobs, and certainly understand the benefits of band specific antennas, the more general purpose the better.

 

Also, for any base station style antenna recommendations, keep in mind that I live on the 6th floor of an eight floor building, so while I have altitude on my side, I can't mount anything outdoors as I do not have a balcony.

 

I did locate a repeater listed in a neighboring city which is 3.5mi from work, just under 3.4mi from home, 8.5mi from where my parents, and son live, and 5.5mi from my grandparents. I haven't heard any traffic on it, though that might be at least partly due to antenna limitations. I did send a request to access it, so until I know what PL it's using I don't know if I can light it up, or not. My grandfather was really big in CB back in the licensed days, and even for a while after it. Not sure if he ever crossed over into any other bands, will have to check with him,

[PastorGary]

Jody - I have a suggestion in your particular case...

 

OPEK has a fine magnetic NMO mount available in the first link below.  There are any number of good dual band gain type mobile antennas that will fit right on. One of those is in the second link below.  All you need at home is a piece of 16 gauge galvanized steel 12 inches square. Stick the NMO magnetic mount on it for a ground plane surface and place it close to one of your windows at home. This will work remarkably well - I have done this for many years in temporary locations.   There are adaptors available to go from your radio antenna jack to either BNC or PL259 on which ever magnet mount NMO you may decide on.  Also, you can place the magnetic mount on your car and have a much greater coverage area than just the portable's antenna itself.

 

There are many mounts and antennas available - these are just two suggestions out of countless possibilities:

 

OPEK Magnetic NMO mount >>> http://www.walcottcb.com/opek-am1045b-nmo-magnet-mount-p-1256.html

 

Dual Band Mobile NMO Antenna >>> http://www.hamcq.com/vhf-uhf-dual-band-nmo-antenna-dualbandnmoantenna.html

 

Best of luck with your setups...

 

 

P-G

 

==============

[Guest spd641]

Jody,

Welcome to the group and we will do out best to make you feel welcome.We will help guide you thourgh and problems or any questions you may have.A new face is always welcome here and we strive to provide new users with the combined knowlegde gathered from most of the people in the forum,enjoy your stay and let us know if we can be of any help...William

[Jody]

Jody,

Welcome to the group and we will do out best to make you feel welcome.We will help guide you thourgh and problems or any questions you may have.A new face is always welcome here and we strive to provide new users with the combined knowlegde gathered from most of the people in the forum,enjoy your stay and let us know if we can be of any help...William

 

Thanks for the welcome, William.

 

Jody - I have a suggestion in your particular case...

 

 

I appreciate the starting point.

 

I've found very little info on how most 2m/70cm antennas perform just outside of their designed range. In this case, from 462 to 468MHz given the forum we're on... I'm not finding a lot of activity around me in the GMRS band, and will likely end up using my radio mostly for 2m/70cm once I get my amateur license, but it would be nice to have the option to transmit in the 460s if the need arises through the same antenna when mobile. Of course I've had trouble locating any antennas, even small ones for direct mount on my handheld, that are actually tuned for around 460. Are they just that rare, or am I not looking in the right place?

 

I'm getting dangerously close to needing to spin this off into a separate thread. So I'll just wrap this up, and again thank both of you for the welcome.

[Billy]

Welcome, enjoy the UV-5R.  As much as I try to knock them in my mind I always come back to just how much they do for the money.  I have two in my go-bags with two antenna upgrades.  A Nagoya NA-701 which is the best dual band upgrade for the UV-5R your gonna get for $8 delivered.  The second is an Ed Fong DBJ-2 roll up dual band antenna ($24 delivered).  This is a throw in it a tree, string it up in a room type antenna that gives you true Unity Gain (2.1 DBI which is about 6 db over any HT antenna) performance on both bands. 

 

First and closer to your question is the NA-701 is a great fit for the UV5R and not too long about 6", you will notice a huge improvement in both TX and RX.   Both can be had on FleeBay quite handily.  Good Luck and enjoy your new hobby.  Billy

[Guest spd641]

Thanks for the welcome, William.

 

 

I appreciate the starting point.

 

I've found very little info on how most 2m/70cm antennas perform just outside of their designed range. In this case, from 462 to 468MHz given the forum we're on... I'm not finding a lot of activity around me in the GMRS band, and will likely end up using my radio mostly for 2m/70cm once I get my amateur license, but it would be nice to have the option to transmit in the 460s if the need arises through the same antenna when mobile. Of course I've had trouble locating any antennas, even small ones for direct mount on my handheld, that are actually tuned for around 460. Are they just that rare, or am I not looking in the right place?

 

I'm getting dangerously close to needing to spin this off into a separate thread. So I'll just wrap this up, and again thank both of you for the welcome.

Before you go here is a antenna I think will fit your needs.Comet Dual-Band Mobile Antenna I saw excellent reviews about this antenna and I am thinking about buying one myself...William

[Jody]

Before you go here is a antenna I think will fit your needs.Comet Dual-Band Mobile Antenna I saw excellent reviews about this antenna and I am thinking about buying one myself...William

 

I actually ran across that antenna on Amazon, but with a PL connector, and another by a different maker but with a similar style/spec. I've been trying to work out how best to actually mount an antenna on my car, but the way the trunk lid is designed most antennas will hit the top of the car every time the trunk is opened. The fold over hinge will certainly help with that. Still have to work out the best way to get the a feed line on the outside of the car without it getting crushed, though.

