Leaderboard

Except the slice of 10m that Techs have access to is specified for SSB phone (not FM), and all the 10/6/2/.70 radios I can think of are FM only. More generally, are you thinking toward upgrading to General in the future? IMO, the jump in difficulty from Tech to General is a lot smaller than from General to Extra (spoken as a General studying toward Extra). If General is in the cards , consider whether it's worth a "buy once, cry once" jump now, play with 10m, and then you're better set for the future. Also, TX aside, you can listen to other bands all you want, even as a Tech (or not even ham licensed)....if that interests you. Minor correction; FCC lumps General and Tech together in the C & D group calls (1x3 and 2x3), with Extra getting access to the 1x2, 2x1, and 2x2 calls. From personal experience, while I was still a Tech, I chose to request a vanity call ahead of the fee implementation, shortening my sequentially assigned 2x3 (KN6) to a 1x3 (K6), but retained the same suffix as assigned. (Tech in 3/2021, did the vanity 7/2021, upgraded to General 6/2023) IIRC, when you level up to General and Extra, there's a box you can mark to request a new sequential call as well. https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/amateur-radio-service/amateur-call-sign-systems so...a 1x2, 2x1, or 2x2 is a dead giveaway of a higher class (Advanced or Extra)

I am in process of setting up a GMRS repeater on 462.575 located in Wellston, OK, at about 40 feet.

Why worry about it? Just buy a shiny new Anytone 878 and program in all the fun bands and enjoy. I hope you didn't cut the tags and labels off your mattress as the mattress police will incarcerate you.

Simple answer is NO. For example my Ham call is the same exact one since I was first licensed as a Tech. I've since upgraded to an Extra class level and left my call sign the same. I have zero interest in changing it. Oh, you can't tell which radio "district" a Ham lives in now either, based on the number in the call sign. The FCC lets you move clear across the country and keep the same call. Oops.

You gots youself a sugar mama.... Good going dog

Zero payments, it’s paid for. And I still have every red cent in my bank account.

This is a link to the page my buddy sent me to sign the petition against the HOA regulating home base antennas for GMRS and HAM radio. Hope this helps anyone interested. https://send-a-letter.org/gmrs/

Wifey bought me a Christmas Present today, (Photo) sooooo Im getting ready to buy her Christmas Present. https://midlandusa.com/collections/mxt/products/mxt575-micromobile®two-way-radio

DUDE! that link made it RIDICULOUSLY easy to sign that petition. I DO live in an HOA and that's one of the things i have to deal with regarding getting my base station and antenna set up. (Come on @WSFA364, let's hear the jokes). But for real, I am in the process of getting my mast installed and raised where it kind of hides behind my chimney.

You just push the button and talk, friend. And throw out your call sign once ever 15 minutes or so.

Yes, and it means the owner doesn’t want to be asked.

Im setting up a small patio repeater since im on Low terrain, this will help boost single for my neighbors

I thought this was interesting.

You can work CW on the entire Technician portion of the band from 28.000 to 28.500. In practice it is preferred you do so below 28300 where the Phone privileges begin. You can do digital modes on 28.000 - 28.300 (in practice 28.297 to make sure your signal doesn't go above 28300) . I work plenty of Techs on digital modes like FT8/4, JS8, RTTY, VarAC. PSK31, Olivia, etc. etc. I generally only do CW for contests, never been big on the mode for ragchews or other contacts. I talk a good portion of my work day on two-way DMR UHF, so I prefer to "let my fingers do the talking" when I operate on the amateur HF bands. Technicians can operate Phone on SSB from 28.300 - 28.500 (again 28.497 so as not to operate out of band). So pick up the mic. and make some calls! 73 de NØTXW/WJG283

I had the Midland MXT575 in my first Jeep.. Going to stick with that (is ordered). I live in the Mojave Upper Desert so got plenty of dirt to enjoy.. And Repeaters.

