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No such determination has occurred or will occur. GMRS repeater systems are not illegal. The FCC added words to their interpretation page saying that repeaters could not be connected together using the internet. That's all. The number of repeaters shouldn't change.

Yes. HamStudy.org has been helpful in learning about things you need to learn and studying for the amateur radio permission slip. Got my technician license on 7/15/2024 and got my general on 8/15/2024 and ham study was a big help.

You mean they don't?????

Most hams that I’ve talked or listened to, are more than willing to help out, not elitist at all….

Yah, it's an elite group...

Just to give the Flat Earthers more proof!

The thing I hear the most is "you're not a real Ham if you don't know CW." And my favorite is the guy on the repeater saying "I only operate on CW.", but 10 minutes before that he was (on the repeater) bragging about making 3,000 contacts on FT8 last night. LoL

That's too bad. They need somebody new on the band as they pour out their frustrations with the world.

I found it a great source as well, for both Tech and General.

I used the below in few posts back then. A few Hams couldn't see the humor in it and got rather pissed. "You ask what Morse Code is good for? I'll tell you. Morse Code is used exclusively by Electronics Based Life Forms to communicate amongst themselves using advanced Organic Digital Signal Processors, running state of the art Artificial Intelligence Software, to perform the highly complex transmit encryption, receive decryption and error correction functions."

Quick follow up. SUCCESS! I was able to reach the Denton 600 repeater last night! This GMRS stuff is really cool.

Better get on there and castigate him - remind him that FT8 uses more than 2 tones, so not CW....! See how quickly you can bring out the SadHam in him!

I am studying for my ham license, I’m about 30% of the way through.(having a little trouble on the electronic theory)I was hoping to have GMRS as a diversion, a fun one at that. I guess I’m happy that they’re doing it now, so I don’t spend any more money on it. 73’s everyone, thanks for the feedback ! Dave WSDD439

On the radio I hear the same traffic on repeater 21 as normal 21. I attempt to transmit on repeater 21 which has the 5 mhz offset

Just like this forum.

It seemed to work better at night, lots more chatter and was able to communicate crystal clear with a user a mile from the repeater. I will be monitoring today to see what happens today.

I thought to be a real ham, you had to be on 80m complaining about medical ailments, and the invasive procedure of the week.... Guess I'm not quite there yet

You'll do it.. Good Luck

Good luck with the test!!

You're not a real ham unless you have a license, period in my book. Or, you're not a real ham unless you're on 60 meters talking to Europe at night on CW and Phone - and FT8! LOL.

On a mountain road and considering the immaturity of the other driver, you’re lucky it didn’t go a different direction. Glad you are all ok, the truck can be fixed.

This raging debate reminds me of the one over the FCC dropping the CW testing requirements for Ham licenses.

PS: This is why all our vehicles run a dash cam. So far it's mostly come in helpful for other people (we got the guy who got hit the footage so he can prove he wasn't the one running the light), but it's good peace of mind in case we ever run across a nutter.

Yes! Sorry, I thought I included the phrase “all other things being equal.“ I meant to anyway.

Good luck with getting your ham license. If you aren’t already aware check out Hamstudy.org they have just updated their app yesterday. I found it very helpful and it’s even better now.

Why not just get into ham radio? There are DMR repeaters all over the world. You can even target an individual user. Nothing is private of course, but the Brandmeister network allows you to connect to a talkgroup or an individual radio. All it takes is a technician class ham radio license and a DMR radio. The TYT MD-UV380 is under a hundred dollars. I recommend loading it with Open UV380 firmware.

If you don't have your Ham license yet, well now might be a good time to consider get it.

Don’t mind Randy, it could be a ham touched his antenna once and he’s never been the same or it’s just that his persona requires a dig at hams at least once a day? He’s really alright. We think.

I’ve already been offered help on my radio and antenna setups….. wouldn’t call that elitist at all….

Sounds exactly like something an elitist H.A.M. would say...

I’ll hold my own. I’m pretty sure of that.

I had a situation once where the driver that hit me was a minor driving a friends car and her mother refused to give me insurance info and settle until I said “we’re done here, I’ll see you in court”. Magically all was suddenly taken care of. The threat alone can be enough to motivate some people.

