WSEZ864

Draw schematics, answer unanticipated questions AND send/receive Morse code AND travel to the nearest FCC office to take the exam. I could have never done it. It is taken for granted that the exams these days, especially the first one, are essentially a "license to learn" and one really doesn't start really getting into it until they start working with it. I agree that memorizing the answers is really the most expedient way to get licensed. It's a large pool of questions and they are not the same on every exam. We have a least 4 exam versions for every license level, might be more. Studying the test questions actually does provide a bit of education. There are several online study sites with practice exams and flash cards, so studying now is easier than ever. To pass the Tech and General exams, one has to answer 26 our of 35 questions correctly.

Sorry, dupe.

As a lifetime avid outdoorsman; hiking, camping, hunting, rifle matches, fishing, boating, and other activities, even a little 'off road', holder of several commercial radio licenses, licensed GMRS operator, NWS spotter, an FCC Volunteer Examiner AND a relatively seasoned ham radio operator, my opinion is that your statements above are not a true picture of either "hobby". Learning more about ham radio may be of benefit...if nothing else, perhaps you would know what you were talking about. Ever notice all of the talk here on this GMRS forum about clubs and nets and linking repeaters and setting up repeaters? Those aspects of GMRS have "ham" written all over them. Not being critical at all, but simply pointing to the elephant in the room. I think they are more closely related than some care to admit. In spite of the denial, I believe a lot of members here DO look at GMRS as 'ham lite', a low-tech shortcut to radio commo - I think that's great, and if the interest persists and deepens, there is a lot that can be done if one decides to move on to amateur radio. Yeah, yeah, there's a test. So what? As a VE, I work with a small group that gives the exams and I assure you that it's not near as bad as rocket surgery...we have kids as young as 8 or 9 passing the Technician exam. I am new here, but even then have seen MANY people asking questions indicating they have bought the license and the equipment, and would like to use it to find active repeaters, some with nets and clubs, in order to make contacts with people outside their social circles and caravans. That approach in no way takes away from the fact that many, maybe even most, GMRS users use their radios during their other activities, or those users that simply want to stay in touch with family members while they're out and about. Perhaps unbelievably, ham operators also use their mobile radios during their activities and to chit chat with acquaintances while commuting. I will say that with ham radio, the equipment and technical knowledge actually IS the hobby. If one is interested in electronics, it can be quite interesting. Almost everything about ham radio is geared toward learning about radio operation, propagation, building your own antennas and other technical aspects, and the results are measured in contact quality and distances. I am a former radar repairman and also built and serviced surveillance receivers and test equipment for a manufacturer. This ham radio hobby is an extension of that and right up my alley. Like GMRS and CB, simply another face of the radio hobby. Electronics and radio science is not for everyone and I get the idea that many people just want to use the radio as a tool without having to learn any more than necessary. I know a lot of people like that and that is one factor that led me to setting up GMRS - this radio service allows me to talk with my brother and sister outside the infrastructure, neither of whom wish to be ham radio operators. Many members of my ham radio club are also GMRS operators. No one hides it and we simply look at it as another tool in the box. Sorta the same with CB, although most of us avoid CB due to it being a zoo here. That didn't stop me from installing a CB here at the house and wiring an antenna in my truck for when I want it on the road. Civil uses of ham radio include operating safety checkpoints for marathons, races and organized hikes, weather warning/monitoring like the National Weather Service's dependence on spotters to help calibrate equipment (radar sensitivity and resolution) and to provide instant warning of severe weather developments. There is overt emergency response via groups like RACES and ARES. Our county emergency services work with us and even sends the commo truck out for our field day events. Our repeater covers a tremendous footprint and in the event of an emergency or severe weather becomes dedicated to public service. It runs on a generator and then batteries when power drops out. Our club is one of several in the area and just between our members contacting members (we can just go simplex on the repeater input frequency), we can cover a tri-county area. The maligned "POTA", "SOTA" and other temporary activations like "Field Day" are as much about determining how to operate in austere conditions and how to make solid contacts under tough conditions. Oddly enough, I see some of the same goals with my fellow GMRS licensees, "portable ops", "emergency contacts" and other terms are interchanged between these closely related radio hobbies.

This part is probably the craziest thing I've read this week, and I spend a LOT of time reading. Tell us you know nothing about ham radio without saying that you know nothing about ham radio.

One major reason a repeater hangs for a short time is "picket fencing". When a mobile unit is traveling and experiences a short dropout, the repeater doesn't immediately abandon the signal and stays engaged. This both provides unbroken coverage benefit for the mobile and provides a bit of a safety delay so the repeater doesn't get hammered with rapid on/off cycling. @HHD1: The expression "squelch tail" describes the "dead air" hang time after an incoming signal drops and has released the repeater. This delay is often followed by a sound signal ("beep") as the repeater ceases transmission.

If that's all that's stopping you, there are workarounds... I use the QRZ.Com logbook function and it's very easy. If I'm on the radio looking for contacts, I start out by logging in to QRZ and opening my own logbook page. When I hear a station I might want to contact, I look up their call sign on QRZ and decide whether to try them. On their QRZ page is a button that says "Log a new contact with _____". If I try them and succeed, I click that button and the contact sheet that pops up is already populated with most of the needed info. All I need to fill in is the frequency and signal report, hit 'enter' and it's done. I used to use a paper log. I have a dedicated clock set to UTC, a formatted spreadsheet with required info blanks and would write as much info as possible. Using QRZ is a lot faster and their logbook function is pretty flexible for sorting. I think one can even upload directly to LoTW, but I don't bother going that far.

Just did a quick fixit for you. UHF actually starts at 300 mHz.

I would only add to marcspaz's post that this past weekend's contest was about "working all prefixes" and the contesters' goals were to talk to as many different areas as possible. Contest traffic really can be a pain in the neck, but contests also offer great opportunity to talk to many relatively rare countries/DX entities that might not be on the air otherwise. This can be important to those who are trying to make contact with all of the possible DX entities and/or all states. I don't actually participate in the competitions, but do occasionally take the opportunity to make an unusual contact.

Most repeaters are 'tone coded' (CTCSS) and not DCS. Double check your repeater's requirements.

I have two ground planes mounted above one another on a single PVC mast mounted to my chimney. The top antenna is for 2 meters and the lower one is for GMRS. The top of the lower antenna is about 12" below the bottom of the upper antenna. No noticeable interaction.

Just checked - back online this morning.

Doesn't seem to be working. I've never had trouble reaching it and just now tried a test with no response. Either down or a new tone.

Every 15 minutes and, as you say, at the end.

Amphenol.

Agreed. One thing to take notice of is that most GMRS radio marketing statements specify power as "up to x watts", or "as much as x watts" and do not actually state your 40 watt radio will deliver 40 watts.