tweiss3

I know the pain. I've driven my RX7 to Poughkeepsie, NY without working cruise control for the OCC car meet (8hrs). Back on topic

Fair enough. I'm an engineer as well, spending my days in front of a CAD station. I must say, DMR does have its benefits outside of analog radio, but being that its too related to your work, it might be annoying. For me it's enough of a step sideways from my work, its a fun challenge (not really a challenge). I agree F2F is preferred, and I don't think you and I are too far apart, however, I'm currently not traveling, for various reasons.

It seems many of you who have the experience are also HAM. Are you guys on DMR, that's an easy way to get some round table discussion in a Tac channel, being we are not all close together. I'd be interested in talking with a few of you guys.

While I understand this, starting out I did not. I appreciate your description. It should make it easy for anyone to understand. People must understand, you cannot make energy appear or disappear. It can be lost by converting it to heat (via line loss or SWR). While many want to "squeze the most" of out their radio by getting high gain antennas, they must first evaluate their operating conditions. Cases where no gain (1db) would be ideal may be mixed use (both simplex to another radio and repeater usage) as well as high elevation changes where you drive or ride (such as here in Ohio, most of PA, mountainous areas). Places you might get away with high gain antennas include the great plains, FL, places you can see straight for miles and miles. I would like to add, for the above reasons, if you don't want to think about it and have great consistent all over use while driving, wheeling, riding, etc, perhaps stick with no gain antennas. Remember, even if you can get 30 miles simplex, the other station must also be able to respond to you for communication to work. Even if you can squeeze that extra distance, the other party may have a no gain antenna and may not get back to you. Keep in mind, for GMRS 1/4 wave antennas are approximately 6" (462.00MHz = 6.39", 467.00MHz = 6.32") and provide wide bandwidth and 1db gain.

What are you looking to learn? The ARRL has a ton for great books on radio. If you want some general overviews, start with the Technician Guide. It covers enough to pass your HAM technician test as well as provides a great overview on the entirety of radio, leaning towards how it it applies to amateur radio, but the principles apply to GMRS as well. If that bites your interest, you can graduate up to the General and Amateur Extra books which get into more theory and application. If you want to learn about a specific topic, there are ARRL books on those as well, such as antennas, power supplies, etc.

To clarify further for you guys, that 200' limit is the cutoff for requiring FCC/FAA filing and paint/lights. You can go above 200' if you want to deal with the hassle.

I'm not sure how the CHIRP software works with the Kenwood radios, but I would suggest springing a few bucks for the Kenwood software, so you can change all the other stuff in the radios, including zones. I found my software for $15 on ebay, worth every penny. My TK-8150 doesn't get hot enough to melt anything at 50W. I have a pop up blind in a nylon bag that rests against my radio in the trunk, has not melted yet.

I've been looking for quite a while, and the HK models across the board are hard to find. Used Kenwood prices have been going up, but when I purchased, I grabbed my two TK-8150's from a local police auction for about $140 for both (with remote head kits included). You really have to do your research and find a deal anymore. Ebay prices are stupid. I had been looking at Ham HT's and Mobiles, and the price is 70%+ of the new price, which at that point, get the warranty, quick shipping and peace of mind.

Yes, TK-8180HK is 45W. Edit: FCC ID: K4437313210

I just bought a CS800D for the truck, the HT just doesn't have the VHF range I'd like to check into the morning net until I am on-top of work. I did see Jerry is also selling those G20 radios, and holy cow, that is one heck of a radio for the money. I can always do SSW in 10m locally, probably where I would start. I'm not sure I could fit a 1/4 wave antenna in the attic vertically though. I do still need some form of grounding established. Thanks for the recommendation, because from what I see, it will cover nearly all the bases in one nice compact form.

Kenwood: TK-8180-K------(30 watts) FCC ID: K4437313110 Part 95 certified. You do need kenwood software KPG-73D or KPG-89DK, which can be found online for $75.00 or less.

Went out of business, some say because of all the fires they caused. Ask any electrician, and they cringe when they hear the name. I think most of the problems were in higher voltage/industrial uses.

You can still get new replacement breakers, I had to get two last year. My furnace and my drier wouldn't stay on. I do have a quote to replace it, just haven't pulled the trigger yet. These boxes are the absolute worst though.

Lucky? Or unlucky? House was built in 58, so I have the challenges of that. The house has no ground what so ever, none to the water, none to the panel. It needs replaced, even without the radio component. I still want to talk to a grounding/lightening specialist before I finish plans on the electrical update. I have seen some of the starter HF CW kits. Cool concept, but, again, without knowing CW, its almost pointless for me. I'm trying to see if I can fabricate one up what connects to my computer via USB, and use software for generating/decoding. Still something I'm looking into.

