marcspaz

Yes, that is the point behind the certification process. Not that the transmitter is perfect, but any imperfections will not cause harm due to meeting level/performance requirements. No. Amateur Radio equipment does not require type acceptance. It is an experimental classification and people build/create their own technologies, as well as some commercial OTC options. The requirement of type acceptance would contradict the nature of the service. Also, amateur radio licensees are tested and expected to know the rules, limits and guidelines to prevent interference with other services. In fact, there are several parts of the spectrum that Hams use, where they are not even the primary users. We share space with DOD and Emergency Services (as well as other commercial and gov space) and are expected to not only not cause interference, but yield to the primary when they are present. After decades or running tests on radios for CB, GMRS and Amateur Radio, I can 100% say that amateur equipment is not as clean as many think. Most of the GMRS equipment I have tested is far cleaner than most Amaeur equipment I have tested on the same frequencies. And, while I am a huge fan of Yaesu, owning an FT65 as well as a FT3D and several mobiles, Yaesu is actually one of the worst offenders of dirty transmitters that I have seen. Much worse than even the most inexpensive BTech type approved GMRS radios.

You should care. It has nothing to do with Ham radio. The main reason type accepting is even a thing is because there are emergency frequencies adjacent to GMRS, and at harmonic frequencies. Type approved radios have been tested and confirmed to not cause harmful interference on those emergency frequencies. Others have not. I know I wouldn't want to be responsible for loss of life or property because I didn't buy an appropriate radio. Also, you don't have a GMRS Operator License. You have a GMRS Station License that is only valid while operating a type-approved station. If you are not using a GMRS radio certified for use by the FCC, you are in violation of rules and the license is not valid for those communications. This opens you up to criminal liability if harmful interference does occur.

I wouldn't sweat it too much. Around my area, normal range (say mobile to mobile) is about 3 miles. On a good day, if both operators are on high spots, maybe 8 to 9 miles.

The UHF band is line of sight. So, the further you can see, the further you can talk. I lost track of my longest GMRS contact, but I have talked to astronauts on the ISS at 250 miles above the Earth with only 5w on VHF/UHF. I think my longest GMRS contact was about 170 miles while on a mountain over 4,500' MSL.

First, there is a common understanding in the world that we should only use as much power as we need. So, how much do you need for your reliable communications? Second, there is a common misconception the you have to quadruple your power to make a usable difference. However, the reality is, on any given instant you never know how much or how little more power will really make the difference between getting your message out or not. Last, in my opinion, you can never have too much love, money or power.

It's hard to find good help these days.

First, I agree with nokones. All things being equal, UHF Ham won't perform any different than GMRS. The atmospheric losses around 465 MHz are so high as 12 miles that it would have to truly be an unobstructed view. The moment you put something in the way, it won't work.

If you are an audiophile or a geek Amateur Radio operator, you will be saddened to know that today the world has become a worse place. My acquaintance and fellow member of The Friendly Bunch Amateur Radio Club lost his battle with cancer. My heart hurts a little today. For those to don't know him, he was an amazing friend to the radio community. He was very generous with his time, always making the effort to talk to people he met on the radio or on the streets. He loved music and was a brilliant engineer. I'm blessed to have known him for the past 4+ years. From his employees... Today we say goodbye to our beloved founder, Dr. Bob Heil. Bob fought a valiant, year-long battle with cancer, and passed peacefully surrounded by his family. Bob’s impact on professional and live sound cannot be overstated. Driven by a lifelong passion for sound, Bob’s pioneering work revolutionized how concertgoers experienced live sound. Bob created and developed numerous pro sound innovations and products over the years, some of which are preserved in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. In 2007, Bob was the recipient of the Audio Innovator Parnelli Award, recognizing his outstanding influence on the live sound industry. Countless artists, creators, broadcasters, podcasters, sound engineers, and sound professionals worldwide continue to be impacted by Bob’s work. While Bob’s presence will dearly be missed, we are immensely proud and happy to honor and carry on his legacy. #bobheil #heilsound #heilmicrophones #livesound #prosound A snip from Wiki... Bob Heil (October 5, 1940 – February 28, 2024) was an American sound and radio engineer most well known for creating the template for modern rock sound systems. He founded the company Heil Sound in 1966, which went on to create unique touring sound systems for bands such as The Grateful Dead and The Who. He invented the Heil Talk Box in 1973, which was frequently used by musicians such as Peter Frampton, Joe Walsh and Richie Sambora, and is still in use today. Heil has been an innovator in the field of amateur radio, manufacturing microphones and satellite dishes for broadcasters and live sound engineers. In the late 1980s Heil Sound became one of the first American companies to create and install home theaters, and Heil has lectured at major electronic conventions and taught classes at various institutions. He has won multiple awards and honors, and in 2007 he was invited to exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Godspeed. You will be missed.

You probably have 2w or less making it to the antenna. If you switch to a mobile with at least 15w-20w. That will get you somewhere closer to 10w-12w into the antenna. A 50w radio will get you about 26w-32w depending on the cable loss. Multiplying your usable transmit power 13 times will increase your power into the repeater by 4+ s-units, which would be fantastic. Even at 15w, you will get at least 2 additional s-units into the repeater.

