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What is a good Base station antenna for GMRS
- Thread starter Jaws73
- Start date
- Status
I've good luck with this one. It spent 5 years on top of a water tower right next to the Atlantic ocean. Now its on the roof of my house still working fine.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Jaws73, are you in Monterey, California?
In that case, a high gain antenna won't do you a whole lot of good. Gain is achieved by directing power out towards the horizon. With the hills/mountains around us, you want something with a bit more of a round pattern. I ran a low gain UHF antenna in Watsonville on GMRS for many years. Was just fine for reaching everything I could see.
If you are farther east from Monterey, then a higher gain antenna might help you get down the Salinas Valley a ways, but unless you have someone specific or a specific repeater you are trying to reach, that may not be very useful.
As for repeaters, there's a number that would be in range of you. They require approval to use, but I could assist you in getting in contact with some of the owners.
Any ham radio base antenna covering the UHF band will work good. I myself recommended the Diamond antenna brand.
Diamond® Antenna ~ Base Station Antennas
prcguy
Member
Most amateur antennas have a lousy match and don't work very well on GMRS. I've tried a Comet GP-15, GP-6 and GP9 and they were not usable plus several other random UHF ham antennas. GMRS is 12 to 17MHz away from the upper end of the 70cm amateur band and many ham band antennas have trouble keeping a reasonable match over just the 440-450MHz ham band.
dietlein
Member
prcguy
Member
On the several GMRS repeaters I had I always went big and my first GMRS repeater in the early 80s had a DB416 dipole array with about 10dBd gain at about 1,000ft above average terrain. That worked really well with handhelds getting in fine at 35mi away. Then we went with huge 10dBd gain Telewave fiberglass sticks with downtilt on some 5,000ft mountains with fantastic range. These are expensive antennas but really work well.
I've had some temporary repeaters at about 1,000ft above average terrain with 5dB Stationmasters and the coverage at a distance was not as good as the big 10dB monsters but it did work better around the base of the hill. I've also had a couple of low level GMRS repeaters where the antennas were 40 to 50ft above ground and a DB416 was noticeably better than a 5dB Stationmaster and a 6dBd gain DB408. With the DB-416 I could get about 35mi in some directions from a mobile but reliable hand held distance was maybe 5 miles at best in some directions.
Right now my garage is full of 460-470MHz 5dB Stationmasters, a couple of small Maxrad fiberglass versions around 5dBd a couple of old but NIB 15ft long A/S 7.5dBd gain fiberglass and some other GMRS related antennas but I haven't had a GMRS repeater running in some time now. We also have a couple of the big Telewave 10dB sticks in storage.
Your needs may be different depending on your repeater location and terrain, but bigger has always been better for me. I would rather have handhelds able to access the system 75mi away using a high gain antenna and accept being a little scratchy driving around the base of the mountain. If you put up an Ed Fong J-pole 50ft off the ground, you will saturate your immediate neighborhood with handhelds, and maybe 5mi to a mobile, but don't expect more.
I've had some temporary repeaters at about 1,000ft above average terrain with 5dB Stationmasters and the coverage at a distance was not as good as the big 10dB monsters but it did work better around the base of the hill. I've also had a couple of low level GMRS repeaters where the antennas were 40 to 50ft above ground and a DB416 was noticeably better than a 5dB Stationmaster and a 6dBd gain DB408. With the DB-416 I could get about 35mi in some directions from a mobile but reliable hand held distance was maybe 5 miles at best in some directions.
Right now my garage is full of 460-470MHz 5dB Stationmasters, a couple of small Maxrad fiberglass versions around 5dBd a couple of old but NIB 15ft long A/S 7.5dBd gain fiberglass and some other GMRS related antennas but I haven't had a GMRS repeater running in some time now. We also have a couple of the big Telewave 10dB sticks in storage.
Your needs may be different depending on your repeater location and terrain, but bigger has always been better for me. I would rather have handhelds able to access the system 75mi away using a high gain antenna and accept being a little scratchy driving around the base of the mountain. If you put up an Ed Fong J-pole 50ft off the ground, you will saturate your immediate neighborhood with handhelds, and maybe 5mi to a mobile, but don't expect more.
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Look for commercial antennas that are built to cover 462-467 MHz. Commercial quality is also a plus. Getting a commercial grade antenna means you won't be buying something that will snap in the first strong wind or fall apart and need to be replaced in five years. A good commercial grade antenna is designed for decades of 24/7 service on rooftops and mountaintop tower sites in all kinds of weather. Used commercial antennas can give you a good bang for the buck as long as they aren't damaged. The exposed dipole antennas (DB420, et al) with the external wiring harnesses can be problematic. You might need to replace the harness before installing the antenna on your building or tower.
900mhz
Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2005
- Messages
- 432
you will find antennas made for 440-450 being used on 460-470 will exhibit reflected power, probably around 2.5 to 1 SWR or so. You need to utilize an antenna made for the bandwidth being used.
I have great results with a Comet CA-712EFC. Tuned for 460-470 MHZ and $170.00. SWR Flat across the GMRS band. Survived a tropical storm with 75 MPH wind gusts that snapped an oak tree on my property. Of course if money is no object, grab a Commscope DB420-B ($1500) or the Commscope DB404-B ($399.00).
Found a few UHF base antennas from Comet
Did not even think about that, thanks for the info!
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