Putting together a camping rig and need mobile advice!

[Marius1195]

I just got a F250 that I am turning into a camper and hitting the road for a year or two. I plan on seeing alot of NA and most of the places will be remote. I understand GMRS is a sort of hit or miss type comms in every local area, however with that being said I would like to put a system together that allows me to take full advantage of the people out there in active areas. I need mobile and antenna advice. I would like to keep cost around $400-500. This can be flexible if the bump in performance is great enough to justify the additional money. As of now I have a Nagoya UT-72G antenna that I pulled off my Jeep and can use in the short term. All suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

[Lscott]

48 minutes ago, Marius1195 said:

I just got a F250 that I am turning into a camper and hitting the road for a year or two. I plan on seeing alot of NA and most of the places will be remote. I understand GMRS is a sort of hit or miss type comms in every local area, however with that being said I would like to put a system together that allows me to take full advantage of the people out there in active areas. I need mobile and antenna advice. I would like to keep cost around $400-500. This can be flexible if the bump in performance is great enough to justify the additional money. As of now I have a Nagoya UT-72G antenna that I pulled off my Jeep and can use in the short term. All suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

I would very seriously consider getting your Ham license too if you don't have one already. The Tech class exam is easy. The point about getting your Ham license is due to more available repeaters to use and more people you can chat with while travailing around the country. The most popular bands are the VHF 2 meter band and the UHF 70 cm band. GMRS is on UHF a bit above the Ham 70 cm band.

There are radios available that will do the Ham 70 cm band and GMRS with some "creative" programming. If you want to stay legal some of the older commercial radios have Part 95 certification and are completely legal to use on GMRS and Ham frequencies. If you stay with just UHF you could find a single radio that will do both.

As far as antennas go there is a wide band mobile antenna that would work over the Ham and GMRS bands so you could get away with just one. Some people have had good luck using this one on GMRS. I think there are some other antennas that work over a wide band too others have mentioned in other threads.

https://cometantenna.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CA-2x4SR.pdf

GMRS only.

https://dpdproductions.com/products/gmrs-double-5-8-wave-mobile-antenna?_pos=2&_sid=bf9d19c6a&_ss=r

GMRS and MURS. Note that MURS is a license free VHF band with a limit of two watts of power.

https://dpdproductions.com/products/dual-band-gmrs-murs-mobile-antenna?_pos=1&_sid=bf9d19c6a&_ss=r

Some even use a different antenna depending on the location. A tall high gain antenna works well on flat/level ground. A short 1/4 wave would likely work better in very hilly or mountainous terrain.

https://www.americanradiosupply.com/laird-1-4-wave-nmo-mobile-radio-antenna-stainless-black/

https://dpdproductions.com/products/custom-1-4-wave-mobile-antenna

As far as mounting the antenna that depends if you want to drill holes in the body etc. There are a lot of options/ideas in this area to choose from.

 

[labreja]

I agree with Lscott about getting you ham license.  If I can do it, anyone can.

We have a Ford Fusion and I use a lip mount for the antenna mount on the trunk.  The antenna is a Midland MXTA26.  It is attached to a Kenwood TK-880-1 ver2.  This has been a great set up for the wife.  On our F150 I use a mag mount for the same antenna.  Stake pocket mounts for the other antennas.  I am running the same radio in the truck as well.  FYI, from the stake pocket mounts, I ran the coax inside the rubber door seal from the back of the cab to the front of the front door. It looks really clean that way.

Good luck!

[BoxCar]

I second the advice on getting the ham Technician license and a good 2M/440 radio with the MARS/CAP mod. Another antenna to consider is the Signal Stalker from Signal Stuff (https://signalstuff.com/product/super-elastic-signal-stalk/).