marcspaz

Yes, you can use voice almost everywhere. Most of the spectrum is for voice use. In 9 of the bands available, you can use voice, data and Morse Code / CW through the entire band. HF radio is amazing for long range communications. With general class privileges, you will be able to talk around the globe, day or night. The main reason I got into it was for emergency communications. I figure if there is a problem here, and help is needed, calling a station outside the impacted area is the best bet.

@hfd376, Thank you!

Very, very kind of you. Much appreciated

LOL... thanks for the kudos! That's awesome. Feel free to use what you like. I am flattered its good enough that you want to use them. If you want the PPT instead of the PPS, so its easier to pull material, just shoot me a message.

@WRWE456 thank you for the kind words. Much appreciated!

Hey folks, a few months back, I discussed providing a presentation on the introduction to GMRS, to just cover the basics. We held the presentation a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share the video with everyone. Fair warning, I'm not a pro YouTuber and my collar mic dropped with a few minutes left... please be gentle. LoL This is geared towards people with little to no experience. Hopefully it helps some people. The PowerPoint presentation is available for download, here... https://marcspaz.com/gmrs/GMRS101.ppsx Thank you to those who helped with content ideas.

One of my favorite quotes... "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is King."

That would be a better choice.

Yes, but be sure the bracket is big enough that you can drill it.

I'm not positive, but I don't think the mount you shared will work 'out of the box' with a UHF connector, which is what you need for the Diamond antenna you mention. You may have to modify it to work. If you are handy with tools and have a drill, you should be fine. I have used Diamond and Comet lip mounts on the swing gate, too. You may want to look and see what they have, and get a proper mount for the antenna selection you make, rather than a CB antenna mount. If you do get a lip mount, be sure the mount doesn't have a stabilizing tab sticking out or you can destroy the back window. Also, that is Diamond way too much antenna for you. It's a wonderful antenna and performance is amazing, but I use it because I have several radios sharing that antenna, of which all but my GMRS radio are way over 100w out... one being 315w. I agree with Randy on a lot of what he mentioned, including going with the MXTA26. I also have the same UHF to NMO adapter that he linked and it works well. If you get an NMO antenna and use the adapter on your UHF mount, be sure to set the jam nut correctly and use anti-seize to be sure the NMO disc doesn't unscrew with the antenna on removal. It can be a massive pain in the six to get out. I have had a bunch of antennas installed on the swing gate over the years. Follow the grounding advice and you should be fine.

What am I missing? Illegal how?

Man... what a joke. If the FCC doesn't spank someone for that, I will lose all respect for that agency. I think it's wild that here in Norther VA, we have people complaining because they think someone ID'ed in 16 minutes instead of 15 minutes, meanwhile in Castle Rock it's a free-for-all. It's even in the title. SMH.

Event by Marc Spaziano and NOVA GMRS American Legion Riders Post 176 Springfield, VA Group · Members of NOVA GMRS Hey folks... a little last minute and long overdue, lets meet up for Brunch at the American Legion Post 176 in Springfield. They have a large lot and the cafeteria is open to the public. Our friend Walter is a member at another post and has invited us to join for a group get-together. I apologize for the last-minute invite. Hope you all can make it! American Legion Post 176 6520 Amherst Ave, Springfield, VA 22150 11:00 AM

That'd typically what I use mine for. They are available from Ham Radio Outlet, DX Engineering, and companies like them. Common brands are Yaesu, iCom, Anytone, etc.

The problem is, an advantage or disadvantage is a matter of perception based on what you want to accomplish. I can point out differences that push me in one direction or another. This is just really high view... and just the stuff I use. I am very sure there is more. In Ham bands: Max power is 1,500 Watts. There is a frequency space equivalent of 1,200 channels. Any mode of digital voice. Any mode of digital data (no encryption). Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) global positioning, messaging and more. 50w portable/mobile repeaters for under $300. Crossband repeat support. One radio will cover some of MF, all of HF, 6 meter VHF, 2 meter VHF, 70 cm UHF, all modes, at 100w for $1,000. Much more repeater coverage, including on HF and state-wide networks in many states. A much wider selection of hardware, including the option to build your own gear. Experimentation is encouraged. In GMRS: Much quieter / less users. Repeaters are available. Ease of licensing. Shared Licensing. Extremely affordable radios (as little as $9 each) Not at all. I have several handheld radios for redundancy (EmComm), but all of them cover everything from air traffic, MURS, VHF Business band, Marine, Amater 2m VHF, Amateur 70cm UHF, Business band UHF, GMRS/FRS and more. As I mentioned, in populated areas, with the option of the equivalent 1,200 channels compared to GMRS' only having 22 channels, you can always find a clear frequency to talk, send data, or whatever you plan on doing. And did I mention 1,500 watts on Ham for the opportunity to talk way further than you ever could with GMRS? HF gives you the option of communicating from 0 to 12,450 miles with just a few watts. If people go in the habit of it, there would be almost no practical reason to use anything but HF, beyond the data speed advantages of VHF and UHF on digital applications. You can do CW on GMRS. It is an authorized mode. I don't know anyone who does it because its considered a weak signal application. I did list a few more advantages above. I'm not sure what you consider a large antenna, but I have a 4 foot tunable HF antenna and I have talked to people in every state in the US as well as 102 other countries. Granted, a 7 inch antenna is definitely shorter than 4 feet, but 4 feet is hardly a hateful size. All of my radio friends are on GMRS, but that doesn't mean anything. An overwhelming majority of my radio friends are also into amateur radio because GMRS just can't offer everything that we want to do. We all do a lot of digital data and voice (such as email and computer networking over RF), EmComm support requiring much more power and portable repeaters, as well as the ability to talk long distance (like outside of the area if affected by natural disaster) without relying on anything but someone else with a radio on the other end... and much more. Honestly, I have a nice HF base station, massive amp and antenna. Same for UHF and VHF. I hardly ever turn them on. Most of my HF, VHF and UHF use is from the mobile. However, having the base station is nice if I do need to do EmComm or just don't feel like sitting in my truck to run a radio. I guess, the bottom line is, don't feel like you are missing something if you don't have a base station. You're not. One of the biggest things I love about Ham radio is, I can make my handheld seem like its a lot stronger that 5 or 8 watts. I have a mobile repeater installed in my Jeep. I don't need to have a ton of power in my handheld, because my portable/mobile repeater will transmit my handheld signal at whatever power I want, up to 1,500 watts. So, my HT never has to talk any further than wherever I parked my Jeep. As far as mobile power goes, 50w is kind of the standard, but it's not the limit. I have a collection of radios with all different output levels... 35w, 50w, 65w, 85w, 120w. I also have 200w and 300w amps... and 1,500w amps are available. There is no limit to digital. You can do voice, data like emails, video, file transfer, GPS, messaging, even things like chat consoles... you are limited by nothing but your imagination. The big draw about digital in general is, many digital services are called "weak signal services". Basically, what this means is, if you are on a frequency that zero voice can be heard... the digital connection can still be made on the exact same frequency and power level. So, in an emergency or extreme boredom, you are going to get you communications accomplished. I hope this help provide some insight.

