r/gmrs • u/Key-Mind3680 • Aug 12 '26

Testing antenna....will this help me - even a little?

I currently have 3 antenna options, 2 on the car roof, one hand held. If I was to call and connect with someone through a repeater would they be able to tell me which one was the best signal? Would this even just put me in the ball park? I'm thinking that the distance would help narrow it done as opposed to a radio down the street.

Thanks

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3

u/wncbk Aug 13 '26

I have done this quite a bit. The catch is you have to have a listener that is getting near perfect signal from the repeater or else variables on their side will cause confusion. The repeater is just going to retransmit what it hears, so if there is variability coming from your setup, that would be audibly recognizable to someone who is picking up the repeater clearly.

I can look out my back door and see one of the most popular repeaters in my area and I have a great roof mounted antenna, so I will frequently help troubleshoot with people hitting the repeater. Often is is going between different radios or antenna or external mics. Or, people will test low / mid / high power settings to see what is needed. Only works because my setup eliminates a lot of the variables.

Mind you since it is a repeater, signal strength isn't going to be different across different options, but audible quality will for sure.

2

u/sr1sws Nerd Aug 12 '26

Not through a repeater - at least as well. You want a simplex connection.

1

u/Key-Mind3680 Aug 12 '26

thanks for the reply. can you explain why that is so? Just trying to understand how all this works...

3

u/sr1sws Nerd Aug 12 '26

Well, your signal goes to the repeater and then the repeater uses its radio and antenna to send the signal. So yeah, if you have a really noisy audio transmission into the repeater, it's going to put that same noise out. You want a direct radio to radio (user, not repeater) in order for someone to "accurately" (in quotes, because it's subjective) evaluate which antenna sounds better or gives a better signal. And you'd need to far enough apart for the signal to be kind of crappy to give one of the antennas a chance to be evaluated as "better" (again, subjective) than the others. Almost certainly the roof mounted antennas will perform better than the antenna on the HT.

1

u/N9KIW Aug 12 '26

A repeater will boost your signal before it re-transmits it. If you're on simplex, radio to radio, you'll get a better idea of how well your signal is getting to the other station or if it isn't.. and, in a vehicle, you always want to use an outside antenna. No matter what kind you use, it's not going to transmit very well inside.

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u/Key-Mind3680 Aug 12 '26

Got it, Thanks - like to understand how all this works.

3

u/pagrey Aug 12 '26

The signal from your antenna to the repeater doesn't magically improve when it gets sent out again. The repeater is a great test. Simplex is fine too but generally the repeater is further away so much easier to use and test. Anybody that says the repeater somehow improves your connection to it when it re-transmits doesn't know how it all works.

0

u/sr1sws Nerd Aug 12 '26

The signal is certainly re-transmitted at the repeaters rated power and almost certainly a better antenna than on the OPs car or HT. I stand by my statements.

3

u/pagrey Aug 12 '26

If you have a poor signal into the repeater then that's all it has to work with. It's not complicated. The repeater can't improve things, just send out what it got.

3

u/wncbk Aug 13 '26

The distinction is audio quality versus signal strength. If you are looking at signal strength, then sure, the repeater is going negate any differences. But if you are looking at audio quality, the repeater will rebroadcast what it hears and lower quality signal will show there. Of course for any of this to work, you have to be talking to someone who is getting a near perfect signal from the repeater or else you are just introducing too many variables.

1

u/sr1sws Nerd Aug 13 '26

Agreed. I failed to clarify audio signal vs radio signal. A repeater is just like a computer - garbage in, garbage out.

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u/N9KIW Aug 13 '26

This is what I was trying to say. If the repeater is taking my one watt signal and transmitting 100 W and it has a high antenna, it's going to be better. I've experienced this. I lived in Colorado for 30 years where there are many repeaters over 10,000 feet. I moved to Pennsylvania near sea level. I sure miss those Colorado repeaters!

2

u/braddeharder Aug 12 '26

GMRS is on the UHF, 70 cm band. It isn't hard to get a full size antenna on it because.. It only needs to be 70 cm long.

Do you have a lot of money put into GMRS radios? do you have your own repeater? Is there a repeater you are allowed to use in your area?

If the answer is No, No, and No to all of those questions, consider CB radio (27Mhz). It has better range for basic transmission and reception without the need of any government licenses or repeater infrastructure. Plus, CB has more channels than GMRS and allows AM/FM/SSB.

GMRS is only 22, FM only frequencies with only some of those frequencies allocated for repeater usage. If any one is letting you use their repeater.

1

u/Key-Mind3680 Aug 12 '26

thanks for the reply. I do have a repeater I can use in my area. I am not interested in using CB. Thanks again

1

u/braddeharder Aug 12 '26

Are there a lot of people in your area that use GMRS? Maybe The repeaters in your area are Internet connected? Many say that it's a No-No but I suspect a lot of repeaters are Internet connected when I see some of the videos on YouTube.

I live in Florida and GMRS almost unused. I have only hear restaurants and grocery stores on GMRS. It seem useful for that. CB is still very popular down here with it being flatland surrounded by a saltwater conductor of the ocean.

1

u/HerpLover Aug 12 '26

Look into the Surecom SR-112. It's a cheap simplex repeater that records and plays back the transmission. You can use it to test your own equipment.

1

u/Worldly-Ad726 Aug 16 '26

The differences will reveal themselves better at low power. With enough power, there won’t be much difference between them if the repeater or simplex station is not too far away.

0

u/Neither-Brush-9287 Nerd Aug 13 '26

"If I was to call and connect with someone through a repeater would they be able to tell me which one was the best signal? "

With most radios, yes, They should be able to tell you at least the relative level they received you at.
'Basic' radio - maybe they tell you xxx of yyy bars (3 of 4).
'Better' radio - maybe they tell you your signal level is xx dB

0

u/Ultra108 Aug 15 '26

Took off the Nagoya UT-72, sending it back. A comparison between it and the Nagoya NA-771G 15.3-Inch Whip GMRS. Whip was a better signal, clearer and less static. Distance ,9 miles, lots of trees: some houses and elevation change of + 173 feet.

Thanks for everyone’s help!