tcp2525

You sir are slacking. Not enough radios!!! Now that's areal nice setup. Enjoy.

Seems you simply don't know the right people to get access to good sites for free or at reduced rates. Seems utterly foolish to use that business model to suck in up to 50 "paying" GMRS members that will most likely move on when they see it's simply not worth the price of admission. Of course, if this is a commercial repeater site then it will have other renters and lease holders with deep pockets footing the bill to run the damn thing and show a profit for the owner. As for the GMRS repeater at this site, it will most likely be just a hobby for the owner or a friend of the owner. Don't urinate on my leg and tell me it's raining.

We have GMRS repeaters in the area that have phenomenal coverage and don't "demand" membership fees, but would gladly accept donations should they be offered. Guess what? They get donations. Simple choice, you want to be foolishly strong-armed for money to use a repeater, be my guest, not me. Way too many other options.

And we are saying the same thing. In these times it can be construed as racism by some. I'm not saying it is nor am I saying it is not, it is what it is. Let the chips fall and we will see. I don't care one way or another.

It's all about money and agenda. If it would play out the way you describe it's not an issue, but, as we've seen as of late, it's not that simple and straightforward. And yes, there has been a lot of racism towards the Chinese people and this can be construed as one of them. I am not saying it is, but if one looks hard enough they can perceive it as such.

And what else is the internet for?

Long over due!! The problem here is it can be assumed that the whole effort is nothing more than discrimination and racism against the wonderful Chinese people. We will have to see how this turns out as it works its way through the courts.

When it rusts it's a problem. Laird, Larsen and other reputable companies use stainless steel. Of course I resolved the problem for 10 cents by going to Ace and buying two stainless steel ones. Not cool for a company to put the burden on the consumer to fix substandard scrap. Don't get me wrong, I support your effort to buy scap just as long as it's makes you happy. That's what it's all about, be happy.

Simple, the $250 billion dollar one is not coming out of your pocket and is being paid for on my dime. Don't complain when you get a free ride.

Simple, use other forms of communication as GMRS isn't the only form of it. What did you do before you heard of GMRS?

And don't forget to sniff the fumes from arcing mercury. Oh, the good old days.

Fiberglass repair and painting is extremely easy and invisible with little effort.

I stand corrected for calling them junk when the proper term is scrap. If a manufacturer can't use stainless steel set screws to hold the whip in, they are substandard scrap.

Why, for Christ's sake would anyone be stupid enough to use a pay for use repeater? I have to say it, it breaks every terrestrial and celestial boundary of human stupidity to do so. If you operate a repeater professionally and it has great features the members will voluntarily donate to it. Too many choices out there than paying some clown for nothing.

And let's not forget paint with lead in it. Many children grew up healthy as hell even though they used the window sill as a teething ring. And don't get me started on the asbestos scam. I believe long term exposure to airborne asbestos poses a health risk, but floor tiles don't. Same with lead.

Tinted windows can be an issue depending on the composition of the tint. In my opinion, unless the glass is clear without tint I won't recommend using them. It's NMO and a 3//4" hole or nothing.

All well said. My personal beliefs are if you are not proficient in soldering you shouldn't be a radio tech. Sure, soldering is only a small part of radio repair, but if I make a diagnosis and have to send the radio to the "soldering department" and wait till it comes back, the hell with that. With my eyesight diminishing due to age, I still can work SMT under magnification, but it gets challenging. And I refuse to use anything other than Kester leaded solder. And screw fumes hood. Nothing more satisfying than the smell of rosin and lead.

Scrap the idea of using Midland garbage and go with a 1/4 wave NMO mount antenna and drill it in. On the inside of the car gain access to the underneath area of the fiberglass and place a piece of copper foil by using 3M spray adhesive. Make sure your NMO is in good contact with the foil. You won't even see that 1/4 wave whip.

Hell YES!!

Or a bit too much nitrous oxide.

It's definitely fascinating tech. I can see why digital is so appealing, but I just can't get used to the sound.

Of course it makes sense to do it this way. After all it is just voice communications, not audiophile quality needed for land mobile service. I just hate the compression it causes. A lossless CODEC would help sound quality at the expense of bandwidth.

And the audio quality is excellent.

On the topic of proper GMRS etiquette, I was in a heated conversation with one of my friends and was overcome by a bad case of flatulence and had to let it rip during my train of thought. Fortunately, I had proper upbringing and was taught to extend my pinky on the hand holding the mic. It was a real tear jerker.

Oh trust me, I was pissing and moaning when they transitioned to digital. The sound quality of the analog was far superior to digital. Not a problem now, we're all programmed to accept crappy sounding phone calls. What choice do we really have?