WRHS218

The same goes for amateur radios these days.

This is true. It is also true you have the on-line personality of soiled bedpan.

Does this include sporks?

This is one more thing I didn't know. If a person's radio didn't support cross-mode tones they could always just the leave RX tone off. They would receive all traffic on that frequency in range but that probably isn't too big of a deal. I, too, avoid Goober Operated Repeaters. There is one GOR in an area I travel occasionally, that after seeing the clues, decided it would be to my benefit not to use the repeater.

You can only use one channel at a time.

I have a 35 year old Fluke 27 that has never let me down. I had a supervisor that wanted some measurements taken inside of a 72 KV switchyard. The two operators on duty refused to perform the task and reminded the supervisor (who had been an operator and went through the high voltage training) that measuring tapes were not allowed inside of a live switchyard. He got mad and went in the switchyard to get the measurements anyway. He lived but will never fully recover from what it did to his body. That was in a very specific professional setting, but the lessons apply to anyone working with any voltages.

Seen this picture before. It is bird crap on the windshield.

That was mine as well!

The Texas GMRS Network has quite a few repeaters listed in the Houston area. Do a search for them. You have to be a member to use their repeaters. I have family in Beaumont and joined their group to access a Repeater in that area. Edit: You must have a GMRS license to use their repeaters.

Well, unless you prescribe to the flat earth theory there is the curvature of the earth between the West Coast and Hawaii. UHF is a little more obstruction dependant than VHF but but are line of sight.

That used to happen to me every time I reached for a radio. I purchased individual 3d printed stands (from a member here) for each of my HTs and now I don't have that issue. I went with individual stands so I can have a radio sitting where I happen to be without it falling over every time I bump it. The organizers are pretty cool though.

No offense intended, but if you had started your first post with this information you probably would have received a different reaction to your first post on this site. I hope your group can get the funds to get you back on the air.

One of my daughters is an SLP at a local elementary school where most of the teachers and all of the admin use FRS radios. I was sitting in the parking lot one day waiting on my granddaughter and scanned and then listened for a while. I told my daughter about doing that and she said she needed to get her own FRS radio. I gave her an old Motorola FRS radio I had purchased new around 2002 or so. I had given two of those to her and her sister to keep in contact with me at a music event we used to attend yearly. It still works perfectly and brought back memories as a bonus.

Hearing the dispatcher say "All units, open mic" induced a kind of a sick feeling until you realized it wasn't you. When it was determined everyone was ok and accounted for, and that is was a bonehead mistake, then the fun began. When I started and for most of my career cell phones weren't a thing and cars didn't have computers mounted in them. Now days all of the handhelds are identifiable and assigned to a specific individual. Much better for officer safety. I don't think I have ever had an open mic with my amateur or GMRS radios.

Very few people who start a sentence this way are truly sorry. It would seem that the only thing more pointless and time wasting than a thread on a radio forum talking about ptt pull weight on a handheld radio would be commenting on a thread on a radio forum talking about ptt pull weight on a handheld radio when you view the thread as a waste of time. You ARE the internet, sir.