Any Members in Arkansas?

I went with Cooper STT Pro.

 

Nice. I’ve been eyeing the ST MAXX for my nest set.

 

I cheated on y’all and went wheeling with my DFW group today. We used GMRS radios instead of CB and I was surprised with how good comms were. I would highly recommend you all make the switch from CB to GMRS. It’s better quality and performance, but not the expense of ham radio. No test required for the license (just a one-time few), and the license is good for yourself and your “family.” My buddies down here have these cool $150 mobile GMRS radios that are tiny little boxes with all the controls on the handset. One of the guys was using a 3” stubby antenna on his roof and he claims he gets 5-8 miles of range from it. He gave me a handheld to use for the day and the radio was smaller than my phone and never had a single issue communicating with the others, even when we were on opposite sides of a crest, well out of line of sight contact. I’m pretty much convinced to install a mobile GMRS instead of a ham now.

 

Any info on what they were using?

 

Tires sold in less than 12 hours on CL. And I only received two scammed texts about paying with cashier's check and having their sister-in-law pick them up.

 

I haven't tested out the noise yet, but will get the rig out in the next few days. I'm guessing they will be a bit louder than the KO2's.

 

I’ll have to ask

 

A man and his dog.

 

Tricky little crossing yesterday with some minor pucker factor @TenBeers

https://youtu.be/SYaNDTac8JA

 

Oof. Y'all gonna make me get an intake.


Got my new Dobinsons C59-352 coils and medium Dakars installed this weekend. Waaay better than the AAL and squatted fronts.

 

Looks good!

Surprisingly no trace of water anywhere in the engine compartment.

 

That water looks fast and deep! Would have made me a bit nervous for sure.

 

Looks like they had the Midland mxt275 radios. They seem to be a good radio for the money. One of them was using the stock antenna and one had the stubby 3db gain antenna. Both performed well, but we were never more than a mile apart. I’m thinking for my use I might look at the mxt115 with 6db gain 32” antenna mounted on a ditch light bracket. I’d install it in the place of my current CB and toss the cb in my closet. I just watched a video on YouTube and the guy got 17 miles of reliable communication out of the 15W radio and 6db antenna. Then it was intermittent comms out to 22 miles before it dropped off completely. On theOther hand, the stubby 3db antenna would be a good candidate for a roof mount though.

There is a 40W radio, the mxt400 that interests me. I bet you would get great performance with that radio on the 6db 32” antenna. That radio is $100 more expensive though, coming in at $250 and I think that’s a bit overkill for my needs.

https://midlandusa.com/product-category/micromobile/

 

I found this repeater map:

https://mygmrs.com/map/#/

You got my interest up on this system. I'm assuming if you can hit a repeater, coms range would increase dramatically, and I'm wondering how the network operates, if radio to repeater to repeater to radio is possible like a HAM would be, or if repeaters are for proximity coms like a base station. Prices are not that unreasonable for a Farm Package with the 115 and two handhelds to share with buddies who may not have one installed (yet).

 

That’s what I was thinking I’d do. Get a mobile set up and then have a couple handhelds for other folks. The handhelds work pretty well, a heck of a lot better than handheld CB

I’m also thinking now that a 3db stubby antenna on the roof might yield better performance than a 6db on the ditch bracket. Only downside is the 6db could be a permanent instillation where the stubby on the roof, I would do a mag mount. Still unsure on which solution would be best for me.

Edit: I’m not sure how the repeater network works. A lot of them say permission required, so I’m guessing you’re not supposed to just tune in and use the repeater like you would a ham. Seems like if you get 10 miles in the hills, that’s more than enough to stay in range of a group. Seems to me that the longest we’ve ever had to have comms was in Colorado when we split up to find that camping spot with the cow poo. The cb whip worked good for that situation, but GMRS seems like it would work the same without an 8’ antenna

Edit 2X: It also seems that the GMRS stuff just works when you plug it in. It seems way less finicky than CB. No need for antenna tuning/grounding so the chances of someone having a screwy comm is reduced. Also, the handhelds work well from what I’ve seen and are a fraction of the size of a handheld CB.

 

I'd sure like to not worry about my antenna. Seems like the 115 with 3dB stubby antenna would be plenty -- 5 to 10 miles with obstruction is more than we've ever needed.

So what do you do, select one of the 15 channels and one of the 142 privacy codes that everyone uses?

 

The little handheld FRS radios work way better than they should in a convoy situation. I run a 25 watt 2m/70cm armature radio for distance, can get pretty far out with a 19" antenna. I can't wait for the day I can put the CB away on a shelf to collect dust for good.

 

I’m not sure how the privacy codes work, I don’t think you have to use them. We were just using channel 20 when we were out on Sunday.

I wonder how far you could reach with the 40W GRMS and a 3db stubby on the roof.

 

Pretty darn far, probably farther than a group traveling together would ever spread out. I'd still prefer armature (ham) radio for an emergency situation though, there's almost always someone listening somewhere. The test is a little intimidating but once you pass the license is $15 every ten years.

 

I think I'm inclined to meet in the middle and get the 6db antenna and a middle of the road radio for as much reach for the buck as reasonable.