Lscott
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Posts posted by Lscott
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On 4/13/2024 at 1:44 PM, WRQC527 said:
Maybe you will too, maybe not. I was casually researching how many guns were sold by state, and this image of a fully-equipped member of the Delaware Militia, including a Baofeng with a high-capacity antenna, showed up under their statistics.
You see about the same thing at this site too. On this site the faces are blotted out to protect the guilty.
https://radiofreeq.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/militia-radio-frequencies/
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3 hours ago, TechnoHam633 said:
Split tones which is a good idea too.
That’s sort of useless too. The only tone that matters is the one for transmit. Myself I never use a tone on receive. All my commercial radios can be programmed that way. So, in that case I couldn’t care less what tone was used on the output.
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4 minutes ago, TechnoHam633 said:
Some of the older Kenwood gear will let you program "odds" or non standard tones for repeater use.
That only works to the extent you can keep the tones secret. The weakest link in any security method are the people. Sooner or later someone is going to tell a buddy what the odd tone is so they can talk. Then you’re done.
- TechnoHam633, Sshannon and WRXB215
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4 hours ago, gortex2 said:
Motorola offered RAS on some of the repeaters and has been used with great success.
I believe that’s patented Motorola technology. In that case you’re limited to Motorola radios. I guess if it’s just for your family it’s likely no big deal. You can program the radios for them.
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9 minutes ago, WRQC527 said:
Antenna theory is voodoo science if you ask me.
Not really. The ideas are fairly basic if you don't jump into the theory really deep. Doing some searching on the Internet one can find some sites that do a decent job of explaining the fundamentals. If you get into building and designing antennas a bit more knowledge is required.
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On 4/13/2024 at 6:54 PM, WRQC527 said:
I would say that if you're this interested in linked repeaters, get your amateur radio technician license and play with linked repeaters to your heart's content. Amateurs have it figured out. I have some pretty strong opinions about linked GMRS repeaters.
Good recommendation.
The main issue with linked repeaters is when one is used the whole system is in use over a wide area making the additional repeaters rather useless. For example when two locals are talking, on their locally linked repeater, why would somebody 200 miles away care about their conversation when all they want is to contact their base station from across town using their locally linked repeater.
With many of the Ham repeaters, particularly the digital voice mode ones, have a way to either access the repeater and keep the communications local or address a remote repeater(s) specifically for a link.
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10 minutes ago, WRQC527 said:
Because they've designed these radios to operate adequately in the hand of an operator
But you also see a lot of them hanging on the user's belt, in pockets and strapped to utility vests. Some even have provisions for sticking the antenna on the speaker microphone. Can't design for every usage condition.
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1 hour ago, WRTZ750 said:
How do I keep people from scanning my personal repeater tones and gaining access?
Simple answer you can't can't.
Some people have toyed with the idea of using a single frequency "trunked" repeater where every radio has to be registered with the ESN, by using the internal Electronic Serial Number, to authorized access. As far as I know there isn't a way to change the radio's ESN.
The typical analog system is known as LTR, Logical Trunked Radio, and the variation using the radio's ESN called Passport.
Some people have bumped into used radios with the special Passport firmware loaded. When they try to reprogram the radio using the "normal" software the display shows SJ-180 and fails to load the code plug. I even had a used Kenwood TK-3180 HT with that firmware loaded. I managed to load the normal LTR firmware so I could use the regular radio programming software. I do have a copy of the special SJ-180 programming software too.
This is also fairly common on digital voice mode repeaters. The process to get a radio on one of those is a bit more complex requiring a "system key" file, licenses etc. just to program the radio. Normally with those radios you can't even read the radio without the system key file. There are hacked versions of the radio programming software out there that will read the radio and save the contents as a ".srv" service file without it. See attached screen shots of a used NXDN trunked radio I read with that software.
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I would be VERY careful taking a two-way radio to most countries. While it's "safer" to take Ham gear you can still run into issues. You get stopped for inspection the custom agent is going to ask a lot of questions about why you have it. Without proper documentation you might end up getting your radio confiscated on the spot. In some countries it's not even legal to "monitor" communications you're not licensed to use! One example is the UK.
https://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/mtlaws_may04.html
I wouldn't even consider taking a radio to Mexico. The police might think you're a cartel member. Any cartel member seeing your two-way radio might think you're an under cover cop or rival cartel member. Either way you could get shot.
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24 minutes ago, WRUW493 said:
Not sure why you would rule out roof pillars though???
