FRS external antenna

[digitaltinker]

Thanks again for all of the suggestions. One last question: Is there a small, easy to install, reasonably priced, outdoor antenna that anyone could recommend for this application? Thanks in advance!

 

[wa1nic]

antenna

Comet makes several decent antennas - I would recommend going to their web site and looking at their UHF antenna. Bigger is just about always better. However, there is a point of diminishing returns. VERY roughly speaking, to double your range by messing with the antenna, the antenna would have to be 4X longer. That is what need to happen to get an extra 6dB of antenna gain. So, if you are pondering over a dB or two, dont ponder too much and ponder your wallet and also the amount of room you have to install it instead.

The Comet CA-712EF rocks. It is 10 foot long and goes for a bit over 100 bucks.
Then there is the Comet CA-F72GF, which is 3-1/2 feet long and goes for a bit over 100 bucks as well.

I went with the the CA-712EF myself.

Either will clamp to TV antenna mast.

Tram antennas in the $50-75 range, but their gain is substantially lower than the mentioned Comet antennas. Remember than the base antenna not only transmits further, but also receives better as well.

Don't skimp on Coax. The losses at 460 MHz add up quickly. RG213 is the way to go unless the run is very short. It it is a very short run (like, 10 feet), RG-8X will work.

Avoid using a ham dual band antenna. While they work great on both the vhf and uhf ham bands, they are somewhat narrow banded and can not really be easily tuned to work in the FRS/GMRS band (10-20 Mhz above the 440 Ham band.


Rick

 

[pinballwiz86]

Hi,
I was hoping that someone might be able to offer advice. My family has been using inexpensive FRS radios (Midalnd, Motorola) casually for many years skiing, on cruise ships, etc. We have a 7 year old that walks to school (about 1/4 mile) and we have been sending him with a radio, but we are having trouble as he gets close to school. There are a lot of stone/ledge obstructions between our home and his school. Is there a way that I could connect an external antenna to the radio (or even buy a radio with an antenna)? Cold I wire it myself (I'm reasonably handy with a soldering gun)?
I'm certain with a higher/larger antenna that I could solve my problem, just haven't been able to find a solution.
Thanks in advance!

Both of you get a Technician class FCC license. Then, pick up a pair of Baofeng UV-5R's and buy a "longer" antenna for them. There you go.

 

[gewecke]

Comet makes several decent antennas - I would recommend going to their web site and looking at their UHF antenna. Bigger is just about always better. However, there is a point of diminishing returns. VERY roughly speaking, to double your range by messing with the antenna, the antenna would have to be 4X longer. That is what need to happen to get an extra 6dB of antenna gain. So, if you are pondering over a dB or two, dont ponder too much and ponder your wallet and also the amount of room you have to install it instead.

The Comet CA-712EF rocks. It is 10 foot long and goes for a bit over 100 bucks.
Then there is the Comet CA-F72GF, which is 3-1/2 feet long and goes for a bit over 100 bucks as well.

I went with the the CA-712EF myself.

Either will clamp to TV antenna mast.

Tram antennas in the $50-75 range, but their gain is substantially lower than the mentioned Comet antennas. Remember than the base antenna not only transmits further, but also receives better as well.

Don't skimp on Coax. The losses at 460 MHz add up quickly. RG213 is the way to go unless the run is very short. It it is a very short run (like, 10 feet), RG-8X will work.

Avoid using a ham dual band antenna. While they work great on both the vhf and uhf ham bands, they are somewhat narrow banded and can not really be easily tuned to work in the FRS/GMRS band (10-20 Mhz above the 440 Ham band.


Rick

An exception to this, is the Diamond X50A antenna which is dual band for the 2/70 bands, but works surprisingly well for gmrs simplex or repeater use with a low vswr. Also it's only 5'6" tall. 73, n9zas

 

[dksac2]

If you get your GMRS license and have a commercial radio with the GMRS frequency's in it, check out the low cost GMRS antenna post. You can't directly hook this antenna to a FRS radio, you must get one of the used business band radios with the GMRS frequency's. If you do, you'll transmit for many miles, mostly depending on line of sight.
This antenna looks just like the high cost UHF antennas, not like the verticals you see for sale. It's only 14" long, a collinear and it gets the job done, all for $20.00. With GMRS being line of sight, the antennas costing $70.00 to $150.00 being talked about are not going to get you more range unless you are on a mountain and even then...
One is used by our County Emergency Services and it will reach the majority of our county with no problems.
73's John KF7VXA

 

[digitaltinker]

Again I'd like to thank everyone for their suggestions. As it turns out, making sure that my son was holding the antenna perpendicular to the ground solved the problem (worked great today). I never thought to teach my son to do that but when I asked him to show me how he was holding the radio, he was holding it PARALLEL to the ground. I am still thinking about getting a more powerful base/external antenna combo with GMRS/FRS capability for better performance over a longer distance, but at least I have a working solution short term.

Many thanks to all!

 

[dksac2]

The other thing that of course helps a FRS radio a lot is height. If your son can get to the highest, clear point, it can make a huge difference in distance.
I've had to get on my roof with a GMRS (cheap hand held) radio a couple of times to make long distance coms with a friend. From my roof, with nothing in the way, we were about 8 miles apart and had a good conversation.
The used business class radios can be found for under $100.00, sometimes a lot less. Make sure you find the right model. Then you get your license, a small power supply, and antenna pole. Use LMR-400 coax for the least loss. The antenna I recommended in another post (the 14' collinear) would work great. You have to find someone to program those radios. Some sellers on e bay will program them for you before sending it to you. Just find out what frequency's and PL codes are being used by any nearby repeaters and have them program the radio for those frequency's as well as the other top GMRS frequency's. If you don't know the PL codes, 100.0 is the most common to have the channels programmed on to.
If you get one with a lot of channels, you can have different PL codes programmed and repeat the channels with different PL codes. Read the info on the site as to the rules for antennas and power output so you stay legal and do get licensed. The license will cover the whole family.
The Kenwood 840 is a good choice. Just be sure it's a UHF in the frequency range of GMRS, they come in VHF and different freq ranges also. They come in two power levels. The lower power will work great, the higher power one's usually cost more, but are within legal specs and can give more range in some cases.
Better yet, you and your son could study to get your Technician license (costs $14.00 for a lifetime each) and use 2 meters/70 meters as well as some others. Lots of repeaters with many miles of range and no requirement to learn code anymore, though it's a good thing to know. If you start your son young in Amateur radio, it can become a fantastic, life long hobby. Once you upgrade and can talk on HF, you can make contacts all over the world, it's really something.
73's John KF7VXA, WQPP214