Leaderboard

You are not allowed to enjoy a GMRS communication; those are limited to FRS ?

You can also tie multiple licenses to the PO Box without issue. When looking for a PO Box (I used USPS), shop the Post Office that around you within a short driving distance. The Post Office that is like 7 minutes from me, a PO was $65 every 6 months. A Post Office about 15 minutes from me was $30 for 6 months. You REALLY only have to go to that Post Office ONCE to pick up the keys, especially if its JUST used for GMRS/Armature licensing. ANNND sign up for informed delivery and you can see anything going to it. I also use the PO box address for when I ship anything sold online.

I'm putting a fuse box on the platform as well. I'll be adding lighting in the bed of the truck from there. Also plan to have room to add more later, only using 4 of 6 fuses in the box. using good heavy power wire and 50A up front just saves me from having to disassemble the truck for a while to add more things later. Thinking in time I may look into a higher rated inverter than the truck came with too. Also, fuses in the engine bay area may blow at lower Amps depending on temp. At 180F a midi 2 hole fuse may only be rated for 41A.

When I started looking into getting a GMRS license I too learned that your address that you have to provide to the FCC is online for anyone to find. I don't necessarily think I am some sort of "wacko" maybe a little crazy but still didn't really want that information available to the general public. I rented a PO Box before I applied and listed the box # as my address. One cool feature the post office has started doing is allowing you to use the physical address of the post office and your box # as the "suite" so you can now receive packages not only from the USPS but UPS, Fedex, and others as well. I have all of my online purchases sent to the PO Box so I don't have to worry about my packages being taken before I arrive home. The PO Box is less than $100 a year and serves two purposes, works well for me.

Both of the below I've used with good results: Baofeng Magnetic Car Vehicle Mounted Antenna UHF VHF Dual Band Walkie Talkie Antenna for Baofeng Antenna Upgrade 15.6-Inch Whip Dual Band UV VHF/UHF 144/430Mhz

BUT: Does it allow you to hide your Last Name?!? ?

Where did you find the free PO Box? ?

It does seem like a security leak. As a software engineer we work really hard to avoid leaking information that could be used to compromise other users. In radio communications, with our call signs linked to our addresses, publically viewable, the FCC is leaking information. The act of identifying with a call sign gives "bad guys" two pieces of information: (1) our current general location; (2) our specific home address. A bad actor could determine that someone is identifying in Park City, and knowing that skiing typically takes all day, will know that person is not going to be home, in Salt Lake for a number of hours. The home may become a target. Fortunately for me I have someone who stays at my place when I'm away, and my neighbors are watchful. And I have other "precautions" and monitoring in place. But it would be better if we weren't giving out so much information.

I agree. And I know of one person not getting GMRS license and staying pirate because of that.

It's pretty common to do one or more of the following: Upgrade your HT antenna to another, more adequate HT antenna such as a Nagoya NA-771G. This is a 15" antenna, and claims to produce 4.71 dBi gain. Still portable, but also long enough that you can't exactly be inconspicuous when using it. Get an adapter (so239 to sma-f or so239 to sma-m depending on your radio), and then connect the HT to a mobile or base-station antenna. As an example, I can connect my UV-5G via an adapter to an NMO magnetic mount, and then screw in whatever antenna I want, so long as it matches to NMO. I own a couple of options, the Midland 3db Ghost antenna and the Midland 6db 31" whip antenna. But with an adapter you can really mate it up to any GMRS antenna as long as one end is SO239. The second approach is far less convenient for "handheld" use. It would be practical for using the handheld as a base-station radio, or in a vehicle. Not as practical for walking around on a hike.

If you're looking for an easy starting point to start testing, a mag mount may be a good bet...nmo is very common for the antenna connector, and you'll have no problem finding a variety of sizes of antennas to match up to it. Lip mount is another very flexible option. In terms of antennas, anything rated for 450-470 or 460-470 mhz should work fine. One consideration to ponder is overall height: desired mounting point and antenna length. Generally more gain means longer antenna, and also means less vertical height of your signal. 1/4 wave antennas are around 6" long but depend on a bit of metal around the mount to work properly (about a 12" diameter circle). 5/8 wave run around 12" and are a bit less dependent, you can also find 1/2 wave that don't need a ground plane. Midland's 6db whip isn't a bad choice, 2 5/8 waves, but also close to 3 ft long. (Imo, a 1/2 or 5/8 wave, sometimes labeled as 3db gain, would be good starting point, since it's reasonably short but still has some gain). At the radio end, most mounts will have a pl259 (the male side, or PLug) connector on the radio end of the cable (also known as uhf connector); this mates to a so239 (female side, or SOcket) on a mobile radio. For your use you'll want an additional pigtail with so239 to either sma-m or sma-f. If the antenna on your uv9g threads into the radio body, the radio is the sma-m, and the antenna is sma-f (so get so239 to sma-f). If the antenna screws onto a connector that sticks out of the radio body, the radio side is sma-f, and you need so239 to sma-m).

You don't.

And that's where the NEC and Ampacity tables have their largest differences. In radio work, at least with the radios we are dealing with on this site, wire lengths don't come into play so there is no regard to the internal resistance of the conductor and any losses that result from length. I believe the NEC formulas are set to keep the insulation temperature below 60C where the ampacity tables allow temps up to 130C. The most common PVC coating will withstand a temp of 160C while silicon will allow a temp of 600F which can light paper. Additionally, we are normally dealing with amp draws of 16 - 18A max as the radios are limited to 50W. 100W amateur radios will draw 28A which can be run on 14Ga wire, but I build all my harnesses with 12Ga silicon.

Agreed...something to be aware of, but if the first set imports correctly, all is good....they're convenient starting points, not full grab-and-go configurations. Didn't mean to add any confusion.