WRYZ926

Open up Device Manager and then click on Ports. FTDI chips will say Silicon Labs since that is who created the drivers for the FTDI chips

Line of sight does make more of a difference when using VHF and UHF. I'm glad to hear that you are getting into all of the repeaters now. A j pole antenna has zero gain when measured in dBd, which is the same as a dipole antenna. Using the kv5r loss calculator and your specs, you will have an ERP of 21.8 watts. As you see that will still work even though you are losing about half your power output. Switching to 50 feet of LMR400 will only gain you 6.9 more watts on ERP. I would not bother switching out the RG-213 to LMR400 for that little power gain. What will make a difference is going with an antenna with higher gain. But no need to change anything if it is working well for your needs.

Each manufacturer is going to have different instructions when it comes to using their batteries. I use Redodo brand batteries and they do not have any warnings on their website that I could fine. How to Connect Batteries in Series and Parallel? As always, consult the manual that comes with your batteries or consult the manufacturer directly. Make sure that what ever charger you use is designed for lipo4 batteries. I use a Bioenno 5 amp charger for my 10 AH batteries and a Redodo 10 amp charger for the 50 ah batteries.

You can safely connect LiPo4 batteries in series or parallel or both. LiPo4 batteries do have a BMS (battery control module) that protects them. Always use the exact same size and capacity batteries when connecting multiple LiPo4 batteries together. It is also advisable to make sure they are the same age. IE you don't want to connect a brand new inline with an old battery I run 4 10AH LiPo4 batteries hooked in parallel in my small battery box and two 50 AH LiPo4 batteries connected in parallel in my big go box. I also have an Apache case with two 10 AH LiPo4 batteries and a spot for my Xiegu G90. I can run those two batteries separately or in parallel if I want.

A lot will depend on the gain of the antenna. According to the https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/; you will get an ERP of 1.9 watts when using a radio with 5 watts output, 100 ft of RG-213, and an antenna with 1 dBd of gain. As you can see the calculated ERP is 1.9 watts Now the ERP will go up as the antenna gain goes up. So if the antenna gain is 2 dBd then the ERP will be 2.4 watts. And if you jump up to a gain of 5 dBd then the ERP will be 4.7 watts One thing to keep in mind is that most antenna manufacturers list the gain in dBi while most loss calculators use dBd. Subtract 2.14 from the dBi value to get the dBd value. The kv5r coax loss calculator is not exact but it is close enough to see what the loss difference is between different types of coax and at different lengths.

Just like on the other forum. Some will mention Part 90 radios. GMRS radios are not Part 90 certified. Just because a radio will work on a certain band does not mean that it is Part certified for that band. And the average person is not going to go out and buy a Part 90 certified radio for GMRS use. And I have to ask about what Steve posted since we know Anytone radios are made in China. We can continue to argue all you want. But it is a fact that all Part 95 certified consumer grade mobile radios are made in Chine with the exception of Garmin. Yes there are Part 90 certified business/commercial radios made in Japan that just so happen to work on GMRS but again they are not Part 95 certified. And just because a company has their headquarters in a certain country does not mean that their products are made in that country. Midland is a prime example when it comes to GMRS radios. And again some of the Yaesu mobile radios are made in China even though Yaesu is a Japanese company. Comparing Part 90 certified radios with Part 95 certified radios is like comparing apples to oranges.

Yes we have some even here that are that way. Negative Nancy AKA Nana NoNo aka Mr 200 Miles is one of them. You will find that most here are more than willing to help new people and answer their questions.

Fire departments pretty much have to let electric vehicles burn themselves out because of the lithium batteries. Lithium is like white phosphorus in that it will keep burning when you try to put it out. I'm not super familiar with putting out lithium fires. I do know the only way to stop white phosphorus from burning is to bury it so that there is no oxygen. And it will reignite if exposed to the open air. Willy Pete grenades are fun to play with and the white phosphorus will burn straight through even some of the thickest armor plate. White phosphorus grenades are great for when you have to destroy equipment and vehicles.

We had our weekly 2m net and our monthly GMRS net last night. We always have the 2m net first. One of our members tried checking into the 2m net 2 or 3 times last night but he was on the GMRS repeater. We gave him some trouble once he grabbed the correct mic to check in on the 2m repeater. It happened from time to time when you have both licenses. Most of us have done it a time or three.

Are you 100% sure about that? And the reason I ask is the fact that even Yaesu has some of their radios made in China now. And does Alinco actually make a Part 95 certified GMRS mobile radio? All I could find on their website were Part 90 certified mobile radios. And yeah I seemed to upset some people on another forum when I mentioned that all consumer grade Part 95 certified GMRS radios are made in China. Not including Garmin radios./

This is very true. And the side of a standard US military 50 caliber ammo can will give you a good ground plane for GMRS. I've seen plenty of people use 50 cal ammo cans for dual band and GMRS go boxes. They will usually take the lid off and set the can on its side. You can then use a mag mount or drill the can for a SO239 or NMO mount. Lots of possibilities for a go box or small backpack/sling bag. Here is the ready to go Fara-J GMRS antenna https://vfcomms.com/shop/antenna/fara-j-antenna-for-gmrs/ If you are handy with soldering and sewing then you could always make your own. The downside to this is if you hang the antenna from a rope. You will have to support the end of the coax to the clothe so it doesn't put too much stress on the BNC connector.

The FTDI or Prolific chips that are in programming cables emulate serial connections. So yes when you plug in a USB programming cable it does create a virtual serial port. Windows likes to default to a baud rate of 9600 and some radios will use a different baud rate. I haven't had to mess with the IRQ settings but I did have to change the baud rates for a few different radios. Changing the baud rate is mostly for connecting HF radios to a computer though some mobile VHF/UHF radios do use a baud rate that is different from the default 9600. I have not had to mess with the baud rate when connecting any of my hand held radios to a computer.

Glad to hear that antenna is working out for you.

Yes that is what I did. You can also go into the regular grid tracker settings under audio alerts and check callsign

@SteveShannon can mark one off his list for 20m By the way. I am using my IC-7300 and cobweb antenna.