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My Mom is 75 years young today.

No. As long as you do it right/dont screw it up, you lose nothing.. The SWR is a good indicator to let you know there are no shorts in your coax/connectors and the antenna is not way out of tune - but yes there is more: Does it actually work?.. and the answer is probably yes... You are already WAY over-thinking all of this. Just install everything, double-check with your SWR meter, then go enjoy your radios.

That would be a lot of hugs. I'm 1 of five boys and all of us are married, plus five grandkids.

1) NO 2) You would be able to transmit on non-GMRS frequencies but still have the convenience of having the pre-programmed simplex and repeater channels.

There's no advantage; you could just get a UV5R.

Oh great crappy 80's movies will be on all day. Time to make popcorn .

Well, I'm one of those that had to pass three tests to get my license and I'm not on a pedestal looking down on anyone. And that first bunch of hams that I met didn't know I was active on CB either. They were just a bunch of douches, which is why I didn't hang around their club much longer after I found out their true colors.

The group of guys that I met on air on CB, and in real life, were a lot more welcoming to me than the group I met on air when I first got my ham license. We had more fun than the hams at that time too.

Hi Brad, Antennas are much more than simply a good SWR reading. A dummy load will provide nearly perfect SWR while emitting very little RF. All antennas have gain, which is a concentration of the emitted RF in a particular pattern, expressed in dBi or dBd. If you have time, knowledge, and the right tools it’s possible to make and tune an antenna to perform as well as a commercial antenna. I wouldn’t advise it for someone who’s eager to get on the air though. And if your time is valuable it’s unlikely you’ll save money. Most antenna are already made of materials unlikely to corrode although sometimes manufacturers screw up and use set screws that are not stainless.

That's only 4 paragraphs...

FM CB is still new and most of the radios in service don't have the FM capability. I imagine FM will become used more as users either upgrade or replace existing radios.

I would buy a pre tuned antenna if just starting out in radio. It will be much simpler and easier for you. A good antenna analyzer or NanoVNA is a must if you are going to properly tune any antenna. There are plenty of free online calculators and phone apps for figuring out the lengths of different types of antennas. A friend has a big roll of solid core 75 ohm cable that he uses for making 2m, 70cm, and GMRS j pole antennas. It's not difficult with knowledge and the proper tools to include analyzers/NanoVNAs. I will say that there is a bit of a learning curve with a NanoVNA. A good antenna analyzer won't be cheap. I have made a few wire antennas for the HF amateur bands but I could not have done it without an analyzer or NanaVNA.

Probably why an EMP bag will let high frequencies through at strong signal levels. The bags are designed for a dc generated pulse.

The higher the frequency the shorter the wavelength and the smaller the opening that can penetrate.

I like making my own wire antennas for ham radio and I have an antenna analyzer and a nanoVNA which both help with tuning (interchangeably-you don’t need both). It’s one of the more rewarding aspects of amateur radio, and tuning an antenna that is designed to cover the range of frequencies to a specific frequency such as for GMRS is straightforward, but there’s a learning curve for the process and the tools. Like many hobby projects it can be very frustrating if you don’t have a mentor close by.

Thanks for the responses guys. I think now it is just easier to buy one. I might try to tune one eventually just to get the experience. Looks like there are a couple with good reviews on Amazon.

Let us know how that goes.

Thanks for all the input! Oh, and if you are a DAD, Happy Father's Day in advance!

Chirp has been instrumental in helping “unlock” certain GMRS radios that come from the factory locked down to satisfy FCC requirements. The Baofeng UV-5X(G) comes to mind

Hugs for Days !!

i have some from Nest that claims to be military grade. Big enough to hold a HT with antenna. These are more designed for EMT protection with i would think would work against cell phone detection.

Thats awesome! I hope she got a big cake with 75 candles on it. and everyone got to spend time with her and that means you have to give her 75 HUGS.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I know what today is. It's my mom's birthday. It just happens to fall on Friday this year.

Freaked my little sis out so much, and she didn't want to tell our parents, she slept on the floor in my room for days. Then they made the sequels.

Which is BS. If we were trying to do anything 100% on our own we'd still be living in caves eating whatever grew on the land and whatever squirrel we could manage to hit with a rock.

I've had them say to me well I had to pass a test and endure ongoing education. Well big whoop. I had to learn my trade 100% on my own without help from a myriad of teachers and employers. School of hard knocks as it's known. I'm sure they'd have a harder time with my profession then I'd have with theirs. Love it when they say carpenters are a dime a dozen. Ya, crappy ones maybe.

Every occupation and hobby has some people who look down on others. There’s no denying that. But if you feel that anyone who has had to pass an exam to get a license looks down at you, the problem might not be entirely them. I’ve been taught a lot over the years by licensed plumbers and electricians who have been very helpful. Not one of them gave me the feeling that they looked down on me.

Have to say, I miss the hay-days. Back in the `70s and `80s (a little of the early `90s, too), I had an absolute blast on the CB. I had a base station and also a mobile in every car. My base setup had an ERP of 122kw. When I would fire it up full power, none of my neighbors could watch TV. One of the people closest to me said he was pretty sure my radio caused his refrigerator to hum. LOL Compared to back then, it sure feels like nobody is using it.

Seeing higher return power would be due to the antenna having a high SWR as it is reflecting power back down the coax. That's why a dummy load should be used to test power output as the dummy load is a perfect 50 ohm match and should show a 1:1 SWR. That takes out coax loss and reflected power returning down the cable.

If you leave it at home you have an alibi also. I was home, check my ping...

Oh, so "exactly nobody in the US uses FM CB" was just an exaggeration. I get it. But again, there's three users around here that I know of. What's your handle? I'll tell them to give a call out to you if they are ever in your area.

Not that I'm planning to participate in any crimes, but it seems the best solution is just to leave it at home. If they did that, FRS radios could certainly be handy for coordination.

I still have a ways to go before I reach @SteveShannon status

Most folks seem to have no idea what GMRS is. Anytime someone asks about my antenna on my truck the think it's CB.

Only if you remove the battery.

i wonder how many of them actually get busted via their own on line posted videos. Funny as hell

It on your highest level profile, not the forum profile. Toggle the switch that says Weekly Repeater Digest:

That would be a full violation of the eff sea seas rules/regulations. I can't imagine those breaking the law would decide to use these frequencies illegally and for illicit purposes. They should have their licenses takes away. As soon as you here them ID themselves you should write it down and report them. /S

I would clean up the language. Anything more can still be done later if necessary.

Honestly where do I begin with this thread? Do I delete it all? Censor the language? Remove the inflammatory posts? Or do I leave it up because @SteveShannon and others have a therapeutic way of handling this argument and we are so close to getting 2 people to apologize and let things cool naturally. In that case, the lesson in putting aside our differences, on the Internet of all places, would be so much better than leaving the profanity and the references to disabled people. Hopefully you guys can pause, come to a gentlemanly agreement to disagree at the very least, and apologize. Right now that kind of resolution would do the country, and the world, a bunch of good right now. We need more of that before we descend into another civil war some day.

There is a pretty decent amount of p25 in the DC metro area. Some local Ham clubs have VHF digital repeaters up and running. The radios I have are both digital and analog, but only the VHF radio has the encryption module to support DES and AES. I'm not to interested in digital encryption... I'm more looking to use these in conventional as high power Amateur radios and for GMRS. I have low set to 25 and high set to 110. I had my choice of compatible heads when I got them, but I love the old-school look of the w7, and they fit perfectly in the space above my radio bar, between the bar and roof.

Happy Friday the 13th !!