SteveShannon

I think you missed the point. If a person’s posts bother you, then just put the person on your ignore list. That doesn’t stop them from posting and nobody needs to leave.

Yes

I like that sentiment also, but a person also has the right to not listen.

No, SWR isn’t the only concern. Depending on where you place a ground plane antenna there will be some directional bias. Ideally you would place it in the center of the ground plane, but because of the short wavelength of UHF, a ground plane antenna isn’t nearly as sensitive to placement and a lot of people are satisfied even with a ground plane antenna mounted at the very edge of a ground plane, such as the edge of a tailgate or hood. As @WRYZ926 says, as long as you have at least 6 inches of ground plane in any direction from the mount you should be fine.

Dacron rope or wire rope. But a high enough bracket can take the place of guys. Guys are usually attached to some kind of anchor in the ground, but the edge of a roof should work well also.

I think the Rohn 9h50 and the channel master are the same thing.

Another 21 foot long top rail, but less expensive if you’re in Washington state: https://www.everguardmaterials.com/+/galvanized-top-rail-1-5-8-x-21

Menards also has 21 foot long single joints of fence material. Perhaps all fence material suppliers do: https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/fencing/chain-link-fencing/1-5-8-x-21-se-chain-link-fence-top-rail/1715160/p-1464215498543-c-5742.htm Also, the top rail I have is only 1 3/8” diameter. The 1 5/8” diameter stuff will be considerably stronger.

I don’t know how sturdy that is, but it’s exactly what I had in mind, but before you buy more, try doing what @WRYZ926 shows with the posts you have. Bolt the joint and guy the masts. I would guy at the top. The brackets you have will do a good job of supporting the mast below them and all the way to the ground. I know we always say height is king, but sometimes it’s not necessary. Does your antenna perform well enough if it’s 15 feet up instead of 20 feet? A friend of mine use a five foot top rail section partially buried in the ground and a full ten foot section on top of that and then his 2 meter antenna on top of that. So the antenna tiptop is probably about 22 feet high. For him that accomplishes everything he needs to do.

It would be interesting to see a frequency graph of the ignore lists to see which users are ignored the most.

Nice! Great example of guying and bolting the joints. Do you have a closer picture showing how you bolted the joint?

That’s not any kind of fault. If your radio is set without a receive tone you’ll still hear it even if they added a tone. If you suspect that a repeater output tone has been added many radios have the ability to scan for tones. Also, the record in the database has contact information for the licensee: https://mygmrs.com/license/WRFT322 It says he has logged into the site recently. Send him a pm.

Without some kind of reinforcement, the joints on these top rails allow quite a bit of slop. I use them, but I would not use more than two. I recommend either guying the top rail sections at the joint and again at or near the top or at least putting in a couple through bolts at the joint or even a sleeve that fits around the joint. I’ve been toying with the idea of a piece of steel cable (wire rope) running the length of the two sections and then tensioned to pull the joint tightly together. I’m not certain that will remove the play though. Unfortunately, because of the galvanizing welding is more difficult. A telescoping flag pole is better in my mind (but not as cheap).

When you are at this dialog box, just as you enter radioreference from Chirp, change the zip code to the location you want:

Not all repeaters kerchunk. Yes, if you want to talk through the repeater, you must be on the correct repeater channel. Until you fully understand what you’re doing I recommend leaving the RX Tone cleared out. That way you’ll hear everything on that channel. Once you know you can receive the repeater you can always add the tone or code for RX. If you want to talk directly to another radio, you and the other radio must be on the same simplex channel, which are 1-22.

Great reminder!! Thanks!

When that happens to me I click on the Advanced Search Settings and I always discover that there’s something there from a previous search, such as a state filter, which results in an empty result.

Yeah, I don’t think a person can post in the classified section unless they have a Premium membership.

It’s a little known fact that H.A.M. is an acronym for “Hounding Anonymous Men.” No, that’s wrong! It isn’t an acronym at all.

No, not always, but I try to be accurate. Like anybody I’m far from perfect.

It’s just the choice some manufacturers make. RPT15 is exactly the same as 23, RPT16 = 24, etc. Personally I prefer using 23-30, instead of RPT15-RPT22, but it’s the same thing RPT15 (aka channel 23) receives on the same frequency as channel 15, but transmits 5 MHz higher.

One thing that I like about the Brendan Carr nomination is that he is already a commissioner. Regulations are some of the most complicated things there are in government and bringing in an outsider who has little experience exponentially adds to the burden for the people who do the actual work.

Welcome, Mike! There are a few other threads based on your level of expertise. Feel free to ask questions!

What does it sound like in AM mode?

No, the frequency 467.550 is not solely allocated to GMRS. Look at US287 on page 153 of this document: https://transition.fcc.gov/oet/spectrum/table/fcctable.pdf