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I can guarantee most of these HAM radios tuned to GMRS, with proper power levels and bandwidths programed, are 100% cleaner than most of these 'cheap' chinese radios out there .

That kinda depends on why you're doing it. I think it's a good idea for a neighborhood watch or a prepper group. What rule are you referring to?

I definitely will start a new thread and post photos once I'm done putting it all together.

We do check ins to see how your equipment is working and to see who's participating. If you have multiple radios to check that is usually done after all the ID blocks are taken care of. Last winter I found out I was coming in pretty crappy and them more so as the check ins came down further in the calendar. Water in the line or antenna. Never figured out which. Replaced both and all is well. It's not just attendance.

Yes, if we had just a bit more of this many of us could stop announcing our freshly bestowed call signs into the silent void.

I thought that, too. I'm currently using a Midland MXT-25 Ghost antenna on a magnetic mount attached to the cap of my Big Green Egg. It's on a deck about 15' off the ground so I'd say it's 20' in the air, which I know isn't much at all. I'm surrounded by Army Corps property and pine trees but have nothing but clear sky over head. Using this set up, I can simplex roughly 3 miles, but that's with an HT and a rubber ducky so I'm not really sure how many fars I'm getting as I lose TX from the other person after 3 miles and so they come back. I guess I could get them on a cell phone and just keep driving until they couldn't hear many anymore...but haven't tried that.

OK, here comes the part where the new guy learns something, I guess. I'm on the simplex channel that I hear the repeater on. Or at least I was. But then I learned about offsets, so I programmed in a channel with the RX frequency of the repeater and set an offset for 5mhz higher, still no joy. Repeater is listed with DCS tones. I have tried both with them programmed and without and still nothing.

Sounds perfectly legitimate to me. I suppose once I've been at it for awhile, I'll be in the same boat. Currently have two HT Baofengs, a President CB, a Midlands HT CB, and a BTech 50V2 that's going in the Jeep. It's not much, but it's a start.

I assumed that was going to be the answer. I was just curious. As a new guy starting off, I'm struggling to be able to scrape together enough for A radio, much less several.

I hope you share photos when you’re finished. I love seeing builds like this.

Nice installation. Welcome to the party!

I see that now, thanks Leo!

On the H3 it'll show what mode you are currently in. If you are Rx then it'll show 462 and when you press the PTT and Tx it'll show 467

That makes a lot of sense! Thanks so much Steve. I think at 1.6 on those channels, i'll leave it for the time being. I have a few idea on how to adjust the mount to get it more straight up, but will leave that for another day.

Well, they could take check-ins just from new users or people who have announcements. Checking in every week with nothing to say is boring and annoying for others to avoid. Also, the check-ins should be mobile and handheld only so new users learn the right way by example.

23-30 transmit on 467 and receive on 462 to allow full duplex operation by the repeater.

23-30 came in at 1.6 I was a bit confused, as my Tidradio H3 Plus shows channels 23-30 as 462 channels vs 467. So i was basing everything off of that. Thanks!

I agree that we don’t get to tell people what they may discuss. I like Nets though because sometimes they’re a great way for people who are just starting out to learn how to use their radio.

my name is LUIS new to the Delmarva group. I'm interested in joining the group to do some type of meet ups I'm from Kent county Delaware. wrqz 981

I agree as far as topic of conversation. I'm not sure we need ham style nets though. And to compound that, people are checking in from base stations a 100 miles away and bragging about the distance while breaking the rule.

I disagree. GMRS -- by definition -- is for business and personal use. You don't own the airwaves, and you don't get to tell people what "personal use" they can put the service to. If someone wants to talk to someone else about their bunionectomy, they have just as much right to use GMRS as you do. Whether you like it doesn't matter. I hear stuff all the time that makes me roll my eyes, but I don't pretend I have the authority to tell people they can't use the GMRS service to say it. That's one of the reasons I have channels with CTCSS/DTCS tones on the radios I hand out to family -- so I don't have to hear that stuff. I suggest you do the same.

Welcome!

Welcome!

YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!! Yes. First day here and I'm here for this.

In both of my setups I had a noticeable degradation of reception when the SWR got over 1.7 The base station issue was water so that might be the degradation effect. But now my repeater is at 1.76 and I'm noticing a bit of loss. Or I'm nutz