Mitex, General uhf radios

[philthespark]

Hi all, just looking for a bit of advice, I have a set of Mitex General walkie-talkies, licenced, now the one in the car has an external mag-mount aerial, to increase its range. However, I'm wondering what I could put on the house end to help that unit get a bit more range. using them at work we can get a range of about 5 or 6 miles and that's not clear line of sight, however just up the road from my home there is a fairly large railway embankment and this seems to reduce the range drastically (about 1 mile). I know it may seem a bit daft wanting to use them at home as well as work, but my thinking is if I ever go out locally and don't want to take my mobile because I occasionally like a night of peace without the daft thing ringing about work-related matters, then having the radio on my belt would enable me to have a peaceful night out yet the wife could still get me in an emergency.
My experience of radio is limited to CB back in the 80's, although I am an electrician by trade so I do have a bit of an idea, just wondering what my options were and if it was possible to make an aerial myself, I had a cb one that was basically a coil of wire about 20 feet long, but, it was wound inside a plastic tube so the whole thing was just over 3 feet in length, obviously being on a residential property I'd rather not have something about 20 feet long sticking up of the chimney.

[thelad]

Mobile phones have a option to only ring when set up for selected numbers. Not much you can do with a Railway mound.

[philthespark]

Mobile phones have a option to only ring when set up for selected numbers. Not much you can do with a Railway mound.

Very true, damned inconsiderate of them to put a mainline at the end of our street, lol.The only thing with using number blocking, or something similar is knowing me I'll forget to turn it off, then probably spend the next 3 or 4 days wondering why the phone is quiet.
Anyhow after doing a bit more digging on here, I found a link to a site that explains how to build an antenna and work out the correct length of the aerial and ground plane, between the highest and the lowest frequencies there is a difference of something like 2mm in the lengths, so basically it shouldn't matter too much. Also, I have a mate who used to install the antennas for the police etc on the really high masts, so he shouldn't have a problem on my roof, which looking at it, if I get the antenna about a metre above the chimney I should clear the embankment.
It's been a real education finding this site, I look forward to learning much more.

[Southwales]

I would imagine you would want a vertical white stick on your roof with some good quality low loss coax, I talk to a few people who have these antennas and they are a good 35 miles bee line distance., http://www.nevadaradio.co.uk/search/?search=Comet+gp although myself I have the diamond version from damsu https://damsu.co.uk/two-way-radio/anten ... rRFK6Cnw1I

For my car I have this antenna mounted on a limpet Magmount and it is excellent, https://damsu.co.uk/two-way-radio/anten ... tenna.html

[Davie Boy]

I have a set of Mitex General walkie-talkies, licenced

With a simple licence I would get something better... you are not limited to Mitex radios which are not going to be as easy available with maplins going down...

The best thing at home is an external antenna... and the mitex with batteries will not put out your full 5 watts where a base station like a yaesu will...

[thelad]

With a "simple light licence" you can not use a base.

[JohnUK]

With a "simple light licence" you can not use a base.

True. You can't use a base radio and certainly not over 5 watts. Your best option is to do what you have already done on the car with an external antenna and also do the same at home. I think you can use a standard handheld at 5 watts with an external antenna at home? Not 100% sure on that though as some licences have an antenna height from the ground restriction?

[m0lsx]

With a "simple light licence" you can not use a base.

True. You can't use a base radio and certainly not over 5 watts. Your best option is to do what you have already done on the car with an external antenna and also do the same at home. I think you can use a standard handheld at 5 watts with an external antenna at home? Not 100% sure on that though as some licences have an antenna height from the ground restriction?

This is an old thread.
BUT, if a handheld radio with an external antenna is not a base radio, what is it?