SteveShannon

In that case your calculations would be 4.30 db too low. An isotropic antenna is theoretical, a single infinitely small source with a gain of 0, meaning multiply the input times 1 to get the output when working with linear values. Having a dBd gain value for an antenna is convenient but for a calculator like this you always want to take the antenna gain back to dBi so you’re not inadvertently throwing the output value off. Maybe a better way to explain it is that the dBd value is only useful for comparing an antenna to a dipole. For purposes of calculating total gain you always need to start at 0 which is the dBi number.

If you have voltage on pin 1, but not the output, then yes, the regulator is shot.

Their calculation is correct. Total gain calculations should be relative to an isotopic antenna.

Yes, you need the forum software to recognize that you are a premium member in order to create a club. Rich will have to fix your account. I’ll report your post to catch his attention.

Except we’re in town.

It sounds as though the frequencies you programmed are prohibited by firmware.

Does the board have reverse polarity protection? Here’s a data sheet for that regulator: https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm2576.pdf Trace the voltage coming in on the red wire all the way to pin 1 on the voltage regulator. If you don’t see voltage there the problem isn’t the regulator. In that case look for a circuit breaker or fuse that might be tripped or blow for reverse voltage.

Last week we got 8-10 inches. The highlands are still solid white, as is the continental divide about a mile east of me. Rivers went out a month ago. Two pictures to demonstrate how quickly things change.

I’m sure you have heard that 20% of the people hold 80% of the wealth or some such internet statistic. The concept is basically true that a very small number of people make much more money than the vast majority of people. That majority of people have a higher standard of living as the direct result of inexpensive goods. For instance GMRS radios. If manufacturing of GMRS radios moves “onshore” the price is bound to go up significantly. The number of people who can buy radios will decrease. That’s not beneficial to the manufacturers at all. Accessibility to cheap radios greatly increased their potential customer base. Tariffs will result in a lower standard of living for many people. Yes, military equipment should be manufactured either in the USA or by a trusted trade partner who can be relied upon in the event of war. Unfortunately, the USA just simultaneously pissed in the cheerios of our trading partners and increased the likelihood of war.

CW is never required. It’s just an option. As long as people can understand that you’re IDing yourself and the repeater you should be fine.

In fact I am personally against linking repeaters for wide areas. I’ve said that numerous times. But what you and I posted are interpretations, not regulations. The regulations definitely prohibit using the telephone network and arguably prohibit using the internet or any other network for carrying GMRS communications. But I’ve never seen anything in the regulations that prohibit radio links. For someone who wants to do repeater voting schemes I could see it being done and I don’t think that the regulations prohibit it.

The repeater must be IDed if anyone other than someone using the operator’s ID uses it. The mechanism isn’t stipulated. You as the repeater operator can do it manually. The regulation doesn’t require the repeater to automatically ID in any case.

That would be a terrible way to regulate. FCC: Here are the ways we have imagined. Don’t do anything else! Instead they give us fairly simple restrictions. Whatever you can image that fits within those restrictions is allowed. That’s how innovation works.

I’ll make it easier for you. Here’s the interpretation. I suspect you’re referring to the part that I underlined: A GMRS user can expect a communications range of one to twenty-five miles depending on station class, terrain, and repeater use. GMRS stations cannot be interconnected with the public switched telephone network or any other network for the purpose of carrying GMRS communications, but these networks can be used for remote control of repeater stations. In other words, repeaters may not be linked via the internet—an example of an “other network” in the rules—to extend the range of the communications across a large geographic area. Linking multiple repeaters to enable a repeater outside the communications range of the handheld or mobile device to retransmit messages violates sections 95.1733(a)(8) and 95.1749 of the Commission’s rules, and potentially other rules in 47 C.F.R. Repeaters may be connected to the telephone network or other networks only for purposes of remote control of a GMRS station, not for carrying communication signals.

Au contraire, the rules tell us exactly what a fixed station is and the rules tell us exactly what the limits are. You just haven’t extrapolated from the rules how you might use one. Others have described how they could be used. A pair of fixed stations could be dedicated to provide an intercom between two households such as on a family farm, for example. Or for telemetry and control.

No, they said repeaters cannot be connected to a network for the purposes of linking. They said nothing about radio links.

It was a nice thing for him to do. He didn’t lecture anyone; he just tried to make it easier for us. You’ve been grumbling about things lately. Are you becoming infected with the socalgmrs bug?

When I bought mine the cable came with. Call Radioddity and ask them to send you a cable.

Nor should anybody post the details about your repeater here for you. If you become a member you can do it yourself. That also enables the mechanism people can use to contact you with questions or to notify you of problems.

This! Anybody who has multiple copies of the same radio can very easily test whether the problem is with their programming or with the radio by cloning a working radio of the same model.

Not me. I only have the Radioddity version. RT Systems works well there though.

I recommend that you add @Socalgmrs to your “ignore list”. Life gets better. Personally I prefer to have a link to the CFR page on the internet rather than capturing a point in time with PDFs: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95

The context of the paragraph you copied and pasted @WSEZ864’s line above from was clearly referring to their ham radio repeater, but for GMRS, transmitting on the repeater input frequency is allowed for communication through a repeater, for brief testing, or by Fixed Stations according to the regulations: Our ham radio club also goes simplex, especially now when the repeater is down, but we do so on the repeater output frequency.

I think that “Unit Number” has been there for a while, but I know Rich changed the site so multiple users sharing the same call sign could register. But I don’t think it uses the Unit Number. I could easily be wrong.

Which club?