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Amateur radio, or ham radio, remains a critical tool for communication, especially in emergencies. When disasters disrupt internet and phone networks, ham operators provide a reliable lifeline, coordinating relief and sharing real-time updates using simple, battery-powered equipment. Beyond emergencies, amateur radio connects people globally, fosters innovation, and serves as a training ground for future engineers and emergency responders. Its independence from centralized systems makes it resilient against cyber threats and infrastructure failures. In a digital age, amateur radio proves that simple, reliable communication remains vital for connection, safety, and innovation.

I made a special EmComm rig with two Campbell's soup cans from the '70s and 5,000 feet of Spider Wire.

Mmm mmm good

Actually this forum has an amateur radio category and since it does amateur radio posting is obviously welcome here by the owner. You might make the case this should be posted there but since it was posted under the category of general discussion it could be said it’s appropriate here as well. Come on, you should know this by now.

I bet that will depend on if they are wet or dry on how much attenuation they cause.

Thats dumb.. Just use your cellphone!

Not all "sad hams" are actually hams.

My recommendation is to use a wire rope with thimbles. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CSYLQCXB?asc_source=01HFY6QA52QM8M7ATBSHXHG6T4&tag=snxs23-20&th=1

Do birds roosting on the spider wire cause interference or just loss?

Your DX rig was far superior to mine.

This is not the appropriate forum for the above posting. This is a GMRS forum and you should be posting this on a Amateur Radio Forum or Radio Reference.

That’s not any kind of fault. If your radio is set without a receive tone you’ll still hear it even if they added a tone. If you suspect that a repeater output tone has been added many radios have the ability to scan for tones. Also, the record in the database has contact information for the licensee: https://mygmrs.com/license/WRFT322 It says he has logged into the site recently. Send him a pm.

Well you do want to put the antenna on a flat spot when ever possible and on the top of the vehicle. Sometimes that is not an option though. For the OP, anywhere on the roof that will not interfere with his sunroof and has at least 6 inches of metal all around the mount will work fine.

I have no one on ignore. I'll listen to all opinions. or not.

I would first figure out exactly how far back the sun roof goes inside the roof. You don't want the NMO mount and/or coax interfering with your sun roof. While as center as possible is ideal, you really don't need that much metal around the base for a good ground plane with UHF

Thanks, and just to be sure l am getting this through my noggin, I just went to the RPT channel on my radio it showed 462.650 then when I keyed to transmit it showed 467.650 even though I didn't get a radio response, I will move to a closer location sometime and give it a shot....Thanks again

I tend to agree with this. I bought one without doing any research at all... and was pretty surprised how well it does. It is easily "jail-broken" and works well with a remote RF amplifier to push the max legal wattage into the antenna. 5 watts out of the DB20G = 50 watts out of the amp... which helps keep the radio cool by running at low power. The amp has a fan and heatsink on it. Ive gotten great signal reports and have heard others on the same radio. They sound fantastic.

Yes, the repeater's input will be 467.650 and it's output will be 462.650. This is why you will also hear it on the simplex channel of the same frequency but it will not hear you if you try to transmit to it from that simplex channel.

Without some kind of reinforcement, the joints on these top rails allow quite a bit of slop. I use them, but I would not use more than two. I recommend either guying the top rail sections at the joint and again at or near the top or at least putting in a couple through bolts at the joint or even a sleeve that fits around the joint. I’ve been toying with the idea of a piece of steel cable (wire rope) running the length of the two sections and then tensioned to pull the joint tightly together. I’m not certain that will remove the play though. Unfortunately, because of the galvanizing welding is more difficult. A telescoping flag pole is better in my mind (but not as cheap).

That is what I use but beware many of the listings are not up to date. Traveling across Texas I get about one out of ten that returns any kind of tone or squelch tail. Out of those, it is hit or miss as to actually getting a human response. And that is mostly ham repeaters. GMRS is even more sparse.

How dare you sir, HOW DARE YOU!! Those guys are on the frontlines every day and are saving lives!!! (yah, an actual quote from a Certified Ham Radio Operator) ....

Thimbles are a good idea even if you don't use wire.

Dacron rope or wire rope. But a high enough bracket can take the place of guys. Guys are usually attached to some kind of anchor in the ground, but the edge of a roof should work well also.

I can always change out the bottom section with a shorter 7 foot section and see if the antenna performs just as well, i just thought the extra 3 feet would be a good thing. I like the idea of not guying the mast but it sounds dangerous and unwise not to do so. What, specifically do you use for guy wires? Do you anchor the wires to the edges of the roof near the gutters on the one side of the building and the roof peak on the opposite side of the building? I like the one guys idea of the telescoping mast that did well without guying. Will have to look into that.

I'm sure that birds dancing around on the wire will change the SWR. Now if a person dances on the wire you will probably need new wire.

As long as you have at least 6 inches of metal all the way around the antenna mount then you should be good to go. A 6 inch radius is the recommended minimum for a good ground plane. And even "no ground plane" antennas benefit from having a good ground plane.

Meaning The Birds Or GMRS Operators - LOL......

Even though my signature says I'm one of those. I'm not on of those

Huge difference between stories and lies..

100 people surveyed, top three answers are on the board…..

Most likely. Got mine from Gigaparts or Amazon, forget which. But well made and easy to pull down for inspections and maint on the Comet. I'm a dyed in the wool vertical guy for HF, enjoy working with limitations and compromises, LOL.

