GreggInFL
-
Posts
355 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
1
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Classifieds
Posts posted by GreggInFL
-
-
19 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:
Yes, but the rules, personalities, social-abilities, and cultures of the users are vastly different between
servicesspecies.Fixed.
(Apologies to non-sad HAMS, but that was some low-hanging comedic fruit right there.)
- OffRoaderX and NCJeb
-
2
-
18 hours ago, WSIL439 said:
Pardon me for saying so, but that response seems like it conveys a disproportionate amount of paranoia.
Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
-
2 hours ago, WRTC928 said:
You can, however, get a magnet-mount antenna tuned for GMRS and put it on top of your vehicle, then use an adapter to attach the radio to the antenna. That will almost certainly give you a better signal, both transmitting and receiving.
There are other magnet-mount antennas that some people like better, but this one has worked well for me. Feel free to solicit opinions.
I have that antenna and it comes with an adapter, so for $34.89 he's all-in.
-
There are also those that are offline or stale. One needs to click the settings gear in the upper-left corner of the map to turn on the switches. That doesn't change the "type", just drops the filter.
- SteveShannon and WRXB215
-
2
-
2 hours ago, marcspaz said:
...there are way more people who are just grumpy old sour pusses who would rather cut a finger off than help someone who isn't "worthy of their time."
Reminds me of shooting at the range. There are some long-range rifle shooters who consider clays (trap/skeet/sporting clays) to be beneath them. "I shoot at 1,000 yards. What's a long clay shot, 50 yards? Pfft. Too easy."
I'd love to get him on the skeet range with a ringer, a 14 year-old girl who recently hit 197 out of 200 at a national tournament.
-
13 hours ago, dosw said:
So before buying nice radios, and before buying masts and antennas, buy a couple cheap GMRS handhelds for $30 each. Each of you stand on your roof. And try to talk to each other. If you get nothing, no static, no roger beeps, nothing, you're just out of luck. Those wooded areas between you are attenuating too much of your signal. On the other hand, if you're able to break squelch and hear each other a little, you can proceed.
Yeah, this. I once hit a repeater that was ~30 miles away by standing on top of a parking garage -- with an $18 handheld.
-
You mean this one?
-
52 minutes ago, WRTC928 said:
If you had a repeater with some reach, people could even listen with FRS radios if they knew about it.
We are attempting to do something like this in our neighborhood, starting with using a base station to make announcements. 1,500+ acres though the woods may require a serious repeater eventually, but the idea of getting emergency information out to anyone holding a $10 radio is very appealing.
We are 24 days into official hurricane season. Tick, tick, tick...
-
I guess this means I didn't win it. Well, poop.
-
On 6/21/2025 at 12:10 PM, DaddyO said:
I’m pretty sure that standing at the closest upstairs window to Dallas that I’m already hitting repeaters close to downtown with the longer (included in the GM30 plus kit) whip, so I’m betting that I’ll be ok no matter what.
If you're that close, try putting this on a pizza pan on a closet shelf. If it doesn't work you'll at least have a mobile antenna.
-
On 6/14/2025 at 9:26 AM, OffRoaderX said:
Yes - All the newly manufactured ones destined for the U.S. are locked and cannot be unlocked.
(Asking for a friend) So, what would the Queen-of-all-that-oscillates recommend in the way of an unlocked HT, hmm?
-
^ This. Just have your friend use something other than 8-14.
- WRTC928 and CoffeeTime
-
1
-
1
-
3 hours ago, WRUE951 said:
i would defiantly go with a military grade faraday bag. Ebay & Amazon would be the last place i would go to buy one,,
What would be a good source?
-
Thanks everyone for the battery education. I was concerned because the power supply I purchased (above) has a warranty dependent on the buyer cycling the unit every quarter from 0% - 60%, while storing at 30%. I have done this once so far with no issues going to 0%, so the BMS must be kicking in at some point.
The app offers complete control over the charging SOC, so I may set the lower limit to something other than zero, just to be safe.
-
1 hour ago, Blaise said:
FYI, anyone following this: Walmart has a 2 ridiculously cheap power stations perfect for running a radio/charging your gear/lighting your campsite/etc...
https://www.walmart.com/ip/EF-EcoFlow-Portable-Power-Station-RIVER-2-240-243wh-LiFePO4-Battery-1-Hour-Fast-Charging-600W-Output-Solar-Generator-Solar-Panel-Optional-Outdoor-Cam/5478283286?adsRedirect=trueThat's the one I bought on Amazon for ~$159 in February. Presently it's $239 there. Nice product. I believe it's being replaced by the "3" model, which is fast enough in a power outage to act as a UPS.
