PA141

Do a bit of shopping in the used market and there are some 80's/90's HF radios that you can get for around the same price. It is best to have someone experienced shopping with you. There are a couple of monthly (?) ham swaps in Socal. Radios such as Kenwood TS-120/130 or Icom 730/735/740/745 would be something in that range. I picked up a Alinco HF mobile for a friend for $125 at a swap. Just have to be patient. Will these have the latest features like soundcards, etc..., no, but still solid radios if not abused. Having a "real" ham radio will typically outperform newer 10M / import CB radios and you aren't limited to just 10M propagation. If you can open up your budget a bit to $4-500, the Icom 706mkII or IIg will give you HF plus 6,2M and 440 with the G model. They Yaesu FT-100/857 might be found in this price class. Get on one of the west coast web SDRs and listen to the swap net on 7240 kHz on Sat/Sunday around 1PM PDT. Also the online swaps on qrz.com or qth.com. Use those for reference on radios/prices. Best to stay with local sales unless you are experienced.

Park Ridge covers down to Bakersfield (at least) for base stations. It is at 7500' so a good mobile will probably make it also. I have HT coverage at 50+ miles, but not full quieting with 5W. Full quieting with vertical at 20'. Joaquin ridge is up and I suspect will cover there. It used to be linked to some other repeaters back east, but I think there were jamming issues and the link was shut down. Auberry may be stretching it to Delano. Not familiar with the repeater specifics, but that area is probably only 2-3000' peaks in the foothills. There is a private system on Mt. Bullion (Mariposa), that might reach that far, but I have not had any response to access requests. Haven't heard much activity on Joaquin or Auberry the last few weeks. Mariposa and Park ridge have the most activity.

Pretty long shots but, the Tulare ARC repater (.700) is high level and might get over the ridge into that valley. Joaquin Ridge (.575) is closer, but will be probably be scattering off of the coast range along the path. 700 would be the best shot. Possible mobile coverage. Base stations in Bakersfield can access it, but they are not behind the ridge.

Lower profile than a tape measure yagi. http://wa5vjb.com/yagi-pdf/cheapyagi.pdf

I am not aware of all of the product offerings for remote coax switches, but most of the ones that I have seen top out around 50 MHz with maybe a couple to 150 MHz. There are some military surplus coaxial switches that will go higher. They require 28V and you would have to build your own switching network. A diplexer/triplexer may provide some of the functionality that you need with a passive device.

Old video, but creative idea:

No affiliation with this repeater and have never used it. Just notice this browsing the repeater listings. https://mygmrs.com/repeater/243 Welcome to Bay Area Repeater Net!! UPDATE -- August 5, 2023: We are shutting down the BARN-R1 system. The battery backup system, rack, and primary duplexer (Sinclair BpBr) are for sale. We are also leaving the hardline (1/2"; 1.46 dB loss total run) on the tower, which is perfect for someone else to hop in and take over. Thank you to those who have helped us financially over the years. We are still behind on rent, and being that no one has stepped up to cover the financial costs of keeping the system on-air, we are officially forced to shut down and move. We are still accepting financial support if there is a person/entity who would like to sponsor BARN-R1. More info on the link above. If you live in the south bay, you may want to help keep this alive.

A General class ham license could be quite helpful in the back country in an emergency. With NVIS propagation on 40 or 80 meters you have a good chance of getting a signal out of a canyon or where no ham or GMRS repeater coverage exists. Even 40M during the day with a hamstick antenna has provided a surprising amount of signals deep in the Sierra Nevada on various trips. Regardless of if you want to just chat, having at least one person with HF capability in your group is worth the effort to pass a couple of tests (even more so if traveling solo).

Thank you. This works on a radio received today. The offset on the radio displays as +- above the frequency and disables transmit.

Thanks. I don't see VFO TX either in the latest Chirp-next. Will test the non-standard split option when his radio arrives. This will hopefully be adequate to remove the possibility of transmitting on a public service frequency.

I have a co-worker that purchased a UV-5R with the intent of getting his license. My base image also has public service and other channels programmed in. Since he is new to radio, I want to eliminate any chance of accidental transmission outside of ham frequencies. I have not found an option to selectively disable a transmit frequency. There is an option to disable TX on VHF and/or UHF in general. There are also settings for the frequency limits, but I suspect that will remove RX capability also. Is there a setting that I am missing somewhere in Chirp? Obviously I could remove all the non-ham frequencies, but it would be nice for him to be able to receive other services. Worse case, I could enter a manual split frequency set to some oddball 2M simplex frequency, but that would be a major PITA.

I would clean the threads (just because). Can't say if it will have any electrical impact, but it could bind up the threads. For anyone using considering Coax Seal or similar products do yourself a favor and put down a "courtesy wrap" of electrical tape or heat shrink. Then you can goop away with just about anything you want and be able to remove it without crap getting in all the nooks and crannies.

