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Ask a question and the strange people come out to play...... LOL

I foolishly assumed that once a two-way radio is no longer typed accepted or certified for a specific service, that radio may continue to be used. On the other hand, manufactures and venders can no longer sell those radios for their original intended service, even though they can still be used,

Yes.. LJ...

No

I haven't been able to get on the forum much lately other than to do a quick scan. So, I apologize in advance to all who take offense to my poking the bear. But I have lost toke, er time, to make up for.

Gee, is Dan around here somewhere?

Really, is anything after a CJ really a Jeep?

I don’t know the answer, so my reply is dumb, but your question was not dumb.

10-4

There are no dumb questions. Only people with huge egos trying to feel superior by making you think the question is dumb.

Mission? I haven't been on one of those since 1972. Didn't like what people who didn't like me were doing.

Ex-military or police? Real people only say that on TV.

Probably not allowed here, but I find gunfire generally tends to drive those folks away. Not in their direction mind you.

No lies detected.. But he knew the risk when he signed up and paid the tax for his GMRS permission-slip and was prepared for the mission.

But then people can go on line and find out your address, or at least where you get your mail. Any good stalker can find you with either. I mean heck, I not only got the address but used Google maps to find he who has been blocked due to, well let's just say being and "individual".

Should have read all the way before answering. But my truck has a 120v ac power supply. Yea, I know, another cable. But, you could also charge the battery from solar. Hmm, as anyone ever rigged a wind powered generator on a moving vehicle. I should shut up now, because I'm getting all sorts of fun things to figure out. That the problem with retired engineers, we get bored not solving problems so we invent them.

I have an Airstream. Would the shape of the roof make a difference? Of course I'd also have to consider the overall height of the rig and antenna.

You can buy really nice used scopes at Ham swaps for good prices. I've seen plenty of dual channel 100MHz Techtronic scopes for sale for $100 to $200. In fact good used test gear is one of the things I always look out for. For a hobbyist it a great way to build up a test bench for a few $100's to a $1000 depending on what you want. You can easily end up with gear that would have cost several $10K's if purchased new at the time. At a minimum I would recommend a couple of variable DC power supplies (0 to 30 VDC at 1 to 2 amps), function generator (good to 5MHz), dual channel scope (50 MHz to 100 MHz) and a good bench top 4.5 digit multi-meter. After that you can look for more specialized gear like RF power meters, frequency counters, LCR meters, electronic loads, service monitors etc. depending on one's area of interest. Most of my more specialized stuff is stored away unless I'm using it. I have a dual channel HP frequency counter I have to do some work on (replace a noisy fan and install the optional 4GHz prescaler.) GPS disciplined 10MHz frequency standard, a used Rubidium atomic frequency standard, 200 MHz quad channel scope, 6.5 digit bench multi-meter, 20 MHz dual channel arbitrary digital waveform generator, 200 watt electronic load ...

Found some!

did you try and leave it plugged in so it can retry a few times? I've read the online firmware upgrade can fail a few times before it succeeds.

The service is primarily designed for that use, but you are not restricted to that. It is a "General Mobile" service so the only limit is your imagination. You can use it for business as long as everyone is licensed. You can use it as part of a neighborhood comm backup in the case of an emergency. My HOA, for example just announced that channel 15 would be used if all else fails (seriously considering a repeater). Don't forget that it shares channels with FRS radios, so in a close group you can connect to a number of unlicensed knuckleheads. Welcome to GMRS!

Gee, I wonder just how much deeper this rabbit hole is going to get?

Aluminum is a very good conductor and makes a fine ground plane. It requires additional work beyond a mag mount though. Either attach a piece of ferrous metal for the magnet to hold or drill a hole and installing a permanent NMO mount. That’s the hardest part. Otherwise just put a repeater in one of the cabinets and run coax to the antenna mount. To power the repeater you will probably want a battery which is charged whenever you have shore power or while attached to the tow vehicle. Time to shop!!

go to the repeater section of this website and scan or look for repeaters in your area. The search tool or the map is a good start to locate local repeaters for your area. Once you find a repeater you like you can message the owner through the repeater tools and ask them for permission to join their repeater.. If the repeater is listed as 'Open then its a good chance the owner(s) allows use. Just follow rules..

How about an aluminum Airstream? Does Al make for a good ground plane, or does the ground plane need to be ferrous? We have an old Airstream. It's the smallest one they ever made; as a matter of fact, the Airstream cult have nickname it the "Toaster." I have given some thought to putting my mobile in it with a mag mount on top when stopped, but the idea of a repeater is very appealing. Should work when moving. I guess that would make it a mobile repeater. I'm game Steve! You're first in line to tell me how to do it.