Bugkiller

Yeah, conditions have been crazy good lately. I was listening last night on my wife’s mobile to an unfamiliar group, on a usually quiet channel. Got home, turned on my HT, and heard them loud and clear in the house. Caught a call sign, looked it up, and figured out it was a repeater about 90 miles away. So, what the heck, I went upstairs, hooked up my HT to a N9TAX roll up, and keyed up. HELLO? Hello! I was hearing them, and was heard full quieting. Chatted for about an hour, conditions shifted, and could not reach them. Still heard them. That is unheard of in Florida. We don’t even have mole hills to get any height advantage.

I’m looking for a roll up antenna recommendation for my GMRS HTs. Who has used what, with what kind of results? Good and bad.

I stand korectdid.

Come on. If you can’t say it right, at least spell it right. Majigahurts. Jeez. ?

Well, there are several groups working on Tampa to Orlando. Last I heard, it’s almost ready, working out the bugs. Stay tuned.

Welcome from another relatively new person in Florida. Just to your north

Got a new HT, charged it up, and started playing with it. Normally, I hear crickets, or kids playing with bubble wraps. Not tonight. Long conversations on 462.650, obviously on a repeater. All well and good, except… There are no repeaters on that frequency near me. Signal was fading in and out. Finally got the repeater id and tracked it down. It belongs to a repeater 130 miles (as the crow flys) away. On a tower about 330 ft. I’m in Florida, so its is relatively flat. I’m new to the radio game, but I’m thinking I was picking up tropospheric ducting this evening. What say you experts?

You laugh. That’s how I felt. And, honestly, i had not had one drop to drink. Promise.

On 2-5-22, I was on the forum, and punched up the repeater map. Going to be camping this month, and wanted to see if I had any repeaters near my destination programmed into my radio. Lo and behold, there was a new repeater on the map. Ocala 600? And it’s an open system, so great. I was out at the moment, made a mental note to check when I go home and program the radios. Got home, it’s gone? Yep, not there. You repeater owners, would there be a reason for that? It’s a new repeater, I even checked the off line listings. Even if it was just testing, would you list it as such, or list it offline? I’ll check the mailing tomorrow for updates,

For the OP Took a minute and went to your website. This seems to be an as yet unresolved problem (saw the gnashing of teeth comment) As someone who goes through the Tampa area occasionally, I’m watching this closely,. One thing I noticed is that the information here (mygmrs) has not been updated in about a year, is it still current? Though this is a bit of a zombie thread, it’s still good to know, as this is ongoing.

I must say, that sounds like something I would like to see a picture of. Please do post pictures

Thanks for the help. Struggled more figuring out the process than I did programming the radio. Going to be a work in progress, as I have several permission requests on repeaters pending. I managed to turn back on the annoying key pad beep, I’ll have to figure out were in the computer programming that is and fix that! That, and the voice guide I can do without. Went into the radio and got rid of those pronto. This is a good preliminary start. I’ve got a 9 pro on back order, that will be more of a challenge. But this helped me understand the process. That, and the help you provided, thanks again. Edit to add: Well, it’s take less than 24 hours for me to determine I want to arrange things differently. Decided to go with a more strict geographic, i.e. by the interstate road, listing. But, that’s OK, I’m sure I’ll change it several times before I settle in on a strategy I like.

Something went sideways with the work crew today. Heard an shouted Oh, Sh*T! Then someone was doing roll call to check on everyone. Someone apparently didn’t answer, and one guy say him, and with his mic still keyed holler “get on the radio and tell the boss your are OK!.” As if he did not just do that. Then there were a couple of discussions from the paintball field about “Your dead!” “No, I’m not!” And variations on that. As I said, it was entertaining. Oh, and to add. Except for the one quoted above, there was no cursing or vulgar language. A pleasant surprise.

It’s been mostly crickets on the radio for me. Got one HT just before Christmas, one of backorder. Little bit of chatter from the kids with their new radios at Christmas. Even took the radio to a neighboring town that has a repeater. Keyed up the repeater several times, no response to radio check. Did hear the repeater ID. And then today. A work crew nearby, moving something big into a tight spot. Plus, war games at the nearby paintball field. This went on for hours, more chatter than I’ve heard for almost a month. So, people are out there. Mostly on FRS, but there is life.

Got in cable, software to program my HT. Any suggestions, hints,ideas, things to avoid? Obviously don’t screw up the radio would be #1. Biggest thing is I don’t want to find out 6 months later it would have been easier had I done something a particular way now. My initial goal is to put in some repeaters, some freq I want to monitor. What have you found helpful for you? Or something you did that you found was a PIA.

No, not the title of a bad you tube video. Noob here, still contemplating how far down the GMRS rabbit hole I want to go. Next logical step, (to me, as I have HT radios currently) is a mobile unit. If I do it, well I will go all in and get a 50w unit. Now for the tricky part. I have 7+ inches of clearance between my roof and garage door. Not much room for an antenna. Yet, isn’t that the best place to install your mobile antenna, the roof? But does the low clearance limit the quality of antenna? If so, is it better to go with another mounting surface to be able to put up a better antenna? Just wanting to hear from you folks with experience. I would think this isn’t a unique to me problem.

This is a great topic. I have been watching the various battery packs, many of which are being advertised as “generators”, prices come down as the technology improves. I have yet to pull the trigger on one, but recharging via solar and or 12 from a vehicle are an important consideration. Yes, you can have generator(s), but you are limited to your fuel supply and what is available. I’m still waiting to make a move. Mainly as I feel efforts to “prepping” should be sensible and toward the more likely occurrences. For me, I WILL deal with hurricanes and the associated problems. So my efforts are geared with that in mind. I can have enough fuel for my generators to get my through any likely problem. Now the unlikely ones, well…

Wanted to take time to give an Atta Boy to Buy Two Way Radios.com. Being a Noob, I ordered the wrong thing. Figured it out at the last second, and sent them a message to cancel my order. Just about then, I got an email that my order was ready to ship. NUTS! But, lo and behold, they intercepted the shipment, canceled the order, and credited me my purchase. Good customer service is hard to find now a days, so when it happens, I think its worth sharing.

So, I’m the noobie you posted for. Need to start my endless string of dumb questions today, so here we go! Why did you cut the wire to 9 inches? I went to a whip antenna length and frequency calculator, plugged in 462 MHz, and came up with 6 and 12 inches for 1/4 and 1/2 wavelength, respectively. Is this not the proper resource for determine rat tail length? Does the antenna you are using change the length of the “rat tail?”

Hey folks. Brand spanking new to radio. Have not even made my first transmission. (Reason below[emoji3]) This adventure started out with us trying to back to the rig into a campsite without cell service (again!). I was then determined to get a set of “walkie talkies”. After a bit of research, abandoned the idea of getting FRS and now on to GMRS! I have my NIB Wouxun kg905g. I have a 9g pro on back order, which explains the lack of transmission. Looking forward to learning here. Most forums I’m on, I’m the self appointed person in charge of asking dumb questions, I expect that role to continue here[emoji16]. Be patient with me, please.