Davichko5650

Check it out this weekend - 3 different QSO Parties on the air, VT, BC and my own state, MN. Also a 10-10 contest going on, so should be a lot of traffic on the phone and cw band segments! What's sometimes fun is when you can hear someone on both coasts, but they can't hear each other.

My buddy still has his set of 4 of these, they were always one of the best sounding speakers around, and his still rock the house very well!

Baofeng MP-31 - No display, Volume/channel knobs and PTT are the only controls. You can set PL tones on CPS or Chirp if you use those, otherwise, good to go right out of the box. $25 a pair. I have 2 and my wife, a non radio hobbyist in the extreme, has no problems using this around the spread.

Not sure how high you have the AF gain set, but the S meter is showing only 1 S unit of noise, that's actually pretty good for the 10m band. The lower bands like 20 - 40, etc usually have more noise than that in an urban setting from my experience.

Well I think the "conventional wisdom" I spoke of comes from atmospheric noise, especially as relates to Lightning caused static crashes on the lower bands. It comes down to most lightning being cloud to ground and that would be seen as a vertically polarized electromagnetic wave. But listening to 80 meters when there's a storm either near or far, I think both polarizations would see noise, but the vertical might have an S unit or more higher reading?

SteveShannon said: "My probably inadequate understanding is that most sources of man made noise are horizontally constructed and thus are horizontally polarized. Vertical antennas have less noise usually than horizontal." I always had heard the conventional wisdom that Verticals had more noise. I can't speak to this as any kind of expert. But I run a vertical at home for 80-6m and I don't see more noise in the urban environment as opposed to friends running horizontals or slopers. We've found that noise is more a result of the RFI environment the antenna is in - pesky LED lights, wall warts, etc. etc. And of course time of day. I run 60m a lot (and will more so after 2-13-26) and it's noisy in the early evening, but useable, and then dead quiet late night (and open like crazy into Europe for cw, phone and ft8.

That'd be a groundwave contact there. We typically see good groundwave here on our Wed. night net on 28310 USB. Get stations in the TC area in MN that are up to 20+ miles from the NCS's location. And when the band is open, they love those stateside and DX check-ins. Wed nights at 1930 local time (0130 zulu std and 0030 during DST) 28310 khz the St Paul Radio Club Friendly net. NCS is Dale NØPEY - good friend and fellow ASA veteran!

First time I saw someone actually do this, he referred to it as the "Country Screwdriver."

I've actually had Cell service in one part of the BWCA - Trout Lake north of Vermilion my buddy was able to call his dad when we did the >25 hp motor portage into there! most other parts, nothing but nothing and we just rely on our wits and our outdoor skills!

Are you talking in specifics? I.e. interesting people you personally know in GMRS? Or in general, trying to interest people overall in the Service as a hobby endeavor? I really myself, don't see a need to work on getting more people involved in GMRS. My family besides myself use it on occasion when we're doing things, much in the way the Service was intended to be. Beyond that, they've no interest in GMRS as a hobby. I also don't use GMRS beyond the family, on Off-Road group trips and a smattering of friends that are on Simplex. I don't chat about the weather or any other topic on repeaters. But if you are looking to expand people's interest, one way is what a friend of mine does; He has a very well made Info Table that he brings to local radio outings and Hamfests detailing GMRS, MURS, CBRS, Marine and Amateur radio and the various frequencies and usages for each service. He also has info on Air Band receiving and SW Listening. Being conversant in GMRS, etc., being able to explain what it is and how it's used in a way non-technically minded folks can grasp also would help. At our monthly "Hams in the Park" (non POTA, btw) outings hereabouts, he will have this table set up and it garners a lot of attention as to what radio is all about.

I bought the Baofeng MP-11's not even on sale and they were a whopping $22 for 2. A radio even my wife can use!

Funny thing is; when i was in the Army in the mid 70's and used CB when running around KY/TN and running back home, I don't ever recall people actually talking like this on the radio for the most part. Very occasionally and usually like we've done here, making fun of the lingo!

Keep an eye out for the Bear in the Air and the Kojak with the Kodak takin' pictures in the plain brown wrapper over there in the weeds on the superslab...

I watch for SSTV down on 27.770 - they send some pretty interesting pix at times!

Semantics of course, or my bent towards smartassery - Not operating illegally, just against regulations!

Nice oxymoron there! Professionals on the Amateur bands. hihi The only station I need to worry about operating within regulations is my own. No plans to police the airwaves. Maybe after I retire and "need something to do"; until then I'll just keep plugging away on PSK31, RTTY and VarAC modes where my fingers do the talking.

This exactly is why I have a GMRS license in addition to the amateur one. No one else in my immediate family is interested in amateur radio or most other hobby aspects of radio. But when we're up north where cellphones don't work and we need to keep in touch out of yelling range, GMRS, especially the very simple Baofeng MP-11's make it so they can talk to me and each other cabin to boat, boat to boat and mobile to cabin. Easy to use, I set up the channels and PL tones and they just hit the PTT and talk. Around home it beats yelling out to the back of the large city lot we have.

Haven't heard that up here in the TC area of MN. Most groundwave ragchew stuff up hereabouts is on 28.310 or 28.350. Lots of local ops on 38 lower and 40 lower on CB also.

Will keep it in mind for next time we roll thru the DM area. Use Ch 20 a lot when we road trip to Waterloo from the Twin Cities, surprisingly a lot of traffic on the frequency rolling down Hwy 63.

Not snowed in up here in MN. -22 and both cars started. Was deep into operating Winter Field Day for the amateur side of things on PSK31 mode and chatting with the local crew of friends and family on Ch. 19 on GMRS.

Keep swimming! You got this!

Same on Phone! In some contests I do on Phone I use "Norway" for the N in my prefix as by the time I rattle off November the other end is already picking up someone else! But I mostly do cw and rtty contests and my call in cw and rtty sends quickly.

In truth, mostly my chinese is limited to hello/goodbye and "that's very bad" A smattering of phrases my army buddy taught me at DLI and Goodfellow and I returned the favor and taught him how to swear in Arabic...

For the most part I don't scan the GMRS channels, simplex or repeaters. I park on Ch. 19 for local contacts, mostly with friends and family I know and already talk to. We do hear an occasional caller asking for Radio Check or throwing their Callsign out "Listening" or "Monitoring" and I will respond. There's growing activity on this simplex channel in my neighborhood including a Net on Monday nights at 1900 local time. I have one repeater on the dual watch in the mobile, and follow as above on that channel; When I'm on either simplex or the repeater, I will also call out <MYCALL> listening and will converse with whomever, if anyone, comes back to me.

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