Lscott

Been scanning the local GMRS frequencies and repeaters since this morning. It's been very quiet.

https://www.abc3340.com/news/nation-world/us-businesses-board-up-ahead-of-possible-election-day-unrest-presidential-election-november-5th-2024-washington-dc-portland-oregon-luzerne-county-pennsylvania-wilkes-barre-politics https://www.foxnews.com/us/trump-vs-harris-cities-across-us-board-up-ahead-election https://www.kgw.com/article/news/politics/elections/downtown-portland-business-window-board-up-election-preparation/283-83092bf2-ef68-4bbe-8176-e82b3ec147b7 https://americanmilitarynews.com/2024/11/natl-guard-troops-on-standby-ahead-of-potential-election-unrest/ Just a few examples. Sad the country has to be this way.

Now where is the cop hiding?

Like these guys? https://radiofreeq.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/militia-radio-frequencies/

People are nervous about the outcome of the election today. Been reading stories where businesses have boarded up their windows etc. Anything that crazy going on in your area? At least by me I haven't noticed anything. Hopefully people will behave themselves regardless of the results.

I used this setup for a long time when I lived in an apartment complex years ago. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/268-ca-2x4sr/

At least the dumb ones do.

I would recommend using RG-8X cable. It has far less loss than the typical RG-58 type and just slightly larger in diameter. You can use larger coax like LMR-400, less loss, but its much more bulky and heavy. But for a portable application I would assume you would like something small, light and easy to carry. All my portable radios I typically use BNC connectors. Those don't cause SWR problems and are low loss when using quality types. You can find adapters from just about any connector type to BNC. I have BNC adapters for all of my radios. I would use the minimum length of coax to get the job done. The link below is for a 25 foot RG-8X cable with male BNC connectors on the end. If you really need 50 feet then use two with a BNC barrel adapter. Otherwise the 25 foot one would likely be more than enough. https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-8xdb025 I use a portable mast system with about 25 to 30 feet of RG-58 cable. The higher loss on the cable helps to keep the SWR on the antenna down below 2:1. That's a trade off I made and I had the cable already. If a find a good buy on a RG-8X jumper cable I'll swap out the RG-58. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/257-portable-mast-antenna-system/

Years back I had to go to a GM plant to look at some malfunctioning equipment. The security guards wanted my SSN to let me in. I told them to F’off and left.

Good for you. I’m sadden when I see low numbers for voter turn outs for various elections.

I remember the 1967 Detroit riots. If people don't think it can get bad after the election, well it happened once before, and it all started with a raid of an after hours bar. The National Guard had permission from the Governor to shoot and kill looters. Yes it was that serious. https://policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu/s/detroitunderfire/page/days-of-the-uprising

I doubt the crazies will wait that long.

The real fun starts at the close of the poles Tuesday night. I'm keeping the battery packs for some of my radios fully charged and a few backups too. Also will make sure the gas tank is full the night before. Even some of the usually sane people at work are worried now. It shouldn't be like this. I have the NX-1300DUK5 FM/DMR radio all programmed up with D-Ring headset and spare battery pack. Have GMRS/FRS and Ham frequencies in it. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/290-nx-1300duk5/?context=new

I hope you got the right band frequency range. Those radios come in two different ones. One of which would be basically useless. You want the 440-470 range. You should be able to tell from the FCC ID tag on the back of the radio. It should match the one found here: https://fccid.io/AFJIC-F21 Which seems to show the radio is certified for Part 95A, which is the old rule part for GMRS. This means it's still perfectly legal to use under the new rules. Looks like a nice solid basic radio. icom_ic_f11_f21_brochure.pdf

https://www.ebay.com/itm/395675998567?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=s1puwzhytei&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=j_t98fioS_6&var=664414170010&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

That’s good to hear. I had a full left knee replacement done a year ago last August myself. Wore out the old one, meniscus was gone in part of the joint, bone on bone contact.

Sorry.

From one of my text books in the electronic library I keep handy. P-Pole Machines.pdf

At least you didn't accidentally cover up the battery pack charge contacts.

If one doesn't vote then one can't complain about the results. I would urge everyone to go and vote for the candidate of your choice. I don't care who it is. One buddy in my coffee group said if he doesn't like any of the candidates he just writes his own name in on the ballot, but he does vote.

Yup. The typical automotive alternator is a 3-phase device. They usually embed a 3-phase full wave rectifier on the frame on the back, 6 diodes. The output is DC with a small AC ripple at 6 times the AC frequency of one phase. The reason 3-phase is used is due to the low AC ripple after rectification. In many applications it can be used directly without filtering. The attached file goes into the electrical theory behind the above. Rectifiers.pdf

Not likely to happen in any form. https://www.arrl.org/news/fcc-turns-down-petition-to-create-a-4-meter-band-in-the-us

I was at a local Ham swap about a year ago. A local radio dealer was there. They weren't selling anything, but looking to hire a radio tech to do radio programming. They had some sample radios there as example what what one would be working on. One was a multi-mode EF Johnson - Kenwood, drool. https://www.efjohnson.com/viking-vp8000-portable-radio These are a bit outside of my budget range, even used. https://www.ebay.com/itm/156479419419?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=tvRZDxRVQp2&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=j_t98fioS_6&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

He would think it was a free peanut butter sample.

OK, Then he can't say he never got $hit for mail.