-
22 hours ago, Blaise said:
...because running completely flat might not entirely kill a lithium battery, but it will drastically decrease its capacity (You'll likely have effectively destroyed the batteries by the second time).
Does this apply to all batteries containing lithium, lithium ion and LiFePo4?
-
19 hours ago, WRUE951 said:
Now remember a decent Lithium battery with relative long aH are very very pricey... Ask me how i know. I have about 1200 aH of Lithium in my RV and that was almost a 10Karot bill. I do power a DC repeater which is like running a LED on that system
Sweet.
-
50 minutes ago, SteveShannon said:
Personally I bought a Radioddity DB20G. It came with a cigarette lighter plug. I inserted Anderson PowerPoles into the power cord because I wanted them but in my pickup I simply use the cigarette lighter socket and plug. It’s a 20 watt radio but it does everything I need.
I have the DB25-G (25 watts). When I plug the cigarette lighter into this the control tells me it is drawing ~35 watts. This cable can connect to a solar panel, so I have a full off-grid set up without fear of burning down the house. Dialing back from 50 watts makes things much simpler.
-
On 6/5/2025 at 6:53 PM, WRYZ926 said:
Finding something that is going to be more than 5-6m/18-20 feet tall at a decent price is gong to be a challenge.
Giga Parts has a tripod with 18 ft telescoping pole for $199.
Better value. Thanks for that!
-
On 2/17/2025 at 9:35 AM, WRYZ926 said:
I fully understand why some will use a mobile antenna with some type of home made ground plane in certain situations such as dealing with HOA restrictions, needing a more temporary setup, or something that can be quickly taken down for severe storms.
[Emphasis added]
Edit: Never mind. This is pricey, but should work: Carbon fiber photographer tripod.
It's "that time" here in Hurricane Central and I've found enough people in the neighborhood interested in radio that the next step is using my mobile setup in a base configuration, to be set up after a storm event. If it works well the community would probably support a repeater at some point.
Does anyone make a simple, portable mast system for radio? We've all seen the flagpole, painters' pole bubble-gum-and-bailing-wire assemblies, and I've run into some interesting ideas for photographers, but nothing built for radio. I suppose a painters' pole attached to tilting base would work, but the only such bases I've found are for a full three-pole mast.
I could always piece something together, but it would be nice if someone offered a simple solution. Have I missed it, or is the market simply too small?
No way I'm putting up something permanent only to watch it get blown down. Not gonna happen.
-
2 hours ago, SteveShannon said:
Yes, it’s possible. They’ve asked us for suggestions for simplifying regulations. Most (by far) of the people who use GMRS now don’t have licenses. One way to simplify this would be to combine FRS and GMRS into a single unlicensed service like FRS is today.
Agreed.
Some philosophical consistency would boost the FCC's credibility, also. On marine VHF one can TX on channels reserved for port operations, intership safety, intership commercial, international distress, state controlled, U.S. government (non-USCG), USCG, bridge-to-bridge intership in the lower Mississippi river only, U.S. EPA, noncommercial and a dozen other uses with a 25W mobile without having anything -- no testing, no license, no nuthin'.
How much damage can one do on GMRS frequencies? A lot less than the above, so why require a license?
-
I'm new to this also and went through the same progression, i.e. HT to mobile, with the expectation of eventually adding a base station -- maybe a repeater at some point. All this would, obviously, require lots of equipment and a modest stack of bucks, especially with more than one vehicle in the household.
I've satisfied all of my use cases and spent a total of less than $150. How? By making everything portable. I have a 25W mobile radio and a small 3dB mag mount antenna. The radio plugs in to the cars' cigarette lighters so nothing is hard wired. I can move it between the cars and bring it inside to use as a base station. As I type it's sitting behind me in a closet atop a pizza pan hitting a repeater that's about 30 miles away. Hell, I could use it on my fiberglass boat but I don't want to explain why I have a pizza pan on the bow.
Is this top-notch gear? Nope, but it works very well for me. I'll eventually upgrade (probably the antenna), but for now everything is working everywhere, and I haven't drilled a single hole.
Oops, forgot the new inside power supply, so let's call it $200 total.
-
-
^Come to my place sometime and show me how your HT will go 50 miles. I'll buy the beer.
- SteveShannon and WRYZ926
-
2
TD-H3 transmitting but not showing up on SWR meter
in Technical Discussion
Posted
Is this true in general?