ChannelMaster Collapsible mast! Again, not cheap, but stainless steel, designed for antennae mounting. I have my Comet CHA250B up 33' and it has withstood 74 mph winds unguyed. Absolutrly worth the $165.

Gives you the option to try different HTs in the future.

Ah... the good kind of comms!

It would be interesting to see a frequency graph of the ignore lists to see which users are ignored the most.

Nice! Great example of guying and bolting the joints. Do you have a closer picture showing how you bolted the joint?

Fence post can be used safely. You have to be smart about it and make sure each joint is mechanically attached using screws/bolts. And you also need to use proper wall anchors along with guying the mast. There are plenty of old VHF/UHF TV antennas that were installed using fence posts/top rails 30-40 years ago (if not longer) that are still standing. And VHF/UHF TV antennas are heavier and have a higher wind load than any vertical antenna. Again, proper installation is important. And not everyone can afford a tower nor is a satellite j-mount always tall enough. Be smart with your installation and your ill be just fine. PS: You can extend the height of satellite j-mounts using 1 5/8" fence posts and couplers. You will want to use guy ropes/wires when doing so. Here is my 6 band 6m - 20m cobweb antenna on a j-mount that was extended up with a 8 foot 1 /58" fence post. The coupler is properly attached to the j-mount and fence post along with everything being guyed. The cobweb has a lot more wind load than a vertical and it has withstood 50-60 mph winds just fine.

Yes that’s correct. @WRXB215’s answer was quicker than mine and dead on thus I suspect also showing the importance coffee plays in radio

I use several zip screws at each joint. I use 1 5/8' fence post couplers. I went overboard and have three wall brackets along with the guy ring at the top. While fence posts and fence top rails aren't ideal, they do work. Just make sure to properly secure them to your structure and at each joint along with some guy ropes/wires. And keep the weight and wind load down with the antennas. I normally only put 1 antenna on each fence post mast.

Well, it's provoked. Just maybe not here. If you happen to log into eham and look in the EMCOMM section, you can see a multipage show about how StarLink is now going to replace ARES and hammie EMCOMM. And me trying my level best to explain that the ONLY thing that will bring about the end of EMCOMM in ham radio is the narrow minded ham operators that feel that EMCOMM can ONLY take place on the ham bands, with some sort of voice communications. If a microphone isn't involved, and it's not in the assigned frequency spectrum of the ham radio allocation then it's 'not real EMCOMM'. And they just keep coming out of the woodwork furthering the narrow minded thought processes. But they refuse to see StarLink as a possible tool in their EMCOMM toolbox for data transfer and instead poo poo on the idea of it completely. Bringing up that ham radio is ad-hoc and redundant and in their minds will still save the world from the evil Motorola radio systems. Mind you.... and I can't believe I am saying this. I agree with Randy on a good bit of his view on ham radio and the SAD HAMS thing. Keep in mind that on November 6th, I renewed my license for the 3rd time.. I have been licensed since 94, making it over 30 years a ham. But I keep getting reminded. Just the other day, I actually heard a couple guys using the repeater. So I piped up and attempted to join in. I finally got recognized, and even after being recognized and spoken to, the two original members of the conversation would continually short key. When I said something about it, the guys reaction was, "yeah, I tend to do that most of the time". fully admitting that he steps on everyone else and just doesn't care. I took the high road and left the 100 watt radio in low power and tried to maintain a turn, but they just weren't having that. I choose to take the high road and maintain two ham repeaters. Keep tossing my call out on the local repeaters to see if there is anyone to talk to. And maintain a presence. Which is more than most it seems.

When you are at this dialog box, just as you enter radioreference from Chirp, change the zip code to the location you want:

Use Repeater Book. You can specify listings by highway in each state you are planning to visit.

Did you look in the repeater database on mygmrs.com? It says there’s no tone on the output: https://mygmrs.com/repeater/5216

At a press conference on August 12th, 1986, US President Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of us here who got started at a later age. If you enjoy watching videos there’s a YouTube channel called Notarubicon that has a lot of basic GMRS knowledge videos. There’s also an excellent video on this forum by @marcspaz that’s an introductory level. I’ll see if I can find a link. Here: If and when you decide you would like to learn more about ham radio the concepts you learn here will help. I can also recommend an online study site that’s free (although you can buy their app for your phone for less than the cost of a beer at a local bar.) It’s called HamStudy.org. But most of all feel free to ask questions. There’s one guy who tends to scold some people for asking questions but he is definitely unlike anyone else here and it’s easy to add him to your ignore list. And sometimes he surprises me and offers good advice. Again, welcome!

Gee, I would assume a licensed HAM would assume radio traffic, while a CB'er or GMRS'er would assume highway traffic. You know, because CB'ers and GMRS'ers aren't even "Amateur" yet...

You are about dead on on power loss. 59% according the the calculator, but with the gain of the antenna you have an effective radiated power of almost 200 watts. Keep in mind the tool I used (https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/) uses dBd for antenna gain, dBd = dBi - 2.15

I do not understand how anyone with an IQ higher than 75 believes anything the media says anymore.

You might be able to pull the plastic shroud off to see if the capacitor has broken free from the coil internally. If so, just resolder it.

I still have my Sears Walkie Talkies from when I was a kid. And they still work. They were horrible back then and are still horrible. range is only about 50 feet