marcspaz

The quote was specifically about the XPR, APX and XTS. Not all LMR radios. I never checked on the XPR because I never wanted or owned one. However I know with certainty the the APX and XTS were both certified for General Mobile Radio and Broadcast services under 47 CFR Parts 22, 73, 74, 90, 95 and 97. Also, the XTS was granted its certification in 2003. I am not sure what date the APX was certified. It's been awhile since I looked. The only time the APX and XTS would not be usable is IF they are programed to use Part 97 frequencies. Then, only that specific radio no longer has a valid certification for Part 95, until such time that it is returned to a state that would otherwise be compliant, meaning no more amateur frequencies. Again... I am no lawyer and I could be 100% wrong. This is just how I have interpreted the rules after doing some reading and consulting with people way smarter than me who do this stuff for a living.

That is literally what I said... you just worded it differently.

This one is kind of easy, if I understand the rules correctly. Radios like the ones mentioned noted above have been certified for use in the LMR service. As long as it's programed to be in compliance with GMRS rules and not be changed through front panel programming, they are grandfathered in. These are the only 3 requirements I am aware of. Due to the point that amateur radios cannot be certified, regardless if they meet the other 2 requirements, they won't be compliant.

Sure does. It's very common for HF in amateur radio. 300, 450 and others.

There was someone who used to be on this forum who was local to me. He complained about this type of conversation happening on the repeaters, here on this site. So, a few of us who know him would get on the repeater everyday for over a week, at a time we knew he was on, and would talk about nothing but our medical conditions, prescription costs, what we had for lunch and where we were meeting for dinner. LoL

There are some really good books/guides that have been published on station grounding. There are some important specifics, but it involves tying ing the home ground, adding ground stakes and lines, and lightning arrestors. I recommend checking out some of the publications that are out there. Some of the folks who have done it may have some author/title recommendations.

Like anything else in life, in moderation is fine, but in excess you go blind.

In the radio world, height is might. Get that thing in the air as high as you can. 35 feet is a modest improvement. You can get about 8.5 miles to the horizon in most relatively flat areas. Obviously better than that if you're on a hill.

Yes, you can go directly to the battery with nothing in-between... though I do recommend a fuse on the ground and hot leads. I have a circuit breaker on mine so I don't have to replace fuses in the field.

This may actually cause damage... but, how about transmitting on high power too close to another radio will break the other radio's receiver. My radio has the pre-amp enabled. A buddy of mine started talking to me while stopped at a light. Our antennas were less than 2 feet apart. My receiver had an epic melt-down after just a few seconds. Everything i received after that sounded like it was under water and on fire at the same time. After power cycling the radio a few times and leaving it off for a few hours, if seems to have fully recovered. Depending on the radios used... I may be willing to fund this experiment.

With that radio and inverter, you can run full power for 7 hours... though, the battery would be worthless when you're done. At a 50% duty cycle, you would get closer to 14 hours. For intermittent use, sky is the limit when you have solar. I have a 50 Amp hr LiFePo4 battery and 100w of solar. I can (and have) run a 50w radio and a 100w radio, with accessories and lights for overnight, continuously. So, im pretty sure that while the Jackery 300 is about half the rated power as my setup, with that radio, you should be fine.

NOVA GMRS and OCD Offroad are inviting everyone to join us for an "Intro to GMRS" presentation at OCD Offroad's service location in Stafford Virginia on Saturday, November 4, 2023. This presentation is prepared for people who have little or no radio experience, are looking to learn some very basic information to understand radio principles, radio performance and purchasing options. We will cover the following: What is GMRS? Why Select GMRS over CB, FRS or MURS. GMRS Compared To FRS. Range. What is a Repeater? Radio Technology and Programing Overview. Radio Types and Licensing. This session will be video recorded and published for public viewing at a later time. Please be aware that if you attend, your image may be published publicly, electronically (online) and via other means. Seating is limited. You must RSVP below to attend. If RSVP within 24 hours of the event, message MarcSpaz to confirm seating availability. If you can't attend, don't worry. We will be sharing a video of the presentation after the event.

