tweiss3

While the emission type is permitted (equipment aside) I honestly don't know if DMR text messages exceed the 1s transmission time limit. If you really want to do GMRS DMR, apply for a variance with the FCC. I know they have granted a few in CA for experimental purposes. I don't know the circumstances, but worth a shot. It does beg a different question, why? You could do a private DMR repeater in amateur radio extremely easily.

The rule is the radio must be Part95. That being said, my Anytime 878UV is a great radio that will operate on the entire UHF spectrum band and is Part90 certified if you keep it in commercial mode.

F1E & F2E would possibly permit DMR, however The above requires digital to be performed by an HT with no removable antenna, and it cannot transmit on the repeater input frequencies. This makes DMR impossible unless you are doing DMR simplex. Good luck finding part 95 equipment that can do DMR simplex. The intent was to allow some devices text on FRS HTs, which was a niche thing a little while ago.

Hamstudy.org is a great resource too. Our club is still doing in person testing, socially distanced in a parking deck this month. We are going to online for weather reasons only starting next month. Either way, we continue to hold sessions.

As line of sight, they are nearly identical. VHF sometimes experiences what is known as E skip, or propagation, where the atmosphere can take the signal and bounce it off the E layer and carry it 2+ times normal distance. Frequently this summer we had 150-200 mile contact via VHF propagation. The atmosphere never gets to a point to where the MUF (maximum usable frequency) for skip is in the UHF range.

I knew you know the rules, just had to be said. That being said, I have CS800Ds in my cars. I was looking for a 857D for my wife's car, but couldn't find one for reasonable.

I just have to point out that the 868/878 is not part 95 certified. It is part 90 certified under some programming. For GMRS it goes over the power allowances. While I have a 878 and like it, it seems to get overloaded too easily in receive, but it does a great job in transmission quality, distance and APRS is nice. I just don't want anyone misled, it's not an approved device. Also, DMR is currently not approved on GMRS.

It doesn't look like you have tons of room, but you sure did a good job of using all the room you had. I like how easy it is to hide wire antennas in plain site. Then again, a tree or two and most things hite from the general public. This is my 6m dipole: https://photos.app.goo.gl/T7sQ8Fgf3DPoxiGV9 https://photos.app.goo.gl/6CrAYg3gb5gnaNG8A Yes, it's hanging vertically, so it acts omnidirectional and isn't deaf at it's ends.

Recommendation was based on cost. His DBJ-UHF is $10 more and is still 4' in length. The dual band could also be reused for other things later. I retired mine from attic operation to field operation for field day or any other quick trip.

You are correct, a GMRS only would be about 19 inches, but the EdFong is a dual band, and is about 5' long when placed in PVC pipe, including the 12 lead area for clamping. Even at 5' it's very manageable inside and reasonable at $34+ shipping. You can always use fishing line to hang it in a window and it should work well.

For an antenna, either get a quarter wave whip (6" approx) and mount it on a ground plane ad identified above, of get an EdFong Jpole antenna (5' long) which requires no ground plane. Both are easy to move around inside and are pretty inexpensive.

Congrats! What bands is the 72' version good for? I don't have an HOA, but I have a My antennas 8010p, and it's hung between two trees at about 27'. My wife never knew it was there until I showed her this weekend. She laughed cause it's been about a month. She also hasn't noticed my silver 6m dipole either though. Edit, I did use DX400MAX to everything though.

A quick search on FCC EAS database, I saw zero matches for the UHF band that had H1D, J1D, J3E or H3E emissions. Quick Google didn't pull anything up at all.

Unless your plan was to get an IC7100 as and all band all mode, I don't see any reason to play on 2m or 70cm SSB, other than nobody else would pick up on your conversation (security through obscurity). While it's an interesting proposal to do SSB on GMRS, good luck finding a rig that will do that portion of UHF SSB, let alone being cost effective and having part 95 certification.

Contact the HAM repeater owner and discuss it. They can give you insight and you can also coordinate if it will work for both of you. You don't want to cause issues for him since he is already there.

Yea, I'm more than well aware, that place has sucked plenty of cash from my pocket over the years, way before I got into radio. Somehow I pick expensive hobbies, luckily the wife doesn't care all that much.

Also, don't take my DX Engineering links as the only place to get stuff, but they are 15 minutes from my house and I can do drive up pick up, so I'm familiar with their website. If you have another local radio shop nearby, by all means use them if you want.

I would recommend the equipment in you shack be grounded to your house ground. Your antenna ground rod and house ground rod/system should be bonded by 6GA ground wire per NEC. Inside grounds inside. Outside grounds outside All grounding systems should be connected and bonded.

Get a real lightening polyphaser: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ppr-is-50ux-c0 or similar ($7 isn't going to provide adequate protection) Mount it to a grounded utility enclosure: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-ue-2p (can be mounted high on the house near the entry) Use something like 2GA grounding wire from the box to your ground rod IMMEDIATELY underneath the box: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/gcl-5021-tin-025 (keep it straight as possible, any bends shall be very gradual

So is there a new certification or did they just make their product non compliant with part 95?

It's the OPs risk to take, but I have seen house hit that are less than 50' from trees towering 50' above their roof line. I would not be opposed to using metal to support the mast, but there is a bit more involved than buying 40' of fence post. 1) Evaluate your homes electrical system and current grounding situation. 2) Meet NEC at a minimum. 3) Look at finding a used tower for real structural support. 4) Review your insurance. I have my computer and every item in my shack insured. I don't want to be out those thousands of dollars when lightening hits. 5) Don't forget, you could fry everything electronic in your house with one good hit. How much in dollars are you TVs, computers and gaming consoles? That being said, my HF antennas have the coax buried for 30', and I have a 70cm/2m antenna attached directly to my roof peak eave, but is grounded per NEC. Do I expect no issues? No, but I can hope to have no issues, and I can atleast say to an insurance adjuster that it met code if anything were to happen. Can you say the same?

At a minimum, you need to meet NEc for grounding, including ground the mast/tower and ground the coax entry.

For LMR400, I use the DX Engineering crimp tool, prep tool and their crimp connectors.Connectors DXE-PL259CS8U-# (quantity) Crimp tool DXE-UT-CRIMP2 Prep DXE-UT-405C-P2

Maybe add a time out timer? 5 & 20 minutes is pretty serious. A 120s TOT would at least make it more difficult to persist.

It's a screw terminal on the back, so you just stick the stripped ends of your radio power cord in and tighten the screw.