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M$ screwed up with forcing a move to a tablet type interface on newer versions of Windows. Win10 is "tolerable", have it on the work computer, company laptop and home PC. I needed it on the home PC because the Kenwood license manager for their feature license installation won't work on Win7, which I would still be using otherwise, it was close to the look and feel of Win XP. The Win11 I have in a VM for experimentation sucks. It's slow and and nothing more more than a advertising delivery system for M$ garbage. I've flipped every "switch" I could find and researched on-line, but I sill get annoying reminders, here and there, to get M$ Office 365 and cloud services. Win11 is the new Vista, and much more annoying.

I did tell JK that if he heads down under, he could work it as PLOTA Porta-Loo OTA...

That is part of why I got into amateur radio, but not the only thing. I do enjoy having chats with people I know in my area. I also enjoy getting on local repeaters and chatting when I'm taking a trip. It's not the only thing I enjoy about it, but if some folks want to use it for only that, I don't mind. Occasionally, I get a bit bored listening to a couple of guys talk about their medical problems or sports, but I can always turn it off.

This radio was a bit more expensive, GBP 90. I had it shipped from the UK through eBay's international system. https://www.ebay.com/itm/126800820122?var=427899179724 I had to get it before the "de minimus" tariff exception for goods under $800 disappears on 8/29/2025. Otherwise it would be a ridiculous price with the minimum tariff required. No more shopping for stuff outside the USA on eBay anymore. https://www.avalara.com/blog/en/north-america/2024/11/de-minimis-exemption-changes-coming.html

Reminds me of the Cotre C001D DMR HTs that were briefly available from Amazon for $17 and actually worked!

When Macs switched to Intel, I sucked my licensed copy of Windows XP out of SoftWindows and with its proper serial number, installed it into Bootcamp and Parallels to this day on my remaining Intel Macs.

I've been hoping someone would put a repeater up in Charleston...kinda surprised there are none in the area

Correct. The difference is the -45D has additional internal filtering for use on DMR radios. Otherwise they are basically the same.

I use the HAMRS app for logging my POTA contacts. HAMRS will automatically upload my POTA logs to the POTA website and to my QRZ logbook. I log into the POTA website to spot myself along with see sign who else is working POTA. I try to work park to park as much as possible. And I will answer POTA stations when at home to help them active the parks.

Hopefully someone who's done POTA activations can chime in with the software side of things. I know of pota.app which lets you spot activators (report their location and frequency so others can try to contact them) but AFAIK logging is done with whatever software you want as long as it outputs ADIF. I've used kiwisdr to listen in on activations. Sounds fun.

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing you!

@Northcutt114 if you're not against climbing some hills, you might also look into SOTA, Summits On The Air. I don't have a portable rig yet but I just ordered a QCX-mini today. I'm hoping to do some SOTA this fall when I go out to west Texas. It appears that there is 5 summits on the ranch where I go.

Welcome to the forums!

Yeah, works on the Ham band. Would be a novelty. Without another compatible radio, or decoder for an SDR, good luck monitoring the digital voice traffic. Almost as good as encryption but since it’s publicly documented the FCC can’t really complain it’s a “secret code” thus illegal on the Ham band. The point to remember is the modulation used is exactly the same as the low data rate NXDN mode. The later the FCC has emission designators for that. You can’t tell the difference with a spectrum analyzer. What’s different is the CAI, common air interface a.k.a. the digital protocol used. Note the radio is restricted to just the official dPMR446 frequencies in self programming mode. The radio programming software is also locked to the same frequencies. My main objective was to do some testing to see if it will communicate with a full feature dPMR radio. I have some Icom dPMR radios. There are a few “slight” differences which might bigger that up. There are in fact two different ETSI standards, one each, for the two, dPMR446 verses dPMR. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/500-ic-f3162dt-front-and-back-sidepng/?context=new

I am interested in attending

As someone whose end goal is to RV full time in retirement, I feel like this might be my focus when I enter the world of HAM. I appreciate the insight.

Any progress or further interest in this?

LMR-400 is an excellent VHF/UHF cable, but has a solid center conductor and is very stiff. LMR-400 should not be unrolled/rerolled/bent/unbent very much due to damaging the dielectric. A better choice for portable with similar loss figures is LMR-400 Ultra-Flex, which has a stranded center conductor which tolerates handling much better. I use LMR-400 for my base/home installations (even HF) and LMR-400 UF for temporary/portable/mobile use like Field Day setups, etc..