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gortex2

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  1. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from PRadio in Mobile Unit Wattage   
    The only true test is a dummy load on your meter and verify you see high power into the dummy load. If its 25 +/- 10% then you can dig into antenna system but without a true known level its hard to know if its the radio or the meter.
  2. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from WRUU653 in Mobile Unit Wattage   
    The only true test is a dummy load on your meter and verify you see high power into the dummy load. If its 25 +/- 10% then you can dig into antenna system but without a true known level its hard to know if its the radio or the meter.
  3. Like
    gortex2 reacted to nokones in Looked into GMRS but was disappointed   
    I remember back in the day 675 was only for emergencies as stated as a condition on the license. Also, the GMRS licenses were issued with mobile call signs, mine was KG something (three letters and four numbers). Somewhere during one of the periods of the renewal processes mine was changed to my current license WQJT335.
    I also remember back in the mid 70s that Orange County React was very active on CB channel 9 and used 675 as an intercomm link amongst all the React Monitors.  I can't remember the guy's name now that had a scanner and cb store on Euclid in Anaheim he owned one of the first mountain top GMRS repeaters on Santiago. I believe it was the 675 repeater that React used. I think his name was Bob Neal. He was very instrumental in promoting radio communications as a hobby. If it wasn't for him I may not have gotten knee deep into this hobby with the scanners, CB radios, and now GMRS. I never got the HAM bug for some reason and today I still don't and probably never will. 
    I bought a ton of scanner crystals from him for my Regency ACT 10 channel scanner before Radio Shack came out with the synthesized scanner or was it Bearcat that had the first synthesized scanner?
    I've had my GMRS license since the mid 90s and dabbled in mostly simplex use. Before I moved from Northen California 4 years ago, a friend owned a repeater on a mountain top and gave me permission to use it. I never really did use it although, I did programmed the channel in my company car and maybe used it a couple of times.
    It wasn't until I moved to Arizona, I noticed that GMRS was very active and most of the repeaters were either restricted or closed systems for Club members. So, I decided that I better join so I can get in on using the repeaters and the fun. I'm glad that I did.
    Now, I have several mobiles, a bunch of portables, and now a repeater station. I guess, I am infested with the GMRS bug and I hope there is no cure for it.
  4. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from SteveShannon in Changing display name & hidden callsign   
    Reach out to Rich
  5. Like
    gortex2 reacted to tweiss3 in CTCSS tones: Why don't we hear them?   
    Many of the commercial radios have a jumper you can change to filter the bottom end out or not which may be needed for data. An example, Vertex Standard VX2500, out of the DB9 connector on the back:

    Normal is to filter everything 300 Hz and below out, but for packet, you need to open it up.
  6. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from WRNX238 in Un-official GMRS travel channel?   
    "A GMRS travle channel should not be a repeater channel simplex only"
    So what do you mean by this. We only have 8 repeater channels. Are you proposing to use channels 1-7 which are 5 watt low power ? 
    For me I dont want someone camping on my repeater pair or using it as a  "road" channel. If your set on a designated channel I'd pick a 1-7 channel. 
  7. Thanks
    gortex2 got a reaction from Radioguy7268 in Ground plane and mounting Ghost antenna to van roof   
    You can use aluminum. The antenna isn't that good of a unit to worry about the 8" difference in height. Just mount it and enjoy. Personally I'd swap on a uhf 1/4 wave but thats me. 
  8. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from kmcdonaugh in Show me any legal GMRS radios,there are none.   
    OK. I think we all agree you dont like GMRS, dont like the rules of GMRS and dont like the FCC. Simple solution go find another service to use. 
  9. Like
    gortex2 reacted to Lscott in Which Digital Voice Modes Do You Have Equipment To Operate?   
    It's a hobby. People will comment about the money I've spent on my radio collection and electronic test gear. I ask them how much did those new snowmobiles motorcycles and boat, they use just a few months out of the year, cost them. The silence from them is pure gold. 
  10. Like
    gortex2 reacted to PACNWComms in Ground plane and mounting Ghost antenna to van roof   
    I went back into the gallery and found one of my pictures, showing antennas on my old Pontiac. I had a Sirius satellite radio antenna, a UHF Antennex Phantom antenna, and then a whisker style VHF antenna mounted on the right side of the trunk lip. Original configuration was spaced out, but too many people thought it was a cop car (local PD's bought Pontiac's for their detective vehicles), and I was even pulled over a few times to find out how they could get the shorter antennas like mine. The local radio shop put larger antennas on those detective vehicles and they were not very discrete. Once I put all the antennas next to one another, people just thought it was the factory configuration and I never had anyone wonder (at least to me) after that. 
    Worked well with a VHF and a UHF Vertex VX-3200 stack mounted in the console. It was nice having enough room to mount mobile radios in the dash, making them look like part of the dash. I miss that car.

