AdmiralCochrane

Mostly going to be ham stores. Best bet hro, ham radio outlet. It's a franchise so chances a location close by. Many of 70cm 440mHz properties are close to GMRS.

There is always us here to try and steer the train wreck.

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It’s been pending since 5/19. Wonder how long it’ll take for them to grant or deny… usually see anywhere from a week to a couple months on applications with waiver requests attached

Good day DR.

Power does play a factor, but it plays a minor factor in practice. Higher power can “burn” through the woods, but only if you put out enough power to “burn” through them. An increase from 5-50 watts is no where near enough to do that. While in outer space you could measure the increase in distance this extra 10dB would get you, on earth you have variable obstacles, terrain, curvature of the earth and variable RF noise conditions to contend with. All of these obstacles quickly chip away at what little power you have to give.

This phenomena is truly why want you antenna a high as practically possible when long-range local communications is desired. The higher it is, the less obstacles the signal has to go through or around, thus the stronger the resulting signal will be at a given distance.

Case in point. I can achieve achieve .6 miles reliable communication HT to HT in my heavily wooded area (level terrain) and unreliable communication out to 1.4 miles. Yet, using the same HT with same power I can open repeater 50 miles away when I stand in my front yard. What’s the difference? 1) The repeater antenna is perhaps 500-1000 foot higher in elevation than me. 2) There are no hills between me and the repeater to block my signal from reaching it. 3) There are no trees of consequence for the first 1-1/2 miles from my house in the exact direction of the repeater and 4) The performance of the repeater receiver is first rate.

Hope this helps answer your question a bit.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Right angle jumpers are serious hit or miss. Especially, the premade ones. Some times they are barely soldered on the center pole.

Rf doesn't like right angle bends much either. We use loops and the mid point of the loop for long wire antennas (refer to fold backs). Well guess what you can adjust then fold back lengths to tune antenna. Even with a foot hang off the fold back.

So much so that my random wire came with specific instructions to use pulleys to create curves in order to minimize bend radius that will be seen as the electronically the end of the antenna.

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Coming from the perspective of a radio listener, I think 1 min is a good value as well as a serves as a reminder to keep one’s transmissions short and keep the dialog moving. However, as the talker, I admit I have personally settled on 2 min. One just proved to be to short and restrictive in way to many cases.

While the TOT is a great way aid in keeping the duty cycle down, I like the security it provides knowing that if the PTT gets stuck unknowingly and accidentally that the radio will stop transmitting automatically after the TOT time has expired.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Yes, that is a super common plug used on many computer and related accessories.  
 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B072BYGKZZ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_15B035PV8EMTR1R8KZDQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Rich,
Would you be able to (temporarily, until fixed by the FCC) pre-scan the pipe-delimited file(s) looking for the Owner|Operator string?  You could use a batch mode WHS or VBA script (or many such other tools) to first scan, then if found, change the string to Owner\|Operator , before inputting into the call-sign database.  This is something I have done numerous times in my former job as an applications systems analyst.  I can offer help if needed, or possibly write it for you.
 
Thomas

Another update.

Had to tack weld a support for the upper L of the bracket to control really bad rocking. I also tack welded the mount to the hood hinge bracket to stop it from the constant tilting back after a whack.
EDIT: to add image of the welded support


 

The multiband verticals supposedly work well (Hustler & Cushcraft), but you need to have a minimum of 32 ground radials. If you mount it on the roof of your metal building, it might make a good substitute for the ground radials, but they are 25-32 feet tall, and would need guy wires, and tuned for each band as you assemble/install the antenna. Also, verticals tend to have a higher noise floor.
Dipoles (fan or single band) or EndFedHalfWave would be a more efficient choice. A 80m thru 10m is 134 feet in length, and a 40m thru 10 is about 64 feet in length. They can be installed parallel to the ground at 30', or as slopers and inverted "V".

That is exactly why I was thinking vertical with a inverted v mounted to the tower. Can switch between antennas.

Or better yet forget the vertical and go multi element yagi rotator and an inverted v.

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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

New to GMRS and BTech GMRS 50X-1 myself... I have been using CHIRP to do channel programming and playing with settings, found it to be much easier than trying to cycle through the menus on the radio itself. Give it a look and see if it helps.

