marcspaz

This will give you an idea about typical usable bandwidth of a stacked phase dual-band VHF/UHF antennas. I will shoot another video with a single band 5/8 wave a little later, so you can see the differences. This is a Diamond NR7900A 2m/70cm. https://www.diamondantenna.net/nr7900a.html https://youtu.be/Rh6w46VM_Ng

Comet CA-2x4SR dual-band antenna has a capacitance hat to tune it for GMRS simplex frequencies. It works really well on the FRS and repeater frequencies too. I have tried a dozen or more antennas. For high gain and solid range, it can't be beat, in my opinion. 6.2 db gain, 40" tall so it works with a mag mount, and rated for 150 watts if you want to use it for other UHF and VHF applications.

Honestly... 6 miles is not good, at all. You have a massive elevation advantage going everywhere but south. And you should still be able to get 6-8 miles south while barefoot. There is only about 400 feet of elevation difference going 20+ miles in every direction but south. Unless there is something I'm missing, 12.5w SSB, you should be able to talk north almost all the way to the shore line... out to Buffalo to the west and at least 20 miles or more to the east.

There is a guy I know that puts "swing kits" in radios and you are right.. the SSB never works when he is done. But... I thought OP said it was turned down to 2.5 wattsto drive the amp. I have to re-read it. I'll tell you this, anyone running a de-tuned radio to accommodate their amp, likely has a home made amp done by guys who think/claim they are experts, but have no idea how to build a filter or ALC circuit. You open the box and there are heat syncs, a few Toshiba PAs and the few parts needed to make the PAs work... and that's it. Best part of the post. I LoL.

Hmm nice performing radio, but I'm not sure if the AM and SSB power are separate. I would gi e the shop a call and ask if SSB is still at the factory settings... assuming you don't feel like spending money on a meter for a one-time use.

Are you running a modded galaxy? Those are fantastic and have a lot of potential. If so, the AM and SSB power are adjusted separately, so the SSB side should still be at 12.5w. The DX 44 HP goes to 40w bone stock and some models go to 100w. The export guys have it made with their CBs. The FCC should just let US operators use amps, since there are no emergency services down there anymore.

The MFJ-1702C could be more of a problem than anything. It has a center-off position that sends the connections to ground, for lightning protection. Forget to turn that switch all the way to one side or another just once and your radio is toast.

I guess that all goes back to the layman's definition of integrity being, doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. As gentlemen and ladies, we all agreed to play by the rules. That's a huge plus I see to communities like ours. Most of us are here because we want to do the right thing. Many of us have been down the other path and don't like were it leads.

I agree with BoxCar... when operating on FRS frequencies, with an FRS compliant radio, you adhere to FRS rules... no ID required. The only problem I see is, the radio is not certified for FRS use, nor can it be due to the removable antenna. So, by the legal letter of the law, you are using GMRS hardware (not FRS compliant hardware) therefore you are using GMRS privileges. You need to adhere to the requirements for GMRS use, not FRS. On the flipside of that, I would never advocate that you flat-out break the law... but the FCC doesn't walk around inspecting radios while people are doing whatever they are doing. In fact, I filed several complaints with the FCC in the past few years, about grossly illegal activity on amateur radio frequency, handing them all of the evidence and proof of who was doing it and the FCC basically ignored everything I sent. They sent me an email saying they would look into it, and nothing happened.

Here's the thing, for some of us, its entertainment or emergency communications. However, my family use our radios around the house while working in the yard, while racing my car to talk to my corner spotters and crew from the track, while fishing, 4wheeling, hiking, spending time at the park, caravaning somewhere with multiple vehicles, and on and on. The list of things in our lives that we can integrate radio for the better is endless. Therefore the "image" to draw people in are endless. The best way to advertise isn't with someone specific to radio or activities you can improve with radio, but rather, find a common image that will have the most amount of impact on the heartstrings of your target demographic. The radio really has nothing to do with it. People buy toys and non-essential products based on emotions, using how they feel to justify spending the time, money and effort. That is... if that's really what the end goal is. If you're trying to sell radios, learn your target demographic. Asking folks like us is going to be a mixed bag of tricks that's just going to cloud that even more.

Awesome! Congratulations! You are going to love it. I talk to people around the planet, daily. The entertainment never gets old.

For me, it was a collection of conditions. My family spends a significant amount of time in rural and undeveloped areas with no cellular infrastructure. Being able to have some form of communication while on foot or mobile, without everyone getting an amateur radio license, was a must. Especially when we tend to move about in separate groups. Also, somewhat in the same category, I do things like 4-wheeling and other outdoor activities. Many of my friends use FRS and GMRS to communicate while spending time outside. It seems to be going more mainstream. Then, of course, there is always a risk of infrastructure failure. I needed a way for my wife to reach me while I am out of the house, if an emergency occurs. She had her amateur radio license, but it long expired and she is not interested in getting it again. There are several public GMRS repeaters around me that run on emergency power, if needed. So, it was just an obvious and affordable option for our needs.

Yes.

Yes that is normal. Tone is tone encoding to open the squelch on the repeater, but it doesn't require you to receive a tone to open your squelch, which means you can hear everyone on that frequency. TSQL is tone encoding to open the squelch on the repeater AND your radio. So you will only hear station that have the proper tone encoding. The only way both fields will allow a value is if you use cross, which allows for split tones.