  11. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from SteveShannon in Ground plane and mounting Ghost antenna to van roof   
    You can use aluminum. The antenna isn't that good of a unit to worry about the 8" difference in height. Just mount it and enjoy. Personally I'd swap on a uhf 1/4 wave but thats me. 
  12. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from PACNWComms in Ground plane and mounting Ghost antenna to van roof   
    You can use aluminum. The antenna isn't that good of a unit to worry about the 8" difference in height. Just mount it and enjoy. Personally I'd swap on a uhf 1/4 wave but thats me. 
  13. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from WRVD377 in Can there be lower cost levels of support?   
    As reference Radio Reference is $30 a year. Others I belong to are $50 a year for download or limited access. Some sites use points systems to allow you to view or download certain items based on how many points. I think that's complicated. I think 2 levels would make things better with a basic package with no adds and maybe limited downloads to a premium package that lets you download other data (maybe base codeplugs, firmware, etc). 
    I hate to say this as I run multiple sites also but it costs to do this stuff and most want everything for free. 
  14. Like
    gortex2 reacted to KAF6045 in GMRS Travel/Emergency channels   
    And back before GMRS became wide-open (ie: back when a GMRS license was only good for TWO main frequencies (channel depended on radio radio programming, so the frequency could be a different channel on different radios), specified when applying for the license) the FCC DID have a designated emergency/traveller aid /frequency/... That was the xxx.675 frequency set, with recommended CTCSS 141.3. The old Maxon GMRS 210+3 HT provided two programmable channels (#9 and #10), the seven GMRS interstitials (#1-7), AND had the emergency frequency fixed in channel #8 (since anyone could use that channel for a true emergency/TA, the Maxon allowed one to select any two of the main frequencies for their license -- on the common two channel business [Part 90 LMR] HTs, the recommendation was to specify .675 as one of the two licensed frequencies to have access to it for emergency [and as it was on the license, could also be used for general purpose stuff]).
    .675 equates to channel #20 in the unified GMRS and FRS numbering scheme.
  15. Like
    gortex2 reacted to Lscott in GMRS Travel/Emergency channels   
    Just when you thought this would end. We need a wooden stake. This vampire just won't stay down.
  16. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from WRUU653 in GMRS Travel/Emergency channels   
    For me I monitor 675/141.3 when traveling only because that is our SAR repeater frequency for years (back to the react days). When around town or my repeaters my radios sit on my repeater. When in the Jeep we scan as the rides use a different channel every trip. I would say 90% of the conversations we hear in the jeeps are channel 1 or 2. 
  17. Like
    gortex2 reacted to WRUU653 in Coax Attachment   
    Scotch 33+ 3M electrical tape as @gortex2 said the good 3M will last. The cheep stuff is useless. Also ? for @Sshannon’s UV cable ties. 
  18. Like
    gortex2 reacted to PACNWComms in GMRS Travel/Emergency channels   
    This comes up often it seems. Here in my part of the Pacific Northwest, Channel 1 and CSQ seems to be common for calling and emergencies. Supposedly this is also the case in the Olympic Rain Forest on the peninsula of Washington State as well? Some Coast Guard helicopters were issued Garmin Rino radios to monitor for lost hikers in Sequim and Port Angeles areas as well, and FRS Channel 1 is often cited. As for GMRS channels or which is calling or emergency I do not know. 
  19. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from WRUU653 in Coax Attachment   
    How far down the mast will there be cable ? I would use stainless ties from HD or Lowes. Just below antenna I'd wrap it with electrical tape (3M good stuff) then 2 stainless ties. There is no reason to do a loop, just run it straight down the mast. Where it goes into house/shed put a small drip loop and tape with double stainless tie there also. 
    For reference good tape will last for years. I removed my fathers tower last year when he sold the house. I had used 3M tape then around the 6' mast with stainless ties about 15 years ago. I still had to cut the tape and ties. They were fine in Upstate NY snow and ice belt. There really is a difference in harbor freight electrical tape and 3M. 
     
  20. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from SteveShannon in Coax Attachment   
    How far down the mast will there be cable ? I would use stainless ties from HD or Lowes. Just below antenna I'd wrap it with electrical tape (3M good stuff) then 2 stainless ties. There is no reason to do a loop, just run it straight down the mast. Where it goes into house/shed put a small drip loop and tape with double stainless tie there also. 
    For reference good tape will last for years. I removed my fathers tower last year when he sold the house. I had used 3M tape then around the 6' mast with stainless ties about 15 years ago. I still had to cut the tape and ties. They were fine in Upstate NY snow and ice belt. There really is a difference in harbor freight electrical tape and 3M. 
     