You always have transmission line, whether it's just the short traces on the PCB going to the antenna connector, or 100' of transmission line. The standing wave can exist anywhere in that system, by the very nature of the fact the energy is not being efficiently radiated out due to the mismatch.

Almost all pellet guns require some testing to find "the" pellet. Even some of the choked ones. Keep with it can be very rewarding with a springer when you master it. Me, I avoid break barrel and springers if I can. Hate to have to relearn how to shoot.

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.  

The reason antenna (and therefor radio outputs) were designed to be 50 ohms is largely the coax.
50 Ohm coax is practical to make in manageable diameters and will carry decent amounts of power.  They determined that 50 ohm coax for a given size could carry more power than other impedances.  It was deemed optimum by some military research study.  Also, with low voltage solid state radios it works out very well. 
Once you choose 50 ohm coax for your radio system it makes sense to have the radio and antenna made to match it.
 
Of course there is 300 and 400 ohm twin lead transmission line (ladder line) and some radios used to be designed for it.  It made far more sense in the tube days to design higher Z finals on radios.  But that's mostly history - at least for our portable 12v radios.  
Most radio outputs are predominantly resistive impedance with little reactance (inductance or capacitance). 
 
Vince
 

There are only eight high-power channels, seven 5W channels and seven 0.5W channels. Any half-decent radio can scan them all quickly. And from your mobile you can't legally use 467.xxx5 (because 0.5W), so why to worry about them. If there is an open repeater in vicinity, it's most likely will be on 462.675 with tone 141.3.

I got my extra class ham license in 1985 and live out here in Spokane.
I often monitor the ham repeater system here that covers essentially the whole eastern half of Washington state.
I also belong to the Spokane VHF Club.
 
I find that most of the hams are surprisingly receptive to GMRS and many (or most) of them have their GMRS license.
They talk about GMRS on the ham repeater now and then.
They also have discussed it on the VHF club net and at meetings.
 
The reason is that most hams have family members and fishing buddies who are not hams.
So ham is pretty useless for communicating at camps and family outings. 
Most hams love all kinds of radios.
 
Also, hams believe that GMRS brings people into ham radio.
So they don't see it as competition.  They see it as something that promotes amateur radio.
 
Of course there will always be some delicate egos out there.
A few guys see ham radio as a religion.
They worked very hard to get a license and don't like people who just "wrote a check".
 
I almost like GMRS better than ham sometimes because it is less exclusive.
Ham is sometimes just too quiet.
 
Vince

I highly suggest going to his HOME page and downloading the user guide and the companion book. They are very complete in covering all that may be done with the program.

If i recall in order to label "Made in USA" the majority of the product needs to be made/sourced from US companies and the final product assembly must be done in the US. Being radios are mostly electronic devices and virtually all electronics are outsourced overseas you will likely never find any radios with "made in USA" branding. 
 
I believe Midland does do much of is manufacturing/assembly in the US but not the majority of parts. 

Yes, it will. That is one of the major real-world functions that the lighting arrester serves. Contrary to its name, a lighting arrester does not protect you from damage from a direct lighting hit, but instead it shunts surges from nearby lighting and bleeds off static that occurs naturally during storms as well as other periods of high winds. 
BTW, welcome to myGMRS.
 
 
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM
 
Edit: Here is a link to a document that explains how they work.
 
https://www.polyphaser.com/News/DownloadFile?downloadGuid=52f23510-c294-40d8-889b-b63f1c6fdcb5

There is a reason.  GMRS has a fee payment arraignment system in place and requires no testing, only payment; all that they have to do is reduce the fee, everything else is in place.  Ham requires testing and confirmation and at this time requires no fee.  Its a whole new ball of wax. 

You can't get a count easily as there are two main groups, Public Safety ad Business/Industrial/Land Transportation or 90.20 ad 90.35. Then there's Part 101 ad several different parts that are used.

I got Gordon west's book for tech on Tuesday. I read Tuesday evening, and yesterday, and have taken several practice exams on QRZ.
 
I am averaging above 85 percent, where I was in the 70's yesterday morning. If I miss a question on the practice exam, I go back, re read the material and take a test again pretty simple.