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!

Merry Christmas!

"I’ve been an RID man for two weeks now. When am I going to catch a spy?!"

That's a shame. I kind of figured though, when their radios weren't available anywhere I checked for quite some time.

That's the one I had in mind. I'll need to pick up their SMA-F connector base, as well. Probably not a bad thing to have on hand.

Monitoring FRS/GMRS, I pick up a lot of the same things you guys are getting. Little kids screaming/shrieking. The other day I heard this: "Momm*BEEP*ommy*BEEP*m*BEEP*y*KKKKCCCCHHH*BEEP*mo*BEEP*mommy*BEEP*verhere*BZZZZTTTT*BEEP*mom*BEEP*mommy*BEEP*Imoverhere*BEEP". I did not hear the other side of the conversation. Best one I've heard so far was a kid, in between half-keys and Roger beeps, saying "I have a question..." literally 30 times in a row. Finally, his exasperated friend says "What. Is. Your. Question?!?!" Teenagers making weird nosies. Keying up and holding the mic up to the TV, tuned to ESPN. Heard some background chatter, tires squealing, etc. Not sure of it was a sideshow or just something on the TV. Some guys talking in hushed tones. Kept saying a 10 code (don't remember which one it was). Finally, one of them says "10-XX. Did you guys catch that?" Not sure what was going on there. Occasionally random adults on FRS. I always seem to catch the very end of a conversation. Lots of GMRS simplex nets and rag chewing on ch. 19.

I have a Radioddity MU-5 that I like so far. I might get a Smiley Stick for it. I had a Btech MURS V2 that I returned, because I just wasn't happy with it. It was actually not a bad radio, but I just didn't care for the lack of a dedicated WX mode and the fact that you had to turn it off and on to switch between channel and VFO mode. The lack of scanning in VFO mode was the deal-breaker for me. These aren't really reasons you buy a MURS radio, but I like having them and when they aren't present or they don't function the way I think they could I can't help but think there are better options.

You're exactly right. I wasn't aware that I needed to be in VFO mode, or I overlooked it or something. Boy, do I feel dumb. Anyway, I got it programmed correctly now. Thank you for your help!

I've been programming directly on the radio itself, using the Channel Wizard feature, which is supposed to be easy. Actually, it is, it's just weird that it changes all the frequencies and I can't figure out why. Using CHIRP and a programming cable is probably going to be my next route. Arguably, it's probably the best route, I was just hoping to be able to do it right on the radio itself. Otherwise, yeah, it's a great radio and I'm really enjoying it. I programmed in my local repeaters yesterday and went up into the hills to try it out. They were pinning the meter, but I couldn't hear anything. Figured I'd screwed up the tones. Nope. Then I saw that the frequencies were all wrong. How did I screw that up? Turns out, I didn't.

Yes, I have read the manual, but I am having an issue programming custom channels with the Channel Wizard. When I create a new repeater channel, it changes the frequency of all previously created channels to the same as the new channel. I am saving to a blank channel as well, not overwriting previous channels. Tones and other settings for previously created channels are unchanged though, it's just he frequency that gets changed. I have tried factory reset, too. And, yes, I have reached out to the reseller (Buytwowayradios), just wondering if anyone has any insights as well. Thanks in advance all.