WRYZ926

While we have not activated a SkyWarn net on our GMRS repeater, we do activate it every time there is sever weather on our 2m repeater. And participating in regular nets allows everyone to know if they can reach the repeater or reach others on simplex incase of an actual emergency or SkyWarn net.

The preamble for our 2m and GMRS Nets always starts with " this net is to test our equipment incase of an actual emergency. We decided to cut the GMRS net back to once a month but have the 2m net every week. We are also going to link our 3 70cm repeaters together since they are spread out across our area. Another plan is to have a simplex net once a month on our 2m repeater output frequency. We have had a couple of guys use our emergency coms trailer to run the weekly net from so that we know everything is working in the trailer.

I found a few videos that should help with the FTM-500D. The Youtube videos are from N4HNH Radio. He makes pretty good videos on other radios. I watch most of his videos on the Yaesu FTDX10 and found them easy to understand and very helpful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wm0V68QtSkU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee6ErAsRBmc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf0LDrmaoAk

Shutting down the actual links is different than shutting down the repeaters themselves. Repeaters are not getting shut down because of this. It is only the links that are getting shut down. I'm not trying to offend people. But it feels like I am stuck watching the Disney Chicken Little movie on constant repeat. The FCC is actually doing something right for a change and trying to clarify the rules making them easier to understand.

CAT control is a must when running digital modes like FT8 or Whisper. I went with the Yaesu SCU-17 external sound card since the FTDX USB port is bad. The SCU-17 has little dials to adjust RX and TX. I'm just running a USB cable straight to the IC-7300 and it is working fine with WSJT-X.

You aren't kidding. And yes Yaesu seems to be the worst. I just got an Icom IC-7300 and put it in line instead of the Yaesu FTDX10. The Icom menu is definitely easier to use. I'm printing out the IC-730 manual now so I have it handy. I bought it from one of the old timers in my club but he couldn't find the manual. The FTDX was given to me but the USB port is bad so I have to use an external sound card for FT8. Otherwise it has worked fine for me. The other reason for switching is that I can use the same Heil headset for my Xiegu G90, Icom IC-2730 and Icom IC-7300. That simplifies things so I don't have to worry about using the wrong headset with the wrong radio.

While the only Yaesu radio I have is my FTDX-10. I can say that having the RT Systems software and programing cable sure makes things easier compared to using the Icom programming software. One of the nice things about RT Systems is they have versions of their software for both Windows and Mac. Don't be afraid of the radio or afraid to ask questions. There are enough forum members here that will be glad to help you.

We look forward to your results. It can be very rewarding or very frustrating when making your own antennas.

We do a net on our GMRS repeater. We use to do it every Tuesday night right after our 2m net but have since cut the GMRS net back to once a month. We decided right away not to link our GMRS repeater at all. We do have an Allstar node on our 2m repeater that gets used occasionally. The rule clarifications on linking GMRS repeaters shouldn't have much of an impact on actual nets in my opinion. I participate in several 2m nets every week. It is nice to know which repeaters I can reach and to know how far I can get out on the simplex nets. It's a good way to test your equipment. And for those that don't care for nets, they can always change the channel/frequency. As others have said, there is enough different things one can do with GMRS and amateur radio that there is something for everyone.

Are those guys even on the same level as Mo, Larry and Curly? Just kidding guys.

I have to agree that just sticking with the basics is best when starting out. I still have not gotten into DMR, Yaesu Fusion, Icom D-Star, etc. due to the added complexity and steeper learning curve. And none of those digital modes are compatible. Yaesu uses Fusion while Icom uses D-Star. Most others use DMR. I wanted something simple when I replaced my TYT TH7800 in the shack. I was looking at the Icom IC-2730 and ID-5100. I went with the IC-2730 since I didn't want to mess with D-Star at all. In hind sight I should have started out with the Icom IC-2730 instead of the TYT TH7800. The Yaesu FTM-500 will serve @PuddlePirate quite well even if he never dips his toes into digital. He has already dipped his toes into radio by having his GMRS license.

That was the exact advice that the head VE gave me when I went to my first meeting. There is nothing wrong with wanting a nice radio. I usually suggest a cheap hand held for new people just getting started. Sometimes they realize that amateur radio is not for them. And one can never have too many hand held radios.

