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Inappropriate for the forum. You should probably give up while you're behind. Just a friendly piece of advice.

@WSDU214 I will also suggest using some guy rope to help guy the 10 foot pole from moving around or falling over. You will want a rope that is UV resistant. This is what I use for guy rope and it works well. 1/8 inch Black Dacron Polyester Cord - 500 foot spool Here is a photo of how I guyed my 6 band HF cobweb antenna. I used a satellite j mount and an 8 foot piece of fence post. The tie off point for the guy ropes is a few inches below the antenna.

I have two TD-H3s and I can confirm that the provided USB cable can be used in the SIDE PORT USBc port (not the bottom one on the battery that is for charging) to both connect to CHIRP and program the radio, and you can update the Firmware using it. But yes you do have to either let the software select the correct PORT or you have to manually select the correct port for the usb cable. You CAN get a separate programming cable, but it should not be necessary.

I agree that’s based on location. In my area we don’t even have a GMRS repeater yet. There are ham repeaters in almost every town bigger than 10,000 people. Looking at repeaterbook there are 160 amateur repeaters in Montana and only 8 GMRS repeaters. MyGMRS lists 10 repeaters for Montana, but that’s still 16 times as many amateur repeaters. I realize wrkc935 was comparing traffic, rather than numbers of repeaters, but without repeaters, there is no traffic.

I can't really add anything to what has already been said regarding coax etc. Regarding the antenna, and your need to raise/lower it in storms, I am in a very windy area, where we can consistantly get 20-30 mph for days, and have seen gusts to 70mph, so this was my concern regarding antenna etc. Hindsite what it is I would have put the antenna up another 5ft, however I did not want to attach much supporting hardware etc. (guywires etc). I only put the antenna up about 10ft, but given our elevation here is around 4000ft its kind of relative. The repeater I work out of mainly is around 6500ft so it seems to work well. I have attached a few photos on the tilting mechanism I use, there are much cheaper setups its just what I went with. I use the antenna in conjunction with a antenna switch, which when in the COM location it grounds the antenna, I was more concerned about static discharge than direct lightening. your situation may be different. Best of luck

Hello, I am like most here. I just got my license and installed a midland MX115 in the truck and I have two small HTs that were a gift a few years ago. The reason for me getting GMRS was CBs seem to be phasing out and GMRS is what all my friends run. Plus after watching the fiasco in NC I want a redundant communication system to reach local family. I am located near Mattoon IL.

I missed the part about repeater coordination and who gets dibs on 2 channels in each locale

I can hit more than a dozen repeaters from my house. Might be able to do 8 or 9 with an HT.

I do but they are NR30/NR30S dummy-proof family handouts with minimal programming capability. I will eventually get another RA87 setup at my residence for calling capability if it ends up working. I’m especially curious about the MSK.

What is the regular procedure when there is an established repeater in an area and someone else comes in and installs a new repeater on the exact same frequency? Like within a couple of miles of each other. I left them a comment on their repeater, which they have offered for public use, stating there was already a repeater just a few miles away on that same frequency. They deleted my comment. To me it is just ignorant to put up another repeater, in the exact same area, on the exact same frequency, as another repeater that has already been established in the area, that is at a higher elevation, covers all of the same area and more.

First of all Mr. Doan, you are not authorized to use the CRESST Santiago repeater on 462.675MHz. If you would like permission to use it, you may contact the owner or President of CREST Communications at (951) 897-4153. The dues are $36 annually (prorated the first year) and must agree to participate in a minimum of two sanctioned team events annually.

It's covered even better by SARNET (https://sarnetfl.org/)

AS said every SAR member would need their license. Most will not want to pay that. Your best bet is a public safety frequency. Our SAR team has multiplei n VHF and UHF as well as interop stuff. To do SAR correct you need to do it right. Other than training I would not run an operation on GMRS or ham.

I can hit 4 repeaters (HAM) from my house. I scan all of them. I rarely hear anything on them. One of them has some net one night. The one in my county never has anyone on it. Its litterly dead.

Maybe where you are. Here in Upstate SC they are non stop.