They are going to be close to the antenna and in what is known as the "near field" so it couples into the driven element. That can booger up the impedance match, SWR issues, and the radiation pattern. It's not a guarantee you'll have problems but keeping the antenna away from from structures like that will at least avoid the potential for them. You read through the past comments over time here and you'll see this mentioned from various people.
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On 4/5/2024 at 11:33 AM, WRZT411 said:
Also, is there a real difference between a 5/8 and a 1/2 wave antenna?
If you don't have a GOOD ground plane for a 5/8 wave antenna, they really need it, don't waste your money on one.
If it's a true 1/2 wave they don't need a ground plane so you can mount them just about anywhere so long as you keep it away from nearby vertical metal supports, like roof pillars.
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50 minutes ago, WRUW493 said:
Same as above, plus: keep in mind that aluminum is non-ferrous, meaning that is actually repels magnetic fields. Sure it's thin, but there might be a risk of deteriorating the magnet if left on the aluminum long term. Consider a large steel washer below the magnet to "capture" the magnetic fields, then place that combo on the aluminum foil.
The aluminum foil won't hurt the magnet at all. Don't worry about it.
Sticking something magnetic on the back side of the foil the magnet can be attracted to is a good idea to hold the foil in place. The foil needs to be a rough square at lest 6 inches on a side or a circle about 12 inches in diameter. Put the magnet mount in the center.
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5 minutes ago, Sshannon said:
That might be true for some of the technician class hams, but most of the people I know who progress to General (and all of the ones who progress to Amateur Extra) work hard at understanding how everything works, propagation, etc.
Good. I know a few who don't, and they are Extra's too. Sad.
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36 minutes ago, nokones said:
What did you study on your own? Did you study the actual aspects of radio theories and practices to be an entry-level Amateur Radio Operator, what about the operation of the equipment and test instruments, systems and networks, rules and regulations, and ethics, or did you just study to memorize the answers to the potential exam questions?
Wouldn't a person benefit and learn more from an in-person class with inter-action with other class attendees and have hands-on exercises and participate with class discussions? I guess that type of learning is no longer available these days and people just don't want to inter-act with others and would rather stay home watch a video and could care less on the possibility of learning a lot more on the subject than watching a video.
Good points. Most Hams are "appliance operators" these days.
Still the value is learning the rules. At least memorizing them is about all you can do so that part isn't any different. As for the rest, well, I guess experience is the real teacher. Maybe then the rest of it might start to make some sense.
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1 hour ago, WSCF738 said:
My radios when haywire. I live outside of Austin and the lights on the radios just kept flashing. Couldn't turn the radios on or off and there was nothing on the display. After the eclipse passed everything returned to normal.
You sure it wasn't due to a temporary "climate change"?
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2 hours ago, WSAA254 said:
I think I will echo what everyone else has pretty much been saying. Quality coax (lmr400) and antenna height. My own personal setup was driven by hi windy conditions here. We can have weeks of 20-30 mph winds. So antenna size was important. Fortunately gmrs frequencys lend themselves to small antennas. I use a compactenna scan - III since I also use the same antenna with a SDR. There are probably better gmrs specific antennas that are less expensive, however I can hit a repeater 50 miles away at 5 watts, but this would not be possible without the elevations involved. Other folks around here have also hit the same repeater with a hand held at 5 watts, this just re-enforces the idea of height being king. My antenna is only about 10ft, and has survived 70 mph winds, the antenna is consistanly hit with 30 mph winds. Hope this helps, best of luck... All info is good info.... regards
You need a few more zip-ties on the cable. I imagine that's to try and take the weight off the cable connector at the base of the antenna.
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On 4/3/2024 at 4:36 PM, WSAK691 said:
There’s no spot on VHF that is even usable for this antenna. SWR is like 6+. Even on 70cm the numbers are on the high side of the usable slope. So if you bought this antenna for those purposes, it is bad. But fortunately and luckily for GMRS users, this antenna lands resonant (by dumb luck?) at the GMRS region.
My experience with a similar type I picked up cheap at a Ham swap. On the Ham 70cm band it wasn't too bad. On VHF it was VERY narrow banded to the point of being mostly useless. The SWR on GMRS put it out of the running. Oh well I got a decent magnet mount out of the deal.
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New GMRS HT: Radioditty GM-30
in Equipment Reviews
Posted
See attached file.
EUT-INTERNAL-PHOTOS-6131155.pdf