WRYZ926

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.

One of the hardest parts is getting coax that won't have too much loss on GMRS and still keep it light weight. A lot will depend on how high you are planning on getting your antenna up in the air and also what type of antenna being used. Using a sturdy mast will allow you to use heavier coax. Some of the cheaper telescoping masts are thin and won't support the weight. Go with the lightest coax with the least amount of loss that is acceptable to you. I actually have a couple of clothe roll up j pole antennas made with faraday cloth. One is for 2m and the other is for 70cm. The 2m j pole works fine for both 2m and 70cm with a SWR of 18 or less. And the 70cm j pole works fine for GMRS with a SWR of 1.7 or less. I am using 30ft of LMR400 equivalent coax along with a Sotabeams 7m/21 ft telescoping fiberglass mast. I hang the clothe j pole from the top of the mast and run the coax down, attaching it with velcro straps to keep things from flopping around in the wind. 30 feet lets me get 9 feet away from the mast. I normally will use some type of stand or 3 guy ropes on the bottom section of the mast to hold it upright on calm days. I will add three more guy ropes towards the top on windy days. I also have throw line and throw bags incase I want to just hang either antenna up in a tree. I can throw my dual band or GMRS radio into my go kit along side my G90 HF radio for any type of portable use. I am also setup for sending emails with Winlink on HF and VHF if needed. My go kit is one of the Hart rolling tool boxes from Walmart. I have a couple of 50 AH batteries in the bottom case and everything else (besides telescoping masts, fits inside the other cases. I can also throw a radio or two, some throw line, and the clothe/wire antennas and 1 or 2 10 AH batteries into a backpack and go light.

I ended up just adding you to my watch list on grid tracker. I'll definitely try to work you when I see you on.

I just saw all of this and am currently on 15m FT8. HF has been a little slow for the last week or so. @SteveShannon I know how how the weather plays havoc with antennas. I have a 6 band (6m-20m) cobweb antenna that works great until it rains. But the cobweb design is more susceptible to SWR changes when wet. Most of the time the internal tuner on my IC-7300 will take care of things but every now and then I need my external tuner on some bands.

All antennas are a compromise. Go with what works best for your situation. I know most do not want to drill holes for an antenna mount into their Wrangler hard tops and I don't blame them one bit. Though it can be done. People install NMO mounts on fiberglass truck toppers (camper shells for us old people) all of the time. They will put a piece of sheet metal on the underside of the shell for the needed ground plane. And glass mounts do work. Though I will caution that some factory tint can have negative effects on them due to the metal content of the tint. The only way to know is to try.

Contesting is just too fast paced for me and I don't find any enjoyment in it. I'm not much on long rag chew sessions but I also don't want to feel rushed either. And I do use QRZ at home for logging along with HAMRS for logging POTA contacts. My chicken pecking is not fast enough to keep up at times. Plus my arthritic hands don't always cooperate. I have to edit my posts frequently do to spelling and grammar errors,

I would NOT want to clean that cat pan

Don't let Negative Nancy and his very negative waves bother you. Most of us either ignore him or laugh and make fun of him

One of the hardest states for me to work on 10m was South Dakota. For whatever reason, SD can be hard to get at times from Missouri. I would like to get an antenna up for 30m and 60m. I don't have the room at all for a 160m antenna. I'm hoping that 6m opens up this summer like it did last summer. I'm sitting at 39 states worked on 6m.

I'm personally not a fan of contesting. I can't keep up with writing down the call signs, signal reports and times to make it any fun. More power to those that do enjoy contesting. As mentioned, it is a good way to practice using your radio and learning how to filter signals out. I do work the occasional POTA as an activator, but I don't get into any kind of rush making contacts. As long as I make the minimum of 10 contacts for an activation then I'm happy. I usually stick to the WARC bands when working SSB or AM when there are contests going on. Contests are not allowed on any of the WARC bands. For voice that leaves the 12m and 17m bands. And you can work CW or digital modes on 30m.