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Hello, I set up a quick and dirty base station antenna in my attic. It's a Midland MXTA26 antenna fed by a MXTA24 NMO cable. I put a 14" aluminum pizza pan under it as a ground plane. I have about $55 into this setup. The radio is a Wouxun KGSX20G+ fed by a Pyramid 12Amp power supply. So far I think it's working well. I guess I need some adapters to test this setup with my Surecom meter but no smoke yet. Any tips or critiques appreciated. I wanted to test the attic concept before committing to more expensive hardware.

Congrats I take the General on 5/10/25.

Totally agree with that.

My Weller equipped soldering station with my fan to blow away the Pb fumes from my Kester solder and to guarantee that I have the real stuff, nothing was purchased from Amazon. I have always wanted to dive into the SMT soldering, but I lack the engineering and technician education and expertise on that subject. So, it is just mostly soldering and splicing and joining wirings together and sometimes soldering connectors on coaxial cables.

That kinda looks like my attic for one of my three antennae. By any chance do you have a Del Webb constructed home? I am using a Laird non-ground plane mobile antenna.

Nice. If it works there’s really no reason to do anything else.

That would likely be 0201 SMD. I’ve done a few simple PCB design and layouts using 0603 parts. I have my collection of tweezers. The production/R&D electronics lab at work has a nice SMD solder rework station.

We have an active, polite, and helpful, GMRS community and there are a couple of nets each week on the main repeater. We sort of, kind of, tend to encourage folks to use phonetics when first transmitting their callsign but don't chastise anyone if they don't. We may ask them to use phonetics if we can't understand them because they are talking too fast (or our ears are too slow) or the transmission isn't clear. Other than that there aren't many "rules" or etiquette for general conversation. We have some folks that talk conversationally, others that use more military-type jargon, and the occasional user that sound like they're Smokey and the Bandit. We don't get too bent out of shape and just roll with it. Usually it is an acceptable combination of all three. The advice given in previous posts is good. Don't be a jerk, keep your language clean, and be polite. If you have a repeater you can get on, listen in to see how the users converse. After a while you will start recognizing call signs and voices and how the flow of the repeater works. Most of our repeater traffic goes something like this. -Listen for traffic, if none heard- "WSFN703 Monitoring (or standing by or listening)" - if you're not looking for anyone in particular but open for conversation. You may strike up a conversation with someone. If someone is driving they may say "Mobile" instead of "Monitoring". This can let folks know that you may lose TX/RX due to terrain, buildings, or distance. It also tends to imply that you may not be active on the radio for very long, i.e. you reach your destination. "WXXX123, WSFN703, Fred are you out there?" - if you're looking for someone specific. If they answer, you go on with your conversation. If you know they are listening, just call them by name. "WSFN703, Radio Check" - if you want to see if your radio/antenna is working and how well. Someone will chime in with their evaluation of your signal. If there is traffic and you want to say something, be it a comment on the topic being discussed or a question for one of the participants, maybe an emergency call, or to contact someone else (and then move to another freq. or repeater); -Listen for a break in the conversation- "WSFN703 Break (or Comment/Question)" - Wait a second or two for the other stations to acknowledge your break, then proceed with your comment. "WSFN703 Emergency, Emergency, Emergency" - State your emergency and vital information. 9-1-1 should be used first but there may be cases where cell phone coverage is not available and GMRS is all you have. After your conversation, however brief or extended, is ended. "WSFN703 Clear" - usually means you are signing off but may mean you are done with the repeater and may still be listening but not actively looking for a conversation. The context of the conversation can provide the meaning. "Well, I've made it to work. Good talking to you. WSFN703 is clear." "WSFN703 Monitoring" - I'm done talking but still listening if someone else wants me for something. This is not any kind of official script we follow. It's just how most of us talk when we're on the repeater. It helps keep things manageable. If we are on a net, we let the net controller set the rules. Simplex may be similar but generally it's just you and a friend or two on a channel so it's whatever etiquette you wish to follow. Profanity and vulgarities are still generally frowned upon since children may be listening but I don't know anyone that polices it.

