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That is how it is with some of our club members. And we all enjoy hearing the kids talk on the GMRS repeaters talking to Grandma and Grandpa. Some of the kids are as young as 5 and all of them do really good using call sings when required and waiting their turn when a group of people are on the repeater. Some of the kids might not ever get into amateur radios but I know a few that definitely will.

I know a guy here on this forum that regularly/ALWAYS gets 200+ miles on all of his radios.. He apparently does this by purchasing every radio ever made and if it does not get 200+ miles, he just throws it directly into the trash.. All of his "friends" also do the same thing, so this method obviously works.

@tcp2525 and @nokones gave good advice. It is common for those with camper shells/toppers on trucks to use a piece of conductive metal on the underside of the fiberglass shell with a drilled hole for a NMO mount. And for the most part a glass mount antenna will also work. I personally would go with the Larsen glass mount on a Corvette to keep the classy and sporty look of the vehicle.

When someone is listening to you over the radio, the only thing they know about you is going to be your callsign, assuming you aren't an idiot and have not broadcast your full name for everyone to hear. So usually, over the radio, which is what the context of this discussion is, it is VERY difficult to look up someone's address without going through the FCC website.

Some just like to type and hit enter even when it is irrelevant to the conversation. It may be due something they need to have fulfilled. I do agree, the ignore function works to eliminate material that shouldn't be present to begin with.

I'm not saying you can't be charged if you change your credit card number. I'm saying your financial institution can't deduct from your account if you tell them not to. If they do, they are liable. I've always notified my bank when I stop an auto pay. Maybe it's unnecessary and all the companies I have dealt with are open and above board. It's your money, take charge of it.

It's actually not all that difficult to look up someone's address without going through the FCC website. The only way to keep all of your information private is to go totally off grid, get rid of any and all computers, phones, never banking or using checks and credit cards, have any public utilities in your name, etc etc. Oh and for those that have served in the US military since 1993, the federal government has your DNA on file. If you have ever had any type of government security clearance, they also have your entire life story on record.

You can only use one channel at a time.

You can get them into cars, motorcycles, shooting sports, etc etc and they won't have money for anything else.

Someone wiser than me once said, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Get them interested in radios, and they'll never have enough money for drugs.

This is a topic you could search for hours on and not come up with a clearly definitive answer. In fact, there's almost no argument, even. The advantages and disadvantages of each are so minor people don't really seem to be all that passionate about it. CTCSS will behave with older equipment that doesn't support DCS. But who are we protecting? There aren't a lot of people operating 20 year old blister pack GMRS radios lacking DCS support on repeaters. Both are subaudable tones or sequences that have to be filtered out by the radio's high pass filter. Both have different reasons for behaving a little oddly at fringe-reception areas. DCS *may* take a little longer for the sequence to be transmitted completely enough for a radio to open squelch, but we're talking tenths of a second at most. CTCSS may be a little more crowded (you may have a slightly harder time finding a channel and tone pair that isn't in use). But the fact that we have both systems really is a product of the evolution of marketing bullet points from vendors. One or more vendors claimed they had a new and improved system, and they pushed it to the point that it gained adoption. But the fact that DCS and CTCSS have continued to co-exist for decades, filling the exact same purpose, without a clear winner pushing the other out of the way kind of indicates there's not a clear winner.

Every 15 minutes and at the end of your conversation. As far as the other etiquette issues, pretty much what the previous replies have noted. As far as calling other users, Callsign or name or nickname, whatever gets their attention if they're listening. Some areas have active simplex and repeaters in use, but for the most part GMRS is a "bring your own" type of service. In my case it's my wife and son using it when up north away from cell phone service, around the large city lot at home and with a small number of friends near home we chat with occasionally. I rarely use repeaters. Have fun however you use it, and don't overthink it or take too much umbrage if some self appointed radio cop gives you grief if you do "something wrong."

All regulatory agencies interpret their rules to their favor, from the ATF to the other end of the list. FCC is no different. Unlike some of the other agencies they don’t seem to enforce their interpretations very often. I have no idea how you reached such a conclusion, and it’s not worthwhile trying. I’m glad they post both the rules and the regulations . I even agree with many of their interpretations.

In my experience, that's actually pretty rare, but the few a-holes make a lot of noise. Most of the hams I know have the attitude that different services are for different purposes, but radio is radio. I'll bet at least half of them have GMRS licenses. Many (most?) hams are old enough to have grandchildren, and we help them learn the basics on GMRS. Don't listen to the haters. They're wee todd it.

in my case, it was just easier to close my bank account and walk across the street and open a new one with a different bank.. Symantec actually got sued for their scam practice a few years after this happen. I was part of the class action dn got a whopping $43 bucks for my part.

Geesh! Paranoia is growing rampant. Thank heavens the federal, state and local governments have access to every bit of my information. That way I don't have to wring my hands and whimper about it. And as to regular folks knowing about me, just ask, I love to talk about myself. Not to mention I have accumulated some really good stories over the last 70+ years. I suppose some one could try to steal my identity but since any fraud committed by such means wouldn't be done by me, I'd just choose to ignore any blowback. I just inform folks it wasn't me so deal with it. Besides, I am an old fart much closer to the end than the start and that makes ME completely unpredictable.

Laird has a Phantom Non-Groundplane antenna. You will have to order the White antenna unless you want to buy the black antenna in mass quantities. I would go with the Larsen Glass-Mount antenna. You will be surprised on the performance of this Antenna.

I can’t think of any situation that would require the license to be carried on the person.

The 900MHz spectrum is sort of a garbage patch as it is. That's where the FCC likes to stick unlicensed crap, it's one of the ISM (Industrial Scientific Medical) bands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISM_radio_band

A couple of things about every forum I participated in. You have to have thick skin or your precious ego will be destroyed. Everyone has and is entitled to, even if they don't share mine and are wrong, opinions. And sweating the small stuff is not only fun but educational. Life is full of mystery and controversy. Embrace them.

