AdmiralCochrane
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Posts posted by AdmiralCochrane
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19 hours ago, WRUL474 said:
FNG here. Sorry to make this my first post, but I think I have a rather interesting perspective on this topic. I started off in CB, then decided to jump into GMRS. I've had a GMRS license for over a year now. Yes, Randy was an influence in it, and I am one of the 162,000 subscribers to his channel, but there's things about GMRS I wish I knew more about and would've appreciated more info on via popular internet like Randy's YouTube channel. I'm still learning, and discovered things in this forum I didn't know I didn't know about. That's a different convo.
How to get younger people involved in radio communications might have the answer in HAM that I'm not seeing much in GMRS -- contesting. Kids love to play games, and they love digital electronics. If there's a way to demonstrate a form of contesting while utilizing remote control like a tablet, they'd be in it. Start off by demonstrating in schools. A fox hunt, or something like POTA where they communicate with other kids at schools in their town (high school level?), etc might be exciting enough.
Utilizing simplex, GMRS is dead. Many of you may not like hearing it, but that's been my experience. I recently moved from San Diego, CA to Pensacola, FL. I have both GMRS and CB in my truck. Utilizing scan on both, I didn't hear a single convo on my GMRS radio. There was the occasional noise on CB, and I engaged in 1 convo in East Texas. That was only because the people rag chewing for several miles specifically mentioned my vehicle as I was passing them, so I broke in and conversed. My younger son was impressed. My older son, a teenager, didn't care, which surprised me because he's into computers and electronics.
Moving to Pensacola, FL has been beneficial to me. The Five Flags Ham Radio Club teaches a course at Pensacola State College to train people to be Hams, even though they don't get paid. The course fee is under $30 for a whole semester, which goes completely to the college, and the explain and demonstrate the how and why of Ham radio. These are older guys who have been in Ham Radio for decades, and a couple of the instructors are electrical engineers. Through them I've found out the little Q+A Ham Radio book has several wrong answers, which is causing people to fail the Technician test because they studied/memorized the wrong answers. I can list specific questions if people want. The larger spiral bound handbook has the correct answers in the back of the book. These instructors do not like "sad hams", and question their claim of superiority when they're typing 50wpm CW instead of doing it by hand (citing "an accent" that can be heard when CW is done by hand on a paddle). Their excitement for Ham Radio is infectious, with over a dozen students in the class. It's a shame they don't share they same passion for GMRS. These instructors are the life blood of Escambia County, Florida's ARES program, and done are even involved in Search & Rescue. One of the things they constantly preech is they do the course do they can get people ready to replace them.
Btw, one of the things that irritates me about the Ham Technician test is the amount of questions I'm studying in titration to the number of questions they'll be on the test. There's over 420 questions, but only 35 of them will randomly be on the test. Kids don't want that. That's too much studying for something people think should be fun. It's not fun if you're working. At that point it's work, so they won't enjoy it. GMRS had an advantage over Ham on that. Another issue is the process of getting the license. Government websites are not quick to navigate through. And, the license costs money. They don't want to pay their student loan debt. What makes anybody think the kids will want to pay for it?
If you've read this far, thank you, and I'm sorry. Cliff note version: the process for getting a GMRS license is contrary to what kids want to do.
The answer to that is the no license, no test, no fee MURS and FRS
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I agree, THE standard phonetic alphabet is THE standard and there need not be a 'second standard'
Just the same, often a simple nmeonic is helpful. A ham near me has a call sign ending in NRS - he tells people he is "not real smart"
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On 10/13/2023 at 9:13 AM, nokones said:
OMG, it's the internet, social media, and You Tube causing all this undermining and disorder of a civilized society of "GMRS People". I think "these people" that are causing all this movement may be driving Jeeps and Nissans to their secret society meetings.
Don't give away the secret handshake. John has a long mustache.
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GMRS to GMRS. GMRS to ham frequencies is not permitted.
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I guess I have purchased better antennas than you. Maybe you got out of spec antennas.
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34 minutes ago, nokones said:
Do away with the written test for the Technician Class license. Memorizing answers to test serves no real purpose for an entry level license. No one is going to remember what the answers were and cares. So, why have a test. It's a waste of time.
Just buy a GMRS license, already has no test. Same for FRS. Leave ham alone, there are services that meet your no test suggestion.
- WRXB215 and back4more70
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If you are only worried about one direction, a mobile antenna outside on that side of the building would work well, for better range in all directions, a mobile mounted at the peak of the roof would work. If FRS is working, you may have success with GMRS even with cheap coax to an antenna at the peak of the roof.
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15 hours ago, WRYW392 said:
For future readers like me:
Everything explained here is indeed very accurate. Antenna manufacturers often do not provide proper data sheets or certifications to back up their claims. Some numbers, like dB, are sometimes altered for marketing purposes.
