Beginner here

[Bishop]

Hello, gmrs members I am new to the gmrs world I am hoping someone could assist me I purchased my gmrs  license and ordered the “ocean” 1000G i been watching youtube  videos and reading where you need to cut some antennas and others you don’t need to so  my question is what is the good antenna/s to run for trails and long distance and a good call cable 

 

Thanks everyone 

 

[djxs]

I'll take a shot at this. Given that you are new to the hobby, I would go with turn key antenna. I am sure that the same place you bought the radio from has the appropriate antenna required. From my understanding, you need an SWR meter in addition to some other items to tune the antenna. Why not just buy it already made if you are new as you say. Just my thoughts. I am new also, perhaps later, I can get into those kind of modifications if needed. 

 

 

[mbrun]

Hello, gmrs members I am new to the gmrs world I am hoping someone could assist me I purchased my gmrs  license and ordered the “ocean” 1000G i been watching youtube  videos and reading where you need to cut some antennas and others you don’t need to so  my question is what is the good antenna/s to run for trails and long distance and a good call cable 
 
Thanks everyone 
 

Keep it simple so you have a good initial experience.

I use the Midland MXTA26 with Midland’s NMO mag mount base. It is factory tuned and was verified to be factory tuned very well. Thoroughly pleased with its performance over the last year.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

[Bishop]

Ty 

 

[AdmiralCochrane]

Short distance is the nature of 65cm/GMRS.  There isn't really any "long" distance.  Optimize for what works.

[OffRoaderX]

Congrats on the KG-1000G !  IMHO, the best mobile GMRS radio you can find today..

If you get a "UHF" antenna, you will have to cut it..

If you get any antenna that says "GMRS", you will not have to cut it.

Although every different GMRS antenna has different specs, pretty much any GMRS antenna mounted properly on your (jeep??) will work just as well as any other since when you are on the trails you're generally not really talking very long distances..

No doubt some sad-GMRS user will quote a bunch of specs saying one antenna has better gain or lower loss, blah blah.. But in the real world, when on the trail you're not going to notice much difference so dont get too wrapped up on what the basement dwellers spew.

[Bishop]

15 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

Congrats on the KG-1000G !  IMHO, the best mobile GMRS radio you can find today..

If you get a "UHF" antenna, you will have to cut it..

If you get any antenna that says "GMRS", you will not have to cut it.

Although every different GMRS antenna has different specs, pretty much any GMRS antenna mounted properly on your (jeep??) will work just as well as any other since when you are on the trails you're generally not really talking very long distances..

No doubt some sad-GMRS user will quote a bunch of specs saying one antenna has better gain or lower loss, blah blah.. But in the real world, when on the trail you're not going to notice much difference so dont get too wrapped up on what the basement dwellers spew.

Thank you 

[WRHS218]

19 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

Congrats on the KG-1000G !  IMHO, the best mobile GMRS radio you can find today..

If you get a "UHF" antenna, you will have to cut it..

If you get any antenna that says "GMRS", you will not have to cut it.

Although every different GMRS antenna has different specs, pretty much any GMRS antenna mounted properly on your (jeep??) will work just as well as any other since when you are on the trails you're generally not really talking very long distances..

No doubt some sad-GMRS user will quote a bunch of specs saying one antenna has better gain or lower loss, blah blah.. But in the real world, when on the trail you're not going to notice much difference so dont get too wrapped up on what the basement dwellers spew.

OffRoaderX, You sound like one of my favorite youtube hobos. I am his favorite youtube watcher, he told me so. He also has a calibrated couch.

Good advice, by the way. Unless nerding out on building antennas is your "thing" let someone else do the work and enjoy offroading.

