FishinGary

This is another website I need to start exploring more. More time on the internet, less time on the radio... but knowledge is power!

Yup, but it takes (a little) extra effort. The ULS site is interesting though. Didn't expect to find as many active amateur and GMRS licenses in my town and nearby towns as I did!

An awful lot of schools use FRS. I suppose this is because it's relatively inexpensive and the "license free" designation makes it's seem low-hassle. I've worked at school sites before where they used some Motorola radios, if I recall correctly. Probably business band, but it was a long time ago and I didn't know a lot about it at the time. Each school site in the district used a different channel.

Cool! Thanks for sharing this. At least, it doesn't show your street address.

Not to be pedantic, but it's not really "free". Energy is conserved (First law of Thermodynamics). But anyway, I got ya. I think it's cool. Never got too deep into it, but a good buddy of mine does a lot with solar panels. We go camping and can charge batteries that charge phones, run other electronics, etc. Last year, the house he was renting got a "surprise" remodel. It was such a mess that he ended up moving out into the backyard temporarily, living in a tent. Ran lights and the TV off of solar-charged batteries. There are several repeaters (GMRS and 2m/70cm) around here that are running solar.

Guess I completely missed the welcome thread, too. Been around for a bit. Mostly lurking. Welcome everyone and hello. Been into monitoring and radio in general for what seems like forever. Scanning, shortwave, etc. GMRS late last year and amateur radio earlier this year. Was in broadcasting for awhile, too (mostly the 90s).

I was actually referring to this

...and there was much rejoicing yay...

Nice work. Congratulations!

Strangest roger beep I've ever heard was during this one exchange, sounded like two guys at some business using FRS, and one of them produced this fast "bonk-bonk" sound every time he keyed off. It it sounded like a notification sound you could select on a cell phone or something. The other one had a "normal" sounding beep.

I ran into this recently and assumed it was a guardrail to prevent users from leveling up too quickly by simply liking every post on the forum or something.

Anyone else following the story that Whistler is supposedly back in business? They were apparently purchased in January by a Goliad Products, LLC. The legitimacy of the business is being questioned by some. National Communications Magazine apparently wrote an article on it, which I have not seen. There is also a contentious debate about it on Reddit.

Congrats! I went from unlicensed to Amateur Extra this past Thursday (had lots of time to study). Paid my fee Friday night. Still waiting on that call sign.... (hopefully coming by Monday). I'm going to learn CW next.

SMA-M

Happy (belated) New Year!