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It really amazes me that "Some People" get the same VSWRs on a cheap POS Pandaland antenna with a spread difference of almost 20 megs. Really? Wow, that is amazing that any antenna can do that.

@nokones that is hilarious. I would have done the same thing and messed with the guy. That is better than my friend driving through neighborhoods and scrambling everyone's TV's with his CB and linear amp when we were in high school. Since statute of limitations has passed. While at Ft Devens, we would have to test the airborne electronic warfare equipment and we would occasionally have some fun messing with the locals.

I remember doing some radio testing on 800 Mhz in the very early 80s. I was driving up S.R. 99 in Fresno and this Cadillac with Texas plates kept hitting the brakes in front of me. Then I realized that he was doing this everytime I keyed the 800 Meg radio. I drove up along side thinking he may be a tad impaired and I noticed that he had a box on top of the dashboard and a light would light up when I keyed the radio. The box was a Fuzzbuster (radar detector) and obviously he thought he was being targeted for speeding. So, I told my partner in crime let's have some fun. With the freeway speeds being 55 MPH in those days, we let him get up to about 80 and we keyed the mic and he slowed down to 55 MPH and we kept it keyed for several miles. I bet he was getting impatient going 55 MPH. We pulled off the freeway because we needed to get some gas and that was enough fun for the day. It's a true story, I know because I was there causing all this fun. No, the caddy did not have any bull horns on the front of his car.

Preemptive thank you for any advice/commentary/etc Newbie proud owner of an AR5RM and a Radioddity DB20-G….couldn't possibly need anything more….but I crave a GMRS capable radio with the simplicity of synchronization of the Main channel “A” Name displayed up top with the frequency of channel A displayed below in “B” It is my understanding from reading reviews that the UV5x3 has this channel synchronization utility and that the F8HP does not. Posting to confirm this. I am also attracted to deals and low cost like a moth to a flame….and the F8HPpro is currently on sale on the Bezos store front. Or, if Newbie is wrong about most of what was just typed; please suggest a similarly priced ($40-$70) option that has this nice, simple channel synchronization display ability Thankyou.

I have one, and in general it is a good radio, but if you are getting it because of being able to monitor 4 channels at a time... it is maybe less than ideal. I don't care for how it will jump to any of the four channels when it hears activity on one of them... when you want to transmit one that you currently had selected. There is not a good way to quickly and easily to switch from monitor all four channels (or three or two) and then only transmit on one without jumping to any of them that have activity. Yes, you can shut off the multi channel monitoring and use it one channel at a time (through a sequence of 4 or 5 separate button presses! . If you use it this way... only have four on the screen for easily switching to one for your four favorite channels but focus on only one at a time.. then it works great. if they would make a single button way to switch between monitor all and focus and transmit and monitor only one - which could be done fast and easy.. I would be 100% recommending it. And if you use it only to do one channel at a time... then I recommend it. That is my opinion anyway.

Yeah, you are exactly right! I heard that proclamation/warning and chose to ignore it. I'm not a radio purist so as long as it works reasonably well, I don't really concern myself with all the technical perfection (usually only detectable with test equipment). The photo I posted above shows the 3rd brake light mount with a dual band 2m/70cm antenna, but most of the time I use a little 6" Tram 1126-B 1/4wave antenna. I like that little Tram because it is very low profile, and most folks do not even notice that I have an antenna up there. My SWR is 1.2:1 on my Btech 20W mobile and it works great for my real-world purposes on both GMRS and 70cm. In fact, based on my experience, I might argue that for UHF, ground plane is often over-rated. I can drive in circles, presumably transitioning between lots of ground plane (to the front) and arguably zero ground plane (to the rear) and the folks I'm talking to usually can't tell the difference. That's good enough for me!

IIRC, the cycling self-test is expected. Fire up the software, plug the radio into the computer, and go to File > Configure, and pick your COM port. Then, fire up the radio and plug the cable into the radio. In the software, jump over to the Radio menu and pick "Upload" (yes, this is backwards from the cheaper radios and CHIRP)...upload loads from the radio to the computer, download sends from computer to radio. When you hit "upload", the software may ask you to confirm, then the radio should switch from power cycling to displaying "PC Prog" as it reads. If successful, save that basic code plug (as backup or whatever), then save it again with a new name as your working codeplug. I will usually unplug the programming cable from the radio and power it off when i get a successful read, while i work on the code plug. Here is what my programming looks like for the GMRS Simplex channels (the handheld-only channels are excluded). This is my GMRS repeaters Group and for the Common > Key Function menu (for the front panel buttons): one other gee whiz item is the startup message (what the radio displays when it starts up), which is under Common > Power Saving. check the "overwrite" box, and you have a few characters to have it display when it starts up. I dug one of mine out of the shelf to check this stuff hands on and get screenshots. When you're done programming, save your working file, power up the radio and plug the cable back in and let it start cycling, then back up to Radio - Download. The radio should stop cycling and shift to "PC Prog" again and then restart when it's finished. at that point you should be good to unplug the cable from the radio and check out your new programming (connected to an antenna or dummy load, if you want to key up). Mine is a -6 range (400-470mhz, rather than the -7 being 450-512mhz) because I wanted to cover 70cm and GMRS, and it's programmed to display my ham call and "70cm", as i also have the VHF twin to this radio (VX4204) and i ran the pair together on my desk for awhile (the other one is my call and "2m"). Hope this helps; if you're already good, feel free to disregard

Man I could have some fun when passing people with third brake light mounts if that was actually true.