I am onboard with this. For Field Day, I was only 100 feet away from my co-operator, but we used HT's so we didn't have to yell between the two tents. This is how close we were, but the HT's made life a lot better.

I haven't. I have 3 radios in my Jeep right now. 4 on days I need the mobile repeater.

Sure... I have some saved on my PC. When I get home, I'll share a couple. I know Hackaday provides direction finding with a bunch of online SDR's. I don't remember the others. Edit- I just remembered... WebSDR has a whole list of services. Just pick a station that covers the frequency you want to use and be sure direction finding is one of the services.

What I wrote is all required by law to put up an antenna tower. It doesn't matter who owns it or what service/band its on. Even if someone puts up a Rohn 45 in their backyard, all of the things I wrote are required by law and FCC rules. If private owners choose not to, they are in violation of federal law. If someone has a private use repeater at their house or business and its mounted on a building not more than 10' high from from top of the roof, then I suppose it would not go through any of that... but it wouldn't be much of a repeater, either. I guess it would be okay for their HT's while around the house/neighborhood, but that would be about it. As far as finding a station (and owner) that does ID, that is actually really easy. There are free, online RF detection centers all over the globe. Especially here in the US. Once you have the address, you can lookup the land owner and you're done. I have a local UHF broadband repeater that started causing issues around here. I was able to find the repeater in just about 15/20 minutes. It happened to be owned by the local FD, so it was easy to find out who to talk to.

Depend on power levels, what bands you are setting up for and if you plan on using them both at the same time. If only one will be on at a time, as long as the antennas are not a wavelength apart (of either band) or wave length segment apart (1/4, 1/2, 5/8, etc.), then there should be no noticeable impact. That said, the further apart you can get them, the better off you will be.

No, but the Army and Air Force have been asking me to join every few months for years. I keep turning them down because I could be deployed outside the US. MARS doesn't pay, so I need to keep working while serving. I can do my regular job remotely while on a deployment (during down time) domestically, but I can't VPN in if I am overseas unless I get special hardware. My main served agency will only give me that hardware if they are the ones deploying me. So, no MARS or CAP service until I retire.

Repeater sites are (or at least should be) registered with the FCC. In order to put up a tower, there has to be permits issued, an environmental impact evaluation, an FAA Risk/Impact evaluation and a RF exposure evaluation, determining RF exposure health risk to people/animals in the area... and all submitted to the FCC as proof that you are in compliance with all applicable laws. Plus the FCC regularly does site inspections. These systems don't cover a tremendous amount of real-estate and there are not many of them in many areas. If a machine starts doing something stupid or is non-compliant, I promise you, unless the owner has completely ignored every single law and requirement, they know who owns what machine and where to find both the machine and its owner.

Per 47 C.F.R, Part 95 Subpart E, §95.1751 ( c ) states that the repeater doesn't need to ID itself if... (2) The GMRS stations whose communications are retransmitted are properly identified in accordance with this section. So, even if the license holder is not using the machine, if people that are using it properly ID, the the repeater is considered in compliance with ID requirements.

Wow! That is terrible. Glad to hear h made it. The worst I came across was a Copperhead infested shack. Fortunately there was plenty of evidence outside, before we even opened the door, so we were able to get past control out before we did. I have been thinking about building a self-contained repeater system that you can connect to any two radio and turn them into a repeater. Its pretty easy to design. I did one back in the mid-80's. I'm just so busy, I dont have time for it.

Not disagreeing there, but there are serious limits to crossband repeaters. They do have their place though. I have a complete X-Band repeater system that will work with any two bands, covering 10m, 6m, 2m and 70cm. Including antennas, a battery, diplexer, solar charger and the radio... it was about $700 for support of 50% duty cycle, 24x7. It is almost exclusively used for me, personally... not others. The model you discussed is known as ITDR, or Indirect Transmit / Direct Receive. An example of some problems you will experience with these types of solutions are limiting the users to only people you make aware of it (compared to known offsets for same-band), many times the repeater antenna is too close to the ground and other obstructions for any significant increase in coverage, and your receive is significantly hampered by the fact that you are listing direct on an HT. My gear supports ITDR and ITIR (Indirect Transmit / Indirect Receive). ITIR helps with both the ability to transmit and receive, but now significantly restricts who can use the repeater, normally being used/usable by a single operator to extend their TX/RX range. In general, they can be a great individual solution for Hams and (if planned in advance) be a marginal solution for a group of Hams with the correct / compatible gear, but not ideal for a true repeater service and definitely not legal in GMRS.

Don't get me wrong... I was taught that the two main objectives of Amateur Radio was to promote international good will and to further the technology. The only limits on tech that I am aware of is that you are not allowed to run encryption or anything that is designed to hide the true meaning of the communications and your new protocol(s) need to be published publicly before they are used beyond development. Beyond that, the sky is the limit. The fact that you can do it is pretty cool. It took some sharp and creative people to come up with the idea and bring it to life. But as an RF communications person, I have been groomed (and been grooming others) to no be reliant on underlying sub-systems for communications, because those systems fail. For two-way peer to peer radio to fail, we would have to have a catastrophic atmospheric conditions that would kill all carbon based life on Earth, before radio completely stopped working.