I had a BF-F8HP that I bought for listening only at the beginning of the year, before I new any better. With my few days experience, I will be keeping this D878UV I definitely, even if I don't use DMR as much. I'm able to RX signals from much farther, and hit a surprising amount of repeaters from inside my house, both Analog and DMR. I've been listening to a barometer net on my way to work for about a month. Today, I was able to check in. Unfortunately my HT doesn't pick it up till half way through my commute, but I am able to check in and listen via the echolink app untill I'm in range. I also was able to continue listening at my desk after I got to work with my HT and it's all clear. I can also hit 3 DMR repeaters with ease. I do think I need to upgrade the trucks mobile to a CS800D so I have VHF and DMR at 45/50W with a true antenna. I'll leave the Kenwood installed so I can swap back when going hunting and GMRS is absolutely necessary.

pseudo electrician - I'm an engineer, and technology/electrical hobbiest. I knew 80% of the tech stuff from school and past experience.pseudo astrophysicst - not sure when i'll get into HF. First, its expensive, secondly, I can't properly get into a base station at home because I have to replace my whole house wiring(pushmatic box with no grounds), add a sub-panel in the garage (easiest way to rewire the second floor of my split level where my office is), on top of replacing plumbing issues and the need to either reside or repaint the house.pseudo mathematician - I due trig almost daily, engineering and stuff.pseudo audiologist - I'm not sure when, if ever, i will learn CW. I'm not great at languages, and often have trouble doing the translation with enough speed to even think of holding a conversation. Right now, I'm having enough trouble remembering a call sign that just talked so I can respond to them. I'm also terrible with names, it usually takes me a few days/weeks to remember.pseudo botanist - I currently have 2 large pin oaks that are at maximum height next to my house (4 total) plus a few other trees that I don't trust.pseudo camo expert - no HOA, and local zoning allows towers/antennas up to 50 without a permit. Yea, if I had to know CW, I'd have been screwed. I also, at almost all times, have a million other things working in my head that make it impossible to focus enough of the listening/translating that CW may be considered a pipe dream right now. I've thought about just going computer generated/translated to see how I like those contacts. Still need a base station in my office to make that happen.

Very well put. Its the reason I decided to get my HAM as well.

Thanks Marc! I'm not sure if I am just lucky, but there is a pretty good hotspot of activity where I am, with many different clubs. I have a daily morning net and a few evening nets. 2M & 70CM activity is pretty good, as well as there is a huge DMR presence. I see there is a pretty good 6M group as well, but I don't have anything that can even monitor that right now. I have a AT-D878 being delivered tomorrow, figured if I was going to spend real money on a nice HT, it minus well have one of the digital modes, and DMR seems to be the most common here.

There were multiple reasons: Good easy way to start into radio. License is a family license. Seemed like the ideal ticket for hunting use.

Punched both tickets to jump straight to General last night. Since the library is still closed, they held the test outside in a parking deck. We had to bring our own chair and table, plus wear masks and gloves. It was pretty hot, but I'm just glad they still held a testing session. License showed up on the ULS this morning.

I was referring to the Tram antenna the OB posted. I knew yours was a genuine.

Also, look at the thread here, it looks like a knock off of the Larsen Antenna that Lscott reviewed here: https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1924-larsen-pulse-270-sh/?do=findComment&comment=17016

Members have had ok results with fender mounts (Comet RS720) on jeeps. Make sure you get a water proof NMO mount/cable that has the sealed bottom, or corrosion will ruin your antenna mount within a year. I would suggest spending just a few more bucks for a Larsen NMO150/450/758 antenna, its great on 2M, 70CM and is wide band enough for GMRS. Below are my results of this antenna with a magmount on the roof of my car: VSWR updated by tweiss3, on Flickr

Unlicensed user + telephone interconnect. Thats a double whammy.

I'm especially impressed that the hardware is in the $100 range. Though, you do have to be into digital, with the exception of AllStar and Echolink (by my understanding). Do I want to get into digital (DMR most likely), yes. Is it really going to be usable when things fail? I doubt it. With the internet outages, cell phone outages, etc. going on recently, and the other mess of destruction people are bringing, can't count on anything. I have a feeling some of the local repeater towers would last without commercial power, but then you are still stuck to that RF range. I understand one could do DMR simplex, but the chances of finding someone out on DMR in a bad situation that have the same color and talk group programmed on the frequency is highly unlikely. EDIT: What do I know though, I don't even have my license yet (testing next week), so I can't speak on the actual difficulties of digital and linking.