Ian

So my idea of encoding metadata into CDCSS and CTCSS is both feasible and legal! Given that its primary reason for existence is in fact squelch activation, all the rest of the things you can do with it slide right by.

This is the only thread on the forum that mentions MANET technology, so… I guess has anybody made any progress on MANET tech for "consumers" yet?

The T-Deck Plus is available in a 433 MHz model, and the Retevis RB91 and RB24 both operate via the LoRa waveform in the "70-cm" UHF band. Would it be possible to use both of these types of node in a 433 MHz mesh, presuming one had the necessary licenses to do so?

Lilygo has a ready-to-use version called the T-Deck Plus. As a starting point, I can see little reason to buy any other device than this.

I actually burned out a lead-acid battery charger plugged into my living room outlet when I "test-fired" a two watt MURS radio a room over. Never worked again, and since it was a seasonal product, Home Depot couldn't refund or replace it, which was awful annoying.

Yes. It's a known fault with certain AFCI/GFCI breakers, but this is the first time I've heard of it impacting a receptacle. I want to say it was Leviton, but don't quote me. They were surprisingly cool about it, however -- any RF damage or even RF sensitive breaker will be replaced no questions asked forever, after an investigation carried out in conjunction with the ARRL. Before this, one ham in a car could cut power to entire housing developments at a time built with the effected breakers!

Is there any way to get a dump of all the repeaters in my state from the database here so I can feed it into the RMOC, or am I going to have to do this by hand? Because I think at that point, a paper map, compass, and ruler would be easier than getting even MORE software involved, lol!

(dupe)

May I make a modest proposal? 20/22 is the Open Repeater Initiative method for allowing travelers to opportunistically use open repeaters while traveling, and the Queen has declared 19 to be the unofficial official highway channel. This makes life simple: 19/-- for simplex and 20/22* for repeater use. Now you can set your dual watch to those two, and just flip between the two depending on your intent. Easy as pie!* (22 being the common code invoking 141.3 Hz on most radios) (Unless your radio doesn't support dual watch…)

Bluntly what will MURS do that FRS won't? Waste your money. ;-) (And I say this as someone who's all in on the service!) Like I said, few products; fewer compelling.

There's an embarrassing dearth of compelling products, IMHO. Like there's cheap five-channel VHF radios sure, but there's no tiny pocket radios without freebanding a UV-3R, and the two compelling products are niche and expensive: Garmin has its Group Ride Radio which can be $1500/vehicle all in and Dakota Alert has its line of products which I want to play with, but can't justifiably afford until I have my first ham radio that'll do more than five watts. I'd like to point out that I own a small boatload of Dakota Alert radios, and I'd like to decode their "sensor zone" protocol. Tech support once told me that they operate using modulated CTCSS to identify which of four "zones" is triggered, in addition to playing their voice notification. On the base stations, this triggers a relay which can be used by anybody with a Radio Shack level of electronic engineering skill to do arbitrary things; on the handies, it sets a notification on the LCD. Still, all the kit is designed specifically to cater to rural users' specific pain-points, and isn't easily applied to suburban folks' situations or interfaced with other makers' kit, despite the apparent and alleged protocol simplicity. ---------------- On the other paw, the Garmin GRR is a nightmare of as-yet-un-reverse-engineered protocol combined with decent hardware and good UI design; if they'd come out with a GMRS version of it, I'd sell my right testicle to outfit my family's vehicles with them. As it is though, each vehicle really needs three freakin' radios, and even if I use the simplest possible radio in each "slot" it's going to be an unbearably complex experience for my ham-flavored ass, let alone the rest of the family. That was the turning point for me getting my ticket…

I unironically do, if there's not too much of it! They destroy the value of the frequencies, ensuring that there will never be a realistic temptation to turn it into a new block of license-by-auction cellular spectrum.

I live in flat-as-a-pancake Florida, so I completely forget about line-of-sight problems sometimes… The difference between theory and praxis in this state is very small!

