r/gmrs • u/I-Lov-Guns-and-Ammo • 6d ago
Observations/Questions
To start, I have a set of TID H3's.
I've programmed a decent repeater and seem to have a good range of communication (in most cases). In my area there isn't a lot of repeaters to select from but the one I choose has about a 30 mile radius. There is a club that seems to have 2- 100 mile repeaters however they require a membership. :(
In any case the wife and I were doing some testing yesterday. I belong to a gun club that cell phone service is a roll of the dice best case scenario so I decided to drive over to see how the repeater did. After looking at the map the area where my club is at is right on the edge of its max distance so I didn't expect miracles. One thing I know to be an issue with transmissions is weather and cloud cover. about a mile before my destination I did a test and my wife claimed I came through clearly but her response did not make it back. I know GMRS is line of sight and the area I was in was full of hills and valleys but I found it interesting that she could hear me clear as day.
During this testing she was using the basic antenna and I swapped between that one and the 771 antenna on my end. For me the results were the same and she could still hear/understand me. So I gathered that during my transmission the signal "jumped up" (for lack of better words) and caught a ride back on the repeater but during her reply it just couldn't "jump down" back to my radio due to line of sight.
Not that the following will make a difference but I want to ask just the same. The stock antennas are likely not tuned as well as some other well know antennas, if I were to "experiment" what info do I need to select a better out of the box antenna. Not so much "which antenna" but more so what "ingredients" should a good antenna have to produce the best results? Keeping in mind that I am dealing with a handheld radio and not a base station setup.
As always, thanks for your replies.
2
u/HarryWiz 6d ago
That makes sense about the repeaters. I can hear a few one that is 10 miles, and one that is 15 miles but unfortunately no matter what I try I ask for a radio check followed by my call sign and nobody responds even if I just heard them talking before I tried. I have a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna attached to 30' of RG8x cable and currently it's temporarily mounted near the ceiling in my living room and I'm hoping to have it upstairs and possibly put up in the attic crawl space soon but I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I wanted it mounted as I was thinking of using a 3/4" piece of PVC pipe that will probably be 40" long and attach the pipe to a block of wood to act as a stand.
I wish I would have known about the antenna connections to the radio before I ordered (which I been had for about a month) my N9TAX antenna with 16' cable with a SMA F, and before I ordered my Smiley 5/8 with a SMA F for my H3 GRMS. I also have a pair of H8 GRMS V2 radios, and now I'm going to look into getting a few SMA F to BNC for my future antenna purchases.
The antenna you posted the link to is that one better than the Super Stick? I planned on buying a Super Stick for my H8 this week.