Best mobile unit under 225.00?

[WRYW394]

I'm wanting to hear your opinions. I'll be purchasing 2 in the next month. One for the car, and one for the base. As far as the base goes, any suggestions on a base antenna? There's a good amount of hills we're I'm at, and I want to attempt to hit a repeater 32 miles away. Oh, and I have an HOA with a black and white compliance specialist that loves enforcing the rules. 

[labreja]

I am a Kenwood fan.  We have 3 Kenwood TK-880-1 ver2 radios.  One for each vehicle and one as a base. Check Ebay.  

Maybe an option for the HOA is an attic antenna.

Good luck.

[WRYS709]

I have the Radioddity DB20-G and its Anytone AT-779UV clone; one is in my automobile with a cup-holder mount and Mag-mount antenna for easy removal.

For about $99 - $109 each they are dual band radios that easily plug into a cigarette lighter outlet for easy connection and removal, provide 20 watts transmit power, are locked into GMRS (but can be easily opened for Ham use on  440 MHz and 2 meters [146 MHz]).

I do not have experience with HOA antenna restrictions.

Good luck!

[back4more70]

Another option for home is to buy an awesome handheld and connect that to your home antenna.  Not as much power as a base, but if the antenna is decent and has some height you might not notice the difference.  And you can do the same setup in the car.

[WRYW394]

When it comes to an attic antenna, what about a discone? Are they primarily for SDR and scanners?  

[nokones]

I'm using a Laird B4502N Non-Ground Plane mobile antenna in the attic with a 35' run of LMR400 coax for one of my Base Radios. Just make sure that the antenna is tuned for the location you end up using. Don't tune it in any other location.

 

[SteveShannon]

6 hours ago, WRYW394 said:

When it comes to an attic antenna, what about a discone? Are they primarily for SDR and scanners?  

The advantage of a discone is its ability to receive over a very wide bandwidth, but that also means it’s not very efficient at transmitting on any particular bandwidth.  That’s why they’re primarily used to receive.  An antenna that’s tuned for GMRS will work better.  

[nokones]

For one of my Base Radios, I'm using a Motorola XTL5000 Dash Mount Radio with a Desk Microphone. I'm also using a Motorola XTL5000 Remote Mount in my Truck. The Kenwood TK880 is a great radio but I'm very partial to the professional/public safety version Motorola mobile and portable radios.

I won the Kenwood in a raffle and it has been refurbished and came with a DTMF microphone. As being a long time Motorola user, I originally thought that I would just give the radio away to a new Club member.

After playing around with it for awhile, I kinda like the radio and I ended up keeping it and using it in one of my cars that can't accommodate a two-way radio installation. It does work great in that car because of its small physical size, low powered (25 watts), and with a low power draw on the electrical system (about 6.5 amps).

[nokones]

I'm also using the same antenna mounted in a garage window with a short 16' run of RG-8X for another Base Radio. Unfortunately, this radio is not a Motorola radio. It's mostly used for monitoring and if necessary for accessing nearby repeaters.

 

 

[nokones]

The reason why I'm using the aforementioned two antennae is because I wanted vertical separation not only for between those two antennae but also from this antenna for my Repeater Station.