 

 

Welcome, enjoy the UV-5R.  As much as I try to knock them in my mind I always come back to just how much they do for the money.  I have two in my go-bags with two antenna upgrades.  A Nagoya NA-701 which is the best dual band upgrade for the UV-5R your gonna get for $8 delivered.  The second is an Ed Fong DBJ-2 roll up dual band antenna ($24 delivered).  This is a throw in it a tree, string it up in a room type antenna that gives you true Unity Gain (2.1 DBI which is about 6 db over any HT antenna) performance on both bands. 

 

First and closer to your question is the NA-701 is a great fit for the UV5R and not too long about 6", you will notice a huge improvement in both TX and RX.   Both can be had on FleeBay quite handily.  Good Luck and enjoy your new hobby.  Billy

 

Thanks,

 

The low price tag compared with the features was what drew me to it as a first radio; also knowing two people that have owned one for a while, and still use them regularly helped too. I imagine at some point I'll be looking for something a little more robust, but given that I'm still just getting my feet wet it seemed like a good place to start.

 

I've been looking at the NA-701, and it's big brother the NA-771 as well as the NA-666, one of the people I know with the same radio as me has a 771 and loves it for 2m usage. I'd love to see an analyzer output on these, but from the reviews I've been seeing the 701 seems to be really popular, and the 666 seems to be a decent 70cm and a good GMRS whip as well. From the calculations I've done it looks like the 666 should play nice in MURS land, too.

[Billy]

I actually ran across that antenna on Amazon, but with a PL connector, and another by a different maker but with a similar style/spec. I've been trying to work out how best to actually mount an antenna on my car, but the way the trunk lid is designed most antennas will hit the top of the car every time the trunk is opened. The fold over hinge will certainly help with that. Still have to work out the best way to get the a feed line on the outside of the car without it getting crushed, though.

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

The low price tag compared with the features was what drew me to it as a first radio; also knowing two people that have owned one for a while, and still use them regularly helped too. I imagine at some point I'll be looking for something a little more robust, but given that I'm still just getting my feet wet it seemed like a good place to start.

 

I've been looking at the NA-701, and it's big brother the NA-771 as well as the NA-666, one of the people I know with the same radio as me has a 771 and loves it for 2m usage. I'd love to see an analyzer output on these, but from the reviews I've been seeing the 701 seems to be really popular, and the 666 seems to be a decent 70cm and a good GMRS whip as well. From the calculations I've done it looks like the 666 should play nice in MURS land, too.

 

 

The NA701 and 666 are vertually the same antenna, the 666 is thinner and more flexible, I have both and they perform identical.  I also have the 771 and honestly cannot justify its 18" length.  It is simply too unwieldy to be practical as it can poke you in the chin while clipped to your belt.  From my testing I have gone with the 701, not too long and more durable than the 666.  If you go to Eham.Net you can get some decent reviews on all the antennas.   The Nagoya company has been making antennas for the bigger companies like Diamond, Opek and others for years so they know how to do it.  There models rival any of the bigger companies at a fraction of the price. 

[gdavis316]

to the member in long Island,

I was just testing th Ed Fong rool up.  I have both models.  I also have used his base antenna on gmrs at the house with great results. 

on the roll up, tonights test failed, but too much coax, to many connectors.  at least my pully system on my fourty foot tower worked.  How long is your extra coax for the ed fong........what size coax.  

i was try to talk simplex on uhf, and vhf.  i could hear the other station at approx 12 miles using 40 watt

mobile/base on both bands, but he couldn'hear me...too much loss.  will try 25ft of 8x later.

Glenn

[Billy]

to the member in long Island,

I was just testing th Ed Fong rool up.  I have both models.  I also have used his base antenna on gmrs at the house with great results. 

on the roll up, tonights test failed, but too much coax, to many connectors.  at least my pully system on my fourty foot tower worked.  How long is your extra coax for the ed fong........what size coax.  

i was try to talk simplex on uhf, and vhf.  i could hear the other station at approx 12 miles using 40 watt

mobile/base on both bands, but he couldn'hear me...too much loss.  will try 25ft of 8x later.

Glenn

I have used the roll up and tested it.  I used the supplied RG58U which I think is 8 or 10 ft. worked great.  Longer runs like forty feet of lousy coax on an ht is not a good way to go.  This antenna is to get a "little bit" of elevation and pick up 5 or 6 db over a stock HT antenna.  This it does well.  I use both his DBJ-1 as a dual band and his HiGain UHF 5 DB for my repeater.  Both with excellent results.  I use a 50 foot run of LMR400 end to end.  The DBJ-2 is simply a roll up version of the DBJ-1 which is Unity Gain on both UHF and VHF.  I have stuck with it simply because it works great and is very wide banded as it will do 70cm to GMRS and stay less than 2:1 on the SWR meter.  Good Luck