Leaderboard

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.

Channel 21 or repeater channel 21, which might be displayed as RP21 or possibly even channel 29? Because the repeater channels (RP15-RP22 or 23-30 on some radios) are received on the same frequencies as 15-22, you will hear repeater transmissions while on 21, but you won’t be transmitting on the correct frequency.

When you let go of the transmit button, do you hear a static-blip/return from the repeater?

Guess I better hurry up and order that 6btv....the buddistick is only rated up to 40m, and I have some complaining to do

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.

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.

Of course,, everyone is only after Fat Moe's beautiful sister. Even Many and Jack.

Insurance companies will total a vehicle in a heartbeat so they can minimize their financial loss by taking possession of the vehicle and wholesale it off to recoup some of their loss. Don't give in to the other insurance company's tactics. Stand your ground and force them to repair it. The value difference between the cost of the repair and the value of the vehicle shouldn't be the decision factor, especially by the other driver's insurance company, rather if repairs are made or not as long that the vehicle's safe integrity is not compromised. That should be your decision. You are the party there-of that has the loss. The worse case scenario may be that the other insurance company low-balls you and you get a check and you pay the difference on the cost of the repair. If the other company does not agree to your wish to have it repaired, you could go ahead and have it repaired and take the other driver to court for those repairs since his company did not pay for the repair. Ultimately, the other driver is financially responsible and liable for those repairs not the insurance company. Also, you should file a Financial Responsibility Statement with the State. Depending on the State and if there is a road rage statute and how it is worded, and the totality of the facts, his actions could be considered an act of an Assault with a Deadly Weapon at a minimum.

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!

I got it all figured out I was adding the tones in wrong

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.

Because RF is emitted in all directions equally from an isentropic antenna, one way to compare the range of different power outputs is to think in terms of the volume of a sphere: Two watts fills the volume of a sphere of a radius of 0.78159 (the units in this case end up being the cube root of watts.) Five watts fills the volume of sphere of 1.06078. So, all other things equal, the range of a 5 watt radio compared to a 2 watt radio, to produce the same RF strength, will be approximately 36% further. Increasing it to 10 watts (five times the power of the two watt radio) results in 70% greater range. Increasing power to 20 watts gets you a little more than twice the range of the 2 watt radio (2.14 times to be exact). Finally, increasing it to 50 watts gets you less than three times the range of the 2 watt radio. (a factor of 2.917). Hopefully this illustrates how little/much RF power actually matters. Edited May 14, 2025: The above should have referred to the surface area of the sphere, not the volume. I regret my error.

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 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.

This site and the growth of linked GMRS repeaters has been one of the most exciting things regarding radio. The FCC's position is not only frustrating it is nonsensical. There may be some reasonable rationale, but no one has been able to explain it beyond a dismissive claim of potential interference. It's reminiscent of a parent saying "because I said so". I'll sign the petition. I'm just shaking my head at their rule absent any explanation that makes sense. Thanks for all you do and have done! 73

"all" the other GMRS repeater systems throughout the country are not shutting down.. Many are, but some will choose to wait until the FCC actually does/says something. This site is much more than just some linked GMRS repeaters, so, no, my guess is that there is zero reason for this site to shut down.

When people talking about two-way radios and use the term "net" they are usually talking about a meeting of sorts on the radio. Connected repeaters are usually referred to as "linked" repeaters which are becoming a thing of the past for GMRS in some areas.

I wanted to share my results of my 2nd Ed Fong GMRS antenna. This is on a 18' MFJ tripod mast on a Retevis RT97 GMRS repeater go box, powered by a 50AH lithium battery charged by tactical solar or wall charger through SAE ports on the box. Also using a repeaterid.com ID system with morse code. Couldn't be more happy with the results, the machine ran all weekend and solar kept it fully charged, and hardly any battery loss over the night. Using the 462.550 / 467.550 repeater pair with TX and RX codes. SWR under 1.1 and getting 5.2W output after the duplexer. The Fong GMRS antenna is the star, so lightweight and portable, with no need for grounding. Using 18' of Messi & Paoloni Ultraflex 7 with the good waterproof connectors (also have a 25' run of it if needed, love this cable and connectors for tactical or shorter runs). If anybody has any questions regarding this set-up, I will be more than happy to help.