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My sincere apologizes. I might have screwed uo the name to begin with. Off and on and I have finally noticed I was wrong as it is Vance 600 after now.

200 miles can be a stretch even for VHF frequencies depending on location, terrain, height of the antennas, etc.. The antennas for our Motorola 2m and 70cm repeaters is at 900 feet above ground. And we are only getting around 85 mile radius on 2m and about 35 mile radius on 70cm.

I'm sure your wife won't be checking under your hood...

Lets see how deep you go in the batman fandom....maybe more like Red Hood? Lawless bloodshedding vigilante?

Is the original post coming thru or is it one that someone else quoted?

Just going up to my sons from CT to NY state in separate vehicles made it nice. Heck, we talked more on the radio than if we were in the same vehicle. I had my mobile in the truck and set up an HT with a microphone and an external antenna for the little lady. Much easier to pick up the mic and talk than it is picking up the phone, dialing, waiting to be picked up etc. I don't think we were ever more than a 1/2 mile apart.

Well, it wouldn't *be* on UHF, would it?

No not that. The bike had cables that ran down the right side which I guess I didn’t clean, ended up on my right knee which wasn’t great when you can’t wear shorts at work.

Whenever these break, it takes the entire antenna element with it.

So you got an itch you couldn't scratch in public. That must have been a miserable experience.

I try to avoid poison ivy/oak when possible. It's weird that sometimes I will breakout in a rash and other times I won't. One thing that will also help dry it out is put some epson salt in your bath.

We're stuck with the mistake the FCC made years back by allowing the sale of "dual mode" radios, combo of GMRS and FRS, at the time. The radios included the original 14 FRS only channels in addition to the GMRS specific channels. The radios came with a disclaimer the user could not use the GMRS specific channels in the radio without having a license. At that time the license was around $80 to $90 for 5 years, and the radios sold for maybe $50 for a pair in blister packs like kids toys. You think anyone read the disclaimer, and if so did they care when the cost of the license was so high? Nope! The just stuck the batteries in and keyed up on whatever channel the radio could operate on. So, what did the FCC do with the 2017 rule changes? Well they through in the towel and just made what people were already doing legal. Now they didn't have to deal with the enforcement issues, simple solution. Now we're stuck with it. At least the FRS radios can't use repeaters. That would have been a complete mess. I've been on a high altitude balloon chase once. Lots of fun. Got up to about 93K feet. The guys doing it had GPS tracking, track was shown live on a map using software running on a laptop, in the payload and a UHF live video down-link too. That was all done using Ham frequencies, including the balloon communications. You can't do that on any GMRS frequencies. That's why the FCC will tell people to get an Amateur License. As the link in my prior post mentions the FCC's statement about GMRS is for "short range communications." I wouldn't call 200 miles short range on UHF. What you're effectively proposing is a change in the nature of use the GMRS service is targeted to serve. That I think is going to be one very tough sell to the FCC. Not so much. The antennas are basically plug and play for the most part and so are the very basic radios. Where people get confused is mostly figuring out repeater access, and advance features like dual watch etc. If it wasn't for that it's nearly the same as 11m CB radio, which is about as plug-and-play as you can get. Of course there are those few who want to learn more and experiment building antennas, that's cool. Those people sooner or later end up getting their Armature License. Me, it was the reverse, Ham first, and later got the GMRS license because it seemed so cool to have. At the time it wasn't well known, and the license cost was up there. Didn't really use GMRS so let the license expire. Years later reapplied and got a new GMRS call sign, my current one.

Well noob is politer than NUG or FNG And we all learn everyday as long as we aren't hard headed know it alls.

yea, it's pretty misserable. . She told me to use Dawn Soap for my baths for next two weeks. They gave me a Kenalog steroid shot that helps (barley) with itching but still oozing this crap..

@Socalgmrs to Randy is like Kiteman was to Batman.

I greatly appreciate the cyber hugs!! Everything is relative. Compared to some I am a noob and I love the fact that I am learning everyday.

Every super hero needs a nemesis

I got the SoCal guy ignored but his stupid post are still coming thru??? Something not working?

The moment you said GMRS node you lost the argument that you are not using it for linking radios via the internet. Like zello. Ya see Gmrs, the R stands for radio. And Allstar is allowed for amateur radio. Not GMRS. Calling @SteveShannon a noob is both inaccurate and rude. Cheers

Poison ivy and poison oak can grow in bush form or vine form. It is very easy to identify as a vine versus grape and other types of vines. Poison ivy and oak vines will always have a lot of air roots that clings to what it is growing on versus free hanging.

"Leaves of three, let it be!" Poison Oak/Ivy/Sumac always has this leaf configuration. If a plant has three leaves, that doesn't necessarily make it poisonous, but the ones that are will always have this configuration. Here we have California Blackberry, which also has three leaves an often grows right along with Poison Oak. It's not poisonous, but the thorns are another matter....

Agreed that that is the stated intent, but it seems like if they really wanted to restrict it like that, there would be only current-FRS-equipment-restricted GMRS or FRS, not both. Using a GMRS radio requires technical activities like programming and tuning antennas. That's not "Mom wants you home" or "Joe the lawn service guy" personal, by any means. "Hobby" or not, it's a technical service! Besides, we're talking about *changing* GMRS, so definitions may shift... I agree, but I wasn't suggesting that. I was talking about covering a couple of counties. Maybe 200 miles max, for my examples. For people who really need the range, but GMRS falls short. For example, trying to hunt down a weather-balloon experiment gone horribly wrong (not that I've ever done that multiple times ) can require coordinating dozens of search units in a four-county search that covers thousands of square miles. As the crow flies, the max spread might be 150 miles, but especially in places with mountains, you end up with five or six people driving out to high spots and relaying messages back and forth like a big game of telephone (which would be a better solution, if there were any towers nearby) being able to take a pair of long-range linked repeaters to the top of strategically tall and unobstructed geographic features would enable GMRS to cover all three counties directly...

That sucks, I know what you’re going through. When I was younger I wasn’t affected by the stuff so I would be the one to clear it out. Then in my twenties I was hiking through it to a rock climbing location and yep same story. I went to the doctors and he says “you have poison oak”, but I don’t get it I tell him. He explained it’s an allergy, one that most people have and you can develop an allergy at any time. I avoid it obsessively now constantly pointing it out when the wife and I go hiking with the dog. I have a friend that can’t get sap from pine trees on him after years of handling them for a family Christmas tree farm he became allergic. Damn poison oak oil can stay on things that touched it too and get you a second time, wash anything that you think it might have touched. I got it off my mountain bike two weeks later because I missed a spot cleaning the bike after a fall into it. Worse part was I didn’t get it the day of the fall as I got it all off me in time but the next ride I got it off the bike.