  21. Like
    gortex2 reacted to WRKC935 in Which Digital Voice Modes Do You Have Equipment To Operate?   
    Well, yes and no.  And the FCC actually did the main one when issuing licenses in the PS band that had the emission designator for DMR.  And that is significantly limiting ERP to pull the coverage footprint of the transmitted signal into a reasonable distance.  Part of the problems that were created by DMR was the old school mentality of repeater systems for communications.  That was put it as high as possible and run as much ERP as was legal.  That mentality is why VHF low band is all but abandoned today.  That stuff went up with 500 watt amplifiers to cover one county and it actually covered 8 or 10 counties.  Then when the atmospheric conditions were favorable, you were talking to Arizona From Ohio and of course, the interference issue became a real problem. 
    So, can you take a bunch of guys that have a CB radio mentality getting into GMRS that is further pushed forward by the guys that are already using the service where a 1.5 to 1 antenna match is TOO high, even though it's a .18dB signal loss and has ZERO effect on performance, to run a repeater with reduced power?  And of course the answer is no.  Because the rules say 50 watts, and by God, I can run 50 watts so I will run 50 watts.  And I am not picking on the GMRS crowd here, this was an issue with professional radio techs doing it the way they always had done it, so there is zero reasonable expectation that hobbyist's are gonna do it the way it would need to be done.  
    The FCC reacted to the issue on the public safety spectrum due to a glut of complaints they were getting from agencies and commercial radio shops fighting the interference that started as some agencies moved to DMR from analog.  At one point they would not issue a license to any PS agency with an either a ERP or transmitter power level of 10 watts.  I can't remember which it was, probably transmitter power level.  For those that don't understand ERP (Effective Radiated Power) that is the realized effective signal level of a repeater SYSTEM including the feed line and antenna.  So a system with a 50 watt transmitter, a 3dB loss in the cable and a 3dB gain antenna is 50 watts.  But that same transmitter and line with a 6dB gain antenna would be an ERP of 100 watts due to the additional 3dB of antenna gain. 
    GMRS and HAM radio doesn't have an ERP regulation, GMRS transmitter power is regulated at 50 watts and ham of course for most bands is 1500 watts.  But a ham or GMRS operator can build any amount of gain into an antenna (as long as there is no additional active amplification) and have any ERP that system can produce.  Ham's use this methodology to bounce signals off the moon and back to earth with large antenna arrays that produce ERP's in the ten's of thousands of watts. 
     
     
  22. Like
    gortex2 reacted to JeepCrawler98 in Ham Radio & GMRS on same antenna?   
    It can absolutely work - it's a poor man's way of combining transmitters, but you will need isolators (that you should have anyways) on both transmitters (to prevent spurs) and adequate frequency separation (70cm and GMRS is more than fine) to notch the other transmitters out. Seen it, done it, and would do it again in the right circumstances.
    Basically you have two complete, normal, and perfectly conventional BpBr filtered repeater setups, one on 70cm, one on GMRS, you can then use a flatpack (notch/reject-only) as a splitter to notch the GMRS transmit out of the 70cm pass on the flatpack, and vice versa for the GMRS side (Notch out 70cm transmit). You will have extra loss from the flat pack (about a dB, if not less since the separation is large), but it's not massive.
    Feedline becomes even more important as you now have twice the power making noise on the coax, I'm assuming a 500 ft run has heliax already. Also keep in mind your reject duplexer will need to be rated for the sum of transmitter power. There will also be receiver losses, but the band pass filtering on the BpBr duplexers should be minimizing that to be almost negligable.
    Nothing complicated about it, just an extra bit of math and an extra component to tune.
  23. Like
    gortex2 reacted to H8SPVMT in Roger Beep   
    CSRAGMRS has this statement pertaining to the use of their equipment: *We do not allow the use of any DTMF or end of transmission tones otherwise known as a Roger Beep(RB).
    Seems redundant to use a, "Roger Beep" on a repeater in my opinion if you get used to listening to the repeater operation.
    I forgot to say too, that you might search the Repeater Map here and open the information box to see if the owner states a restriction on actually using the repeater with a RB.  Just a suggestion as it seems to me that stipulation would have come with your approval to use the equipment.
    Just a newbie trying to help....
     
     
  24. Like
    gortex2 got a reaction from kmcdonaugh in GMRS national linking   
    Unless the local repeater offers that you can't. Go to the main page and look at the network for repeaters on networks.
    https://network.mygmrs.com/map
  25. Like
    gortex2 reacted to tweiss3 in Which Digital Voice Modes Do You Have Equipment To Operate?   
    Ok, got it.
    Yes, in the amateur market, Kenwood went with Icom for D-Star, Yaesu made their own YSF, and some of the CCRs tried to copy DMR. I'm still not convinced they meet the DMR standard, or use the correct AMBE+2 codec.
    On the commercial side, in terms of use on amateur radio, P25 is compatible with P25 across the board, NXDN is compatible with NXDN across the board as is DMR.
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