marcspaz

There is a tremendous amount of benefits with Amateur Radio vs. GMRS. First, lets just talk about voice. On GMRS simplex, the absolute very best you can expect from a perfect setup, is going to be about 70 miles. Likely less. That would be mobile or base. With Amateur Radio VHF and UHF, the power limits are 1500 watts with no radiated power restrictions. That means with a little elevation, you are talking coast to coast on the higher portions of VHF and the lower portions of UHF. On the lower portions of VHF, you can talk to Europe, Mediterranean, Northern Africa, etc. Even in my mobile, I can talk to NY from Virginia on VHF simplex. With things other than voice... there is no limit to what you can do beyond no encryption. If you can dream it, you can do it on amateur radio. There is APRS, which provides transceiver location services. There FLDigi which is used for texting and simple messaging. There is WinLink which is a 100% radio-based email service that allows you to email other operators as well as people on the public internet. And much, much more. The benefit of HF and MF is, the ease of global comms as you drop in frequency. I was driving around in my Jeep today on an HF frequency that Tech license holders have access to. I talked to people in 3 different countries on 2 different continents with a simple 100 watt mobile radio and a whip antenna. It's really a lot of fun. As far as a base station goes, I don't use mobile radios for base a station. I have base station radios that I use for VHF, and a VHF/UHF repeater. I talk on VHF on the base for several hours a week, sitting in my executive desk chair. As far as the quality of conversation... I can't really say much about that. I would assume there are plenty of people to talk to without getting into religion, politics, etc. I avoid them like the plague. With regard to if it's worth it... that is a personal choice that each person needs to decide for themselves. I think it is. I held my Tech license for 17+ years before I got my General and had a great time. I also think the GMRS and FRS are great radio service and fill a nice niche.

Good point... LoL

Its unlikely flashing existing hardware will be an option. The electronic components used to make filters are designed for narrow use and may not be tuned properly for just a reflash. Think of it like a car on the highway. If you have a car that can travel at 200mph and the speed limit is raised to 200mph, you're good to go. However, if your car has a top speed of 80... it doesn't matter how high the speed limit is. You would have to re-engineer the car to go faster.

There is something called the Open Repeater Initiative or OPI. It uses 462.675 with a CTCSS Tone of 141.3Hz. The frequency was selected by a group of Repeater owners who wanted to create a standard for travelers to be able to have easy access to repeater while on the road, without having to search for a repeater or ask for permission to use it. The 141.3 tone was also selected as the "travel tone" standard. Scanning the frequencies is okay, but you may only talk for a couple of miles. Using open repeaters with "traveler" settings gives you a chance to reach the greatest number of operators for more distance and time.

That is a huge step in the wrong direction, IMHO. We need FRS & GMRS to stop sharing frequencies. Let FRS be low power narrow band and give GMRS operators more wideband frequencies. I'm tired of sharing the channels with 4 and 5 year old kids screaming at their cousin who is only 30 feet away, about how much they love play dough.

LoL yea, looks that way. With what I do for a living, I actually type truncated a lot (talking about log files, databases, etc.). My phone constantly changes correctly spelled words to other words it thinks I mean. I dont proofread enough and I keep sending messages I don't mean. An example.. a friend asked me if I wanted to buy a bicycle he was selling. I replied that I was to fat to ride a bike, but my phone changed it to I was to gay to ride a bike. Needless to say, my friend was very confused.

Many fire and police in the US are on trunked digital systems that are encrypted. There are very few that are using analog radios and that traffic is usually chatter. Nothing worth listening to.

This is not directed at you, but I would like to use your post as an opportunity to make a relevant comment... There is an old saying... it's not what you say, it's how you say it.

If someone comes in and acts like they are owed help, while chastising people for not giving them enough help. That, in my opinion, is a snooty entitlement attitude.

I am starting to think we have a troll.

But we are no longer talking about GMRS... we are way outside of the scope of the purpose of the forum. It just so happens that some of us have experience outside of GMRS, so we may be able to help with other stuff. And honestly... I just have general ideas. I still need to get on Google myself, so I can make some specific recommendation. It seems reasonable that if I have to use Google, than maybe I just point you in the right direction and then you do some research. Why should we do all the work for you just because you are new to this. Just because some of us are kind and want to help, that doesn't mean we owe you anything. You will have to do the work. Having a snooty entitlement attitude isn't going to get anyone anything except for ignored, IMHO.

Richard made a great recommendation above with the Sat phone. That is really the best bet for coms. I didn't think of it because it is very expensive and requires you to have an account. I default to HF radio because that's what I do, its cheap and doesn't require paying for an ongoing service. But, if you have the funds... Sat coms is likely the best solution. The Amateur Radio community considers anything 150 watts and down to be low power. Saying you have or should use a low power radio can be misleading due to that. QRP is Ham lingo that is typically used to abbreviate the point that you are using low power to communicate, but typically 5 watts or less. An affordable example of a radio would be a XIEGU G1M HF radio. Also, kits are available from companies like QRP Labs. You can make your own end-fed wire antenna for a couple of dollars. Or a dipole. There are a ton of video tutorials on YouTube that show you how. For a battery... a small 12.5v lithium ion or gel cell should be fine. they are between 50%-60% lighter than lead acid batteries. The lighter the better.

