AdmiralCochrane

If you like paper study guides, those by ARRL.og and the one by Gordon West are always highly rated by people who have used them to study for the various ham licenses. If you already know simple electricity, ohm's law etc, you only have a little more stuff to learn about particular radio operation and band restrictions in order to pass the technician license test. Most people pass on their first try and some second and third generation hams can pass the test as soon as they are old enough to read ... yes, elementary schoolers. A middle school STEAM student should easily be able to pass the technican class after reading one of the above study guides - you AND YOUR DAUGHTER should get your licenses! On high angle passes I have been able to hear the relay repeater on the ISS with just a simple hand held $50 radio with the stock whip antenna. You can start practicing tracking and receiving before you get your license, you only need the license in order to transmit (talk).

I attribute some of the good luck at my place to the fact that all my antennae are grounded with 6 foot rods and my house has 2 service entrance grounds and the grounding is also connected to 2 defunct wells. A strike about 10 years ago melted the neighbor's cable wire into carpet, impressive and I guess lucky it didn't start a fire.

Welcome Droopy! There isn't any special GMRS lingo, no 10-4, no 73's etc. Like ham operation, you are required to USE your call sign. The main thing to know about GMRS is that its in the UHF band and signal propagation is nearly exclusively line of sight. If you are over the horizon without an elevated antenna location there will be no tranmission beyond 20 miles under any conditions. Buildings, trees, hills count as nearly 100% signal blockers. Repeaters are the big advantage of the GMRS band as licensed in the US. If you are lucky enough to be in an area with many GMRS repeaters (very much like ham and police emergency service repeaters) you may be able to work thru them for dramatically extended range beyond the 1, 2 or 3 mile normal local transmissions. Some examples: I can hear but not get into a particular repeater about 15 miles away, I can easily get into one about 2 ½ miles away and another repeater 18 miles away very well placed high up a hill and on a high tower. The repeater at 18 miles lets me communicate with others within a 25 mile radius of the repeater itself in all directions potentially 40 miles from me in that direction. Some GMRS frequencies are inhabited by legacy business licensees and are nearly useless in the immediate area of the business. Repeaters are privately owned, some require permission for use, others only ask that you operate legally. I only have experience with Wouxon and Motorola GMRS units. Not 100% certain I would buy another Motorola, but definitely would buy another Wouxon. I have a few Baofeng hand helds, but probably wouldn't replace with same if they failed.

The license info is available online, but it can be nearly impossible to determine. Around me there are hundreds or maybe thousands of business license holders. Some are held by holding companies that are parents of the known name of the location. Many have multiple licenses for the same location in various bands. You CAN, but its not always easy

I disconnect all my raised antennae when not in use. Also disconnect power supplies. Learned that the hard way when lightning struck a tree 50 feet from my house and antennae with everything connected. The only radio thing damaged was an incoming power supply filter on a HF rig, disconnecting my antenna would not have saved that, but disconnecting the input power probably would have. Open ended wires are not effective inductors, but loops/coils are, esp closed loops. Now I not only power down radios and power supply, I disconnect them. Fused power strip with Anderson Power Pole plugs, I just yank them out when not in use. Next door neighbor lost 2 AC's and 2 TV's. I also had an unused flourescent light ballast short out. 3 hours to identify the source of breaker tripping because ballast wasn't active and at the end of a circuit with a long line; embarrased that I hadn't disconnected it when it stopped working.

Depending on buildings, trees and local topography, that could be OK.

Read the FCC announcement when it came out. Have been waiting for someone here to mention it. FCC: welcome to the 21st Century

So, in your opinion those who can should not build functional antennae for GMRS?

Great success making VHF, UHF & GMRS J Poles and Slim JIM's. Not hard to do at all.

But there are many grandfathered businesses still using licensed commercial radios in the GMRS band. I looked up the local licensing and it made my head spin.

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