SteveShannon

I’d love to see pictures and an actual parts list.

I’m gonna put up a repeater and make it a requirement that everyone must use a roger beep and the more annoying the better. We’ll hold contests! And it’ll be on channel 19. ?

I think the disagreement is on the definition of being cheap. A person that I think of as being cheap buys the cheapest of everything. There’s a consistency to the cheapness. He (or she) would buy a cheap radio and pair it with cheap feedline, a cheap antenna, and a cheap microphone. Based on that definition a person who buys an expensive radio isn’t cheap, even if they pair it with a cheap microphone or questionable feedline. They may be working with a finite budget. They might have really poor judgment. They might just be stupid. But by the act of buying an expensive radio they have disqualified themselves from being called “cheap.” And I agree, when it comes to hobbies, I see a lot of people who try to do as much as they can to save money in some ways that prove to be questionable. Ham radio is no different. A lot of retirees with a budget try to build their ham shack by budgeting one expensive item each year, but they need something to get them by in the short term, so there are lots of $1300 radios paired with $60 antenna kits (using my own example).

Some hams have had to get very creative. Dipoles or end fed half waves hide along fascia boards or are disguised as Christmas lights. J-poles can be hidden behind hanging plants or in flagpoles. Tall trees can help hide many kinds of vertical wires. Fences help hide horizontal wires. If you can make an antenna, you can make an antenna that looks like something else!

It’s six weeks old. Send it in for warranty replacement.

Sure, and I’ve seen people who want to impress others match a great audio system with crappy lightweight speakers. Some people spend money on the stuff they have to look at and neglect it on the parts that are out of view. People are funny sometimes. But nobody should be shamed for refusing to pay $150 for a Bluetooth microphone with crappy reviews. ?

It's not a double or triple key press. Just press the bottom button, on the side below the PTT, which is the SK2 button. You press it once and the flashlight turns on. You press it again and the flashlight starts strobing. You push it again and the flashlight turns off. Push it again and the flashlight turns on again, starting the whole cycle over again. Here's the description in the manual - page 21: 6.7 This function is very useful for night illumination. To turn it on press MON; push it again, the flash light will be strobe; push it again: it will turn off. I don't know if there is a way to restore to factory defaults.

Vertically or horizontally? It’s easiest to separate them vertically, in which case they don’t need horizontal separation.

Okay, I went back and reread his post. It almost sounds like he thought he turned on the flashlight using SP. Maybe he’s just trying to use the wrong button instead of the MON button.

He did mention the SP button. It seems he programmed it to turn on the flashlight in addition to the MON button. But then he couldn’t program a button to turn off the flashlight (which would presumably be in addition to the MON button.) I also presume that additional presses on the SP button don’t toggle the flashlight through its three states, but maybe I am wrong about that. Steve

If it's not possible to reprogram the MON button, then he should be able to simply turn off the flashlight by using the MON button.

So, did you reprogram the MON button so it doesn't toggle through the three modes of the flashlight? (On, strobe, off).

Maybe I didn’t understand what you were asking when I answered earlier. I thought you were asking why hams also use GMRS. That’s the question I answered, thinking in terms of different services used differently. Or are you saying that they’re taking over GMRS and bringing with them traditional ham activities in an effort to make it ham-light, such as calling CQ, using Q codes, and ragchewing on GMRS? Steve

It’s manufactured by the same manufacturer as the Retevis RT97s and appears to have the same specs. Notarubicon’s measurements reflect a power output of about 6 watts after the duplexer, which was within half a watt of the Retevis.

They’re included to attract first time buyers.

Beep. ?

Thank you.

My first thought was that it might be an Ed Fong antenna inside that tube. ? Even if you wouldn’t choose one for use as a repeater antenna based on durability, Comet antennas have an excellent reputation for accuracy in their published specifications. It makes sense that @markskjervewould use their data.

That they’re extremely important to the survival of humanity. https://youtu.be/IuWiyiiWWgw

That’s a really good point.

Less expensive hobby repeaters, such as the Midland, Retevis RT97, and one made with two KG1000G transceivers do not have auto ID. The RT97 doesn’t even have the ability to easily add it, but the RT97S (which it appears the Midland is based on) has a DB9 connector for an external mic and speaker that appears to support adding an auto ID controller (I have no personal experience, but that’s what it looks like). For repeaters which are made by placing two transceivers back to back, adding an ID controller happens in the connections between the two. You've already heard from two people with infinitely more hands on repeater ownership experience; I think you can see why they would prefer to use professional equipment here.

Sounds like an urban legend intended to frighten people away from using roger beeps. How about this? If you use a roger beep, just tell people it’s a Quindar tone used to turning on your remote relay stations. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quindar_tones ?

It would be most helpful if you would screenshot the setting dialog in chirp and include that, but I’ll try to do this from memory. There’s about a 50/50 chance of me making a mistake . You need to tell Chirp that it’s two different tones and then the RX Tone is blank. That requires setting three different columns. First is Tone Mode, which is set to Cross. Second is Rx Tone or RX CTCSS or RX DCS, which you leave blank. Third is Cross Tone, which is set to CTCSS—> if you need a CTCSS Tone for transmit, or DCS—> if you need to transmit a Dcs Tone. Because the second part (after the arrow) is blank, you have no receive tone. If that doesn’t help I’ll take a look at your screen shot in the morning and try to figure out what I said wrong. Now if you want to do it from the front panel, I think you change it from Tsql to just Tone and it won’t look for a receive tone, but it has been a while since I programmed a UV5R.

I enjoyed the video. Thanks!

If GMRS radios becomes an expected link in the chain of emergency responses, there will be calls for higher quality equipment and a need for higher reliability for repeaters (redundant power supplies, voting systems, etc.) This would lead to more regulation and higher cost equipment. It's a matter of being careful what you wish for.