Leaderboard

Got 32 out of 35 questions right, passed my test and now have to wait for the ffc payment email then after that is processed the license and callsign. If you use hamstudy or any other service this test is fairly easy, there are a few fairly confusing questions but the way the test is structured if you understand and study the test pool always has enough easy questions to pass. I should have studied for general, but I up and made the decision a little over a week ago and studied an hour or less per night. The ve asked if I studied general and his computer even had the option to test for general if I wanted. Apparently if there is time and the ve wants to allow it, you can do all 3 license class tests in one go.

The simple answer is because they can. They real answer is they simply want to put up hardware that will only broadcast into an empty room and take up air space so they can brag about their equipment. Now for the reality, it is totally and utterly foolish and breaks every terrestrial and celestial boundary of human stupidity to do so. GMRS was designed to be free and enjoyed by all.

I remember doing that with my kids before I ever got involved with GMRS. Totally different thing. I found a couple of them in a drawer a while back, one of them still works and I can connect with it from my GMRS radio's after I put batteries in it. I am sure current and future radio users got and will get their start using these cheap ones.

Congrats on passing the technician exam. Fair warning, as someone who just went from technician to general, the questions - or rather the knowledge pool - is much different than the technician. Just from GMRS piddling and general radio info, I was very confident on the tech exam. The General, though? I was way out of my depth. Keep using hamstudy. That's all I used. I didn't read a book or watch a video or anything. Just hamstudy. And when I got an answer wrong, I clicked the top right corner and found out why. 32/35 on my general. You can do it!

One should keep in mind if they want to travel down that rabbit hole of stupidly paying "club" fees you are still not guaranteed to have full use of it for a year. Just like most other "clubs" you will be subject to the cliques politics or you might unintentionally hurt another "club" member's fragile feelings and get banned prematurely. Best to use a free and open repeater and be friendly and respectful with the members. And if it works out for you there's nothing wrong with making a financial donation or expertise to help the owner maintain the repeater.

I have the G6 version (400-470). I had read somewhere that you need to change the date but instead, I found the Wideband recovery tool and have run it on my VX-2200's. Now I have a new column in the programming software to select N/W4/W5. Perfect !!!!! On to the next issue ...

The in person test is what I chose, especially since the vast majority of only testing is one person at a time, people local to an in person test doing it online takes slots away from people far away or unable to do in person tests to do them online. My test is tomorrow, I hope to pass and if not I will try again until I do. On the laptop thing, if you go far enough into ham radio, you wil want a laptop or desktop computer, and maybe a raspberry pi or arduino as a good amount of ham options involve the internet with computer software. But if you have no need for it yet do not worry short of the very expensive all in one radios, most ham users buy one radio at a time and add things to their collection as they go along, no need to have a full digital capable setup yet if you have not even scratched the surface yet of analog ham radio.

I'm gathering all of the parts and knowledge I need for a portable TK-880H/TK-880 repeater. A lot of relevant info is documented in various places on this and other forums, and especially in Steve's Building a Repeater out of Two Kenwood TK-880 thread (thanks, @Steve!). The key difference for my project is that it will be portable. Why? Because I'd like to have a repeater that I can have set up at home, or take with me for outdoor events (camping, whatever). Plus, it's a fun project! Requirements: single-person deployable weather-resistant transportable in a personal vehicle (car, pickup, etc.) Minimum 5 mile range (more better) Repeater ID and TOT functions Nice-to-haves Voice transmission of local weather watches/warnings (I saw it on this video, and it seemed cool. PI-REPEATER, I presume?) The plan: Build it into a Rigid box (the top one on the stack): One of the lower boxes will house a 100 Ah portable battery set-up with solar and DC-DC charging, and will primarily live in a vehicle and serve as both an aux battery and a deployable mobile power source. But that's a build for a different forum! In any event, it will power the repeater when the repeater is mobile. Repeater components ( = have already) TK-880H Tx radio (with mic) TK-880 Rx radio RFS 633-6A-2N duplexer (2) KCT-19 cables (for repeater controller integration) Repeater controller (model TBD) Cooling/ventilation fan Bulkhead connectors: 12V power (Anderson Power Pole) Antenna (N-female / N-female) RG-45 (if using PI-REPEATER) Ed Fong GMRS antenna 20-25' telescoping mast (painter's pole & guy lines?) Antenna feed coax (LMR-400-UF?) Internal connection cables (LMR-240?) Initial questions Any overall concerns about the current plan or components? Coax: a lot of folks seem to push towards Heliax for repeaters, but I'm balancing loss against portability and cost. Thoughts on my -400 and -240 plan? Repeater controller: recommendations? Again, I really like the ability for the repeater to say something like "Hurricane Watch. Flood Warning." when those things are active and I have internet access for the repeater controller, but I presume that would require using PI-REPEATER or something else that is inherently more complex than an analog, nonvolatile-memory-bearing controller. If the PI-REPEATER can be set-and-forget, great. If it's fickle (as Pis can be), then maybe something else with the Pi piggybacking the audio in? I'm really looking forward to getting this stuff put together, and would love any thoughts or feedback.

