Logan5

I realize that this topic has been dormant for some time however I just received my GMRS license and was curious as to how many licenses there are in the District of Columbia/Maryland/Virginia area as I reside in southern Maryland but am close to both DC and VA.
 
Active licenses only:
 
District of Columbia: 81
 
Maryland:                938
 
Virginia:                  1673

If going out of service range I always carry one of these, Be aware if you need to activate it any costs to rescue you may be billed to you.
 
http://www.cabelas.com/product/SPOT-LLC-SPOT-GEN-ORANGE/1661065.uts?productVariantId=3609002&WT.tsrc=PPC&WT.mc_id=GoogleProductAds&WT.z_mc_id1=03750221&rid=20&gclid=CLnI6Nz-stMCFQodaQoduGEKeg&gclsrc=aw.ds

Received a Midland MXT400 today and hooked up a power supply and attached my KB9VBR J-Pole. I checked the SWR using a (new) Signstek meter which tested very good at just slightly below 1.5 using 50ft of RGX8. 
 
I placed the radio in scan mode for several hours and received a few repeater conversations. At this point I plan to just monitor and get familiar with radio/functions and capabilities before I attempt transmitting. 
 
Tomorrow is another day...
 
Be safe out there!
 
pfactor

I'm still on the porch and looking forward to playing with all of you "Big Dogs" some day. Home base installation is nearly finished and almost ready for a maiden voyage. "Big Brown Truck" is expected tomorrow which will most likely get me overwhelmed with radio programing. Installed is a KB9VBR J-Pole and a Ed Fong J-Pole and separated by approx 10 feet. Both install in my attic which has zero construction foil attached (only Styrofoam insulation panels) and is approx. 30 ft above GL at an altitude of 1,120 ft. Very hilly and heavily wooded topography. Both installed per given instructions and It will be interesting to see which of the two will produce the best SWR and overall performance under same cabling and overall conditions.
 
Happy Easter to All!   
   
pfactor

I was gonna go with an upside down 5 point star and red lights.

If I had a 100' tree, I wouldn't have spent so much money

I have not doubt of that, when I hook my 4watt HT to my feedline, I easily get 15 plus miles. Height truly is King..  I think it could be done with a lot of forethought. I have deployed Cameras and DD-wrt routers like this. I have a collection of other enclosures none of them big enough for anything above a Parrot or two uv5r's and a rick. If you have 100' tower, try 2 HT's with a controller and separate antennas, at 4 watts and no duplexer, should fit in a standard demarcation box, I bet you get good propagation. Now you got me thinking of some testing of my own. hmmm...

Lots of online study material, then you can test yourself at Hamexam.org

study for the general and if you pass the Tech, you can take the Gen for the same money. if you pass both, you are ahead of the game.

Welcome PFactor, May you find logic and reason..

No repeater "output tone" is ever required. Furthermore, the absence of a transmit "output tone" will not - in and of itself - cause interference with other repeaters.
 
The looped recording on the other hand is nothing less than malicious interference as it allows no one else to use the frequency.

Here is a transcript of the entire loop:
"Attention, operation of the KAZ0353 KAG0353 repeater operating on the 462.675 Mhz; your system is working without any transmit tones. This is a shared frequency, you must operate with a transmit tone, so other repeaters can operate on this frequency. The FCC does not protect operators from interferance on GMRS who do not share. This station WQWQ482 will not cease to transmiting on this frequency until KAZ0353 KAG0353 reconfigures his repeater transmitter so other stations can operate on this frequency."
 
Today the recorded loop stopped. Instead some DTMF tones are getting looped every 30 secs or so.
 
It is always something wierd on this frequency around here
 
Edit: someone pointed out that call sign was transcribed wrong it should be KAG0353 not KAZ0353.  Thats why using phonetics are so important on radio comms.

going to try and monitor this today

Thanks guys/gals for these welcoming comments.
 
My logic and reason for joining this forum is solely for an opportunity to enhance my naive but sincere interest in the science/physics applied to R/F communications.
I am newly retired with radio user operation/exposure but with little practical application experience.
I am Currently studying for my Technician amateur licenses as well.
 
Thanks again,
pfactor  

Welcome PFactor, May you find logic and reason..

A couple of years ago there was a Doctors office near me that was using GMRS. I set my simplex repeater on that frequency and PL for a few days...after that, never heard them again. I guess having to hear themselves repeated back all day was annoying! Imagine that. 

I ditto on turning the power down. 20/25 will do as well as 40 in most cases, as the higher the tx power the more chance of drowning your input, even with dupexor (unless you are spending $3,000 on it, and even then I have turned them down to necessary power only. 
 
When I worked for M we had a customer that used a 25 watt mobile for 2 way and phone interconnect, and 2 HT600 portables, but her repeater antenna was on a 500 foot tower she owned. We had the repeater all rigged up blowing A/C directly into it, as she liked to use that phone for 20-30 minutes at a time, and it was an R100 repeater! We had it set down to get about 2 watts out the antenna, and it had great coverage, more than she needed.
 
Input path to the repeater will determine the usability in most cases not power out. Too many guys have CB mentality, not what you need.  

I would tune the radios down to 20 or 25 watts...they will last longer. It's a short run on coax so rg8x or some 213 will be fine with n connectors. I use dcp, vice ctcss. Try and go up as high as you can. Height will be ur friend. Lastly, make sure you have a good power supply to run the mobiles on. This k about a battery back up for when u have power failure. What type of antenna? I use a jpole, it works great.

Sent from my SM-T357T using Tapatalk

I am 47 airline miles from the tower and can easily get into the repeater from my mobile (both the TH-7800 dual band and my CS800 DMR in analog mode).
 
I've also manage to get in from my 4 watt XPR7550 DMR in analog mode, albeit not full quieting.
 
Prior to the relocation, I could barely get into it from my radio room using a hi-gain rooftop mounted antenna. From what the owner told me the other day, with the ground elevation taken into consideration, the "height" now is equivalent to around 560'. The repeater is a venerable Micor that's been around for a very long time. Motorola equipment from that era doesn't want to die... 

yep I can see it this is delta kilo delta one Charlie gulf northern Maines don't know don't care station cq cq...

Uhmmm maybe that would make a great call sign in DX...

Wow, what a small world. I just received my license a few days ago, and also bought a Midland MXT115 to install on my Toyota 4Runner. Even weirder, I vaguely know the OP (either Leon or Phil) from Instagram and the Overland Bound group (@explore_the_usa and "Steve", respectively.) And like @xplorer313, I'm completely new to GMRS, coming from CB back in the '70s as my only previous two-way radio experience.
 
So thanks for all of the information so far in this thread to help another beginner.
Steve

I had one of these few weeks ago which I returned because of some cosmetic issues. My new one will arrive tomorrow.
My number one complaint is that GMRS channel starts with zero and it carries on. I know about the workaround of renaming the channels, but it would be so much easier if Baofeng started with Channel 1, then they should have also "skipped" channels 8 to 14 and not programmed the GMRS channels on those banks.
This helps when you are navigating without looking at the screen, you can just listen to the "channel number" and know you are on the right GMRS channel.
 
They should have also left more channel banks for programming additional GMRS repeaters. This is just to future proof the unit, as I can definitely guess the number of GMRS users are going up.
 
I would also choose two of these units against one Midland XMT100 for versatility and better features.

By making lots of mistakes 

That would take away the fun of my Santa sleigh up in the air at Christmas time... Code? Wow I'm glad I don't live in an area that picky. Never had one at my house lol! Just 5 bucks for a permit to build And none needed for an antenna tower!