Newbie zone

[WSHI660]

I have a Baofeng UV-5RM and for now will be what I use for a bit as I learn and grow in this radio universe. Now my question is should I put a base antenna on my house so when am inside I can still reach out well. And I got the 3” MOBLE antenna for my truck was that a mistake?

 

WSHI660 aka the NEWBIE 

[SteveShannon]

Just now, WSHI660 said:

I have a Baofeng UV-5RM and for now will be what I use for a bit as I learn and grow in this radio universe. Now my question is should I put a base antenna on my house so when am inside I can still reach out well. And I got the 3” MOBLE antenna for my truck was that a mistake?

 

WSHI660 aka the NEWBIE 

Welcome!  Only you can answer those questions. Things to consider: whom do you want to talk to?  Have you heard them on the radio?

For myself I wouldn’t put an antenna on the house unless I was certain there were people who I would be talking to.  Spend some time with the radio and see what you’re lacking before spending money.

[Socalgmrs]

The antenna on the house will get you about 10x further than the hand held in your hand.  So yes it’s worth it. A comet 712efc is a great antenna at 10’ tall and 9db gain.  With a 4w ht mine easily does 100 miles.   But like already said do you have people around you to talk to?   Repeaters local? Do you have family and friends that you use gmrs with while doing an activity?  What is your reason for getting into gmrs?  

[WSHI660]

1 hour ago, Socalgmrs said:

The antenna on the house will get you about 10x further than the hand held in your hand.  So yes it’s worth it. A comet 712efc is a great antenna at 10’ tall and 9db gain.  With a 4w ht mine easily does 100 miles.   But like already said do you have people around you to talk to?   Repeaters local? Do you have family and friends that you use gmrs with while doing an activity?  What is your reason for getting into gmrs?  

I have no radio friends yep but I hear there is a few good people out there in the airwaves so like anything I need to gain friends as I learn the crazy world of radio art.

[WSHI660]

Just now, WSHI660 said:

I have no radio friends yep but I hear there is a few good people out there in the airwaves so like anything I need to gain friends as I learn the crazy world of radio art.

My reason for starting this journey is the state of the worlds nuttjobs and power outages will mean no cell phones and so learning this is a challenge and a backup plan if something was to go bad 

[TDM827]

As already mentioned. Do some monitoring to see what type of traffic you have in your area. See it if there is indeed someone to talk to. Also check the repeater map here at My GMRS to see if there is a repeater in your area.

As far as an external antenna. I have an antenna in my attic which is about 3 stories off the ground.  I can connect it to my mobile or a handhelds. The difference is night and day. Increased range (Transmit and Receive) and clarity. With the removable antenna, on simplex I routinely monitor and communicate at ranges my handheld with a rubber duck would never do. On repeater I am told my transmissions are much clearer. 

This really comes down to a matter of antenna height and gain.

[WRTC928]

Find out what you can reach with the HT before you put an antenna on the house. It may be that you can reach as far as you want with the stock antenna. I can put up a better antenna but it doesn't gain me much because of the terrain. I suppose if I got it high enough, it might help, but I'm not sure who I would talk to that I can't already reach

[WSHI660]

Thanks to everyone who replied to my Newbie question, You guys info was clear and to the point, I think am going to start small with a unit on my house so I can reach Crestline, Corona, and on a good day more. 

[WRTC928]

As far as antennas go, higher is better...with some caveats. The most significant limitation to range is terrain. Radio waves travel in a straight line (for any practical purposes). Depending upon the terrain, it may be that in order to make a real difference, you'd have to have a ridiculously tall mast. It's also possible that a higher antenna won't make a difference because you already have line-of-sight to anyone you want to talk to. For example, my house is on a bluff above a river. I already have line-of-sight to any repeater within a reasonable distance; a taller antenna (mostly) won't change that. I can reach almost everything in the region with a 19" mobile antenna on a steel pizza pan in the floor of my living room. If I could get my antenna up 50'-60', I might be able to reach a couple of repeaters in the Arbuckle Mountains, but that's just not practical for me. I suggest you drive around and find out what you can reach from various locations and from your house before you put an antenna on the house. 

Your vehicle is another matter. An external antenna absolutely will make a difference in range and clarity because you're essentially sitting in a Faraday cage. I'm not familiar with the MOBLE antenna, but it's almost certainly better than using the stock antenna from inside your vehicle. I got really good results with the 3" Midland Ghost antenna, so it doesn't necessarily have to be tall to work well.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking more power will give you more range. It almost never does. If there are obstructions between you and your target, you're not going to get through them with any practical amount of power. VHF and HF operate by somewhat different rules, but for UHF (i.e., GMRS), an obstruction is an obstruction, and you can't force your way through it. The radio in my car goes up to 40 watts on UHF, but I typically run it on 10 watts because only rarely does boosting the power make a difference. 

Congratulations on joining the community. You can have a lot of fun with radios.

[WRYZ926]

25 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:

Don't fall into the trap of thinking more power will give you more range. It almost never does. If there are obstructions between you and your target, you're not going to get through them with any practical amount of power.

This is very true and many people fall into that trap thinking more power will get you farther. 

What more power will do is make your transmissions clearer and easier for others to hear if you are already making the trip with low power. An example is one repeater that is 50 miles from my house. I can get in with 20 watts but I have quite a bit of static in my transmission. Bumping up to 40 or 50 watts allows others to hear me on that repeater loud and clear.

 

[WRTC928]

3 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

What more power will do is make your transmissions clearer and easier for others to hear if you are already making the trip with low power. An example is one repeater that is 50 miles from my house. I can get in with 20 watts but I have quite a bit of static in my transmission. Bumping up to 40 or 50 watts allows others to hear me on that repeater loud and clear.

 

That is true. Sometimes a signal isn't entirely obstructed, but it isn't entirely unobstructed either. For example, in a forested area, the signal isn't usually completely blocked, but it is definitely attenuated. More power often will help with that.

[WRYZ926]

Just now, WRTC928 said:

For example, in a forested area, the signal isn't usually completely blocked, but it is definitely attenuated. More power often will help with that.

And some trees are worse than others about blocking signals. Cedar and pine trees real havoc on UHF frequencies. And we have a lot of eastern red cedar trees in my area along with pine trees that were planted along roads years ago.

[WRTC928]

3 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

And some trees are worse than others about blocking signals. Cedar and pine trees real havoc on UHF frequencies. And we have a lot of eastern red cedar trees in my area along with pine trees that were planted along roads years ago.

Interesting. I did not know that. We mostly have deciduous trees where I live, so I haven't observed that some trees block signals more than others.

[WRYZ926]

Yes pine and cedar trees are worse about blocking signals, especially UHF. My local club has a 2m, 70cm, and GMRS repeaters with the antennas on a local radio station tower. The 2m and 70cm antennas are at 900 ft above ground and the GMRS antennas are at 400-450 ft above ground. I have the same dead zones with 70cm and GMRS where pine and cedar trees are close to the road where I don't have any issues in the same locations on 2m (VHF).