This!

I didn't mean to neglect this thread, especially after all the great advice I've received. I ended up buying two Wouxun KG805G's when BuyTwoWay was running a sale. They were nice enough to throw a programming cable into my cart which I didn't notice until after I checked out. Too bad its the WRONG cable and I already have this one for my KG-XS20G. So far, these radios are great. Still a little too bulky but that's what you get with big batteries and USB-C charging. A little fatter but overall smaller than my GM-30 Plus's. Not too hard to program by hand, primitive but functional programming software, CHIRP compatible. The lock button disables the channel knob but of course a luddite can still accidentally turn the volume off. These are a little spending compared to all the other cheap radios out there but I have become a fan of Wouxun. Believe it or not, some of these people have been roaming the woods even before cellphones were invented. With guns and fire and sharp objects, no less!

Cw is usefull but a test for it turned too many away. One old guy there at the test who was with different people not sure if he was a ve or just part of a ham group hanging out said he actually could never figure out cw, studied like heck and passed his tests but still can not remember any of it but the common sos. So he said since the 1980's he has cheated, he said he still has an old cw paper tape hole puncher, that would print it out as it was transmitted, then he would read it and compare it to a chart to understand what it said. Nowadays there is even computer apps and devices that can translate cw on the fly and even transmit it after you type it on a keyboard. I can understand why cw was a thing, low bandwidth and weak signals could travel super far, but it was a barrier that most people could not complete to get a ham license.

When the FCC dropped the CW requirement that’s what I did. Passed both.

It's their Winter QSO Party weekend. Or so the website said. I didn't even know what 10/10 was until today. Learn something new every day, I suppose. 16 Park to Parks for me. Now a "Gold Hunter." Oooooooooo

I'll never pay to use a GMRS repeater. I was a member for of WIN Systems for one year. That was kind of cool, their network spans pretty much nationwide and it was fun connecting to friends back east and northern Califailure. Been thinking of signing back up with them.. At least you get something for your buck with that radio network.

Yup! Once you’re studying build on it. But you can also go back next time your VEC offers exams and take the general and extra, no additional FCC fees.

Wow, I feel mental after putting them 100' apart and it worked. I figured I had really messed something up. I guess the repeater channels just need distance. Thanks for the advice!

I wish I had seen this before I went out to activate today. I would have tested it. In other news, amazing activation today. 20m, hunted 16 park to parks in less than 90 minutes. Home before lunch. All QSO's were 55 or higher. So the JCP12 works really well on 20m. Now to figure out the 10m problem...

yea,, kinda of where I'm from..

LOL. I gotta write that down.

Phelps Dodge was a good duplexer built in the US. With that said I think they are asking a bit too much for that one. I have 3 or 4 in the garage collecting dust that I picked up for $25.00 each.

I don’t see anything wrong with that. You’re transmitting on one radio on channel 26 and listening on the other radio on channel 26. How near to each other physically are the two radios? You might be desensing one while transmitting on the other that’s close to it and that might be why you don’t hear yourself. It sounds like you hear the repeater’s squelch tail. Do you ever hear anyone else on the repeater? Are you asking for anyone to give you a radio check? Try giving one of the radios to a friend who’s a house away and have them listen for you.

I think most people that buy those "blister pack radios" have no intention of using them for emergencies. And you know a lot of ham snobs consider all GMRS radio's to be "blister pack radios" even the ones that can connect to repeaters. But then they program their Chinese radio's so they can access the GMRS repeaters. Given the very short range of the "blister pack radios" if I got a emergency request from anyone I would assume it is a close neighbor I would render assistance if possible. I also rarely respond to anyone who doesn't have a valid GMRS call sign.

Tip a to the old school. This is exactly what got my interest.

Good luck tomorrow on the test brother. I’m an inspirational Luddite at the end of the day and will most likely get a laptop after I figure out the traditional old school anolog.

I found that most repeaters are not used all that much even if they are open without fees. I assume the ones with fees want to limit users to select people.