That happens a lot on many of the forums I am on. SteveShannon did a good job and all any of us can do is point people in the right direction. Like the old saying goes, You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink the water.

I'm glad I added that person to my ignore list.

Sorry about that. I would hate to ruin your reputation And I try not to assume anything because we all know what assume means.

WOW, I spent most of the day at my local VA hospital to come home to all of this. I'll keep my inter-service rivalry comments to myself (for now). And it looks like I can add another to my ignore list too. @OffRoaderX, @marcspaz, @SteveShannon and others are very intelligent and do their research. I might not always agree with them but I do always take into account what they have to say.

I will make a suggestion that once you pass the Tech practice tests with at least a 92% score every time then you are ready for the real test. Another suggestion is once you start getting a 92% or higher each time on the Tech test, go ahead and start studying for the General test too. There isn't much difference in the two. General does go into more technical details but it is pretty easy. Tech is limited to a small portion of the 10m band only. General opens up all of the HF bands. Like @kidphc said, there are bad apples in every bunch. Just ignore those type of people and you will be fine. Most guys will be helpful when they find out you are new to amateur radio. Don't hesitate to find an Elmer (long time amateur radio operator) in your are that will be more than happy to help you study and answer questions. There are some curmudgeons even on GMRS in my area. I ignore the curmudgeons no matter what band or frequency they are on.

I will give an example using our GMRS repeater. We use repeater channel 17. The makes the repeater output frequency the same as the simple channel 17 which is 462.600 MHz. We have tones set on the repeater for both TX and RX so it is in T-SQL mode. Some guys only run their radios in Tone mode with just their TX tones set while others have T-SQL set for both TX and RX. The people that only have tone set can hear any and all traffic on the simplex channel 17 while those of us with T-SQL set do not hear anything other than traffic coming through the repeater. Anyone can hear the repeater transmit by listening on simplex channel 17 or repeater channel 17 if they do not have any RX tones set at all. In fact that is how a few people have found the repeater while traveling through the area. Now they will have to set TX tones to talk to others through the repeater. As you can see tones act as a filter to keep you from hearing all transmissions on that channel. Tones work the exact same way on simplex too. The term 'privacy tones" is an oxymoron, there is nothing private about it. Channel 17 (simplex) is pretty popular in my area and sees lots of traffic. If we did not have our repeater and radios set for T-SQL, then we would hear constant traffic no matter if it was on simplex or going through the repeater. We had one guy complaining about hearing kids on the air constantly. He did not have his RX tones set. once he set his radios to T-SQL, he no longer heard the kids or any other traffic without tones.

We are talking about the government here. They can't do anything simple. The only exception that I ever saw was while I was in the military. Military manuals are about the only government printed documents that are easy to understand (for the most part). I have no skin in this game since we don't plan on ever linking our GMRS repeater.

That is why I wrote the following: The FCC isn't changing the regulations, they are clarifying them. Whether people like it or not, the FCC is making the rules/regulations a little easier to understand. Which is rare for any federal agency.

I have seen this happen all too often with firearms owners contacting the ATF all of the time. That is part of why the ATF went after pistol braces like they did. But the courts smacked that rule change down since the ATF was trying to change the rules without following proper procedures. I was never a fan of linking repeaters no matter what service they are for. Yes linking does have its place.

Let's see if the FCC goes through the proper procedures on actually changing the rules. Though in my opinion, the FCC is not actually changing the rules, just trying to clarify them instead. Again just my opinion since I am not a lawyer nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn.

Okay so we all missed that one about what antennas he is using. I am leaning towards the cheap Amazon coax being an issue then.

You can overcome cable loss with a good antenna with enough gain. I also use the coax loss calculator that @piggin linked to. It is a very helpful tool to have. We will have to wait for @adicrosta to let us know what antenna he is using. I see that the coax cable he is using comes from Amazon which could be part of the problem he is having.

I did program all of my Baofeng radios using CHIRP-next on my Mac mini. I usually keep CHIRP-next updated. I just don't remember which version I was using at the time. I have also used CHIRP-next on my Windows 11 computer without issues when making additional changes to my radios.