Glanced through a couple of ham radio tropo reports from the weekend. Many of these were on UHF or higher frequencies, so GMRS reports would not be surprising. CT -> FL & IA ME -> IN, OH, WI, IL, NC, MI, NE, LA, SC, MO, KS, VA and Ontario, Canada. For real radio geeks this would also include FM broadcast and TV signals from outside of your normal reception range. Another subset of the scanner hobby.

There was a widespread tropospheric ducting event over the weekend. I haven't looked into the details but it was covering areas of the northeast. If you were not connecting to a linked repeater system, this is the likely source.

Not related to direct protection, but I recommend removing batteries from devices where possible. All of my HT's seem to self discharge when powered off. You can make it a habit to check/recharge them, but then you are subjecting the battery to charging cycles. Disconnected batteries should have a much slower discharge cycle, hopefully fairly long with a good battery design. Stored items tend to be forgotten and having a discharged battery when needed is inconvenient at best.

I do not have much experience with J-poles but my recollection is that they are a 3/4 wavelength vertical, which is a fairly high angle radiator (peak gain at around 25 degrees above the horizon) and a significant null ( -10dB or more) on the horizon. It is surprising that the Diamond is not a better performer for a signal on the horizon based on the pattern of the X50 that Steve linked. Moving the antenna to a different location might also make a significant difference over an obstructed path. A J-pole would be a great choice for a close by repeater much higher in elevation. It wouldn't be my first choice for maximum range.

Thanks for the link Steve. I should have written: would be nice to see on "more" radios. Not in the market for any HT's at this time, but it is a nice feature.

Make sure that the connector is seating fully. Don't know about the A36, but having both the 771 and 771G they clearly fit differently on my UV5r. The VHF/UHF 771 cleanly seats into the plastic ring on the 5R, but the bottom of the 771G cover sits about 1/16" above the plastic ring. I can see the threads of the radio connector and brass nut through the gap. The 771G works as well, but I could see how it might not mate well with other radios. I haven't done any direct comparison but the 771 and 771G appear to be similar in receive performance on VHF/UHF/GMRS and are much better than the factory antenna. -Dual PTT would be nice to see on other radios.

Get ready for sticker shock with Pasternack. ABR Industries is a good US made equivalent to the genuine Times Microwave LMR400. You can purchase directly or from most of the ham radio dealers listed previously. https://abrind.com/cable-overview-abr400-pn24400-2/

Paint the pole and antenna a neutral color, hang some potted plants or bird feeder(s) on it (the mast) and only a Karen would give it a second look. There are lots of ways to hide antennas with a little creativity. Then you do not have to remove/install it when you want to use it. Leave the pole collapsed for some time and then raise it a couple feet every few days/weeks and most won't even notice the change. If you are on a second floor or higher, most people don't look up. I know a person that had a large ham radio wire antenna in an apartment complex. He used a drone to drop it across several trees at night. Had it up for maybe a year before he purchased a house.

Should have refreshed the page before searching on my own... It appears that a revised hard copy was discontinued and was limited to remaining stock earlier this year. The publisher's site appears down/broken now. DX Engineering was supposedly selling it, but did not appear in a search. The link that Steve provided is good.

I suspect overload or mixing from an FM broadcast transmitter(s) and another signal(s). Could also be some sort of wireless TV or headphone extender if only copied over a small distance. There is so much stuff coming out of China it is impossible to keep track. Inadequate filtering in budget radio receivers will allow many spurious signals to be received. External filtering may eliminate the issue if this is the case. DTV signals would not be detected by an FM receiver as clear voice. There are very little (or maybe no) remaining analog TV stations left in the US. Those that may remain are low power translators to the best of my knowledge. Some cable TV stations may still be transmitting analog signals to customers still using analog TV receivers and leakage from cable systems falls on top of a wide frequency range (7 to 1000 MHz). CATV 64 is in the GMRS frequency range. If the local cable company is sending analog on those frequencies and has leaky cable lines it could be detected with an FM receiver.

You did not mention anything about your radio/antenna. Raising your antenna if possible should increase your range. This is the best bang for your buck improvement. Make sure you use a decent coaxial cable such as LMR400, otherwise the improvement in height could be offset by the loss with a longer cable of a smaller diameter or unknown quality. Make some noise and see if you can get a response. I suspect during commute time would be the highest chance of finding someone who is also just scanning like you. If everyone is just listening, making a contact is not likely

If you want to get on 10/15/20M, you could install just the driven element of that Yagi as a (rotatable) dipole. You will probably have to adjust the tube lengths to re-tune the element. If the match is not close enough to 50 ohms, some impedance matching may be needed. It will likely have a decent match with slight dimensional adjustments if the antenna was functional when removed. A dipole at 1/2 wavelength or more is a decent performer and a "flat" dipole will typically outperform an inverted V at the same center height.