AdmiralCochrane

Short distance is the nature of 65cm/GMRS. There isn't really any "long" distance. Optimize for what works.

I drive around a lot doing commercial HVAC service. Traffic on CB comes and goes. Some days its as quiet as 10m, other days constant chatter.

I don't know why some are trying to reinvent the wheel

I like it

In most areas, traffic is so limited that there is no such concern. If you are hearing that much traffic, you are more than lucky.

There is a clear answer, it was the first response:

Probably October or later. Not worth the wait

It would be a grandfathered Business License in the GMRS band, not a GMRS license. I don't think a club or business entity can be granted a GMRS license. If it is in fact a valid grandfathered business licensee, GMRS users have to yield, not the business.

FRS, not GMRS. If they don't hold a license, they are only legal as ½ watt/2 watt FRS users as you point out.

Unless its different from the ham bands, licensed business users are the primary users and other licensees are secondary and must yield. UPS is licensed on a chunk of 1.25m in the ham spectrum, but it turns out they decided not to actually use it. If, when and where UPS decides to use it, hams are secondary and have to let UPS do as they wish on the business licensed part of the band. You can look it up, but I have found it a bit tedious

Chick-fil-a and a chain hotel within range at my location. I know exactly where housekeeping needs to take the extra towels

Was just asking in general use, not specific to mobile. Relating to my actual mobile application, 16' falls about 4' short on my company truck, a long wheelbase Ford cargo van; probably one of the few exceptions. Instead of mounting the radio where I can actually see it, I have it Velcroed to the passenger arm rest.

Would a jumper with a female end on the coax be superior to using a barrel connector between 2 pieces of coax with male ends?

I drilled a hole in the case of a UPS and soldered wires to the leads going to the battery to feed my first VHF/UHF base unit. I've also used a jump starter. I endorse both ideas as feasible.

TYT TH9800 mobile does crossband repeat as well. Probably a dozen more if you look hard

I wouldn't spend extra money on a yagi until I had proven it was needed

I second what Michael said ?

As BoxCar says, you can manually check the FCC website and see if your call sign has been granted quicker than waiting for the email. I tested on a Saturday and the Laurel VEC's submitted electronically and I confirmed via the FCC site on Monday morning. I started checking at 9 am and saw new grants, but mine wasn't posted until about 10:30 am. Around 11:00 am I called a sign I was familiar with and the ham responded, my first contact the same morning! The other sources get the data from the FCC ULS site, even the FCC mail looks there.

Congrats!

There is more tech knowledge on this forum than many of the "good" ham boards. I was going to post that somewhere else and I still may

My house has 2 old wells still connected to the grounding. The foundling rod is probably early cable TV ground, my electric service has its original in the basement rod and a newer outdoor rod. I still lost a power supply buffer board in an HF rig last summer in a strike 60 ft from the house. The neighbors lost 2 TV's and 2 window shakers. . Now I have a Rig Runner power supply block that I disconnect everything from when not in use.

The only thing better is clearing the mulch and finding a rod already attached to your house; no its not the electric service ground, that's on the other side of the house. I just pulled my grounds to it and clamped it on. I might drive the second rod in and attach it anyway.

Yeah, I am super happy with it. Bought it second hand and got the trigger when it was on sale. Took a while to find the right pellet and a lot of practice to get that good with it. I don't need anything else for home practice. I hang the 1 ½" juice and tea bottle caps on chain and wack the heck out of them, very satisfying.

Just a Crosman Phantom break barrel for me, all I do with it is trigger practice. With the aftermarket trigger and the right pellets I can consistently hit a 1 ½" target from 44 yards (my back step to my target back stop in front of the neighbor's fence). It did take some time to learn the open hand front grip for springers.

Wrong gear is more of a power mismatch - running higher power than the antenna is rated for or turning the tires more rpm/mph than they are rated for. SWR is more like clear glass letting all light pass vs semi-mirror reflecting some of the light back. Full mirror would send zero signal out, all reflected.