An easy way to understand dB is through a water analogy:
High dB is like a water pipe with a pressure nozzle - it reaches a longer distance but with less flow.
Low dB is like a water pipe without a nozzle - it delivers a lot of water, but at a closer distance.But this ignores possible improved take off angle.
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I found some almost free LMR 600. All I had to do was buy a crimper and ends. About 75' of length will let me push my antenna another 10 ft higher than it is now.
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If your physical location is high on a hill, there may be no difference. Line of sight rules over height. Likewise to the station(s) you are communicating with, if they are hilltop both antennas would be line of sight to the other station.
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Thanks. It's the TYT clone. I've been too busy to program all that stuff into my Yeasu. I had the TYT set up in my shack which I am moving to a different room. The Yeasu will take the TYT's place in my shack when all is moved. With the right settings on the Uconnect, it toggles between the aux source and normal radio just by plugging or unplugging the aux jack. You can leave it plugged in and switch by pushing several buttons, but no buttons is easier (and makes XYL happy). I don't have any trouble hearing the radio's speaker under the passenger's seat, but I am going to double up and add an aux speaker under the driver's seat and jump the ⅛" internal speaker disconnect so the radio's speaker stays on. That way I'll be able to hear the radio better with it unplugged from the Jeep radio so I can listen to the Sirius music and monitor the ham radio at the same time.
My love of puns makes me think that one of the oldest puns in western culture is Sirius and Procion. Many people know Sirius is Orion's hunting dog, the famous Dog Star of August, giving us the "dog days of summer". The star Procion appears a few weeks before Sirius and in mythology is the offspring of Sirius. Literally, in Greek, Procion means "preceeds dog". What preceeds every dog? A puppy! and Procion, "the puppy" preceeds us seeing Sirius, "the dog". Hi Hi !
- BoxCar and Bisquit4407
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I'm happy with this install. The remote head mount fits in the bottom front console box with no fasteners. Radio is mounted under the passenger's seat. No wires are showing anywhere except what you see here and the coax from the bumper to the antenna. Antenna coax and direct power from battery thru floor drain grommet. Antenna on spare tire mount. Remote speaker wire plugs into Uconnect radio aux input ⅛" socket and functions thru the Uconnect to the Jeep's factory speakers that can BOOM the audio. Ran the coax along the frame and behind the passenger's rear tire skirt to get to the bumper. The radio is programmed to recieve tons of stuff outside the ham bands for monitoring: CB, GMRS/FRS, marine, air, business vhf, and TV alternate sound.
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On the other hand, isn't this a case of simplex users not expecting repeater operation even though they were on the simplex/repeater frequency?
kidphc is correct, proper understanding of best operating procedures calls for listening FIRST, but GMRS is a no test, buy your license and transmit service.
In this case, all the parties knew 10 times more than the average GMRS licensee; consider that EVERYONE on this forum is probably 5 times more knowledgable than the average GMRS licensee, even those who have come here and asked only a single question. Separating the repeater frequencies would be the only solution but I don't know if that would even be possible since GMRS is already democracized, there would be older repeater operators that would never switch to the new frequencies.
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3 hours ago, MrGoodwreck said:
Why would you want to?
To learn what (radio) traffic exists in your neighborhood. It is common courtesy not to interrupt other's transmissions. If you know when and on what frequency there is traffic you can avoid being a problem. One may also learn about nets that otherwise are not published where you could be a welcome addition. Another thing that one may learn is whether there are grandfathered commercial users in your neighborhood on frequencies you will want to avoid ...
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Simply the physics of the length of the wire and whether it is connected in a loop. No other magic.
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The EMP from a lightning strike in my yard damaged some stuff at my house a few years ago. I had all my antennae disconnected, but the EMP was received on the wires between my power supply and my HF radio - a conductive loop. The end of the loop was the incoming power filter board on my HF radio, everything on that board was fried, but to be clear: the power was picked up and entered the radio via the wires between the radio and the power supply. Since repairing the radio, I now not only disconnect the antennae when I am not using the radio, I also disconnect the power supply. Anderson Power Pole plugs plugged into a Rig Runner power strip.
Another piece of equipment that was damaged and caused a dead short on one circuit breaker circuit was an old florescent light ballast. Before the strike the ballast was weak and I had the tubes out of the fixture, but the magnetic pulse was enough to short it dead.
As in the Carrington Event, loops collect the pulse. The longer the loop, the more energy can be collected. Shorter loops just won't collect as much energy, it's one of the laws of physics.
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I am reasonably happy with my 578
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There are countries through the world where listening to other than official government transmissions is illegal; thankfully, the US is not one of them. You may listen to anything out there if you are not a spy.
Technically "transmit" once you get your license. "Broadcast" is something different.
[GMRS, CB, HAM] What Happens If You Transmit Without An Antenna?
in General Discussion
Posted
Apparently the ChatGTP creators endowed it with bias. How else do you explain when it answers with bogus results.