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I understand his question as sort of open ended, wondering if someone has plans to make announcements on the repeater about changing local conditions related to the rally, such as traffic reports. I see nothing offensive about the question.

I'm posting to subscribe to the thread and to share info about the DC metro area. I'm curious to read updates after the rally in SC. It's kind of strange here. When big events happen in Richmond, DC or Virginia/Maryland DC Metro area, the repeaters usually go quiet. It would be interesting to see how the community responds in other areas.

Because my eye sight makes it relatively difficult for me to read a printed booklet (aka ARRL Study Guide), I also purchased an audio book on Audible called "Fast Track to your Technician License" by Michael Burnett. He breaks everything down and explains it so you can understand it, resulting in choosing the right answer all the time because now you are able to apply it. I had been doing practice test on one website, about every other day, and oddly, results were "getting worse?" Not failing, but dropping from high 80's to high 70's. While researching testing locations locally, and remote testing, I found HamStudy.org, and took four test, one each day, and scored 94% or better on every one of them. That meant it was time. It was already too late for the local testing location, and next testing was 30 days out, so I chose to do a remote test. I signed up with PARC and tested the next day/evening. This was conducted in a Zoom meeting and was very professional. There were 4 proctors during my session. I had Zoom running on my PC, and also on my phone which was placed off to my right side so they could observe my hands and my screen (which was also shared). Results were instantaneous, and my email arrived the next day from the FCC asking for my license payment. Note: The design of the practice test in HamStudy.org is identical to the online test proctored the remote VEs.

First thing I recommend is to stay away from the answer books that just give the questions and answers to memorize. While those will get you licensed, they aren't really in the 'spirit' of ham radio. You should want to learn something about the inner workings of radio as part of what motivates you to get a ham license. If you already have a strong background in radio, then closely study the rules of ham radio SPECIFICALLY for the license class you are testing for. Depending on the license class, the frequency allocations are different. And that's a LOT of what you are tested on. So know that stuff. Having that stuff down cold will help if you run into technical stuff that has complicated formulas and math to work out and get wrong. The test is not broken up in such a way that you have to pass each part. You just have to answer enough questions in the overall test. As others have mentioned.... do the online study practice tests. Take several and make sure the ones you are using randomize the questions each time. Taking the exact same test over and over will only teach you the answers to THOSE questions. If they don't ask those questions on the test, you are screwed and will probably fail. When testing, consider each answer. At least one will be totally wrong, but two will at least seem correct. So think on those two answers. Only one is right unless it asks for more than one answer Good luck. The tests are not super difficult. I am sure you will get through it and can become a Sad Ham too.

I deleted that account; looks like someone tried to use your callsign to register. You should be able to register for an account now.

Mine lets me program all channels, so I'm not sure why yours would all be greyed out, but I only ever need/use one channel so if mine were greyed out i would have never noticed. Running the program in "Dealer Mode" will give you access to more options and features. To run in Dealer mode, add "-d" (without the quotation marks) to the end of the program name/path in the Target box of the shortcut that you use to run the program.

@wayoverthere yup, have seen this one also, raise portion suitable for the modification. Think Ill try adding my own ground plate to my roof cargo rack and see how it goes. will post results.

You're welcome I would start by searching those models right here on myGMRS, check out the opinions+experiences of other users, plus read the user reviews on the radioddity & buytwowayradios web sites GMRS is getting more popular, word is getting around about it Some people use it for off-roading, some use it for family comms, some users are going on to chat & make friends, for some users: all of the above I watched two YouTube videos a couple of years ago about a town in California where the residents are using GMRS for communicating with each other before/during/after wildfires I think that the usage is going to depend on the area, whether it's ham or GMRS Just tonight I was discussing ham radio usage with someone who uses both ham & GMRS, in this area [Tampa Bay, FL], the hams seem to be using 2 meter simplex more than the repeaters unless it's a net, the same may be happening in your area, there's more simplex usage vs the repeaters It's an obvious point, but I'll say it anyway, no matter which radio you choose: antenna-antenna-antenna, it will make you or break you, whether base, mobile, or portable/hand-held With GMRS being UHF: height is might, get your base antenna as high as possible, & use quality coax so you don't lose too much of your signal between the radio & the antenna, especially if you're going to use h-t's for now, you want as many of your 4-5 watts to get to the antenna While I'm thinking about it, you may or may not want to replace the stock antennas on your h-t's, you'll have to test your situation out & see what results you get 73

