Which Radio ?

[Billoftt]

4) The antenna is critical. Don't play the gain game its a waste of time and really a bad plan. Buy a Larsen NMO270 for ham or a Larsen or similar high quality commercial antenna cut for GMRS (not a cheap Chinese one.) Gain means lobes of radiation which also mean nulls in your radiation pattern. You want to balance gain with minimal number of lobes to ensure coverage through mountains.

Good luck!

This right here, I don’t know how many times I have to get into this discussion. Best case scenario you have an antenna mounted on your roof. How much advantage do you think a high gain antenna has at six feet high? If you have it on a fender at three feet high?
On the roof of my house at 23’ high a high gain has a marginally better effect than my plain 1/4 wave. And even then the only “advantage” it gives is I can get into repeaters that I could not with the 1/4 wave. And even then they are so far on the fringe that they can barely hear me anyway.

The terrain were I live is hilly enough that even a lot of repeaters on towers don’t use very high-gain antennas (albeit they use more gain than 1/4 wave) on account of all the null spots that would be created.


Sent by electrons or some crap like that.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Gain is a nuanced subject where there's not always a single correct way to do it.

There's the absolutely true recommendation not to get into a gain game. You can't just shop on the biggest number and expect good results.

But also don't completely ignore it. In a vehicle the pattern change that creates gain, e.g. the enhanced lobes and new nulls, makes a difference as to what stations you will or won't work. Since you're moving you can't really predict the azimuth and elevation to the other station broad coverage patterns make more sense.

OTOH at home where the antenna is fixed and you can better predict line of sight there's no reason not to use gain to your advantage. You'll almost never need coverage straight up from your house so using a 1/4λ is just wasting energy heating the sky.

Another thing is the feedline run to the antenna at home is going to be longer, which means more loss. So 2dB antenna gain might compensate for the 2dB in coax loss of a 100 foot run. So a 5/8λ at home could have the same range as 1/4λ on the roof of your truck simply due to stack up of losses.

 

[Tom7020]

People have a mixed thought process when it comes to the best radio selection between GMRS and FRS. The final choice depends on the activities that you want to cover with the two-way radio. For any recreational use, FRS is the right choice. But these products won’t help you much if you are associated with the professional aspect of GMRS channels. For that, GMRS radios are always taking the front seat.

 

[NOTNSUV]

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