Thanks guys. My Repeater is coming today.

i remember some 10 years ago subscribing to Norton Antivirus and having to close my bank account because them suckers kept charging for the service i canceled. Cancelling the card didn't work because Norton pays the banks for some stupid service that allows them to follow a customers account via Visa.

Not familiar with that particular radio, but have you looked for an option in the menu labeled TXP? On my ar5rm its option 02 on the menu.

them damn 'auto subscribes' will get ya every time

I come here for real info and rational topic-focused discussion. I do not come here for all the trash talk regardless of how witty someone may think their comments are. This topic isn't even about linking, let alone all the crazy stuff brought up. I've decided not to post whatever good info I may get unless there's some place I can put it where it won't get trashed by smart-elec comments.

And that is why I avoid any and all cheap cables with clone/pirated Prolific chips in them. It's bad enough that Prolific drivers have not been updated in years. I've had issues with some cloned Prolific chips on Windows and MacOS. I have a couple that I never could get to work on either operating system. Even Linux doesn't like those cables.

I hated those winds. They would always blow my little Dodge Shadow all over the place when going over Jack Rabbit pass in-between Ft Irwin and Barstow. Though summer at Ft Irwin was no fun either. The summer winds came out of Death Valley.

All cables with a chip require a driver. Some versions of Windows have the drivers pre-installed, but not all. Because there were a lot of counterfeit FTDI cables, the pre-installed drivers in Windows 11 check for counterfeits which sometimes can cause problems.

No doubt, the HLN9073 is the more elegant of the two designs. JJHXSM-like mic holders came with my Wouxuns mobiles. They are a little bendy, but useable. However, to use one in my particular car, it would require me to screw it to the dash or center console and suffer an awkward reach or create interference with other stuff. None of which are acceptable to me. The magnet solution, while imperfect, allows me to secure the mic to the radio's mounting bracket without effort or precision. Thanks for the information!

There is a wallet card on all recent license documents from the FCC. It's below the "mini" license they provide nowadays.

How many people carry a copy of their ham or GMRS license with them in their car? You may be the ONLY one.

He is "that guy" and falls into the category of "some people". It must be nice to have money to just throw away like that.

Maybe. Some repeaters have been linked, so it’s possible that’s what you’re hearing, but it’s also possible that you’re receiving them directly via a phenomena called tropospheric ducting, which can cause UHF signals to travel farther than normal distances.

Glad to hear you got it fixed up. The wideband entitlement issue is troublesome, as Motorola is no longer supporting older 'legacy' software, and the EID's only work on the newest, current software. Otherwise, you are left with trying to hex edit the software & bypass the built in checks that forced narrowband in the newer software versions. As you discovered, R05.16 was the last legit version that allowed CP200's to be programmed wideband with 25kHz.

If that makes you sad, you should set up your own repeater so everyone can use it for free and teach them all a lesson.

Yes indeed. They play Battleship by Radio on the Gallatin repeater at 462.650 (141.3Hz in/out) on Wednesdays at 730pm. The Gallatin repeater bleeds over with the Brentwood "Grasslands" repeater (same frequency, different tone).

I have a Baofeng UV-5R that has a PTT/mon/call button assembly that looks a lot like your AR_5RM. Maybe its the same? Like your AR_5RM, I can accidently key my UV-5R by just picking it up. I thought I would take the chance to see if I could increase its PTT pull weight hoping it is a fix to our shared problem. Good news, maybe? I was able to increase the PTT pull weight from 14oz to 1 lb 6oz without taking the radio apart. All I needed was a small thin flat screw driver and a 5/16 x 7/16 x 1/16 nitrile O-ring (available a Harbor Freight assortment box). Can't say its a super solid fix, but I tried it a bunch of times and banged the UV-5R around as hard as a dare, with no ill-effect. Providing your AR-5RM has the UV-5R's construction its a simple modification that is quick and easily reversible. How is works: Underneath the plastic PTT button you remove there is a thin sheet of silicone and under that is the REAL PTT, a membrane button on a PCB. The internal diameter of the O-ring you are adding is larger in diameter than the membrane button. With the O-ring in place, the plastic PTT button will have to overcome the additional resistance of the O-Ring before it comes in contact with the membrane switch. What I'm hoping that will make this fix reliable are the legs on the plastic PTT button that holds it in place will also prevent the O-ring from moving. Step 0: Verify your AR-5RM looks like it shares the same PTT button as my UV-5R. Step 1: Gently and carefully use a small blade or flat-screwdriver to pry out the plastic PTT button. This is just a piece of plastic that when pushed, in turn, presses on the real PTT button, a membrane button covered by a silicone sheet. Step 2 - Put the 5/16 x 7/16 x 1/16 nitrile O-ring in place centered vertically. Next gently and carefully re-install the plastic PTT button, PTT label down, being especially careful not to displace the O-ring. It is helpful to use the small screw driver to assist in the installation. Done! Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Hello all! I just wanted to come on here and let everyone know about a new GMRS net that has just kicked off locally here in the Hickory, NC area (Charlotte, NC metro). It is called the Barretts 600 Net because the repeater is on the Barretts Mountain tower site. Frequency is 462.600, standard +5 offset, and the tone is 146.2 Hz. It's a wide area repeater and reaches at last count about 40 miles circumference to Hickory, NC. The net is every Saturday night @ 7:00pm eastern time. Please feel free to contact me with any questions/comments/concerns. Thank you and hope to talk soon! David (WRAX515 or AK4FD)

You can use a PO box, or even cheaper, a service that hides your info.

I agree but I got over the anger years ago.