Actually I have, multiple times. It's just htat no one actually listens to what anyone is saying on this topic because they have some preconceived notion that it's just more of the same. And in truth, much of it is. Go back and look at my posts about NOT having more than one repeater that's linked to a system in any given operating area. Read the part about a requirement that ANY linked repeater owner MUST insure that a non-linked repeater with similar coverage footprint must exist where they have a linked repeater. While that is a certainty that 2 pairs will be consumed, it also ensures that a local repeater will exist for the locals to use that's not just some garage repeater with a 40 foot high antenna while the linked repeater covers 4 counties. And part of that requirement is the local repeater should have similar or greater public access. The interference thing is simple enough to deal with. Receivers at the transmit sites of the linked repeaters keeping them from transmitting if the frequency is in use locally. Simple enough to do. My take is to build it better, not just toss something on the air and hide behind the 'equal use' regulations about repeater frequencies. But I agree, it can't be 3 or 4 repeaters in a single area on different frequencies all linked together. Hell I even put in that the only way to do infill for coverage is true simulcast transmit on a single frequency, or don't do it at all. But, that's not gonna happen either. None of the linking will come back.... you have a better chance of winning the lottery than seeing the FCC change it's tune on this. And for the record. I never ask for a DIME to access any of my repeaters, linked or otherwise. And argued the point with others about charging. SO that don't fly with me either.

After drinking some of his dad’s hooch

QFT.. What it looks like when a 9 year old sneaks back onto the internet after his parents told him to turn off the computer and go to bed.

^ Winning friends and influencing people…..

No thank you ! Ham radio has everything you are looking for. No need to change the intended use of GMRS. The ham test for tech is very easy. WRKL858/KK4THK

PASS - Best Thing That Ever Recently Happened, Is That The FCC Mobility Division Clarified A Long Over Due Ruling On The Linking Of GMRS Repeater Stations...... Like It Or Not - GMRS Repeater Linking Is Only & Mostly Supported By Those With Small Roof Top Repeaters Wanting To Talk Distances, Those That Are Unable To Take Or Pass A Ham License Test, Or Repeater Owners Wanting To Engage In A "For Profit" GMRS Operation. Time For All To Get Over This.......

My UHF antenna is on the rear glass and I have no problem hitting repeaters that I need to hit 40 or so miles away, and have communicated a good 15 miles simplex car-to-car. Also, I am able to hear FRS traffic approx 5 miles away. I can't complained about the performance of the glass-mount antenna, I am totally happy with it. The left-front fender mount is my VHF Highband antenna and is essentially will be simplex (151, 154, & 158 Freqs) car-to-car operations. I'm not a Amateur Radio Operator thus no 2M freqs programmed. The CB Antenna is self explanatory and I get about 2 1/2 miles AM and 3 1/4 miles FM. Oh by the way, there is no Midland radio in play in this vehicle. I need to have the ability of communicating on Part 90 UHF freqs. with both analog and P25 Digital emissions, so that means Motorola as noted. I also require the same emissions capabilities for the VHF Highband Motorola radio. Also, you did a great job negatively commenting on my antenna mounting locations and the fact I way over spent on my Jeep build but you never did provided/offer any expert opinion, if you even to happen to possess those expertises, on better antenna mounting locations for a 23 Wrangler. Did I over spend? Well, I really didn't care what I spent on the overall build. I went top notch stuff on everything and essentially replaced just about every suspension, steering, and driveline components at about 4,000 miles on the odometer, for reliability and to reduce the probability of a breakdown on the trail. I also didn't hold back from getting the required/essential top-notch trail recovery gear and equipment. Maybe I did spend more money then you or anyone else would have but, I don't deal or buy cheap inferior low grade POS junk. I only deal and buy quality products, stuff they would use in a public safety environment for the radio components, and as for the Jeep itself only race type quality components. I don't care if it cost more then what you would want to spend. I am totally happy with the total build and I immediately resolved and learned from the minor regrets of the early build stages. If you ever see any of my racecar builds, you will never see any corners cut or cheap POS inferior parts on them either.

Is there a better location on a 23 Jeep Wrangler for a VHF Highband non-groundplane Laird B1442N antenna? There is no such thing as an adequate antenna mounting location on a Wrangler. These three locations are the best there is for a Wrangler and are being used for my Motorola XTL5000 UHF, Motorola XTL2500 VHF Highband, and my Cobra 25 LTD Classic AM/FM CB Radios.

Yes. Resolve is amazing. It's got a small learning curve but once you get going it really just does what you need. The other one I would recommend is Sony Vegas, but Resolve is polished and nice.

Use DaVinci Resolve. It's the same software many commercial movie production companies use, and is the top rated software used in Hollywood. The best part is, its free for folks like us. Commercial licenses don't give us anything we need. https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve I use Corel VideoStudio also, which is $80 to buy, but is way easier to use when I am doing something quick. https://www.videostudiopro.com/en/

I wonder if you understand what the intended use of GMRS/FRS is? It's not social media. You come here for that. LOL! The reason the license covers your family is so families and friends can stay in touch for things like camping, hiking, off roading, use on the property, farm etc. Amateur radio (ham) is better for reaching out to strangers to make contacts if that is your interest. Sure there is some of that with GMRS but that's not really what it's for.