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Being convicted of a felony doesn't mean you can't get a Amateur or GMRS license. The question is asked because, following a conference with the FCC and the NCVEC, the government and community at large are looking to make the community safer. The character of the applicant is relevant, as licensees represent the US government and the citizens. Some examples that will get you denied are convictions for pedophilia, weapons or drug trafficking, human trafficking, acts of terrorism, etc. If you have a felony 'hit and run' or aggravated battery from 25 years ago, they probably wouldn't flag you. What I find amazing is, they ask on a radio license application, but someone thought it was a good idea to make it illegal to ask if you are a felon on a job application. SMH

I am hearing on line, that a new repeater list is being generated. Many people claiming MyGMRS list is stale and has many old listing that no longer exist. Anybody have any idea, out of all the repeaters listed, how many are actually active?

I built a 1/4 wave ground plane antenna using some stiff bus wire and a PCB style BNC connector after doing some simulations with EZNEC to check the bandwidth. The elements were just soldered on. The bandwidth I achieved was 430 to 470 MHz with an SWR of 1.6 or less. The SWR dropped to around 1.1 or so around 450 MHz. I wanted a cheap antenna to use at the Dayton Hamvention good for Ham and GMRS/FRS. I mounted it on top of a baseball cap while keeping the power at 1 watt or less. The elements were only 6 inches long and held it on top using a zip tie through the fabric. Worked far better than the rubber duck antenna with the radio hanging on my belt because the antenna was up in the clear. I tried several of those clip-on type antennas where you use an HT antenna on them and clipped to a hat etc. I see a lot of people using them. None were worth the effort that I tried. Really poor match when I checked them.