The boxes are easier to stack and keep the right charger, manual, etc. with each radio. Some people put them in zip-lock bags in a plastic storage bin - whatever works best for you. One comment about batteries - at least on the newer full-color-screen analog Baofeng models, that click on the volume knob when you turn the radio "off" is just a notification to the CPU to go into power-saving mode - it is still drawing power from the battery (slowly). I run the radio down to 2 out of 3 bars (the ideal level for Li-ion battery storage), then put a thin insulating material over the battery contacts and put the battery back in the radio, and put a pre-printed "Battery Isolated" sticker on the display screen. BTW, if you plan on selling a radio, be aware that (again, on at least the Baofengs mentioned above) the radio menu "Reset all" does NOT clear all data back to the factory state. If you use the Baofeng CPS, write an empty config to the radio. If you use CHIRP, write your original backup image (you made one before making changes, right?) back to the radio. Note that even that will not reset the startup screen image or voices if you customized them.

The answer is "it depends". I try to answer (and approve) all access requests within 24 hours. Some people take weeks / months to answer, some never answer. I have a pending request to use someone else's repeater (listed here) that has been pending for over 10 months at this point and seems to have aged out of the "my sent requests" . For an area I visited last summer. In case anyone is wondering why, if I approve all requests, my repeater access is marked "by request" - it's so I know who to notify about antenna relocation and an eventual shift to individual repeater access codes.

I provide infrastructure in an area of the Mojave Desert that has no cell service and landline service is no longer available. This is by point-to-point radio on mountaintops (solar cells and batteries) backhaul to Las Vegas, 100+ miles away. Internet, micro cells, POTS lines (translated to VoIP), etc. I put a GMRS repeater on a mountaintop so the duners 35 miles away can call ahead for pizza. I have an inReach Mini emergency transponder with me and used to have an old-school satcom rig (pre-Starlink) at base camp. All of these have their benefits, but sometimes the best answer is "none of the above". In 2019 I fell on a mountain while coming back down and broke both bones (radius and ulna) in my right forearm, with bones sticking out. I had to decide whether or not to use the inReach or self-rescue. Fortunately I had no major blood loss and I could still feel and move my fingers (even though my arm was like Harry Potter's after the inept wizard Lockwood removed his bones by accident). I threw some army surplus clotting powder on it, fashioned a splint by snapping one of my hiking sticks, and used a giant plastic Target bag as a sling, with my head through the handle and my arm through a hole poked in the side of the bag. If I did have major blood loss I would have had very little time to get a tourniquet on before passing out, and even the inReach wouldn't have helped. It took me an hour and a half to get back down the mountain, an hour driving across open desert and then dirt roads and another hour on paved roads to get to the nearest hospital (middle of nowhere, remember). Aside from the occasional scream of pain, that worked well. The alternative would have been to push the panic button, wait 45 minutes to an hour for the medical helicopter to arrive, set down on the flatlands, look up at the mountain and go "NFW!". They would then have called San Bernardino SAR mutual aid who would have carried a litter up the mountain to me, put me in it (while ribbing me mercilessly, since I know those guys and sometimes train with them), have the helicopter hover and drop a cable to hook to my litter and haul me up, and then fly me back to the same hospital I mentioned above. In retrospect, I made the right decision - I got myself to the hospital in 3.5 hours. About 6 months later a similar scenario happened a bit closer to "civilization" and it took over 8 hours from the emergency satellite call to when the injured party was on the helicopter (and not even at the hospital yet). I'm not a prepper - I'm prepared. Here's a picture of where I fell vs. where my Jeep was parked for reference. I'll skip posting the X-rays of my arm because I don't want to squick anybody out badly.

Some of the boofwangs are actually pretty close to what they say... like my ar5rm... rated 10w, , pushes 9.6w on uhf, 9.1 on vhf, also does approx 8.6w on gmrs, all tested into a dummy load, which in .y opinion is more than good enough for "out of band transmit"

Check it out this weekend - 3 different QSO Parties on the air, VT, BC and my own state, MN. Also a 10-10 contest going on, so should be a lot of traffic on the phone and cw band segments! What's sometimes fun is when you can hear someone on both coasts, but they can't hear each other.

For a long time Ham and commercial UHF radios on the 400 to 500 MHz range were typically rated at 4 watts while on VHF it was common to see 5 watts. Now you can regularly find new commercial grade UHF radios in the above range rated at 5 watts. I think a major factor was really the power amp stage where the gain, efficiency, on UHF was lower than on VHF. With better devices available I guess it's easier to get 5 watts.