[SkylinesSuck]

He does indeed sound like him.  Even sounds like he is in to off-road vehicles as well. Weird

[WRHS218]

On 7/20/2021 at 6:12 PM, Bishop said:

Hello, gmrs members I am new to the gmrs world I am hoping someone could assist me I purchased my gmrs  license and ordered the “ocean” 1000G i been watching youtube  videos and reading where you need to cut some antennas and others you don’t need to so  my question is what is the good antenna/s to run for trails and long distance and a good call cable 

 

Thanks everyone 

 

Hey Bishop, are you planning a permanent install or something you can remove easily. I have had both with HAM equipment. I did the temporary in my Jeep and eventually welded a box to keep the radio in between bars on an aftermarket roll cage with the antenna mounted to a top rack. That worked well. After two transmissions cratered in the Jeep I got a used Toyota FJ and got the nerve up to install an NMO mount with a spring at the base of the antenna on the roof. That set up has been great. I have been drooling over the KG-1000G. Let us know how things go when you get yours.

[TOM47]

Authentic Nagoya NL-770G High Gain Mobile GMRS Antenna (UHF Male) (buytwowayradios.com)

WITH

Authentic Nagoya RB-MJPL Strong Mobile Mag Mount Base (UHF Female) (buytwowayradios.com)

i AM USING THREE OF THESE ON THREE KG-1000G'S, PERFECT!

 

[Bishop]

On 7/23/2021 at 6:32 AM, WRHS218 said:

Hey Bishop, are you planning a permanent install or something you can remove easily. I have had both with HAM equipment. I did the temporary in my Jeep and eventually welded a box to keep the radio in between bars on an aftermarket roll cage with the antenna mounted to a top rack. That worked well. After two transmissions cratered in the Jeep I got a used Toyota FJ and got the nerve up to install an NMO mount with a spring at the base of the antenna on the roof. That set up has been great. I have been drooling over the KG-1000G. Let us know how things go when you get yours.

Yea, my plan is a permanent install since it's going into a 21 gladiator. I’m still looking for mounting options thinking of just having the screen someplace above my head and the base installed under the dash or the whole unit above my head secured to a molle panel or and still looking for an excellent place to install the antenna was thinking in the front of the read between the cab and the bed and i will see once it arrives, and i get it all connected and up and running  

[Bishop]

On 7/24/2021 at 3:19 PM, TOM47 said:

Authentic Nagoya NL-770G High Gain Mobile GMRS Antenna (UHF Male) (buytwowayradios.com)

WITH

Authentic Nagoya RB-MJPL Strong Mobile Mag Mount Base (UHF Female) (buytwowayradios.com)

i AM USING THREE OF THESE ON THREE KG-1000G'S, PERFECT!

 

thank you i will look into those 

[Bishop]

On 7/22/2021 at 2:26 PM, WRHS218 said:

OffRoaderX, You sound like one of my favorite youtube hobos. I am his favorite youtube watcher, he told me so. He also has a calibrated couch.

Good advice, by the way. Unless nerding out on building antennas is your "thing" let someone else do the work and enjoy offroading.

thank you 

[WyoJoe]

On 7/22/2021 at 2:26 PM, WRHS218 said:

OffRoaderX, You sound like one of my favorite youtube hobos. I am his favorite youtube watcher, he told me so.

Strange... He told me I was his favorite!

[daschnoz]

Whatever antenna you get, don't go cheap on coax. RG-58 is fine for HF and CB frequencies (under 30MHz), but at GMRS frequencies (462/467MHz) you're going to lose 30-40% of your power into a 15-ft piece of it, depending on the grade of RG-58.  Spend a few more $$ and get LMR-240 at a minimum.  With LMR-240, into 15-ft, you're going to lose about 17% in the cable.  A magnet mount will most likely have some sort of RG-58, so a magnet mount with LMR-240 will most likely be a DIY project (mine was).

Depending on how/where you're running the coax, if you can swing it, LMR-400 is even beter.  Look for Davis DRF-400.  Same specs as LMR, but about 20% cheaper.

https://www.qsl.net/co8tw/Coax_Calculator.htm

 

Welcome to GMRS.  It's the gateway drug to a HAM ticket.... 

