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one of my friends living in a Del Webb community hung a J=Pole Antenna within a tree.. Worked good for him..

Actually, that would be very interesting considering the proposal is asking for 100 watts and repeater use in the 6M area. Can you imagine the 'FARS' people would get. This would open a whole new game.. I like the idea

My Weller equipped soldering station with my fan to blow away the Pb fumes from my Kester solder and to guarantee that I have the real stuff, nothing was purchased from Amazon. I have always wanted to dive into the SMT soldering, but I lack the engineering and technician education and expertise on that subject. So, it is just mostly soldering and splicing and joining wirings together and sometimes soldering connectors on coaxial cables.

Ok.

I've been a fan of the Stanceworks YouTube channel for awhile. His latest video shows him installing his new Motorola communications system in his race car. While watching it I remembered this thread. Nice system, but don't know if it's $3000+ (uncle Sam get his cut) nice. Also wonder how it's licensed.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUMMaMSrLBQ

That kinda looks like my attic for one of my three antennae. By any chance do you have a Del Webb constructed home? I am using a Laird non-ground plane mobile antenna.

I easily resolve that issue by saying this establishment only accepts checks. Seems GMRS has more of that issue than the ham bands.

That problem is easily remedied by talking politics on the air. You're guaranteed to wake up at least 50% of the lurkers.

I traveled thru said areas on vacation runs and telling you my experience. I often travel to the Las Angeles areas both from the East to West and visa versa and that area is a mad house on every channel. I honestly can't recall a single time not getting interrupted on a radio call by someone being a jerk. I'm not necessary referring to repeater traffic but more of simplex communications in both FRS and GMRS frequencies. I have had some problems on repeater frequencies but seldom.. When we travel in groups we always use simplex channels because there is no need to tie up a repeater frequency.. However, the stuff i hear on the repeaters channels may not be annoying but for the most part comical. I swear, when i travel to L.A. i hear the same guy hollering out for radio checks on practically every repeater i have programed like a broken record.. No, i dont want to talk to that guy, it's not you by any chance is it ...

Welcome to the forum. That is an excellent setup for "quick and dirty" that should perform well for you. These are perfect indoor antennas and should withstand the harsh temperature changes found in the attic.

They very well could be "Sad Hams" with their sour attitudes that have a GMRS license spilling over from the Amateur radio freqs because there is essentially no one using the 2 Meter and 70 cm repeaters anymore to listen to them except for the occasional boring subjects being discussed during the mornings on the Sun City West 2 meter repeater.

Nice. If it works there’s really no reason to do anything else.

I live in Arizona, and yes, they are just kinda annoying. Probably due to the influx of commiefornians.

Please elaborate on how in these areas the GMRS users are complete jerks, especially in certain parts of Arizona and which parts are you referring to in Arizona? I routinely travel the said areas and I monitor all the GMRS channels except the 467 Meg Interstitial channels and I don't find anyone being perks. As for Arizona, that is not the case, although there is one individual that has a thing with one repeater owner and is trying to create havoc on a couple of his repeaters, but everyone just ignores him like he doesn't exist. So, let us know how users in those areas are being jerks. It could be very well, that no one wants to talk to you because you have that certain reputation/personality that precedes you.

Not good idea.

Looks good. Personally I would have spent less on a better radio and more on an antenna but if it works then it works. antenna and coax is light years more important then the radio.

I have a feeling there will be a major deregulation with most FCC Rules and regs in the very near future that will have an impact on most personal and amateur radio services because of the current administrations policies, insofar as enforcement and licensing requirements, and how the aforementioned radio services will be used. Most amateur radio operators feel that their world won't change and will be untouched and not impacted. Personally, I have no direct insight on this subject, I guess we'll see, but I think any subject that has a direct affect on the lives of the citizens is on the deregulation table.

eff sea seas = Frank Charles Charles or Foxtrot Charlie Charlie

That would likely be 0201 SMD. I’ve done a few simple PCB design and layouts using 0603 parts. I have my collection of tweezers. The production/R&D electronics lab at work has a nice SMD solder rework station.

