Lscott

It's a 5/8 wave design thus a bit fussy with the ground plane. Used one with a home made ground radial setup. I bent the radials at about a 45 degree angle. An SWR sweep showed a decent match. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/268-ca-2x4sr/?context=new

https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/265-never-enough-antennas-on-mobilejpg/?context=new

Did it look something like this? https://imgur.com/eUWMHhA

It was sort of funny when the propaganda news media was reporting on the protests saying they were mostly peaceful with over turn cars on the street behind them, burning buildings and looters running by with arm fulls of stolen goods. Yup.

Radio has been very quiet here too. Don't need the crazies. I use a cheap triband CCR here at work as a cheapo scanner. I have it setup for FRS since most of the business are using them because they're cheap and no license required. Plus it's the same frequencies used by GMRS, at least the repeater outputs are.

I've been reading a few posts here and there where there is more activity to get a bill passed to prohibit encrypting things like police communications, at least for the dispatch frequencies, the tactical communications could remain encrypted. The logic used is two fold. One the equipment is paid for through public funds, and second for public transparency. Most likely not encrypted. Depending on location somebody might be have been in range to pickup the local radio traffic. That's not so sure now-days about HT's and encryption. Several of my radios have anything from RC4 enhanced 40 bit encryption, compatible with various other manufacture's radios. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/290-nx-1300duk5/?context=new And I have two with AES256 bit included.

I believe that. I did benchmark my TH-D74A once. It scanned through about 20+ channels in a second. For an HT that's quick.

So has anybody been monitoring the local GMRS channels, and the Ham bands? I remember a few years back when various protests were going on hearing local chatter on the Ham bands, a protest by the General Dynamics tank plant, on 70cm. Then believe it or not on some of the commercial business frequencies too! It seemed another protest was also ongoing at the same time. That one the protesters were using a local mall to park and get organized and the mall security there was keeping an eye on them. You can get live up to date news on what's happening without having to wait for the "filtered" coverage from the media. This is really a safety issue. The mall protest was only about 15 minutes by car from my home so yes it was of big interest to me. If it wasn't for the chatter on the radio I wouldn't have had any idea it was happening. People frequently mention getting into GMRS for emergency reasons, well trying to stay ahead, and away from, any potential trouble I think qualifies.

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.