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I wouldn't overlook the use of a magmount. It is an antenna and it can be quick to get on the air. It's better than no antenna.

We got a QSO!

This! Use logging software that makes use of CAT to automatically log everything other than the call sign. I use Ham Radio Deluxe Logbook. All I have to enter is the call sign and click log this contact. But FT8 is even easier Also, depending on the software I can set alarms for call signs, states, counties, grid squares, countries, continents, etc that I want to watch for. Today I’m going to create my own contest: “Worked mygmrs members!” using these ham call signs for folks who are MyGMRS members: KF0NYL KC8LDO KE8OWX KO6BIK KD2TWM K4BJW N0TXW

I would NOT want to clean that cat pan

I use N1MM to log anything I log, then I don't have to deal with frequency or mode at all, only call sign.

If that's all that's stopping you, there are workarounds... I use the QRZ.Com logbook function and it's very easy. If I'm on the radio looking for contacts, I start out by logging in to QRZ and opening my own logbook page. When I hear a station I might want to contact, I look up their call sign on QRZ and decide whether to try them. On their QRZ page is a button that says "Log a new contact with _____". If I try them and succeed, I click that button and the contact sheet that pops up is already populated with most of the needed info. All I need to fill in is the frequency and signal report, hit 'enter' and it's done. I used to use a paper log. I have a dedicated clock set to UTC, a formatted spreadsheet with required info blanks and would write as much info as possible. Using QRZ is a lot faster and their logbook function is pretty flexible for sorting. I think one can even upload directly to LoTW, but I don't bother going that far.

Don't let Negative Nancy and his very negative waves bother you. Most of us either ignore him or laugh and make fun of him

I was reading through a Operations Manual for the Midland MXT-400 that I saved on my cell phone. I carry it to ensure that IF I have a question out on a trail, I can usually find the answer in the manual on the phone. I don't get to use it much anymore and have been actually thinking of deleting it from my Files on the phone as I have had my radio since 2019 and feel pretty acclimated when I need to change a function on the radio. On the forum here, I had read that one thing the MXT-400 sufferred from is the ability receiving wide band transmissions well. I found that I just needed to turn the speaker volume up a little and that helped so I have been pretty happy with my rig in the Jeep all this time. And everyone I have communicated with, hears me well. Lo & behold, I looking thru that manual today and see "I CAN Change the bandwith afterall!" How could I have missed that little detail all this long? Had that dang thing for six years and just never knew that! So I get to making a comparison of the operational manuals and "DANG," nothing is different except the ole paper manual does not state anywhere in it that I can change the band width. So I called Midland and got ahold of service rep whom at first agreed that it was possible after all so I gave the rep my serial number and hoped that could help me learn the proceedure for future use. Long story short...... My radio was made before the change in 2021 and I had gotten ahold of a newer operations manual to put on the phone... "Happy Aprils Fool on me! " I'll keep the radio as it really works just fine for my needs, and thought ya'll might want to know that if ya have a MXT-400 made in 2021 or later, you do have that ability to swap from narrow or wide band. Don't let the bastards wear ya down about, "Midland is Crappy stuff."

As @OffRoaderX said, sometimes it works that way. Let’s say you’re hiding behind a rock. Someone 100 feet away is pointing an elevated spotlight towards your rock. At that range the beam spreads out larger than the rock and you can see it reflecting off your surroundings. But you shine a flashlight directly at the rock in the direction of the spotlight and they don’t see you at all. It’s very common for radio communications to propagate asymmetrically.

The FTDI or Prolific chips that are in programming cables emulate serial connections. So yes when you plug in a USB programming cable it does create a virtual serial port. Windows likes to default to a baud rate of 9600 and some radios will use a different baud rate. I haven't had to mess with the IRQ settings but I did have to change the baud rates for a few different radios. Changing the baud rate is mostly for connecting HF radios to a computer though some mobile VHF/UHF radios do use a baud rate that is different from the default 9600. I have not had to mess with the baud rate when connecting any of my hand held radios to a computer.

Yes that is what I did. You can also go into the regular grid tracker settings under audio alerts and check callsign

I ended up just adding you to my watch list on grid tracker. I'll definitely try to work you when I see you on.

@marcspaz has already mentioned using a portable mast system. Here is one I've used. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/257-portable-mast-antenna-system/ For portable power this is one of several solar power systems I have. This particular one all you need is a lead acid battery. It does use one of those cheapo PWM charge controllers. Personally I would use an MPPT, but I got this at a swap really cheap. I was mainly interested in the panels. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/562-dokio-100-watt-panel/ I tend to use LFP, LiFePO4, type batteries now. They last much longer and weight significantly less. To get the most out of a solar panel I recommend a good MPPT charge controller. The one in the photo I got used for $40, including shipping and sales tax. Normally they're around $100+ new. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/569-gv-10-lead-acid-mppt-charge-controller/

Try AtlanticRadioCorp.com https://www.atlanticradiocorp.com/

You won't find them new anymore. TK-3140 was a great Kenwood that has Part 95 certification. They used to be $70-110 used, I still have a handful of them, used the KNB-55 battery, which is also used on the NX-3000 radios. These guys check the radios out before selling them, for $150 its fits your budget https://used-radios.com/kenwood-tk-3140-uhf-450-490mhz-250-ch-4w-portable-radio/?srsltid=AfmBOor3hXfzNg6frpl6zsTfAzixQGKZJjih1N4fJGGRJn8_YKKdad4w

That is because they don't make GMRS radios - You might find some Motorola GMRS or FRS radios, but those are the cheap/low quality type radios, not the high-quality non-GMRS radios he is referring to. Basically, just ignore him because he is rheet-hard-ed.

