Blaise

You need to look out for those krakens...

This man governments!

What about the protestors? Are they using GMRS too?

*Proving* it is an entirely different matter...

Just because lots of people are mistaken at once, doesn't mean they're right!

You know, after I posted that glib reply, I started thinking (which is always super-dangerous, according to some people: People like my wife and closest friends!)... Because of the broadcast nature of LoRa technology, where every transmission is just put out there with the hope someone will help you get it where it's going, I actually don't think it *does* technically fit the definition of a network!

The little handheld power bricks OP was talking about can often have minimal BMS, if any. Especially if you got it from Ali Express! She's a hard lady to find, that Miss Conception.

FYI, anyone following this: Walmart has a 2 ridiculously cheap power stations perfect for running a radio/charging your gear/lighting your campsite/etc... https://www.walmart.com/ip/EF-EcoFlow-Portable-Power-Station-RIVER-2-240-243wh-LiFePO4-Battery-1-Hour-Fast-Charging-600W-Output-Solar-Generator-Solar-Panel-Optional-Outdoor-Cam/5478283286?adsRedirect=true https://www.walmart.com/ip/Flashfish-Portable-Power-Station-Mini-Solar-Generator-98Wh-26400mAh-Lithium-Battery-120W-110V-AC-Outlets-LED-Light-Backup-Battery-Camping-Outdoor/371451213?classType=REGULAR Note: the $149 one is marked in watt-hours, and the $69 one is in amp-hours. LifePo cells are about 3.7 volts, so multiply the Amp-hours by 3.7 for a rough(very) comparison. Whether the numbers listed are true? Well, Walmart's better than Temu, but marketing departments are ubiquitous...

It's most true of straight lithium ion. LiPo is much better. I've seen them run down to 10% or less numerous times and still retain most of their capacity. They don't like it if you *leave* them uncharged, though. More than day or two sub-10% can easily do them in...

If you use the libraries, you can get it to do a whole lot more, I'm told. I'm not afraid of a compiler! Every packet has a 237 byte payload, so you'd have to spend a lot of effort hacking the voice data into chunks, then reassembling them. It might work, it might not, but it sure would be fun trying! Also, GMRS data is likely only about 2 kbps, so there'd be plenty of room for at least that.

Well, as long as we keep in mind that Meshtastic is a mesh technology, not a network technology, I'm sure it will be fine...

Hey, so My friends and I are building out a Meshtastic network with a bunch of cheap nodes built out of LoRa dev boards, solar panels, 18650 batteries, and Walmart plastic boxes. They don't have the best antennae or the best chips, but you can build them for about $20 each, and scatter them *everywhere* (with permission, of course). I had a thought about using this mesh, or one like it, to link GMRS repeaters to get around the hills and mountains we deal with here. The data rates theoretically top out at about 5kbps, but that should be fine for raggedy old HT voice communications, and data is, well, data... Anyone given any thought (or practice) to building a LoRa/GMRS modem?

If you are transmitting at 50 watts, a regular brick (ca 10 Amp-Hours) may not remotely give you the 60-some watts it takes to transmit. And even if it could, and you assume a perfect system (spherical radios in a frictionless vacuum, perfect connections, perfect antenna, etc.), you'll be able to transmit for less than an hour, and you can only do it once, because running completely flat might not entirely kill a lithium battery, but it will drastically decrease its capacity (You'll likely have effectively destroyed the batteries by the second time). Just get a low-end power station that's intended to support residential use. You can get little (100ish watt) ones for less than $200, and they have AC outlets, and both usb and lighter-12-volt ports. For the best efficiency, make your own 12 volt plug, because that usually has the least voltage conversions being done, so you get more time on your bank, and most "mobiles" run on 12v. Plus, if you run out of juice, you can charge it in your car during a beer-run! Of course, if you only have to walk it a little way, you *could* just buy a Marine battery, and wire directly to it. Cheap ones can manage 80-90 Amp Hours (from which you can probably use 50-60 Amp hours without killing it), and there are thousands of charging options...

Do they just... burst at 50?

When I was a boy, we wrote with our fingers. In the dirt. Then we hoped it wouldn't rain before we needed to remember what we wrote!

I recognize that my particular extreme use-case might stretch the limits, but that case also incudes often having the good/bad luck to have a number of mountains with above-treeline summits for nearly perfect line-of-sight. Thinking about it, Yagi antennae might make this totally doable...

<<why can't I be deleted?>>

It might be helpful to suggest the *users* to select, so that.... Oh, I see what you did there!

I'm sure your wife won't be checking under your hood...

Well, it wouldn't *be* on UHF, would it?

Agreed that that is the stated intent, but it seems like if they really wanted to restrict it like that, there would be only current-FRS-equipment-restricted GMRS or FRS, not both. Using a GMRS radio requires technical activities like programming and tuning antennas. That's not "Mom wants you home" or "Joe the lawn service guy" personal, by any means. "Hobby" or not, it's a technical service! Besides, we're talking about *changing* GMRS, so definitions may shift... I agree, but I wasn't suggesting that. I was talking about covering a couple of counties. Maybe 200 miles max, for my examples. For people who really need the range, but GMRS falls short. For example, trying to hunt down a weather-balloon experiment gone horribly wrong (not that I've ever done that multiple times ) can require coordinating dozens of search units in a four-county search that covers thousands of square miles. As the crow flies, the max spread might be 150 miles, but especially in places with mountains, you end up with five or six people driving out to high spots and relaying messages back and forth like a big game of telephone (which would be a better solution, if there were any towers nearby) being able to take a pair of long-range linked repeaters to the top of strategically tall and unobstructed geographic features would enable GMRS to cover all three counties directly...

I mean, isn't that practically the definition of GMRS? We already have repeaters. Having some that can talk to each other on a more distance-friendly band isn't exactly a stretch... Imagine FEMA or some disaster-relief group being able to set up a small network of these things such that one or more GMRS channels are connected and reachable across a three county disaster area. Not for emergency responders, but for moms to figure out where their kids are, and churches and community Centers to tell neighborhood members they are open and receiving displaced/hungry/cold people! Three devices set up atop a few important hills would be a trivially cheap investment, and because the network is cross-band, even kiddie radios could have access in an emergency. Then you just hand out boxes of sub $10 radios to anyone who needs them. Or in normal use, local groups who want to be able to connect/coordinate over fairly large areas, like hunting/camping/search parties/storm watchers/etc. could set up a couple/three and stay in touch over tens of miles, rather than just miles. And no worry about people who don't want/need to get ham licenses, because now, they only have to spend 3-5 hours finding some forms to fill out at the FCC and some cash.

Maybe instead of thinking of this as a "One band can't do both those frequency ranges" *problem*, it should be looked at as a "maybe GMRS should have cross-band repeaters, and maybe they could be used to build networks of repeaters with "not public network" connections..." *opportunity*.

When *I* was a boy, we had to smack together quartz crystals we dug up ourselves to send radio signals. And we could only receive by hanging a cable on a tree and holding it with our tongues! These damned kids, with their "electricity" and "antennas" are too lazy and stupid to be allowed to have radio!

I was thinking about that too! Although, I think this would decrease power for all of the settings at once, not just low power, but I haven't dug into it...