You would need to read up & understand the Capture Effect on FM communications to truly answer the question of "how far apart is enough?" The factors other than distance are usually much more important than the distance. It comes down to signal saturation and the signal level from a given repeater in a given area. If my high power, high elevation mountain top repeater is 40 miles away, you may hear me all day long in your valley on your same frequency, but yet when your low power garage roof repeater cranks up, everyone in the valley within 4 or 5 miles of your system hears your low power repeater because their receiver will "capture" your stronger local signal level. Once they travel outside the core coverage of your local repeater, the stronger signal level of the big mountain top repeater re-gains the advantage. Generally, 3dB of signal strength is enough to create capture with a decent receiver design in a static setting, but 6dB difference is more than enough for the real world. Is it bad that signals overlap? Not really. It already happens every day in the real world, it's just that we consider certain signal levels to be so low as to become a part of the noise floor. Then it starts to become a question of how high of a noise floor we are willing to tolerate, but that's a whole 'nother discussion.

Cool Rig. We picked up ours before thanks givning. My xmas break will be spent installing all the stuff thats been piling up next to it...

Jinx: you owe me a Coke!

the difference in price for it being more expensive on Amazon is their return policy. As I mentioned it is only $176.11 tonight on Radioddity's site: https://www.radioddity.com/products/radioddity-qt60 you will of course need to invest in an antenna too. Radios that do HF and VHF/UHF get VERY expensive.

If you really want to get started in HF, I would strongly recommend a radio that does more than just 10 meters. You’ll spend way more time on 40 and 20. The Xiegu G90 is a 20 watt output radio that does 160-10 meters, has a small but usable color spectrum scope, and a really good built in impedance matching “antenna tuner” that can handle up to 10:1 impedance mismatch. It’s available for about $430 in a kit with a digital interface and cooling stand. When you decide to go for a larger, more full featured radio from Icom, Yaesu, Kenwood, etc., the G90 would be a great mobile or even go bag radio.

So how much are your payments....

You have a good point. Most decent radios can be programed to comply within the specific band designated by the FCC. i.e. My commercial radios are programmed to comply with FCC requirements for the frequencies is use. And I exclude any frequency not permited for mobile use. But the problem and reason the FCC does not permit this, Not everyone is going to program their radios to FCC specifications.

It's tiny, but you can do SSB from 28.300 to 28.500 on a technician. [source] Edit, dang, WRYS709 beat me to it.

You have a 2x3, which is what most Technicians have. Once you pass General, you would retain your 2x3 unless you apply for a Vanity Call within the General callsign parameters (1x3 if available) So one cannot tell which Class license for sure, unless their newer call is shorter than 2x3. A Technician, in addition to CW, can do digital, like FT8 and YOU CAN do SSB from 28.3 to 28.5! The band is very hot right now due to the maximum of the current solar cycle having peaked in November, 2024 and you should take advantage of it: Radiodditty has its QT-60 Pro 60 watt 10 meter mobile radio ( https://www.radioddity.com/collections/mobile-radio/products/radioddity-qt60 ) currently on sale for $172 and you can easily mod this radio to 12 meters, once you are a General and perhaps even 15 meters too.

Exactly. Imagine a home and it's up on a hill but you had a shop further out on the property. Let's say your wife (who isn't interested in other radio traffic at all) but wants to be able to reach you. So you set up a radio at the house that was just on a 467 channel set with tones (a fixed station). She could call to you at the shop on that 467, it's not a regular simplex channel so she isn't subjected to you talking with "Bob"(we'll get back to him). Of course you picked a channel that isn't used by any repeaters to avoid interferance and at 15 watts it reaches the house fine, no need to blast all the way to the repeater input in the next town. While in the shop you could have a second channel set on the radio you set up there for something else... talking to your neighbor "Bob". Bob has been out fishing and calls you on simplex at the shop to see if you want some and tells you a bunch of terrible jokes you think are funny on his way over. Bob shows up and you say "where's the fish?". Bob says "oh, I didn't catch any". Typical... he just wants to come drink your beer while you tinker on your classic car. Your radio at the shop is a Fixed station when talking to the wife at the house and it's a Base Station when talking to Bob. Your wife thanks you because she dosn't have to hear Bob's terrible jokes on the radio (let's face it she's not a fan) but she can reach you when she wants. Bob thanks you because, well because he drank your beer. And you thank you because when your wife calls you can say "I gotta go Bob" and you don't get stuck at the shop all night. This has been a GMRS dramatization. The story you read may or may not be true. Bob's name hasn't been changed on account of he's not innocent