I’m sure you could support your story with signed affidavits from your passengers and that he’ll unlikely be able to get people to lie for him. These things can boil down to perseverance. Hang in there.

THANKS !! I'll need it !!

It doesn’t appear to use the earth’s curvature. I selected two points 800 miles apart and the result didn’t display curvature.

WOW! Thank you for that link! I have been looking for something that could show line of sight and take elevation into consideration. Do you know if it also accounts for curvature of the earth over distance or does it just simple calculate on elevations.

Most States require both parties involved in traffic collisions to file a Financial Responsibility Statement, usually with the Motor Vehicle Division regardless if there was a Police Report taken or not. It protects the not-at-fault driver in case the situation goes sideways when the damage to a vehicle is more than the required limit. If the responsible party does not follow through with their financial responsibility, the State will step in and take action on the responsible party and if necessary suspend the responsible party's driver's license until that Financial Responsibility is met pursuant to their motor vehicle statutes. It essentially notifies the State who was involved, the insurance companies involved, etc. It usually is a one page form you complete and either take it to the Motor Vehicle Department or mail it in. Some states allow on-line filing.

But he sounds like big fun to hang out with! [emoji1787]

Today I received my replacement radio, in fact it was a complete kit. Radio, battery, charging block and cable, antenna and of course the wrist strap. wasn't charged anything so that's pretty good in my book. Cheers!

Your fars are limited more by the antenna and location than your RF-electricities, and the coverage radius is an estimate based on whatever the repeater-owner decided to enter, and it may not be based in reality at all.. Whether or not you can connect to/use the repeater depends on what is between you and the repeater.. if its up high on a mountain, with no other mountains in between you and it, then 20-miles is no problem.. If there are mountains, a forest, or miles of houses full of..gravitationally-enhanced people between you and the repeater, then you may not be able to reach it... The only way to know, is to try it.

UPDATE First of all, thank you all for the input and advice. Secondly, (and quite frustratingly), I have NO idea what I did differently or what changed, but I'm now hitting said repeater......repeatedly! I was able to get it from approx. 6.4 miles today (according to goog-lerf). And that is with the 5w handheld. I'm curious to see what happens with the 15w mobile next week. Thanks again to all

To date, the FCC has never issued any notice of violation to any GMRS licensee for linking. These letters are all accessible on the FCC website by general search or via the Enforcement Bureau. In my opinion, the majority of the detractors have some sour grapes and just want to condemn something others enjoy. I doubt they live somewhere where all 8 channels are unavailable for whatever reason. Perhaps NYC/Long Island, but not the Carolina's or even Florida.

As a poorly qualified noob I have the constant feeling that I'm missing something. According to the obviously qualified posts here, no GMRS users have complained about linking, technical complaints such as tying up frequencies are baseless and everyone who tries it likes it. Yet there remains afoot a movement to terminate all this happiness. What am I missing? This is more of an opportunity for the FCC than it is a problem. The ability to communicate with others over long distances via linked repeaters is very appealing, with little if any apparent downside. If there is a problem with the rules then perhaps the FCC needs to change the rules.

There are forums that are predominantly hams and yes, they are the most vocal. Many have GMRS licenses as well, but for the most part they are complaining about something that does not affect them . Lets think about this. Has any GMRS licensee lodged a formal complaint to the FCC about linking? I have spent hours looking at the Enforcement Bureau database and no complaints about linking.

I’m using Ham Radio Prep. Next weekend, I’ll be attending an online course, as well. Fingers crossed !!

I can answer your questions on electronic theory if you need.

Now that you know the repeater location this line of sight tool may help you see what you can expect connecting to it and from where. Good luck.

Hopefully people will see this as yet another reason to vote correctly, with liberty as the first priority.

Shutting down the actual links is different than shutting down the repeaters themselves. Repeaters are not getting shut down because of this. It is only the links that are getting shut down. I'm not trying to offend people. But it feels like I am stuck watching the Disney Chicken Little movie on constant repeat. The FCC is actually doing something right for a change and trying to clarify the rules making them easier to understand.

Sometimes in the background while reading some of these threads, I hear "Yakety Sax" by the artist, Boots Randolpho in my head.