Ham is a hobby of hobbies. You figure out what you want to do or what might interest you and you do it. I think a lot of people judge the exams to be harder than they actually are, because they start reviewing the question pool and they don't know most of the material. But, you can learn it. There's also a lot of talk about "Amateur Extra is a lot easier if you have a background in Electrical Engineering", which might be true, but EEs weren't born knowing that stuff either. They had to learn it to get their degree and work in their field. If they can learn it, you can at least learn the minimum you need to pass the exams. I feel like you should aim as high as possible, then you can grow into your license privileges, rather than hitting a wall when you want to try something new and having go back and study for another exam. And, when you reach AE, you can just enjoy no longer being in perpetual "studying for finals mode." Just my take...

The cigarette lighter is the worst thing to use, especially for a 50 watt radio. The lighter port is usually only rated for 10 amp and a 50 watt radio pulls double that on transmit. Plus there is a greater chance of getting RFI into your vehicle wiring harness that way. Your best bet is to run the radio positive lead to the battery and the radio negative to a chassis ground. This is especially true if it is a newer vehicle equipped with the battery management system.

But you would be a real dickenzian for doing so...

I stand correct

Tensile strength.

Hmm, it appears that rules do not prohibit me from putting up a repeater on the same frequency and tone that is within an ear shot of another repeater that requires permission to use as long as I don't interfere with an ongoing communication with that repeater because I can use any freq and tone I want and that other repeater owner can only whine and snivel all he wants.

You're fired again. Waste belongs in the drain. Elon Musk would have a hay day with your silly

They very well could be "Sad Hams" with their sour attitudes that have a GMRS license spilling over from the Amateur radio freqs because there is essentially no one using the 2 Meter and 70 cm repeaters anymore to listen to them except for the occasional boring subjects being discussed during the mornings on the Sun City West 2 meter repeater.

I live in Arizona, and yes, they are just kinda annoying. Probably due to the influx of commiefornians.

I still carry around some souvenirs from my time in Iraq, so maybe the shrapnel is helping to act as a counterpoise.

Before you get too excited about the long range possibilities of a low band repeater, talk to anyone who has actually built one, or tried to use one. Beyond the problems of skip, near-far, and antennas that can double as fishing poles, you also find out that you need to have one antenna tuned for the transmit frequency, and another tuned for receive. Typical bandpass cavities are 5 ft. tall, you will need enough space for at least 6, and you better keep them in a climate controlled environment, unless you want to keep a separate set tuned for each season. You also need to know that a typical low-band mobile antenna is only good for about a 500 KHz spread while your proposed pair is 3 MHz apart. Noise is a huge problem, terrible at times. It's only gotten worse in the last 25 years. There's a reason why Commercial (paying customer) Low-band has become a wasteland. Actually, there's many reasons beyond the ones I've mentioned. Most manufacturers have abandoned the band.

Yep...not enough counterpoise.

If that's the case then it's amazing that I can talk to anyone while using a HT. I'm a 5'9" and 145 pound skinny guy.

Oh... that explains why HT's work better for us fat people! Especially on lower frequencies. Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

Yes, we'll take them. That's down near 6m territory.

Does anyone think this is remotely a thing that is on the radar of law enforcement? “What ya got Bob? DUI? B and E? Domestic…?” “Na man this guy doesn’t have a valid GMRS license!” “What kind of animal is he?!!”

And I am trying to start arguments. Right.

You are correct that linking GMRS repeaters is not allowed but you are incorrect if you think that means there are no linked GMRS repeaters.

That’s how they are here as well, but there are only a handful of us who actually have licenses. The vast majority of GMRS just buy the radios and use them miles away from populated areas. Honestly, that doesn’t bother me a bit. Maybe there shouldn’t be GMRS licensing for handheld use or lower than some wattage level.

