AdmiralCochrane

Option 3

I find the Extra test to be significantly harder than the General.

I still would not trust those numbers ... unless I was using very low power and lossy coax

I have an Icomm mobile that is useless to me because it is too easy to fumble the multiple knobs and buttons when underway even as passenger and change a dramatic setting. I could dedicate it as my shack 2/70 but I prefer my Yeasu 8900

Refresh us on the antenna model. You may be able to adjust the antenna itself, but none of those other ideas are likely to make the SWR better, you are already pretty good

More nothing. Pardon me for inconveniencing electrons to say so.

S is next to A on the keyboard, he meant to type POTA, not POTS; context clue = SOTA

It's called 2 way radio for a reason.

It all depends on how robust your local mesh is. In areas with dense mesh, it definitely is viable reliable alternate to the common infrastructure you are completely dependent on. Just because you don't participate does make it weak.

You can skip the radio altogether and call someone on the phone. You could just hit a baseball off a tee like pre-k kids do.

Things don't need to be complicated. Freebanders using import radios.

My local ham club is full of people who think GMRS is just fine. From what I can tell, most of the more active members have GMRS licenses.

RoadApple is correct. All you need to know for your application is LMR-400 or equivalent, short length, but even more important HEIGHT. You are correct, you need your antenna higher than the surrounding metal radio frequency Faraday cage barricades. In the VHF & UHF ranges the saying is: HEIGHT IS MIGHT.

You do not have to memorize any math, only the correct answer.

I wish sort by date was default.

I have had it bookmarked for quite a while and look at it occasionally, but it's not the end all A lot of people prefer https://www.youtube.com/c/TamithaSkov

An attempt, perhaps in vain, to prevent GMRS from becoming 11m wild west part 2. The physics of 65cm is the only real factor.

But is is best to learn the advantages and limitations before the emergency to know what to expect from the hardware.

I got a vanity call that can be easy to remember but mostly I wanted to make everyone say my daughter's name when they called me. One way to remember it is if you are older and listened to AM radio in central MD it kind of sounds like the call of one of the old local AM stations. The other way is that I am not wireless, I have one wire. Originally the shorter calls were desired because they were simpler to send on CW.

My club doesn't charge. After taking Tech and General, I would advise everyone to study for both on their first try. The overlap is huge and what is different often isn't that hard.

Same here. I wasn't aware of a lot of semiconductor physics until I started looking at the Extra class study guides. Some of the info has helped me understand electronic circuit boards on the HVAC equipment I work on on a daily basis. Deeper understanding also helps me explain the how and why to the next generation of techs. You never know where knowledge will take you, even when it seems trivial or unrelated.

That made me fall down a rabbit hole of describing something at work. Here is the related HVAC super trivia rabbit hole: You may have noticed that HVAC drain lines are sized massively larger than the water that runs out of them. As dictated by International Plumbing Code, condensate drain lines are sized for gravity flow drainage, as if the full BTU capacity of the machine removed water from the air flowing thru the machine without doing any sensible heat temperature change. Air would enter at some very high humidity (possibly greater than 100% RH or perhaps at a greater CFM flow rate than the fan could actually move it) at, let's say 90° and leave at 0% RH at 90°. The drain size must allow gravity flow exit of that calculated volume of water flow. This would not be isenthalpic/isoenthalpic, but the opposite, perhaps "endoenthalpic".

I guess we are all friends of Kurt. I was once nominated to be a friend of Brian even though Jack was excluded from that list (Brian was pulling Jack's leg).

You will not notice any difference unless you are at the very fringe of reception. Closer in you will not detect any improvement. Same with being completely too far or completely blocked, it isn't going to double or add 20% more range. Maybe 10% or just 5%, which is almost nothing to most people. My wife detests the idea of "a number approaching zero"

The thing to do on 2m 1.25m and 70cm simplex is monitor and learn when people will be active.