If you actually study the material for a ham license, you will learn how and why the FCC came up with 5 watts for handheld radios. There are specific questions in the test pool regarding this subject. You can find how much RF power your body can absorb safely with a little research. I was under the belief that ham radio handhelds are also limited to 5 watts by FCC regulation, but I could be mistaken and I don't feel like googling. I just believe in the science I studied for the ham license, and accept I don't want 10 watts in my face. It has been postulated that unscrupulous manufacturers do a little bait and switch with FCC testing and radio licenses. They submit a radio for testing that confirms to 5 watts, get the radio licensed, then add a couple watts, add "Plus" to the model name, and squeak by with no oversight. I am beginning to see GMRS handheld radios at 8 watts. I would guess that because GMRS is limited to 5 watts and .5 watts for 1/2 of the channels by FCC regulation, it's just not worth it to make handhelds to use more power on the remaining channels and keep the FCC limits for the lower channels. Let's hope there is never a market for any GMRS or FRS radio that exceeds FCC limits on those lower channels - leave those channels for families and kids playing walkie talkie. On VHF and UHF, ARS doesn't have wattage limits like that, so there is a market for more power on all available frequencies. As most people have said, 10 watts isn't going to get much more distance than 5 watts, it is not "double the power", but you may be a little clearer for repeaters and stations on the edge of 5 watts for your location and conditions. I doubt you will hit any repeater you don't currently hit. I do have a couple 10 watt handhelds for ARS, but I put those in medium power for actual HT use, which is rare. I use them either attached to a roof antenna in my basement shack, or attached to a hood mounted mobile antenna in my vehicle.

You’re correct in one regard; new technology does replace old. Spark gap transmitters went the way of the rotary dial phone once vacuum tubes were developed. But in a more important way, you have completely missed the point. Many (perhaps most) of us who adopt analog radios for communication do so because of the desire to be as independent of commercial or government provided infrastructure as possible. History has taught us that such infrastructure, as complex as it is and as reliant as it is on commercial interests, trade agreements, and the peaceful coexistence of nations, is vulnerable to disruption by overload, hacking, space weather, or the overnight whims of one unstable politician or another. The features might change and more and more digital modes may be developed, but the basic physics never will and those physics allow a person to build a very simple radio transmitter and receiver, in spite of how far technology has staggered forward. I just need to stock up on transistors.

I can attest to the mobile mag on a cookie sheet. Just putting it in my backyard and placing it above head level seemed to make a world of difference even with the house blocking line of sight. It somehow works better than in line of sight near a window on the second floor.

The primary consideration is getting an antenna OUTSIDE of the house. A simple cheap whip type would work at those ranges. The coax would connect to hand held GMRS radio. From my experience even inside of a house the typically rubber duck type antenna will have issues getting out more than a mile or so. The signal gets blocked by the house and or other surrounding property. If they can't, or won't, put up an outside antenna then the next best thing is using a roll-up type hanging near a window. That will work better than the rubber duck antenna at least. A few people have tried a mobile magnet mount type antenna stuck on a small cookie sheet placed by the window too.

Just hide his cellphone and ask "now how would you get hold of me without a phone?

You pay your 35 bucks and get a GMRS license that the whole family can use. You buy inexpensive radios to test the waters while you are working on your ham license. That way you can toy with the radios and have real life experience with them by the time you get your ham license. Myself I'm not even interested in the ham license as the GMRS does what I need it to do. Short to mid range communications with the family.

Just stack them up on a random wall in your house.. Its the best way to find out if your wife really loves you or not.

Also, lock the radio after programming.

I'm going to be putting together a couple shielded loop antennas for some DF work out of some RG58, but I didn't really like the open solder joint at the bottom of the design I'm replicating. So I designed and 3D printed a hot-glue potting mold so I can protect and support that joint better, since these are going to get treated pretty roughly. Basic design of the antenna I'm borrowing: CAD Model of 1 of mold halves (in this case, the half the glue will go in...) . Took less time to print than design, because I'm not a drafter by any means, but I can fumble my way through drawing up useful parts. Cable for display purposes here: I'll come back and update this once I get to use it and see how it does.

Yes. First point is the FCC certification requirement. Just like for the radios Part 95 certification is required. For UHF amplifiers used on GMRS that's almost non existent. If you don't care about the certification bit there are a few out there that are usable. When using the amplifier you're also responsible to follow the ERP, effective radiated power, based on the frequency/channel as outlined in the FCC rules. Second point. Even at the minimum output power, usually 1 watt, on many, if not most, HT's when run through the external amplifier could exceed the legal limit. For example on channels 1-7 the limit is 5 watts. The user would then need some method to bypass the amplifier, or turn it off. Likely not very convenient. Third point. Many HT's have a difficult time handling high strength RF signals. This is why some HT's seem to work OK using the included rubber duck antenna, but suffer from de-sense when connected to a high gain roof mounted antenna. Purpose built base/mobile radios typically do better in that area. Some of the mobile CCR's, cheap Chinese radios, have been found to suffer the same fate. That's one of the corners cut to lower the cost.

If GMRS were allowed 10 watts on Channels 1-7, Baofeng would introduce a 15 watt version for Hams.

the only difference you will notice between 5 watt and 10 watt is the batter draw on higher power.