I just set one up last week. The software will show VHF by default until it connects and downloads the config from the radio then it will show UHF. First thing is to check what com port the cable is set to in device manager or if the correct driver is installed for the cable and the software is set for the correct port. Check out this thread on programming it, it helped me quite a bit.

That solid sheet metal ground plane will be a HUGE wind load at highway speeds. I can just picture it ripping off the roof rack rail. It was ok for a static test but you need something else. The following link is a suggestion. If you’re using an NMO mount then you need to look for a kit like the one in the link using that mount type. https://www.amazon.com/WORKMAN-WIL-KIT-W-ELEMENT-MOBILE-GROUND/dp/B01D3ITZ9C

Which cable to you have/where does it connect? What version of the software do you have? What version of Windows are you running?

Correct Shannon, was just asking if any of the upstate repeaters were going to be updating traffic conditions, crowds, parking Ect.

Time for a chart! lol

A lot of people seem to be attracted to those "Ghost" antennas due to their small size. IMHO I've never been impressed with their performance. Some may have had better luck with them. I picked one up at a Ham swap a while back since it was cheap to test out. The results weren't that good. If someone wants a small antenna I would just go with a simple 1/4 wave type, easy one is a magnet mount. It's only going to be about 6 to 7 inches tall anyway. These have a WIDE bandwidth so when trimmed right could be usable over the Ham 70cm band and the GMRS band too. At the frequencies used by GMRS the ground plane required is only about 6 inches in radius around the antenna base for uniform coverage. The magnet mount achieves the connection to the ground plane through the base using capacitive coupling. You don't need a solid connection. Antenna Scan Results (Stealth Dual Band VHF).pdf Antenna Scan Results (Stealth Dual Band UHF).pdf

Here's a list of common business itinerant frequencies. Common Itinerant and Business.pdf

Last time I saw a Sad Ham was when the vegetarian in a local social club volunteered to cook Christmas Dinner.

It appears to be an itinerant frequency in the licensed business band.

Couple places and it will depend on what you are wanting to learn. If you are looking to learn about radio in general, get an ARRL handbook. Yes, it's for ham radio..... but the important part is the RADIO. UHF radio, be it ham, commercial or GMRS is still UHF radio. That's where to learn how antenna's have gain, what coax loss is and how it really effects your signal. Important stuff that is all in one book. They also printed a VHF/UHF operators manual that covers those parts of the spectrum fairly well. Lastly is the FCC web site and the specific regulations and discussion of part 95 (the GMRS service). That will explain a lot of the rules and what you can and can't do specific to the GMRS service

I used to have to wear a full face type respirator and sometimes a SCBA in my job. Every time I used one of these I would have to maintain radio coms. We never used any of the options you linked to (it was a long time ago), we just had a handheld that we would hold up to the exhale valve to talk and then hold it up to our ear to listen. We were in a mostly hot, loud, hazardous environment. It wasn't an every day event so the money wasn't spent for a good solution.

I have the sister HT Baofeng GMRS-9R You can manually input the CTCSS codes through the menu. In your manual, page 11, it shows the MENU button as item #15. Once there just scroll through the menu items to get to Recieving CTCSS and Transmitting CTCSS this is on page 26 of the manual. Your radio is a good little radio for the money. If you are still having troubles, just keep asking questions.... we really don't mind.

Same as getting your D.R.I.V.E.R.S. license. Memorize the answers for just long enough to pass. Then forget it all and learn how to really do it.