Depends on of you are using the mobile site or desktop site. On the mobile site, open the menu, click activity and then Unread Content. I bookmarked that page. On the desktop site, use the navigation bar at the top of the page to click on Activity, and then Unread Content.

shush! it's supposed to be a secret.

Putting an antenna on everyone's roof is going to be the best bang for the buck. In the UHF radio band, height is might. The higher in the air the better. I would also recommend getting a radio that is at least 15 watts with no more than 50 feet of LMR400 cable, which will give you about 11 usable watts at the antenna. A 25w radio with no more than 100 feet of LM400 will give you about 12w of usable power at the antenna. A 50w radio and 100 feet or less of LMR400 will give you the best advantage with 26w or more at the antenna. I wouldn't worry about the HOA with an outside antenna. A half-wave antenna is only about 12 inches high, and a quarter-wave antenna is about 6 to 7 inches tall when you include the ground plain. If you get a black or silver metal whip antenna, unless they happen to be on the roof doing an inspection, I highly doubt anyone would notice.

I could be misreading the post, but I think OP called out to see if anyone needed help, not that OP needed help... I think. /shrug

My last repeater (Yaesu DR-2X, same one Steve showed) had a STE programmable value on it. There are no references to Hang Time nor Reverse Burst in the owners manual... but I know that it had a Hang Time function and a Reverse Burst function, too. I'm at work right now, so I don't have a lot of time, but I can see if there is anything in any of the advanced manuals later tonight.

Not sure what to tell you. On most of the gear I have used, it's programmed on the receiver side and it's referred to as Squelch Tail Elimination, STE or Reverse Burst.

Nope, I'm definitely talking about squelch tail and STE. You are referring to something different. But, what you are referring to could also contribute to a user not hearing the repeater when they release their key.

I tried to put a repeater up in Stafford, near the hospital, and the county turned it down. They said I couldn't put up an antenna structure any taller than our building. I couldn't find a commercial site willing to donate tower space. I'm not interested in starting a club, but I may be able to spend some resources on getting the repeater up sometime this year. Depending on how much my health improves, of course.

Along with either the wrong RX tone or the repeater not transmitting a tone, the repeater could be programed to not transmit a squelch tail. Meaning, when you stop transmitting the repeater stops transmitting immediately or it stops transmitting the RX tone you need the instant it stops receiving your single, and then drops the transmit a fraction of a second after. That is very common in the DC metro area.

So, i was feeling better today and went outside to play with the radio. Evidently my memory is trash. My quick split maximum is +/- 20k, not 20m. I haven't used 6m in 2 years, and I don't know what I was doing for the odd offsets. Sorry I led you off in the wrong direction. I will tell you this, if I were to start using them today, I would reprogram them so the memory channel has the transmit side saved, and manual offset the receive side, so I don't have to program 2 channels with tones. But, I stopped using 6m because there is literally no one for me to talk to. I am pretty sure I have made 1 voice contact (excluding my son) in 20 years.

I've been in bed sick yesterday and today. When I'm feeling better, I'll go take a look. If I'm mistaken, than the only other option is to take up two memory slots and run traditional splits.

That sucks... i thought for sure that would give you the space you need. I wonder if I have more quick split space due to the MARS mod or some of the other work done.

I went through my logs and only have data on two radios. My FTM-300DR and my MXT500. I know I tested a BTech/Baofeng, but can't find the data and don't have a radio to test right now. I tested using guidance per TIA-603, measuring the 12 dB SINAD reference sensitivity at 60% of the rated system deviation for the test signal. My FTM-300DR, which is a super-het, @ 462.725 MHz was/is -121 dBm or 0.2 uV. My MXT500, which is a direct conversion receiver, was -123.6 dBm or 0.14 uV. This is pretty important for people to be aware of. Just because superheterodyne receivers are known to be better technology than direct conversion receiver technology, that doesn't necessarily mean any given super-het radio will hear better than any other given direct conversion receiver. Brand and build quality matter. Midland is an icon in two-way radio and should not be dismissed as a player. Also, I did not measure my Moto's, but I can 100% tell you that while running both radios in my Jeep at the same time, I lost count of the number of times my Moto could here a signal well enough for a 100% copy, that my Yaesu couldn't hear at all. One of my friend is going to tune my Moto transmitter output power for me. I can ask him to run a 12 dB SINAD for my while its on the analyzer and share that info.

The Quick Shift is selectable from +20 MHz to -20 MHz. I can shoot a quick video a bit later today, if that would help?

The problem we are running into is, not all repeaters in our area are on the standard -1 MHz shift. I have 7 repeaters stored and two of them are 0.5 MHz shift. I can save them in memory, but the shift isn't variable. Every time we change the shift, it changes for every memory in that band. So, I saved 7 6m repeaters on my radio. 5 with standard offset and 2 as simplex, and just use the quick-shift feature to get the right input frequency for the non-standard offsets.

Looks like it's going to have to be saved as a split. So, save the repeater output as a memory, and then program the quick-split button for the offset you want to transmit on (menu 05-13). That way, you can just go to the memory, and then press the Split button and you are good to go. Almost all of the 6m repeaters programed into my radio are -1 MHz ... but there are 2 that are -0.5 MHz and that is how I ended up setting up those two.