Yep, understood. Went back and read your rules. Obviously I am NOT welcome.

We have an active, polite, and helpful, GMRS community and there are a couple of nets each week on the main repeater. We sort of, kind of, tend to encourage folks to use phonetics when first transmitting their callsign but don't chastise anyone if they don't. We may ask them to use phonetics if we can't understand them because they are talking too fast (or our ears are too slow) or the transmission isn't clear. Other than that there aren't many "rules" or etiquette for general conversation. We have some folks that talk conversationally, others that use more military-type jargon, and the occasional user that sound like they're Smokey and the Bandit. We don't get too bent out of shape and just roll with it. Usually it is an acceptable combination of all three. The advice given in previous posts is good. Don't be a jerk, keep your language clean, and be polite. If you have a repeater you can get on, listen in to see how the users converse. After a while you will start recognizing call signs and voices and how the flow of the repeater works. Most of our repeater traffic goes something like this. -Listen for traffic, if none heard- "WSFN703 Monitoring (or standing by or listening)" - if you're not looking for anyone in particular but open for conversation. You may strike up a conversation with someone. If someone is driving they may say "Mobile" instead of "Monitoring". This can let folks know that you may lose TX/RX due to terrain, buildings, or distance. It also tends to imply that you may not be active on the radio for very long, i.e. you reach your destination. "WXXX123, WSFN703, Fred are you out there?" - if you're looking for someone specific. If they answer, you go on with your conversation. If you know they are listening, just call them by name. "WSFN703, Radio Check" - if you want to see if your radio/antenna is working and how well. Someone will chime in with their evaluation of your signal. If there is traffic and you want to say something, be it a comment on the topic being discussed or a question for one of the participants, maybe an emergency call, or to contact someone else (and then move to another freq. or repeater); -Listen for a break in the conversation- "WSFN703 Break (or Comment/Question)" - Wait a second or two for the other stations to acknowledge your break, then proceed with your comment. "WSFN703 Emergency, Emergency, Emergency" - State your emergency and vital information. 9-1-1 should be used first but there may be cases where cell phone coverage is not available and GMRS is all you have. After your conversation, however brief or extended, is ended. "WSFN703 Clear" - usually means you are signing off but may mean you are done with the repeater and may still be listening but not actively looking for a conversation. The context of the conversation can provide the meaning. "Well, I've made it to work. Good talking to you. WSFN703 is clear." "WSFN703 Monitoring" - I'm done talking but still listening if someone else wants me for something. This is not any kind of official script we follow. It's just how most of us talk when we're on the repeater. It helps keep things manageable. If we are on a net, we let the net controller set the rules. Simplex may be similar but generally it's just you and a friend or two on a channel so it's whatever etiquette you wish to follow. Profanity and vulgarities are still generally frowned upon since children may be listening but I don't know anyone that polices it.

I still carry around some souvenirs from my time in Iraq, so maybe the shrapnel is helping to act as a counterpoise.

Using existing radios, yes. But if the frequencies were given over to GMRS I'm pretty sure someone would find a way to make one radio do both.

Before you get too excited about the long range possibilities of a low band repeater, talk to anyone who has actually built one, or tried to use one. Beyond the problems of skip, near-far, and antennas that can double as fishing poles, you also find out that you need to have one antenna tuned for the transmit frequency, and another tuned for receive. Typical bandpass cavities are 5 ft. tall, you will need enough space for at least 6, and you better keep them in a climate controlled environment, unless you want to keep a separate set tuned for each season. You also need to know that a typical low-band mobile antenna is only good for about a 500 KHz spread while your proposed pair is 3 MHz apart. Noise is a huge problem, terrible at times. It's only gotten worse in the last 25 years. There's a reason why Commercial (paying customer) Low-band has become a wasteland. Actually, there's many reasons beyond the ones I've mentioned. Most manufacturers have abandoned the band.

Yep...not enough counterpoise.