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Yes, I finally did it. I got my Tech (KD3AKT). Had a lot of fun on 10M on Sunday. Got 2 contacts from TX, one from OK, one from ND, one from OR and one from CA. All on 20 watts. What a fun hobby.

any channel will suffice for an emergency Ch.. For example, i was traveling north on 395 last week... This lady came on Ch 18 where i was monitoring and hollered out, "is anyone out there, i need help" I replied, yea,, what's up.. She yelled back, i just passed Sand Canyon Road going north and i need to know where the next gas station is,, i said, are you running out of gas, she said no, i'm about ready to $hit my pants Now this is a true story,, i told her about a mile up you'll find a place called Pearsons.. I guess that suffices for an emergency.. She must of made it, i didn't hear her again.

Congratulations. Now you get to spend even more money on radios and antennas.

So I have currently been using an UV5G plus a UT72G stuck to a pizza pan on the end of an extension pole at about 12ft high. This has worked ok for simplex to a buddy about 3 miles away, as well as hitting a couple repeaters, though a little scratchy on the farther repeater(30miles +/-). Kind of a pain to set up, but it works. I currently set it up and down when I want to goof around. I am wanting to start upgrading things a little with the ultimate goal being a base, probably 25 watt, lmr400, and a better antenna. Due to how my house is, shallow backyard with overhead power lines directly over the back fence, I was looking at doing an umbrella base with an extension pole so I can raise and lower when not in use. I live in the desert, so no trees, most houses 1 story, but high winds during the year. So my question is primarily about antennas. I understand dbi vs dbd and gain, but what, if any, is the difference between a base (ie: Comet Ca-GMRS) vs a nmo mobile (MXTA26) with a ground radial adapter. I ask because it seems like the base/repeater style antennas are heavy and large , vs the mobile antennas are light and slim. I was concerned about 2-3 lbs antenna on a 16-20 ft extension pole vs a 1/2 lb mobile, thinking about wind load, or am I over thinking this. If all else is equal, is there a difference between a 6 dbi Base antenna vs a 6 dbi Mobile antenna? Any help or insight is appreciated! (sorry if this has been asked before. I tried searching, but didn’t find much)

As I remember it, I was originally an O5B-A4, but then they changed us to 31V??? And then to 18E. We used a lot of wired half-wave dipoles. I still remember using the 468/frequency to get the ball park length. We used metal audio tape reels to roll up the extra wire and parachute cord thrown over a tree limb to lift up each side. The radio was a AN/PRC-74B 15 watt. Good memories.

Almost all repeaters adhere to the +5 MHz offset, but all the regulations say is that repeaters transmit on the 462 MHz main channels and receive on the 467 MHz main channels. Thus, repeaters transmit owners are not constrained to use exactly 5 MHz. Unfortunately, certified GMRS tend to use the exact offset. So, sometimes you find a repeater that is off by 750 kHz, but sticks to the channels established by the FCC. It’s very seldom though. I’ve mostly heard of it happening near seaports where some channels are shared with maritime communications.

Thanks for the HamStudy.org heads-up. I will check it out.

I also bought the General book about a week ago and I think I will take that test next month. I don't think I need the Extra.

I’m a volunteer examiner. We’re not allowed to place conditions like that on testing. We tell people about our club, but only as information they might enjoy having.

Nope. Just bought an ARRL book on the Tech test and studied it for about two months, then scheduled an in-person test. Having the GMRS license for several years actually helped learned some things that are in common with both.

OK, I just sent a support request to TYT asking about the clicking noise inside the radio and if that's normal or indicative of a defect. I also found out on their website, the warranty is only 6 months, not the 1-year that I had thought. Let's see what happens. Thanks again.

I would register a complaint with the manufacturer. They might recognize the symptom. I think you said it’s only a couple days old. Make them replace it. You’ll have more peace of mind.

You now have so many more squirrels to chase, especially once you get your General.

Good job! There is an amount of redundancy between the Tech and General tests. Take your General as soon as you can and it will be easier.

6 dBi is 6 dBi, but with the base antenna you usually have a larger radiator and need less inductance. Higher inductance causes steeper troughs and narrower dips in SWR (called high Q). That means that SWR might be lower across a wider range of frequencies. Also, a larger radiator is usually better than a smaller radiator, if it's tuned correctly, because it has more area to gather RF and because it sticks further up. But in actuality, you might never notice a difference. If what you have works for you, I don't think I would change it. And I agree with @GrouserPad, nice setup!

Congrats. I'm glad you have found something fun for you. Great thing about amateur radio, if what you are doing isn't interesting to you, find something else to do with it.

548, that is awesome improvised setup. Props to you for getting on the air. Crutches and all

I seem to find a lot of veterans with radio backgrounds, like myself, on the ham bands! I was a Voice Intercept Operator (98G) Arabic with Secondary MOS's as 05H and 05C for Morse and RTTY, as well as having the K3 designator indicating I was an ECM operator as well in the ASA/INSCOM back in the mid-late 70's. I was already a radio hobbyist in the AM broadcast DX and SWL world. Most my instructors for the radio stuff in the Army were Hams, and bugged all of us to get our tickets. Didn't get mine until 1992 as a No-Code Tech. Upgraded to Tech+ with the 5 wpm CW test in 1996. Was off the air for about 15 years what with Life intervening, but got back into it in October 2020 getting my General and then my Extra in Jan. of 2022. Got into GMRS in 2017 for comms up north where there is no or spotty Cell or internet service. Was WQUR589, but forgot to renew, so now I'm WRJG283 in that service.

