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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.

If that's the case then it's amazing that I can talk to anyone while using a HT. I'm a 5'9" and 145 pound skinny guy.

It's not about strength. Steel will flex and even stretch under stress but fiberglass and carbon fiber won't; they crack instead.

Oh... that explains why HT's work better for us fat people! Especially on lower frequencies. Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

Unfortunately there is no way to use the whole screen for one channel. Here is an alternative: Set "Channel A Display" to one display type and "Channel B Display" to the other and then tune both to the same channel. For example you could have the frequency on top and the station name on the bottom.

I'd say that if it gets you connected to who you want to connect to...then it's a great setup. I've been using the same antenna with a metal sheet in my garage, works great for what I need it for. If I needed to get out much further, I'd do something more elaborate as well. My main antenna is an Ed Fong J-Pole that's also up in my attic. We have a 'lot' of wind and weather here and I put it there while I figure out an external, and permanent, solution.

Ham is a hobby of hobbies. You figure out what you want to do or what might interest you and you do it. I think a lot of people judge the exams to be harder than they actually are, because they start reviewing the question pool and they don't know most of the material. But, you can learn it. There's also a lot of talk about "Amateur Extra is a lot easier if you have a background in Electrical Engineering", which might be true, but EEs weren't born knowing that stuff either. They had to learn it to get their degree and work in their field. If they can learn it, you can at least learn the minimum you need to pass the exams. I feel like you should aim as high as possible, then you can grow into your license privileges, rather than hitting a wall when you want to try something new and having go back and study for another exam. And, when you reach AE, you can just enjoy no longer being in perpetual "studying for finals mode." Just my take...

Yes, we'll take them. That's down near 6m territory.

Hello, I set up a quick and dirty base station antenna in my attic. It's a Midland MXTA26 antenna fed by a MXTA24 NMO cable. I put a 14" aluminum pizza pan under it as a ground plane. I have about $55 into this setup. The radio is a Wouxun KGSX20G+ fed by a Pyramid 12Amp power supply. So far I think it's working well. I guess I need some adapters to test this setup with my Surecom meter but no smoke yet. Any tips or critiques appreciated. I wanted to test the attic concept before committing to more expensive hardware.

So you'd need two different radios, or one radio with two different antennas to make use of these and the existing GMRS channels? Does not seem very user-friendly... If they are unused, throw 'em to the H.A.M.s.. they'll use it.. they'll use anything.

Doesn’t sound like something I’d do. Interesting read though. For those that missed it you purpose not just GMRS but MURS and CB linking too… it may be safe to say that you really like the idea of linking.

I agree with the RT97S repeater. It's weather tight and low power consumption. A small battery and solar panel along with an antenna make it a mostly permanent solution. You won't have the wait for the simplex repeater to do it's thing, just normal talk. Ya, it's more than $60 but it's also a better solution and in the end you'll likely be happier with it.

DELETE DELETE DELETE Docket No: 25-133 https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10425259046292/1 Interesting comments on adding unused channels to the GMRS license These channels were licensed pairs for duplex portable phones and could be used for long range repeaters. They are no longer in use.

Does anyone think this is remotely a thing that is on the radar of law enforcement? “What ya got Bob? DUI? B and E? Domestic…?” “Na man this guy doesn’t have a valid GMRS license!” “What kind of animal is he?!!”

https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/1042589947921/1 Read the above comment to the FCC and file your reply to this nonsense. We are not trying to link all gmrs repeater channels together. Thats not what linking is. SO this is like its something new. Its been going on for 10 years and is proven not to do any of the above. Its important if you did file comments that you file another comment on what we are asking for when we say gmrs linking. We dont want to use all the channels in a town and we have proven all of the above to be untrue. submit your comments here https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/filings/standard Quote ref DELETE DELETE DELETE Docket No: 25-133

Thank you! This is the way it should be done. I believe your efforts will be rewarded in the future. It's a balancing act between people that will donate and ones that won't. Don't sweat it and enjoy the journey of deploying it the way you want it. Let us know with progress reports.

Figure out how to propose that as a reduction or simplification of regulations and go for it.

To drag this (kicking and screaming) back on-topic.. Right now I have a free "access by request" system (with poor coverage - the best anyone has reported is a little under 7 miles in the NYC area). I'm waiting on an updated antenna (this whole Commscope to Andrew changeover has been a complete disaster, with even large corporate customers being quoted 4-5 month delays on catalog products and even longer for customized ones) and a tower climber to install it and the heliax, plus various incidentals (16 ground rods, cable to connect them, lightning arrestors, so on). Once all that is done, my repeater will still be free to access on request, but if someone wants to make a donation, I'll gladly accept it. My repeater info page will have a link to a secondary page with the actual invoices and amounts for the various pieces of the project, with a total dollar amount. There will also be a list of donations which can be marked either "anonymous" or someone's name and/or call sign if desired, along with amounts and a total dollar amount donated so far. Think of it like the giant "dollars raised thermometer" outside your local volunteer fire department. I doubt I'll recoup 10% of what this improvement project is costing, but it's nice to know that some people care enough to support a mutual hobby project. Nobody gets preferential treatment for donating vs. not donating. To add - donations will not be tax deductible, will be reported by me as "miscellaneous income" on my tax returns, and so on.

I'm in your camp. I have very little desire to collect names from around the world like Pokemon, just isn't my thing. That and the cost of entry into HF is more than I'm willing to spend. I got my General ticket for the challenge more than the added privileges. 2m\70cm\1.25m are very active in my area and I do get a small thrill when I can key up a repeater 50-60 miles away with an HT running through an amp in the car. I've got 3 mobiles, 9 HTs, and still have less invested than a used HF rig would set me back. If I really want to reach out around the world, I can do that on TG 91. Yes, I know that many consider that cheating, then again, I really don't care :). They can enjoy the hobby their way, I'll do mine.