WRPD494

If and when you get your tech - you also have some rights on parts of 10 and 6 meters... then you can play with some other propagation methods, including ground wave and NVIS. Then experiment with horizontal and vertical polarizations... then... Enjoying hearing the reports of your tests! Be smart and safe while in the attic and on the roof.

I like it, and like marcspaz - I just had a simplex 2M (146.520) SOTA contact with someone atop Mt Mitchell, NC. My local Target (I think it is the Target) keeps making some odd "CQ" on MURS, and the local kids have been having fun with FRS. Run it up the flagpole and see who salutes! Get more people "radio-active" with their basic kit.

Good questions all, and understand the anxiousness. In general, you are doing "all the right things" and experimentation and discovery is part of the hobby of radio (yes, hobby, if it isn't fun, why bother?). Not to downplay the serious nature of comms during emergencies, because during an emergency the HOA, or wife's concerns become at a minimum tertiary or quartenary(sp) to everything else you'll be dealing with. I suspect the attic install is going to get you closer to usable comms, if not ideal, with the repeater. Have a backup plan to go with a "pushup" mast (cheap milsurp poles) that can get you the height and rotatability you might need - plus very easy to swap yagi with omni with... If you both (you and b-i-l) can hit the repeater - there is option one. If you can semi-easily rotate the attic yagi and hit the b-i-l, option 2 when/if the repeater is down. Switch to omni if the tests show that is the best way to hit one or both. Every situation is unique, but you have the tools to suss out what is going to work for you. Test it out, and then play with your solutions across day/night, weather and seasons (vegetation has an impact on some freqs). My discone in the attic even with all the less than ideal surroundings hears tremendously well. Looking forward to hearing how your attic tests go.

Acchtthually...... you can swap the aerial / antenna on the 30 - there is a tiny set screw, back it off until you can unscrew the rubber ducky - then swap around as needed. Legally I think there is something about Type accepted GMRS, blah blah... not saying you should, but you can.

In my area, a "<call> testing" doesn't get much response, but if they say "<call> radio check, or how am I doing, am I making the repeater" - that almost always gets a response and usually a decent signal report. That goes for GMRS and the Ham repeater. Just a friendly bunch here in "The South".

Have both, my opinion which without knowing you or you knowing me is probably worthless, however, you asked: I like the GM 30 a lot, carry it more than the 'Feng. The 30 is "interesting" to program, but once you quickly learn it's quirks and the programming software (Windows), it just does what it is supposed to do. Nothing wrong with the UV9G, probably has more capability than the 30, and programming options but... maybe some quality issues, receive isn't as nice, the IP67 is nice if you need weatherproofing, but the 30 uses accessories and kits that I can swap between radios, and just.... feel. I have other Baofengs and other Radioddity radios, and Yaesu and Kenwood and and and.... as a newbie, you can't go wrong with either for the price - sorry you had issues with the 905G

The image you shared. That mount is designed to go over the window, putting the radiating element outside the car... will it not work that way on your vehicle? Agreed with everyone else, wouldn't want that so close to my brain box.

I used the ARRL General Class License Manual, it was def helpful to learn the basics, and then the test prep tools. Congratulations on the Tech!

Like any lobbying group, they respond to feedback from their membership and from the entities that they lobby. ARRL do represent a "hobby", albeit a hobby with a purpose (When all else fails, radio works) and so don't have the funding that other groups perhaps do. They raise money in a number of ways, ads in the mags being one because it is necessary and because the manufacturers and retailers influence too. QST is always soliciting for more writers and more content. If you aren't supporting (however you can), and responding to surveys and being vocal, don't be surprised when those that do sway the direction that the organization is going. I agree with Gortex that you have to support your local groups as well, as well. The amateur community though represents the "unorganized militia" if you will, those that should be somewhat prepared and trained so when it gets really sideways they can come alongside the pros and semi-pros. Participate in nets, practice simplex, volunteer your HAM or GMRS skillz for community events like races, marathons, bike rides, whatever. And use your bandwidth or lose it. Now if I can figure out best how to combine all my hobbies: radio, creative sandbox and underwater basketweaving...

You live (and work) in a beautiful area of NC, with lots of nice elevation changes. With a 5w radio and a whip antennae, my suspicion is that you don't have good line of sight to these repeaters to open them up. As long as you have the tones correct that is. You can hear them? When you say reach to your house... are you counting the expected range or the green circle on the map? And I don't know this F18 repeater. Details? If you have receive tones set (tone squelch), I would turn those off while you test. Just use the TX tone for the selected repeaters. Your neighbor to the SW, WRPD494

Likely you are referring to priority scan - radio will scan, or while another channel will continue to "monitor" your priority (user selectable freq or channel) selection. Some radios call it dual watch, and depending of whether your kit has true dual VFOs or does some fancy fast switching in the background it generally works well. I believe the 935g has Priority Scan along will all the other advanced bells and whistles.