Either that or just tell them it's amateur radio, most won't know the difference anyway.

Be polite. Don't curse or engage in rancor. If someone says something that makes your blood boil, push the "up" or "down" button and change to another channel. Be considerate. Listen for a minute or so to be sure nobody else is using the frequency. This is especially important on a repeater. If your radio is capable of varying power levels, dial it down to the FCC-approved level. Those levels aren't arbitrary -- they were selected to limit the degree to which your transmission will interfere with someone else's signal. Unless your radio can limit transmit power to 0.5 watt (most GMRS-capable radios can't), just stay off channels 8-14 and let the kids with the "bubble pack" radios use them. It's pointless and inconsiderate to step on other people when you could simply change the channel. I program my radio to listen but not transmit on those channels. With most HTs you can quickly enable the transmit function if you hear someone screaming for help; mobiles are more variable. Yes, the FCC does require you to ID yourself by callsign every 15 minutes and at the end of every conversation. There's nobody actually timing you and most people don't consider it a big deal, but it is the rule. I usually ID at the beginning and end of a conversation "just because". It's like introducing myself by name, kind of like what we used to do when we phoned someone and they didn't know who was calling. A lot of people don't, especially when conversing within a group, and I don't consider myself the callsign police. I don't think I've ever had a conversation on GMRS that lasted longer than 15 minutes, but that's probably because I don't have friends. Some repeater owners may be particular about it, so follow their rules. I use phonetic spelling sometimes, typically when someone is having trouble understanding me. I have an unusual name and it's common for someone to be unable to understand me unless I spell it. Otherwise, I sometimes do it anyway just out of habit. Probably nobody will say much if you occasionally tell them to "take exit 14 bravo" or something like that. Just don't get butthurt if someone ribs you about it. Remember that "privacy codes" don't make your conversation private. All they do is keep you from hearing anyone who doesn't have the same tone. Don't say anything with the PL engaged that you wouldn't say on a completely open channel. Conversely, don't automatically engage tones unless you need to. I sometimes hear people traveling in groups on the highway talking to one another about road conditions/hazards and I'm unable to add something useful to the conversation because they have the PL engaged, so consider the situation before you use it. If your radio will allow it, you can have one set of channels with no tones and another with tones. If you want to hear other people, use group A, if you don't want to hear other people, use group B. In general, just don't be a jackwagon. Treat other people as you want them to treat you, and you'll be fine.

Of course they will "improve" this radio. Their business model demands it. Not saying this won't turn out to be a very nice radio at an affordable price, but.... In 12 months an updated version will be available with some of the features you want, but not all. In another 18 months a newer version with even more features and capability will be released. That hamster wheel of "improvement" and release of "updated" radios will continue to spin indefinitely. But manufacturers will always stop short of giving us exactly what we want. I may be wrong. But I suspect it would not be too hard for BTech to build new radios with all the capability, bells, whistles and unicorn features we all crave right now. But then how would they get us to repeatedly spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars every year on new radios when we could just get we wanted in the first place and use it for a decade. LOL I'm sure it goes the same for all our other friends in China who manufacture radios. And, would probably hold true if an American company started manufacturing budget style GMRS radios. Kind of joking....But kind of not.

If you had read the fcc gmrs rules that you swore you understood before you paid your fees you would not have to ask this question. I guess the baby sitter that posted the link to the rules was right. Well not really since you still didn’t bother reading them. NO! THE FCC DORSNT CARE IF YOU PUT UP A REPEATER. So you listen on all simplex repeater out outs 15-22. You check sites like this. Then you select an unused pair and turn on the repeater. The real question is do you need a repeater? Why do you want it? Do you and your friends do stuff in the area that simplex doesn’t work? Farm, off road area, hiking park race track ect….. can you get the antenna up high enough to matter? Most, like 99% of people don’t need a repeater. What’s the benifit? Or are you just trying to chat with strangers men on the air waves.