Blaise

If you are on the repeater listing on the main site, just click "Request Access", and it will let you type a whole message to send to them.

I can only speak from my own experience, but around here, there's usually a data buzz blotting at least one GMRS channel for a number of hours several times a week. Everyone I've asked says it sounds like DMR...

Please tell me you continued that conversation for as many hours as possible, consistently using the beep!

Once...

Nothing foreboding about that sentence AT ALL....

Your videos are why I'm here, man! However, it took me like 30-40 hours of watching your videos to get comfy, and even then, I had to come here asking stupid questions for months. I'm just looking to boil things down as an introduction, so newbs like I was two years ago have a smaller hill to climb. Of course, any introduction would *have* to mention your exalted poobah-ness!

That could come in super-handy!

That's a good start for topics. In addition: What FCC webpage do I use? How do I use it, and why the hell is it that way? (What's an FRN, What's a callsign, and why do you need both?) Range considerations: power, line-of-site, and antenna gain How do repeaters work (theory) How do repeaters work (radio programming) How do repeaters work (etiquette, permission, resources for finding, etc) How come every time I ask a question about GMRS, somebody that calls themself a 'ham" shows up and starts a five page answer with "You're asking the wrong question. What you really want to do is..." (Joking! I'm joking! Well, at least mostly...)

As discussed above, something between a primer and a handbook. Something you could reasonably read in an hour or two tops. Again, mostly for people who either aren't that interested in the technical stuff or don't want to bother with it before jumping in, but which hits all the technical points just enough that the reader comes out knowing what people are talking about if they mention technical details even if they don't really understand them all that well. I'm not sure how it could be useful to have a guide on how to GMRS without explaining how to use repeaters, so yes, of course, that would clearly be important. It would need to cover every facet of GMRS usage, and just enough theory and technical detail that you have guideposts to do further research if desired, but don't waste your time on hundreds of pages of unnecessary stuff...

Thanks, I appreciate that. Have any good ideas to contribute?

I'm proud to say I actually owned one of those red Captain Crunch whistles, back in the day. I'm more than a little sad to say my mother threw it out while I was at college because it was "just a cheap old toy"...

Whereas when you say "primer", normal people picture several pages just of the most basic necessities, so something in-between would be the logical conclusion, wouldn't it? I don't think there's a specific term for a document that hits all the basics plus just enough theory and technical detail that you have guideposts to do further research if desired, but don't waste your time on hundreds of pages of unnecessary stuff... Generally, when attempting to brainstorm an idea, it's important that you don't specify exactly what you are looking for. Being extremely specific limits the places discussion can go, and ensures you'll miss out on good ideas.

Books? Like that you pay for? For info that's theoretically on the internet? How 20th century...

Yeah, see, that's the opposite of what I envision. That's the rabbit hole I fell into when I started out, and like I said, it seems far more likely to drive normal people away than to get them functional... A new person getting started, like the kind targeted by the presentation I'm trying to prepare, and the one marcspaz admirably presented, doesn't need to read 150 pages on antenna theory. With ham, you're building a car. With GMRS, you just want to drive it. You need to understand a bit of technical theory to understand *why* you are doing what you are doing, but you don't need to be able to calculate ideal compression ratios to push the accelerator...

Since CB died, it sure would be nice if there were a way while driving long distances to put out a call to random strangers to ask how the road is ahead, and warn people about speed traps!

Does such a thing exist? It occurs to me that it took me several months to acquire the basic knowledge to operate on GMRS without constantly questioning myself and going back and watching dozens of youtube videos and coming here and asking endless "dumb" questions. It wasn't very... accessible. Coming originally from the depths of the 80's hacker community as I do, I just accepted this, and put in the work, but it occurs to me that most people coming to GMRS are probably fairly normal, and instead just give up. I've been trying to set up a class for my local makerspace on GMRS operation, but it occurs that there really isn't *that* much to know, assuming you only shallowly care about the technical side. Has anyone sat down and done an in-depth "Zero-To-GMRS Operator" document to get people up and running without all the gaps? If not, does anyone want to write one?

Oh, you *are* a sneaky one!

But do they, though? I feel like effectively none of them are running TV or broadcast radio stations or dumping massive amounts of digital traffic on the air. Even the "freebanders" are mostly within a couple of MHz of where they're supposed to be... I get that some of them play with amplifiers and such, and they pay little attention to specific rules like "cursing", but otherwise, CB is nowhere near a "wild west", is it?

Wow, so I finally broke down and added three specific individuals to my 'Ignore" list, and *man* is this a much more useful and enjoyable forum all of a sudden!

I'm so confused. Why do people keep saying this? CB only exists because of, and is regulated by, the FCC! Even CB wouldn't be like CB if the FCC didn't exist..

19 can't be used by the something like 20% of US citizens who live above Line A...

Hey man, that's awesome! I like how you used those line of sight/repeater graphics. They're a lot better than the ones I had in the prototype materials I shared... Would you be sad if I stole/redistributed/adapted some of your work for the presentation I'm trying to set up? You clearly are better at this than I am!

You're welcome...

Krampus is coming...

If you have kids, I highly recommend Retevis RT38s : https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088ZYRVZ8/?th=1 They work well and are so cheap you can buy six and go through them as lost/broken without any real frustration!