AdmiralCochrane

Skywarn is effective in my area.

WOW! That should be labeled "The BIG Motorola manual"

Clarification: I wasn't refering to operation, but SWR measurement.

Would this be enhanced/corrected by using a real ground such as a "tiger tail"?

Does the truck have a built in 120v output inverter? That's another possiblity

In central MD I think I hit 2 at once using the same tone.

After speaking to the expert, she pointed out that, semantically and technically, these are NOT typos, but layout errors

I recall seeing those things as well. My wife does print layout for a living, mistakes like that drive her crazy

Congrats

Congrats! I read both the ARRL and Gordon West general books but couldn't make headway on the tests until I studied on hamstudy.org. Both books are good references to learn from and look back to while operating. My recommedation is to buy the books, read them, then go back to the online test prep

Yes, length is the surcharge even if its not real heavy. I think it starts at 80 inches

GMRS is more closely related to ham UHF. It actually is in the UHF frequency range, just not in the assigned band.

I was surprised at the number of grandfathered licenses in my area

I have a 333 at about 35 feet. My nanoNVA says its tuned slightly better for 65cm than 2m. As a simple matter of convience I am not using it on 1.25 right now, but the nanonva shows its tuned very well there as well. If I recall, the readings were 1.27 on 2m, 1.1 on 1.25 and very close to 1.19 across the parts of 70cm and 65cm that I use

Companders are speech processors, nothing else. They improve signal strength by slightly increasing weaker microphone modulation, but mostly change the person's voice to ranges that the listener's ear hears clearer. I run compander ON on most of my radios, but if adjustable at the lowest setting. Right now my voice drives any decent mic as well as a professional quality mic, I get a lot of compliments and questions about what equipment I use, but its mostly good luck coming out of my mouth; hardware provided from above ? .

My experience with 2 meter vs 65&70cm is that UHF can work better where knife edge refraction and reflection help UHF propagation and the terrain otherwise inhibits VHF, outside of that exception, VHF is generally superior. My greatest distance using 2m simplex has been approximately 11 miles in the lumpy hills valleys dips and ridges of central Maryland. I echo MichaelLAX that there is no reason to think same would not have happened on UHF.

I agree, Fong wins on marketing, not design, but is there a better pre-assembed antenna at the price?

Meteor trail and moon bouncing are common with VHF guys chasing confirmed long distance contacts. I am not certain any of the 20 or so hams that have made contacts with all 50 states on 1.25 meters did not use one or the other for some of their contacts. Bouncing a signal off the moon is called EME, for Earth Moon Earth. A lot of specialized equipment involved, high skills and PATIENCE. I have heard ducting from NYC to MD several times, conveyed along the edges of weather fronts, which is similar to true tropospheric ducting where the radio signal is trapped in a temperature inversion, the same temperature inversions that can transmit mirage visable images across hundreds of miles.

Grounding makes a difference too. Possiblity of better grounding AND possiblity of antenna location on the vehicle promoting propagation better in some directions and worse in others, depending on the placement of the antenna and orientation of the ground plane. In general, you will have gain across the longest path over the ground plane; possible signal degrading along the shorter paths over the ground plane. An antenna connected to a SWR meter functions as a field strength meter to survey and determine this.

My first VHF/UHF power supply was a hand me down UPS that my wife gave me when she upgraded the UPS for her computer. I just cracked it open and tapped onto the battery. Not long after that I saw a video about converting computer server power supplies to power ham equipment. There are some units that only take a little bit of mods to get you a 500 watt 13.8v power supply. Install 1 jumper and turn a potentiomenter to jack the voltage to 13.8. One I gave away was rated for 750 watts at its nominal 12v. I think I paid $30 shipped on eBay. There is suspiction that these may have some RF noise at some frequencies, but if so, no one has found noise in any common ham (including most HF), LMR or GMRS band.

nanoNVA is better for trimming antennas anyway

I love the FUN button

100 watts would not increase the range as much as you expect; almost all the contacts you can make with 50 watts can also be made with 25. Unobstructed line of sight prevails as the significant working feature.

My stereo speakers are near field receivers (LOL) for the freebanders that travel on a highway near my location. Wasn't sure what band they were using until I caught them on my scanner. Was between 10m and 11m and they definitely were not "authorized users" on the frequency.