The first one would be easy enough, and save me five minutes printing out a map and drawing circles on it. Not a big problem. Second one could be implemented one of two ways: one using highly detailed topo maps to give you realistic propagation simulations, which would be hard. The easy way would basically make a list of repeaters taken from the map view, and suggest which repeaters you might want to try. RepeaterFinder has a similar list view, sorted by distance. I feel like even the low-effort method would be a useful feature, to be honest. And then you could feed that data into your propagation software of choice, perhaps, but the quick glanceable list is going to save me ten minutes faffing about on the repeater viewer and copying everything I want to try to connect to into a note on my phone whenever I change locations, so it can't be THAT rare a use-case.

I think your video actually sold me a pair of these.

WSDL234, if you want to stick with Midland, they make two handhelds that are repeater capable -- the GXT3000, which is a nice "bubblepack" radio that does ~2.5 watts, and the five-watt GXT67 PRO, which is actually fairly high-end and capable with a well-thought-out user interface. The former costs $150 for a two-pack with drop-in charger, and the latter costs $200 a piece, which also includes a drop-in charger. For reference, I've provided links to the FCC's available information on the two here: https://fccid.io/MMAGXT3000 https://fccid.io/MMAGXT67

I'm about to shower the salt off from a trip to the beach twenty minutes ago. I still think it's the only digital mode that can be made human-readable just by slowing down the tape, which seems like a nice trick to have. In practice, I'll probably just use a GMRS Pro doing "APRS", though.

Emphasis mine. I have a fantasy that I'll be able to find, someday, a radio which will let me set my callsign as my roger beep at 100+ WPM so it's not too obnoxious. Compatible radios/repeaters/software would then be able to display who's transmitting like fancy dispatch systems with MDC and stuff like that, but do it on a $20 cheap-chinese-potato budget.

First: I love the new app, I love the new map! I'd like to suggest a couple features that would make it even cooler, though. First, a way to view the map with (estimated) coverage circles of all nearby repeaters, which will make it easier for people to tell if a repeater is needed in their garage. Second, a tab that will show you the list of which repeaters you should be able to hit from your current GPS location would be super convenient. Thanks for the awesome resource, guys and gals! :D

Has anybody mounted a radio in a Miata before? Any advice on antenna mounting? I'm planning to mount both a GMRS and a CB. GMRS is probably a Midland MXT-275 or 575, and the CB is probably going to be a Cobra 75. That way the radios can be stashed away in the trunk next to the battery, and a simple USB or Ethernet extension cord run to a convenient spot in the cab. I'm hard-over on the remote-control-head style radio, and I want it to be something that I can set up and tell a less-technical user "here's how you turn it on. Put it on channel four, and leave it there". Or in the case of the Midland, get the handpiece with the volume knob, set it, lock the buttons, and the only controls they have to think about are "talk" and "volume". Anyway, I've agreed that I can't drill for antenna mounting, so I'm looking for alternatives. I'm leaning towards clamp-on trunk-lip mounts at the moment, but I'm eager to see what others have done so far! On one of the Miata forums, some dude is selling an antenna tuner that allows the factory power antenna to work for both the stereo and CB at the same time, so that's a strong contender for the CB antenna. There are also third-party power antennas designed to work for both at once from the factory, though they're all looking pretty "new old stock" at the moment.

LOL you say that, but my mother for example doesn't know when I've "released the PTT" when I'm talking to her face to face! It took her a while to learn that if the other radio is still transmitting, you can't just jump in and talk over it and expect the other radio to hear what you're saying, and she still jumps the gun sometimes.

It seems like it's got some minimal data functions, so that's mandated by the FCC.

If it's an HT compatible radio, you can connect your phone via Bluetooth to use it as a speaker-mic. Baofeng's branded version for GMRS also supports this feature. Having said that, I probably should have asked about voice specifically, but I was asking about the GMRS Pro's APRS functions.

That was the Retevis RT-40; I own four of them. They sound shockingly good, even on analog channels; I'd like to firmware unlock them for amateur radio frequencies though.

AIGHT, first thought, without having read five pages: Adding a secondary allocation to the 462 and 467 blocks for amateur service would be nice. You'd still have to comply with the technical limits of GMRS, but you could use amateur gear on it without having to resort to freebanding. Second though: Got some reading to do…