I’m an ARRL member because I want to support the one main U.S. based group that represents us hams. They are not perfect but I think having them is better than having no organization. But the only way for a group like this to succeed is for its members to participate vigorously, informing the organization how to best serve the members. Not enough people do that and to its detriment the league sometimes fails to listen.

This kind of thing is why for some people...

404 - file not found. Probably a permission thing. As a guest you might not have permission to upload files.

Good one.

You forgot to mention the warning about the brake light will light up and make the brakes lock up everytime you key up the radio.

I had one on my Ram. Lasted a couple months shy of two years. Cracked around the antenna mount at the corners then grew out from there.. Its rotting in the dump right now

Gotcha. Then yeah, supporting them just provides some money to help protect amateur radio frequencies, educational and outreach programs, and other stuff. I haven't joined but I'm thinking about it.

Yea, shocking ain't it that so many people are clueless. It is the FCC's interpretation of the existing wording of the regs. (I posted a topic on this months ago called Base Stations Can't Use Repeaters.) As far as all the nutty explanations people make up to justify what they want it to be, I'll wait for FCC to offer one of those explanations as an official clarification (never gonna happen IMO) or change the rule (I understand now why it exists).

WARNING!!! "some people" are going to try and convince you that your setup will not work, nobody will hear you and it will burn-up your radio, because you do not have 6 inches of metal/ground plane in all directions under the bottom of the antenna.. As you probably already know by your real-world experience of actually using your setup, they can be ignored.. "some people" have difficulty differentiating from "the best" or "perfect" that they read about in a book and "plenty good enough for normal people outside in the real-world".

Here’s the rule. Different people interpret it differently. Some say that a base station becomes a “control station” when it transmits to a repeater. I am unsure of that, but it’s not important to me: 467 MHz main channels. Only mobile, hand-held portable, control and fixed stations may transmit on these 8 channels. Mobile, hand-held portable and control stations may transmit on these channels only when communicating through a repeater station or making brief test transmissions in accordance with § 95.319(c). The channel center frequencies are: 467.5500, 467.5750, 467.6000, 467.6250, 467.6500, 467.6750, 467.7000, and 467.7250 MHz

Huh?

My truck is not aluminum, so I did not have the mag-mount issue, but I wanted something more permanent. I had the same hesitation about putting a hole in the roof of my cab. I also have a retractable sunroof that limits the placement of an NMO mount and coax cabling in that narrow space between the roof and the headliner. I ended up using a 3rd brake light mounting solution. NO REGRETS. It is not cheap, but it is a very clean install that works great with no holes in your vehicle.

Thank you for the reply. To clarify, The question is not about 'Why ham' and more about joining the ARRL. I enjoy this hobby as well as GMRS (I'm bought in for both in more ways than one). Thank you for your perspective. I 100% agree and feel the exact same way: "I'm getting into it because I think the antenna theory stuff is neat and POTA sounds like fun. It's more of a hobby thing than the stash of GMRS radios I use to actually talk to people in my group."

Thank you. I got it downloaded and tried hooking up the cable and found a new problem. The radio either won’t turn on when hooked up to the pc or will cycle self test.

The ARRL is a non-profit org representing amateur radio operators, so... not much to stash in the garage other than maybe the magazine (which I guess is an additional cost now?). You don't need to be a member to use amateur radios. Supporting the ARRL mostly just supports the hobby, as they're the biggest political advocate for amateur radio. Unless you mean why get into amateur radio in the first place, in which case: if you want to do more with radios than talk to the same four people and fiddle with antennas on your HT, ham radio is where it's at. HF bands can take advantage of atmospheric skip and you can talk over longer distances. It's less about "I want to talk to this specific person" and more about "I want to play with radios and learn about how they work". Plus you get to make connections with "anonymous men" as a certain someone likes to say. If all you want to do is talk to friends and family over short distances and you don't really care about the radio side of things, then GMRS is close enough to the UHF/VHF bands you get access to with a Technician license that it's probably moot. Also the radios get expensive (you don't need a fancy radio but even the one I want to get is $650 without an antenna or power supply and that would buy a lot of Baofengs) and HOAs usually aren't happy when people start installing antenna masts. I'm getting into it because I think the antenna theory stuff is neat and POTA sounds like fun. It's more of a hobby thing than the stash of GMRS radios I use to actually talk to people in my group.

I frequently talk to POTA activators on HF as they quickly confirm their QSOs and move on. I have never been a POTA activator. That being said, every state and federal park in the USA qualifies as a POTA location, making it easy to find a qualified park and start activating! Check out POTA’s website for more information: www.parksontheair.com