Are there any geographic "obstacles" between you and this one repeater? I have a couple of nice repeaters that are rather close, but because of a ridge between my base antennae and these repeaters, I can't hear or open them. The Comet is a nice stick - probably another issue. Try this site to check for line of site issues: https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/

I have had more positive signal reports on the Radioddity DB than on any other radio I have (Yaesu, Kenwood, etc.). How long it will last is yet to be discovered.

"Their" business plan is well known, and does constitute a real threat to intellectual property owned/developed in the west. If you like to read, look at the Thousand Talents program (codified in 2008). And how they ago above and beyond. A completely different standard of morality in operation. https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2019-11-18 PSI Staff Report - China's Talent Recruitment Plans.pdf

"Practice, man, practice!" Seriously, practice. If/when local, regional or nation-wide/world-wide issues strike... when all else fails, radio works (we hope, atmospherics withstanding). And local/regional clubs also (or should be) practice simplex nets, so if repeaters are down, people are used to calmly and competently passing radio traffic and handling emergency traffic. In the meantime, it gives folks regular practice using their rigs, testing antennae and fun! Net Operators get practice handling newbies, copying traffic and coordinating (herding cats). Just imagine everyone waiting until they needed it "for really".

Hiking, camping and ADV motorcycling, I carry an older (Gen 2 I think) Spot device. Dirt simple, and mine allows me to send "wellness" messages in pre-programed buttons: ie. All is well, and I have stopped for the day, all is well. Then of course the SHTF send help buttons. New models permit the texting of messages as well, which would have been handy this past June (2021) when I had the opportunity to press the big red button. On a week-long ADV ride, we were WTFOT (way the he'll out there) came upon another ADV group who had a rider down. Had gone off the trail, bike was approx 20' down, off the side against a tree and the rider just past the bike, further down the slope. They had just pulled the rider up (thankfully turns out only broken wrist and several broken ribs, no head or spinal - he was ATGATT fortunately saved him from worse), but none of the group had a SPOT/Garmin/sat phone, etc. No one had yet ridden for help/get in cell range, and because the rider was older and in pain, I pulled out the SPOT and "called". So what happens with this older device, and my plan, the SPOT sends the signal, the company engages the worldwide coord center who then contacted my wife and my m-i-l (per my contact plan) who let the coord center know I was on a motorcycle backcountry trip. Coord center then figured out which responding agencies were closest to my location and contacted the sheriff and EMS with the basic details. Now - this takes a little time... and it took time for the responding deputy and the EMS to arrive onsite (basically a jeep trail way the ___ up a mountain). Dude was eval'd, transported, and as I learned later all his gear got him through falling off a mountain and banging into some trees, with the above noted minor injuries. So.... wife was bugging out!!! She didn't know what had happened, was it me, was it my riding buddy... was I already in the hereafter.... it wasn't until I got down the mountain and then finally into cell range that I could call her. So... I didn't realize at the time I could "cancel" the emergency beacon, and then send the "all is well", still not 100% if that would have called off the sheriff/EMS though... but until I upgrade device and plan, worked out with the wife a plan for how to use device in a similar situ. But, I would def invest in more modern Spot or Garmin that grants you some options and I think all the currently available new devices permit do that these days (and spare your wife some anxious hours, or from plotting anew how to spend the insurance $$$). The SPOT/Garmin are very lightweight, easy to figure out if someone comes across your mangled body and needs to call on your behalf, and honestly are cheap enough (with a plan) that compared to the alternatives are more than worth the costs. Because we were traveling "light" I had not packed a HT this trip (Am Radio, only very recently GRMS'd) but likely worth having multiple options because Murphy. Hope this helps! More to the story... but pertinent to the topic, I covered the needful.

Yes, maybe some personal preference with decades of being a techie. The linear will maintain that clean 13.8, are very "quiet" and protection built right in.

I have had an Astron RS-20a for a long time in my shack - very pleased. This was an upgrade from a Pyramid and a Radio Shack, which still get pressed into service if traveling, operating remotely, but still grid connected. Don't skimp on a solid power supply - and quality connectors (like Anderson Power Poles, etc.). Mark O. WRPD494 KJ4OUS