Regardless of what the manufacture stated, it's very difficult to get an accurate SWR reading for an HT antenna. The list of potential issues that can skew the results a long. On or off the radio, unless you have some training and/or understanding on what to do, I wouldn't rely on what the meter says.

Every time someone keys up without a license, a puppy dies.

I have an FTM-300DR, which has the ability to run 2m and 70cm at the exact same time using the same antenna and there is no desense issues. It's mostly going to depend on the frequencies in use and the filters on the radios.

Correct. If the tone type is none, then regardless of a tone code being present, it will not enable tone squelch. Same for DCS.

Short answer is no. Longer answer that is significantly more vague... Given most 50w models are closer to 45w, and you have to quadruple your power to increase your signal 1 s-unit, I would say no, not really. You really need to jump to 80w-100w before it makes a real difference, but those numbers aren't available in GMRS. Other side of the debate, I am a power junkie and you never know when that extra few watts is going to be the difference between reaching who you need to talk to or not.

I might be missing something... but if the Net is going on, no one else on the net can hear them, they obviously can't hear the Net (evident by them talking simplex during the net), then why not just talk over them? You transmitting into the repeater isn't going to interfere with them, and it sounds like you can hear the repeater just fine, since your words were you " thought" you heard other signal. Obviously, I don't condone someone else being a jerk. If they are intentionally getting on the air at times that they know the Net is occurring, then they are the ones who have the obligation to resolve the issue. That said, Tone Squelching (PL Tones) were created so multiple conversations can be had on a single frequency without uninterested parties hearing each other (conversations between conversations). I would squelch them out and forget about it.

I work and live inside a ground-zero strike zone. If something happens here, I'll be gone, and so with the people I love. Ive just come to except that living afterwards is a non-starter. So I don't bother with any of this crap beyond internet discussion and the occasional experiment.

I can 100% tell you through experience, if you don't use some serious filtering, like found in a duplexer, vertical separation isn't enough unless you plan on using very low power... like 5 watts. I have a portable repeater system the doesn't use a duplexer. At 5 watts, it can have both antennas about 100 feet from each other and it works locally with limited issues. However, if I want to run 50w, or even 200w, I have to separate the two antennas by about 400 to 500 yards to avoid desense issues. I also have a fixed repeater with a duplexer sharing 1 antenna. The duplexer cooks off about half the power, both transmitted and receive. However, antenna placement is going to impact performance more than transmitted and receive losses in the duplexer. You would have to cut your power 4 times to see a single s-unit of loss. Most people who don't run a duplexer, don't do it for performance benefits, mostly because it's not a noticeable benefit. It's done to save money or to provide rapid diversity in deployment and changing frequency or even bands without having to re-tune or replace the duplexer every time. Such as my portable field unit.

This is where my money is.

This isn't a problem in the 400-500 MHz range. Both Randy and I have shared test results for this. Unless you plan on winding the coax to less than an inch in diameter while using some super cheap (unshielded) coax, it won't matter. Now, when you start getting down to 50 MHz to about 21 MHz, 8 inch to 25 inch coiled coax just spooled up and tossed aside becomes an issue with SWR. That's why when we do CB installations, we use either a 9 foot or 18 foot cable and just snake the extra cable around the interior, trying to avoid half or full loops in the cable. The lengths are balanced 1/4 or 1/2 wave.

Around here 1 to 3 miles is normal in the city because of buildings, low elevation change and the curve of the earth. Normal distance in a flat area is 3.1 miles to the RF horizon. It's very unlikely you can send enough energy into the atmosphere to make up for those obstacles. And those same obstacles will defuse the signal you're trying to receive. Then there is the issue of RFI, which tends to overload your receive front-end, desensing it. So you can't hear the desired signals due to the radio trying to stop the RFI from over-driving the receive. Out in the burbs and countryside, I get 14-15 miles with just 5 watts. In town, it's anywhere from less than a mile to about 2.5-3 miles with 50w. Significant elevation for a less obstructed signal path is your only hope of getting ant range in a typical city.

I was going to ask the same thing. That's a nice setup. I'd like to use one in my Ram.

Looks fantastic! I did the same thing with my 8900, and later with the 300DR. Super clean look. I have to try that speaker setup. That's pretty cool.