[Bishop]

thank you Daschnoz 

[Bishop]

thank you all for the adivce … 

so after a month of fiddeling with the kg-1000G I finally got it hooked up and running was able to have a convo with someone 118 mils away 

what I have personally learned from this since im a total NEWBIE in the raido world .. this is for ANY AND ALL NEWBIES or anyone i guess for that matte things to purchase IMO along with your radio espically if its a mobile / base unit 

1. purchase a DC power supply dont be like me sitting in your vehicle for hrs off and one here and there with your tablet/ipad marking repeaters that you can reach and ones you cant with your new radio while in the AZ heat melting away lol enjoy the comforts of the inside of your home with cental air while you fiddle with setting/programming  your new radio lol

2. purchase the program cable nothing off amazon,ebay etc  ( trust me ) I already did that and it didnt work spent more hours in the AZ heat trying to fig it out and then called buytwoway and they informed me that its speficifc to that radio so I had to order it and  its on its way hopefully it will make it here before I leave or im gonna have to program them by hand as I pass though multilpe states in a a day or two 

3. have a old windows pc or something to use to program your mac/apple wont work  

 

[MichaelLAX]

50 minutes ago, Bishop said:

...

3. have a old windows pc or something to use to program your mac/apple wont work  

 

I program all my Windows CPS software on my Mac using Windows in an emulator program called Parallels.

I've been using Windows on my Mac since the late 1990s.

[AdmiralCochrane]

I have a laptop I bought for work stuff that there is no mac/apple version.  I run the windows only radio software on it for the very same reason.

[AdmiralCochrane]

On 8/1/2021 at 11:29 PM, daschnoz said:

Whatever antenna you get, don't go cheap on coax. RG-58 is fine for HF and CB frequencies (under 30MHz), but at GMRS frequencies (462/467MHz) you're going to lose 30-40% of your power into a 15-ft piece of it, depending on the grade of RG-58.  Spend a few more $$ and get LMR-240 at a minimum.  With LMR-240, into 15-ft, you're going to lose about 17% in the cable.  A magnet mount will most likely have some sort of RG-58, so a magnet mount with LMR-240 will most likely be a DIY project (mine was).

Depending on how/where you're running the coax, if you can swing it, LMR-400 is even beter.  Look for Davis DRF-400.  Same specs as LMR, but about 20% cheaper.

https://www.qsl.net/co8tw/Coax_Calculator.htm

 

Welcome to GMRS.  It's the gateway drug to a HAM ticket.... 

I have so much success with the 18 ft of coax (probably best grade of RG-58) that came on my Browning 320 on 70cm that I have doubts that switching to LMR 240 or 400 would make any difference.  Here's why:  #1 its a Browning 320, its very well matched with moderate gain, #2 I have it mounted very high on a tall van, #3 I couldn't mount it directly to the roof or the van's ladder rack, so I built a flat bracket attached to the ladder rack to mount the antenna on that probably works as a ground plane, #4 I connected that bracket with 2 pieces of #8 wire to different parts of the body of the van to be sure I had a ground plane in addition to the mounting plate. 

You can have all the power in the world delivered to the antenna, but if you can't effectively radiate it where it will work, the power is wasted. 
 

Correct me on my math, but 20% power output difference is less than 2db if I recall.

 

Edited to add antenna gain, which Lscott points out is relevant. 

[Lscott]

If range was strictly limited by power the range would be reduced by sqareroot(Pout/Pin). So a 40% power loss would amount to a range of 77% of what you would get with zero power loss.

For a 20% loss it is approximately 89% range from the zero loss case.

https://www.phys.hawaii.edu/~anita/new/papers/militaryHandbook/one-way.PDF

As you noted a 20% loss is only 2DB. Even a modest gain antenna would make make up for the loss.

Depending on your operating characteristics it might not matter much unless you’re right at the fringe of making contact.

[DownEastNC]

On 8/21/2021 at 11:12 PM, Bishop said:

so after a month of fiddeling with the kg-1000G I finally got it hooked up and running was able to have a convo with someone 118 mils away

So which antenna did you end up with?

[MichaelLAX]

Rereading his original comment, I suspect the convo 118 miles away was through a repeater...

[DownEastNC]

2 hours ago, MichaelLAX said:

Rereading his original comment, I suspect the convo 118 miles away was through a repeater...

Yeah, no doubt. There was some back and forth on antenna selections and I was curious what was chosen. I'm in the market for a couple of antennas. I think you're in my other thread on the subject.