Hey, thanks. This was a long time in coming....... 40 years ago I was an Army radio operator (18E) so I was pretty good with morse code back then. The guys were always after me to get my Ham license, but I never did. So fast forward: a few years back I got my GMRS license and played with that and then last fall convinced my wife to allow me to try for the Ham license. I still need to work on dusting off my CW skills again. My hand isn't as steady with a straight key as it once was. But this is a lot of fun.

Oops.

Congrats and welcome to the Rabbit Hole that is Amateur Radio! Enjoy 10 meters while it's hot! Good luck on the General, opens up the world of HF to you! 73 de N0TXW

Here’s a pretty good video on fairly established HF emergency frequencies. Unfortunately I didn’t hear him mention 5167 kHz.

Alaska also has the dedicated Emergency Frequency of 5167 kHz on HF. Have seen that being used here and there on TV shows, but never looked to see if any YooToob videos exist about it.

This!!! I’m always surprised by how many people spend many minutes and sometimes hours researching and asking others questions that could be answered in less than a minute by trying.

It's all about topography. Before it shut down, I used to use a GMRS repeater 25 miles away with a 5 watt handheld from my house. We were both on areas which are elevated above the intervening terrain. I routinely use a Ham repeater in the 440 band 22 miles away with a 5 watt HT as well. There are tools online (Don't ask me where; I haven't used them.) to calculate how high your antenna needs to be based upon the two locations you choose. To my north and east, I have easily 40 miles of good signal. To my west, I can hardly get across town. My house is on the second-highest point for miles around; the highest is about 1/2 mile west of me. Repeaters are extremely useful, but if you and your cabin can communicate on simplex, you take out the middleman and you don't have to share airtime. Put your antenna as high as you reasonably can and give it a try. You might have a very good signal and don't need anything more. It might also be useful to put up an external antenna at the cabin and connect your HT to it when you're there, but you may not need it. A lot of radio is just f*** around and find out.

That's not far, at all. Not on the bike

RT responded to my inquiry about the AT-779 software for Mac. “Yes, more than likely. There is no specific date at this time.”

Ya know, we're not that far apart. If you're planning on doing this in the spring or summer, I wouldn't mind taking a ride over and giving you a hand.

Another really good training method (I really enjoyed it) is HamStudy.org. All of the questions are presented along with lots of reference material that unwind the concepts or reasoning behind the answer. It works really well for those who want to learn the material. You can choose how you want to be presented the questions, a section at a time or randomly. You can take practice tests as often as you want. It’s all free online or for a very low price you can purchase the app and take it on your phone or tablet even when you’re offline. It tracks which questions you get wrong and goes back to them more frequently to help concentrate your studying.

He never said that he did. He is a longtime ham (second sentence) and describes the radio’s power under 2 meters and 70 centimeters. But even if he does use it on GMRS it wouldn’t upset me.

This was my first headliner. I found a guy on youtube who "de-policify's" (his term) interceptors. I've spoken with him on the phone and that really boosted my confidence. I used to install radios, C.B.'s, etc, back in the 70's and 80's, and it was a totally different animal back then. Now, the headliner is one piece and solid, instead of a glued on fabric. Just had to remove the pillar coverings, which are snapped in, and the whole thing just fell down! Easy peasy.

I wouldn’t. It can cause a breathing background sound.

For what it's worth, when I read violations like this, I don't paint all hams with the same brush, I blame only the violator, I know that others may not feel the same way, but personally, I blame only the bad apple, not the entire tree Just my .02 73

GMRS Emergency channel = Any channel that answers the call.

Base station antennas will have wind load information as it is critical in many installations. It may not be readily available on a retailer's site, but the manufacturer will list it in their brochures for the product. Yes, there is a difference between a mobile and base antenna. The radiation patterns will most likely vary with the base having a more defined pattern closer toward the horizon. The antenna length also comes into play as most mobiles are base loaded while base antennas tend to be center loaded.

I got my XPR5550e from eBay. It was brand new still in the box and I paid $450. I am using the Motorola CPS 2 software.

Beer is a helluva drug.

OMG, it's the internet, social media, and You Tube causing all this undermining and disorder of a civilized society of "GMRS People". I think "these people" that are causing all this movement may be driving Jeeps and Nissans to their secret society meetings.

CH.1 FRS Child Care center is on it all day with a bad mic wire I think as it cuts on /off without mercy. Hear the children screaming and talking to one another but never an adult. Ruins the scan feather...

The issue with phone support was that people were calling for help with all Baofeng radio models, not just the ones that are sold by BTECH. This is at least partially because Amazon lumps many Baofeng product listings in "Visit the BAOFENG Store" without distinguishing between sellers. That took time away from actually helping BTECH customers, and the choice was apparently between either discontinuing phone support or hiring someone to answer a phone and tell most callers "Sorry, we're not the Baofeng you were looking for". On the BF-F8HP Pro I do CPS development and co-manage the radio firmware requirements and bug list with someone at BTECH (I'm a contractor). Even I don't call them - I send email to the same customer service email address (not posted here to prevent harvesting by bots, but available in your manual and on the BTECH web site) that you do. If an issue can be resolved faster with a phone conversation, customer service will either pro-actively contact you or you can request that they call you. If you feel you got an inappropriate form-letter reply, let them know in your next email. Since this is one of my first posts here, let me emphasize that nothing I write should be considered an official statement / opinion of BTECH.

Trying call Walgreens truck driver back to veayeven bad two fucking cell phone and headphones