First, depending on how much real estate you have in your vehicle or home, I always recommend having it all.l I have HF, Ham VHF/UHF, and GMRS in my home and in my Jeep. Don't think of it as better or worse. Just different. What differences serve a purpose for you at any given moment is the right answer.

The ducting is happening in the morning and in the evening as temperatures swing greatly in a short period of time. 10m is on fire basically from around 9am to around 6pm

Definitely GMRS... I have been hearing stations/repeaters from PA, DE, even NC, all in Northern Virginia. That said, 10m has been fire this week, too.

@WRYZ926 yeah, I usually work central and south America extremely well, but I seem to be able to work Australia, New Zealand and South Africa better than Asia. I work western Europe like I'm making a phone call. I only need 5w in the mobile or in the house.

Well, I was fortunate enough to have someone able to answer the question for me. Huge Thank You to Shitao "Ken" Zhou for helping me (and others, I'm sure) understand what this function is for. This is why I love the radio community. Link to original post from Ken... Content from his thread... Hi, BA7NFW here. Background infomation When I searched for "No-communication squelch" function, which you can find on most yaesu radios, I came across this post ('cause it shows up on google). Basically we can't make this function work, not even have an idea why this function exists when TONE Reversed mode already works fine. I had the same confusion, and the question wasl unresolved. (btw, can someone post under that question just to tell Marc I have an answer now? I'm not living in FCC regulated territory and don't have a GMRS call sign, hence not able to register here) tl;dr PR Frequency function is used for the Japanese railway radio repeaters. From the FT5DR/FT5DE Advance Manual, PR FREQ is a frequency of 300-3000Hz used for Reverse CTCSS Decoder: User Programmed Reverse CTCSS Decoder The tone signal frequency can be set at 100 Hz intervals between 300 Hz and 3000 Hz to mute the audio when receiving a signal containing a CTCSS tone matching the programmed tone. So it's natural to think, PR FREQ = user Programmed Reverse ctcss decoder FREQuency. And that's the tricky part. Took me about half-day researching until I checked the Japanese version of the manual. So, PR here actually means Private Railway(私鉄). The Japanese Railway (JR) and other railway companies (PR) use a system of radio repeaters. When the repeater is standby and no one is using it, it keeps sending a monotone of 2280Hz (for JR, PR may use other tone between 300-3000Hz) to represent that status. If not specially handled, this may keeps your squelch opened. And that makes sense, this function will cancel a certain tone carried in FM mode, and it's not a standard CTCSS tone signal, therefore a separate function was implemented. I highly suspect if this function is actually useful outside Japan. And the terrible translated manual just makes everything more confusing. That's all. Ken (BA7NFW)

Ken, this is awesome! Great find! I would have never though to do that. I very much appreciate the information. It makes a lot of sense. I will add this to the solution for the original post. 73, Marc / N1BED

It was on the 650 pair with a tone of 91.5. I was hearing China and Japan on 10m the other day, like they were sitting next to me. It's been pretty wild.

There has been a lot of ducting lately. This morning I was able the hear a couple guys on a repeater 130 statute miles from me, in Claymont Delaware to Woodbridge Virginia. Not the longest I've had, but it's been every day for a couple weeks. How's tropo working for you? Anyone else taking advantage?

I believe you are correct. The certification is pre-2017 revisions.

Beats me dude. I just read the stuff. It's very obvious that there is something being missed by most of us, since the XTS is certified in several, including GMRS and Amateur Radio.