SteveShannon

One nice thing about the PL-259 and SO-239. There’s only one of each. A PL-259 will fit into an SO-239 every time. With other connectors you have to specify gender (N-male and N-female) and sometimes, such as with the SMA, that can take multiple forms: male, female, RP male, and RP female.

Yes. SO-239 is the SOcket. PL-259 is the PLug. I have no idea why the number is different.

GMRS has 30 “channels” which are 30 defined frequencies that you can transmit on. The top 8 are in the 467 MHz range and are primarily used to transmit to repeaters. Because there are only 8 and because different repeaters use CTCSS codes to reduce interruptions DIY channels allow you to program additional combinations of channels and CTCSS (or DCS). So, your repeater uses channel 29. It probably uses a CTCSS tone as well. A hundred miles away another repeater might use channel 29 also with a different CTCSS tone. Having DIY channels allows you to program all of the different repeaters that you want, instead of constantly changing the tone. Yes, if you have two radios set to talk through the repeater, separate them by some distance and you take one and a family member using your call sign takes another and you can try to talk through the repeater. Or you could just use one and ask for a repeater check.

Most of us hobbyists will only run across four main connectors for mainstream UHF: SMA for handhelds, PL259/SO239, N, and BNC. And sometimes the F connector.

@nokones Although it wouldn’t be a great substitute for in-person tutoring, I would be happy to try and answer any of your questions about the electrical questions. I would like to do that in a separate thread so others could chime in with their questions and explanations. Do you think that would be helpful?

I don’t know how you’re studying, but I really enjoyed using HamStudy. The website is free and there’s a cheap app you can get for your phone. It’s like flash cards with explanations and links so you can dig deeper.

Affiliate link below… I agree that his videos probably have been responsible for encouraging young people of all ages to pick up a radio and try it. And even though he’s not one to exactly encourage people to take up ham radio, his videos make people believe they can learn radio. Whether he knows it or not, his videos (and others) led me to finally study for my ham radio license after 55 years of not getting around to it.

This! And don’t listen to bad advice that says no ID is needed. The regulations are clear. There is one exception: if only the people who are authorized to use the repeater operator’s call sign use the repeater, and they do ID with that call sign, then the repeater doesn’t need to be separately identified.

I haven’t noticed too much bickering in this thread and I’m a guy from both services.

That’s okay. Some of the question and answer pairs must be memorized. There’s really no way around that. For other things, such as formulas, few people can derive formulas so they must be memorized also.

I don’t know if it’s most, but certainly there are many who do simply memorize the answers, and that’s really too bad because understanding the why of the answers is far more interesting, in my opinion. I have met a good friend, who was one of the first people I tested as a VE. He got his Technician then and has gone on to get his General. A couple times he said he just wants to know the answer and that he’s not interested in learning Ohm’s Law (usually in response to my offering a chalk-talk on Ohm’s Law), but now as he’s using an HF radio and trying to figure out power supplies he finds himself having to know it. I hope he’ll let me do a chalk-talk soon!

Back to the original subject, I was just telling an unmet friend that one way I think we could attract more young people to ham radio would be to give away FRS or MURS radios accompanied by free lessons on radio rules and etiquette. That could lead to free lessons towards the technician test and maybe even a free or cheap dual band radio (A UV5R in every pot!)

I’m sorry (sad even) that happened to you. If I ever do it (or have done it) please call me on it.

Kenny, I have written and rewritten my response, but I think I’m not being as open to your suggestion as I could be so I’m going to approach this differently. Do you believe that some level of training is necessary before allowing a person to use a radio on the amateur bands? If so, how do we verify that training? I notice that you are not a ham radio operator. Have you considered getting licensed? Is the test the reason you haven’t?

There are sad hams, I’m sure, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the hams I have met. From the ones younger than me (most of them) to the ones older I have met some nice people who are willing to explain what they know, recant the history they know, and even admit to learning a few things from me sometimes. Every hobby has people who are convinced that some aspect of how the hobby is managed is reducing prospective members. I see it in rocketry also, a constant message that we must be sensitive to how we behave or what aspects of our behavior dissuades potential new members from wanting to participate. And the fact is, they’re correct. There are always prospective members who will not become members. No matter what we do there will be. If we have a test we lose out on those who would join if we didn’t. If we don’t have a test, we will lose those who insist that we maintain our high standards. It’s just human nature that we will never please everyone. But we should make sure that the test is relevant, and not given just to make ourselves feel better about having passed it. And, we should be welcoming and we should help people who have an interest so they are not intimidated away from the hobby. And we should listen to those who have ideas that differ from our own, because that’s where we are sometimes the weakest, in seeing the faults within us. So, @OffRoaderX, please tell us what happened that permanently convinced you that you would never become a ham and what we need to do to prevent alienating prospective members?

Look at it this way. What if you were taking an expensive roll of coax to your repeater site and it bounced out of your truck. What would you like someone else to do?

I would let the tower owners know if I could determine who they were. But I certainly understand the temptation and I don’t claim moral superiority.

I disagree. Many of the questions that GMRS users ask on this forum are basic skills that hams learn when they’re studying for the Technician exam. People can easily start by using FRS radios and graduate to GMRS as they become more interested. If they want fewer limitations and more rights they can continue to ham radio. I don’t remember exactly what the quantity was but each of the past several years the numbers have increased.

It can make quite a bit, or not. Try it and see.

Agreed, he could simply be hearing someone on simplex using a location sharing radio such as a Garmin, since the receive frequencies are the same.

Not even with permission. 95.1787(a)(5) GMRS units must not be capable of transmitting digital data on the 467 MHz main channels.

Sorry, I was busy typing up a reply to your PM. I just hit send. You must use channel 24 on the UV-5G. That sets the transmit frequency to 467.575 MHz. For repeaters in GMRS, there's always a 5 MHz offset. Second, for testing I usually recommend leaving the receive code empty. That allows all transmissions on that frequency to be heard. Several people have reported that the UV-5G only transmits in memory mode. Good luck! Steve

Most base station antennas do not need a ground plane. They’re designed to be mounted on a mast high above a roof. They don’t need to be moved away from the metal building.

Yes, just don’t use the digital modes.

Seriously I took an “advanced engineering math” class from a professor who would fill the board like that, then assign us to work through it on our own. On at least one occasion, after furiously scribbling his equations for the entire period, he stared at the board for a long while before saying “never mind, I made a mistake in the beginning.” I like math, but his class was worthless.