Get your Ham license and buy a 7 MHz (40 meter) HF QRP radio, a small 35 ah battery, a folding or rollable solar charger (optional) make a wire antenna you can toss up in the trees. Call Mayday. No one local will hear you, but many people throughout the nation will and you can ask for help. I have had someone give me grief about this in the past, saying it doesn't do any good to talk to someone on the radio who is 3 states away and my response is always the same.... if I'm stranded in the mountains of Virginia, someone in Georgia, Maine or California can call 911 just as easily as someone in a nearby town.

In your case of emergency communications while hiking... unless you are at a mountain/hill top, no one is going to hear you more than a few hundred yards in some cases. 1 to 2 miles best case. That includes repeaters. In the general population of non-radio tech people, there is a huge misunderstanding about how radios work. In the mountains, FRS and GMRS are better than nothing, but there are much better solutions. That said, if you get to a mountain or hill top, depending on the rest of the terrain, you can possibly get 10-15 miles of coverage. They are good for keeping in touch while camping, of course keeping terrain in mind, since it is a line of sight service.

The entire mast is made out of fiberglass. The antenna is a small metal wire inside of a 10 foot fiberglass pole, too. Lightning looks for the path of least resistance. Compared to a nearby tree or a metal mast and wire guys, my antenna system is more isolated from ground. Therefore less likely to take a direct hit.

The repeater outputs are on the simplex frequencies. You can talk on any frequency your license covers, regardless of if a repeater nearby shares that frequency. Additionally, you don't 'always' need the owner's permission to use a repeater. While all repeaters are privately owned, many owners will allow any licensed user to use it. I would recommend making a best effort to contact the owner and ask. Sometimes, I have actually hailed the owner on the repeater.

That is a very nice thing to say. I appreciate it.. but you did all the work and figured everything out. I just shared some personal experience. Btw... I had a great time talking with you through all of that. I am very glad it finally all came together.

G.... it was a joke. LoL I could be wrong, but I think the only SMA antenna mount is on an HT.

Agreed... SMA would be my preferred connectors

Well... other than a spherical pattern. You can have apparent gain in 360 degrees around the radiation element vertical axis, but only 60 degrees wide on its horizontal axis, for example (using horizontal and vertical for the non-tech folks).

Howdy!!! Welcome. This is strictly 'use at your own risk' and opinion based on my experience. So, I would hate to say it, but the antenna thing depends greatly on the radio you have. I have a diamond X50 repeater antenna on my roof and about 125 feet of cable to get from the roof to the basement. The BTech handheld I have (which is fine for the most part) doesn't create enough power to overcome the cable losses to trip a repeater that is less than 3 miles away, even though I can full-quiet the same repeater from the driveway. Also, it can't hear the repeater. So, the external antenna is not an option for that radio. BUT... The Yaesu HT I have can use the same cable and antenna to receive a repeater signal from 35 miles away. Plus, with 5 watts the audio is a bit scratchy, but I can get into that same repeater. So, if you have a high quality radio, get some RF9913 and an antenna like an X200 and you should be fine. It will cost you about $500-$600, but it should work. Sadly, I can't help with this one. I am a computer scientist by trade. The last thing I want to do when I am not working is get more screen time. All my radio comms are analog and OTA.

I appreciate the flowers... but there are two problems. 1.) I spent 3 years studying electronic technology and engineering. I can describe electron flow to a 5 year old kid at a level they understand. Right now I could start writing everything I know/think that could possibly help in any one given situation, and may finish in time to watch my 3 YO grandson graduate from high school. And I'm not even close to the smartest guy on this forum. There is WAY to much information in my head to share all of it, I don't want to write it all down, and I have no idea what is important to YOU until you ask. 2.) The issue isn't to know when to lead. The issue is for the user to know what direction they want to be led. Then, I can help you 'if' I am qualified to do so. Enter forums... a place were people can come with specific questions and experienced people will try to help. Yes... ^^^ This. We are all here to help, learn and rag-chew about the tech. However, goals, limiting factors and aptitude of the person needing help, makes possibilities endless.

I think the biggest problem is, there are too many opinions AND most new users don't even know "what" they want to do. For the most part, many new radio users don't know what tech is the correct tech for any intended purpose. Until they get in and find out something they like and figure out how it will suit their needs, we wouldn't even know what advice to give. I have tried to help, though. I actually have a published article I wrote about the pros and cons of each common service, what they could potentially used for, and just a really brief overview of the science behind it. It was focused around off-road communications, but applies to everything. I can always share it here, but I haven't due to potential bickering.

No. UHF is a line of sight service. The tower will either have zero impact or (using a beam, etc.) absorb the waves. Ground absorbs UHV signals. The rest goes into outer space. You just get to talk to anyone from in front of you, to the visual horizon while the wave is on the way. We bounce UHF and VHF signals off of satellites (such as Earth-Moon-Earth) successfully because they are not grounded.

In general, I like the idea. I would move the remembrance text under the photo and put your grid locator with your address. Then I would make your call sign larger and put the QSO info on the back.