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I was always interested in electronics but before going back to college to become an engineer I spent eight years as a retail jeweler. Soldering small components while wearing my eye loupe was part of the job. That worked well for me in my early engineering career because the company I worked for needed surface mount prototypes and I could do them in-house.

I forgot to mention that I was voluntold to assemble the controller board once the club realized that working with small components doesn't bother me. I learned my lesson not to talk about soldering tiny digital control boards to N Scale locomotives or showing off any radio/antenna/CW practice oscillators to club members

Nice clean install, good job. What matters in the end is that the setup meets your needs. The Tram antennas are nice and easy to tune. I use the Tram 1174 for GMRS on my Ford Escape. I stopped tuning/cutting once I get the SWR to 1.2 on 462 and 1.4 on 467

I did not study for or feel comfortable taking the general test when I took the technician test. I did pass the general test about two months later. It was pretty easy. And having your general definitely opens up more for you. I'm still trying to study for the Extra but I keep getting distracted and chasing other squirrels. Right now I am busy with an Arcom RC-210 repeater controller. assembling the board was the easy part, understanding the programming manual and actually getting the controller programmed is another story. Plans are to connect the main 70cm repeater, a 70cm Allstar node, and our GMRS repeater to the RC-210.

Hey Nokones, Thanks for the general heads up about dual band antennas. My dual band seems to be an okay compromise for 2m/70cm although the SWR is notably better on 2m than 70cm. I actually have 3 different antennas I can swap in/out as needed depending upon what I'm doing at the time. While SWR is certainly not the only measure of performance, on GMRS, the antenna that gives me the best SWR (1.0 @ 462Mhz & 1.12 @ 467Mhz) is this tiny little low profile 6" quarter wave Tram 1126-B. It works surprisingly well, and I love that most people don't even notice that it is up there....

Now that's just what Randolpho ordered!!!

No bueno there my friend. I am fortunate in that I am not affected by PO, PI or Stinging Nettles. My wife didn't believe me about the PI, until I picked up a bunch from a plant in our back yard, and suffered nothing. The hill behind our garage is covered in the stuff. She, OTOH, is very much affected by them all. Makes hiking our river land an adventure in avoidance for her where I just plow on thru the itchweed...

2% diphenhydramine HCI pump spray is my go-to. I get generic at my local dollar store.

Thanks to @OffRoaderX for the suggestion! Here are the steps necessary to add a user to your “ignored users” list. First, click your screen name in the upper right hand corner. A drop down dialogue appears. Right next to the bottom it says “Ignored Users”. Click on “Ignored Users”. You’ll see a dialogue asking you to enter a member’s name to your ignore list. Start typing the screen name they use. You’ll see a listing of usernames that match what you’ve typed. Select the name from the list for the user you wish to ignore. Select the check boxes that define what you wish to ignore. If you never want to see their posts, check “posts”. If you want to block messages from them check “messages”. If you don’t want to be notified when they mention you, check “mentions”. And finally, if you just don’t want to see their signature at the bottom of every one of their posts, check signature. For example it makes sense to check signature but not posts if their signature bugs you for some reason. It really doesn’t make sense to select signature when you’re going to be blocking their posts, but that’s the default. Then click the blue button that says “Add User”: You’ll get a quick confirmation message saying you added the user to your ignore list: It’s that easy.

You should make a step-by-step How-To for blocking/ignoring someone.. with screenshots and arrows and everything.. That way we can all link to it whenever necessary. In the screenshots be sure to use an appropriate user as the example.

that was it.. he is now history in my book. Thanks

Look at the selections you made for ignoring him. It’s possible not all are checked.

Congratulations! Definitely go for General next. If you're using hamstudy.org then you're on the right path. Consider Amateur Extra as well. Yes, it's a bigger lift, but you can do it. Just study like you studied for Technician and General.

Congratulations.

TLDR. The simple answer to the question is: "It depends".

if its the Repeater with Auto Voice ID announcing the wrong time and date, I believe it sits on a hillside north of Pasadena. It seems to be a unattended repeater, i often wondered if the guy died or something

That looks very clean. Nice job.

Listening with no RX tones will allow you to hear traffic. The call sign will tell you the licensee and their mailing address so you can send a snail mail request. What’s the call sign?

Well a double post doesn’t get more answers. As for La echo 1, nope. It’s a massive huge foot print. I can hear it all over LA and the IE, up into in Santa Clarita, Ventura, antelope Valley, parts of San Diego, victor valley and in Barstow. It’s probably on mt Wilson and must be atleast 200w with a huge antenna. I have never heard anyone on it in years. Just the stupid auto ID every 5 minutes. It’s so big that if people had the tones it would be useless with 100s or 1000s of people jibber jabbing on it all day.

Good rule for Poison Oak & Ivy, but not sumac. Poison Sumac is not three-leaved and is entirely different looking. Sumac leaves are "pinnate" (resembles walnut leaves), with 7-13 paired leaves on a stalk. Sumac is also usually found as a small tree with a woody trunk. [url]https://www.healthline.com/health/outdoor-health/poison-sumac#identify[/url]

To be on the safe side, it would be best to check the VSWRs on your transmit freqs you favor most offen in both bands. Dual band antennae are a compromise and can be problematic for your radio over time if not properly tuned for your operating freqs.

That's what I was saying. He'll charge you big and then only give you decimal points.

Nice clean install. Looks good!

Congratulations!!! Now get that General License!!! It greatly expands what frequency bands you are allowed on, which is important (from what I gather) since we will be losing 10M and 12M because of the 10 year solar sunspot cycle winding down. Though they have not been that great here in the last month or so already.... I am a newer ham and am really enjoying 20M. It is surprising how far you can comm with 20 watts when the ionosphere cooperates.

Decimal points are cheaper than periods, ask any woman.