True, but you might notice and appreciate better functionality, programing, ease of use, screen viewing, better receive sensitivity and last but not least, a prettier wrist strap

HF, often 15 or 20 meters. I have to add your call sign also!

Have you tried running KPG as an administrator? I've also had issues at times that a reboot of the system was required to clear all com ports of previous use.

open device manager, see what port the cable is. I can't remember if KPG-49 limited which com port you can use, you may have to reassign the cable to a port 1 thru 4. You also have to set the com port in the software.

All antennas are a compromise. Go with what works best for your situation. I know most do not want to drill holes for an antenna mount into their Wrangler hard tops and I don't blame them one bit. Though it can be done. People install NMO mounts on fiberglass truck toppers (camper shells for us old people) all of the time. They will put a piece of sheet metal on the underside of the shell for the needed ground plane. And glass mounts do work. Though I will caution that some factory tint can have negative effects on them due to the metal content of the tint. The only way to know is to try.

I have three Tiradio H3 Handhelds and one H8 I was wondering if anyone uses them? Mine works great

Contesting is just too fast paced for me and I don't find any enjoyment in it. I'm not much on long rag chew sessions but I also don't want to feel rushed either. And I do use QRZ at home for logging along with HAMRS for logging POTA contacts. My chicken pecking is not fast enough to keep up at times. Plus my arthritic hands don't always cooperate. I have to edit my posts frequently do to spelling and grammar errors,

People buy these cheap Chinese notch-duplexers to use for home brew repeaters. This is the data sheet I found for one and some real world test data. SGQ-450D-N.pdf Chinese Mobile Duplexer Measurements.pdf

Used to be a guy locally that kept a gator. Sadly he tired of it and dumped it in a nearby lake. To save it the local authorities finally caught it a few years later. Then it died and the zoo has had a "stand in" since. Yep, the environment was so bad that the gator had the audacity to grow once it had space and all the food it wanted.

He probably won't respond, since he Knows when he's been called out.

Man, I can't describe what a PITA that was! Being in Virginia and having to do it on a short hop, too!

Start playing with them cats using a laser pointer. My smallest cat is 6 pounds and she won't hesitate to take on the 96 pound dog. She is my ultra feather weight golden gloves champ. And she is vicious when it comes to lasers.

My present feline stockpile is worthless. I used to have one that would run toward the door and growl when someone approached, better than any dog I ever owned. His size helped too.

Maybe? It would probably help if you told us the name of this particular group.

Looks like you answered your own question. There are only two possibilities: You have a setting wrong Its out of range/out of LOS

When the radio is set in VFO mode, and you turn the knob on the right, it will move up or down through its frequency range. Step is how far it jumps with each click. If you set up the radio for GMRS, you probably wouldn't use this setting much. But it's there in case you want to move around through the frequencies to listen to things, such as in the 70cm amateur band.

@WRPL700 Below is the ARRL Contest Calendar which, globally, leads to the heaviest use of the bands during contest days. All of the rules are posted in the individual event pages as well. If you want to try your hand with it or avoid those days, the calendar may help. https://www.arrl.org/contest-calendar

Step defines the spacing between frequencies when in VFO mode. Because GMRS has predetermined channels set in regulation it really doesn’t apply but if it’s set too high it can block entering an approved frequency from the front panel. Set it lower than 6 kHz.

Step(KHz) stands for how much of a Step the radio takes when manually tuning to the next frequency. Ie; .5khz, 25khz, etc.. It does not really apply much to GMRS unless you are using your radio to manually tune-around to find non-GMRS frequencies to listen to. My guess is you will not need to change it.

WHY ARE YOU SUCH AN ASSHOLE ALL THE TIME ??? CAN'T YOU EVER MAKE A CIVIL COMMENT ???

Why do you insist on being so damn negative?

Yea got it in and my dogs destroyed the box and the instructions so here i am!! LOL

I keep a couple of the H3's around for handout radios, they are nice to have with the USB C charging and obnoxious green color.

Well, no; that $20 retail price was probably $6 when purchased by the importer. So a 25% tariff would be $1.50 which could easily be absorbed or partially absorbed rather than passed through. A 100% tariff might add $3 to the price.

Looks like it the same radio as the Anytone 868, which I have found to be reliable.

I have the original and the Pro , both for DMR on the ham bands. They are great radios.

Now try actually reading his post, then try again.

He has been asked what radios he uses multiple times and he has yet to answer the question. I think he's up to 999 or 1009 reasons why one should not buy certain brands of radios.

The difference in range between the least expensive Baofeng handheld radio and the most expensive Wouxun is zero.

Just checked - back online this morning.

I had one and it worked fine.. but unless it has some feature that you need that the Retevis RT97 does not have, you should consider it also.

I know a few members do emergency volunteer work. Anyone have a legit portable repeater setup? It's been about a year since I setup my portable "shack". Since the weather was nice today and I have a new repeater to field test, I figured I would do a dry-run at home before I setup in an actual emergency. It takes about 3 hours to deploy the portable setup with HF, VHF, and UHF amateur radio and GMRS. So, needless to say, unless it's a multi-day drill or real emergency, I'm not going all out, but it was time for that dry-run. I have a dedicated mast for the homemade 80m/40m/20m/10m OCF dipole, and then an additional mast for the VHF/UHF antenna(s). In these pictures, there is a Yaesu DR-1X and a Icom IC-7300.

I've heard that story before, but the Harvard Radio Club history says nothing of it: http://w1af.harvard.edu/php/history.php Wikipedia has an interesting page on the etymology of "ham". A couple different versions of that story appear there, but nothing truly definitive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymology_of_ham_radio

Thats why the CORRECT way to write it is: H.A.M. Anyone that thinks otherwise obviously does not even have a H.A.M. radio license.