BoxCar

Oh, gremlin snuck in and turned the magic smoke generator on. That's not good 'cuz it takes the whoopies away.

Nope. They shifted to 17 at the Idaho or Oregon orders. Most of the ones newly into the region usually got the channel change at their first truck stop or at a scale.

CB channel 19 wasn't used nationwide as a travel channel. The Pacific Northwest used Channel 17. That area included all of Washington state, Oregon and most of Idaho. Channel 19 was primarily used for rag chews and sideband use.

It's entirely possible the repeater is transmitting a tone but your receiver by not requiring one will hear anything transmitted on the frequency.

The fees vary by coordinator. The best I can tell you is to go to the FCC website and look up the web address of all the coordinators for B/ILT and check their posted prices. There is no restriction on who can hold a business license other than what the FCC requires for any applicant. Licenses under Part 90.20 are restricted to specific parties but 90.35 doesn't have those.

Set the Tone Mode to Tone, not TSQL and remove the receive tone. You won't hear the repeater unless it is using a transmit tone.

The coordinators use proprietary software that is available for license. The suite we used carried a $1500 a year license fee. The software was sophisticated enough that it could coordinate a trunked system using multiple sites and frequencies at the same time. Our advantage was we did the coordinations in house rather than farming them out to local, volunteer frequency advisors which often took months to complete. We processed over 95% of our applications within 3 days.

Tones are NOT required on any channel or device. Ask whoever gave you that tidbit to show where it is required in the rules.

It isn't that your signal can't go beyond the limit on your license and connect to a unit outside the assigned radius as much as your use of that frequency is not "protected" from another user being coordinated in an adjacent area. Typically, the coordinators assign a 32 km (20 mile) protection area, but they also issue city, county and state-wide areas of operation. The different frequency coordinators have different periods in which they review and approve or object to another coordinator's application. Commercial B/ILT coordinators must file their objection within 24 hours while public safety coordinators have 5 days to review a proposed coordination. The difference in review times is due to the nature of the coordinations. B/ILT coordinators work on the premise that all frequencies are shared while the public safety coordinators assign exclusive use to a frequency.

Side mounting antennas is done for several reasons including those already stated. One of the more common reasons is to restrict the radiation pattern from the antenna. The tower is used to cancel a portion of the radiation pattern often to prevent interference to other stations on the same frequency. This often happens with public safety and commercial installations as another user just a few miles away can be on an adjacent channel and their application was approved for coordination with the non-interference requirement.

The 200 foot measurement is supposed to include any antennas that extend above the tower. The regulation states the total height of the structure which, by definition, will include antennas as they are part of the "structure." There have been a few reports of tower owners being cited but they have only been after complaints have been filed. From the few I remember the complaint was filed by pilots that do ag spraying,

VHF and UHF communications are short range and communications may not leave the area of concern. Granted, that is a key issue as it allows communications between people within the area but will have little to no impact for summoning aid or relaying information outside the area. Each has their place but I wouldn't count on VHF or UHF for summoning aid more than 1 or 2 miles away.

Or mobile hotspot.

67.0 is the correct value.

Ace Hardware stocks sheet steel in different sizes and thicknesses. I use a 2 foot x 2 foot piece for both GMRS and 2 meter ham work with a 50W radio. Exposure to RF is an issue you need to guard against. There are calculators available on the web that allow you to find the safe distances for both you as the operator and an observer.

Switching power supplies have to meet FCC requirements for noise so the blanket statement that switching power supplies are major noise generators is mostly false. The early switching supplies did not have to be designed with the filtering now required so they were a problem but more in the frequency ranges below those used for GMRS frequencies. You have a better than 99% chance that any switching supply having an FCC label will power your radios with no noise.

The FAA has specifications for tower lighting and the maximum height does include the antenna if it extends above the tower structure. The best repeaters are commercial or public safety grade units purposely built as repeaters. These are not "just two radios connected together" but units built for constant transmit/receive use. Typical radios spend most of their life receiving and about 10 to 20% of their life transmitting. The transmitter is the part that draws the most power and generates the heat that causes failure. Repeaters on the other hand are built to spend 50 to 100% of the time transmitting. Your best bet for getting a good repeater system is from the used market. Check the usual sources like E-Bay, local two-way radio dealers and do an Internet search for used radio dealers.

USB voltage is 5VDC while the radio runs on 7.4VDC so the USB will not directly charge the radio or run it.

26 miles on a handheld is unlikely even with a great antenna and impossible with the stock or even a "good" antenna. You don't say anything about possible obstructions between you and the repeater, but unless you have a clear line-of-sight shot even your other radios are iffy at that distance.

A word about tone settings in CHIRP. Tone means the transmitter transmits the selected tone when the PTT is activated. TQSL means the transmitter transmits the selected tone and the receiver listens for a tone to operate. Unless the listing for the repeater lists both a transmit and receive tone, you should always select TONE and not TQSL.

Amateur radio requires each user to be licensed unlike GMRS where one license covers all family members. The primary advantage for amateurs is the 144 and 440 MHz infrastructure around the world. The number of repeaters covering large areas with many interconnected to the Internet allows an amateur worldwide contact using one of three primary digital modes.

There is no need for multiple FRNs as the number only identifies the applicant not the service or license.

If you feel adventurous you can turn that old satellite antenna dish into a GMRS antenna by cutting a slot in it. Amazon has a book about slot antennas and how to construct them.

Hamstudy.org is a great resource. I used it to review for both the Tech and General license exams and will probably use it to help study for my Extra ticket. Also, there are literally hundreds of YouTube video Tech courses online which step through the ARRL Technician study book. Amazon sells several different study books for all of the amateur levels but the ARRL book is the best to use for the online classes. Our club has a weekly coffee meet where you can ask to have a test administered and they also conduct scheduled tests at various locations in our area. I didn't get my Tech until I was 76 and General when I was 77. I'll get my Extra at 78 so you're not too late to start. The biggest impediment is the cost of new ham gear but there are some great deals available on used equipment that work for both mobile and base operations. Some clubs can even provide used gear free to new hams.

I also think the issue is tones. You need to be certain the tones are the same. Privacy codes are set by the manufacturer and may not be the same transmitted code. There are 50 different tones used for squelch quieting so code 2 may not be the same from manufacturer to manufacturer.