WRQI583

I run regular NMO mounts on my mini-van and they hold up perfectly fine. One thing to note however is that with some car washes, the sensors that control the rollers may see your antenna regardless of whether or not it is hard mounted or mag mount and will lift that roller right up over the vehicle as if something is blocking it. I run 2 1/4wave VHF antennas (about 18-19in) and the roller wont even wash the top or back of the vehicle because of it. Other than that, they definitely can take a beating. I have had 49" antennas with no spring on my vehicle before (NMO mounted) and would whack certain trees at a job I worked and they would still be intact and working fine.

Don't forget the barn door effect. If a conversation is going on on one repeater and someone keys up on the other repeater, it is highly likely that they will be close enough to hit both repeaters, and what will happen is that they will come across the other repeater as long as someone is talking which would cause the receive to be open. It would make it sound like someone was keying over the person talking. PL tones only keep the receive from opening up unless someone with the proper tone keys up. Once that person with the proper tone keys up, it opens the receive allowing everything in, hence the "barn door effect, however, in normal circumstances, just the person using that repeater should be heard. I have a repeater right down the road that is local. There is another repeater 35 miles from me that, when you are on the hill tops around here, you can get into it and definitely hear it well. I know there have probably been many times where I probably clobbered a person talking on the other repeater when I put my callsign out on the local repeater near me. The two repeaters? Same deal as what you are asking about. Same frequency, different tones.

The bands have been dead in my area except for night time where 160-20 come alive. 6m is always dead quiet every time I have gotten on there.

I had to laugh..................... give these frequencies to the Hams? They will use them? Hams wont even use 6m unless the band opens up and sends their signal halfway across the country. I say, make a long range GMRS band. Regular citizens will put them to better use. I have sat here for quite awhile trying to find digital activity on 6m since voice is always dead. No repeaters, no simplex, nothing. I did manage to make one contact on FT8. The first and only contact since 1996. Since then, I haven't noticed even a fart of activity on 6m. So what makes anyone think Hams will make use of the 46/49 MHz band?

I have been scratching my head over this for a long time now. I understand being cautious about the security of your home, but do you all (those that have this issue with the address on the FCC database) live in an extremely high crime neighborhood? Are you all filthy rich, prominent, and in the newspapers front and center? I have had a Ham license starting off in 1996 with several different addresses over the years and now have GMRS and Ham with my address on there. I know hundreds of Hams out there that have their address on their license and don't know of anyone who has been harmed or robbed. Could it happen? Absolutely. But ask the many radio operators out there. How many have had their house broken into and been robbed or half beaten to death? I think the key thing is to NOT display your equipment online in either a list or pictures. Even then, who is coming to steal it? Probably only another radio operator. I remember when I got one of my licenses recently, someone sent me a message warning me that my address was online. Yep, it was, just like it had always been. And if people did further searching, you would find that a hundred other sites had my address and probably every address I ever lived at, including every phone number I have ever had. The FCC website is the least of your worries. Try fast people search, been verified, and hundreds of other data mining sites that collect every bit of information on you, place it in a blender, and whip up a mess of info on you that can sometimes make you look really sketchy. Unless you paid a lot of money to the right people to have all of your information scrubbed from the internet, something about you or related to your address is going to pop up. To want to give up on having a radio because you think that someone is going to break into your house just because the FCC has your address up for all to see, is crazy. Best bet is to get a P.O. Box so that your address wont pop up. The issue is that other websites will still have your address. If you own your own home and I find your name on the FCC website, I can then take that name and then enter into the tax assessors database for your town and find your address that way. Too much is public knowledge these days. It is almost impossible to hide. My thought is that criminals looking to steal to make a quick buck are going to break into your house just because. I highly doubt they will get sophisticated enough to monitor radio traffic to see when you are not around. The best thing is to maybe get cameras installed on your house. Put up signs stating that the property is monitored by camera surveillance.

When Hams "sell Ham Radio" to non Hams, they tend to do more talking about communicating around the world rather than what you can do locally. Out of the guys I have talked to, that is the only thing they were ever really told about Ham. I actually tried to change their mind and show them the benefits of the 2m/70cm bands, but they were against it. There is a lot you can do with the local bands. It's too bad they don't get used to their full potential. If I had endless amounts of money to blow, I would be setting up repeater systems, linked networks with all sorts of added goodies and I would utilize the bands up as high as I could go. Sadly, I don't have the money or even the time. When it comes to the test, that tech test is really easy. It almost seems easier than when I took it back in the 90's. If you encounter any math, it is really simple. Memorizing will help. I really had to do it when taking my general. I passed, but just like the tech, I didn't really learn a lot, until I started talking with other Hams, experimenting, and applying what I learned. I always believe that the true learning part comes after you pass the test and really get into Ham Radio and meet others and start experimenting. I am with you on hoping these interested ones reconsider. The ones I have met were very knowledgeable. They weren't the run of the mill CB'er that just sits and chats. These guys had the basic tech knowledge.

I had to laugh when I saw this. It is very true. I get it though. If you look at what Hams had to go through to just get to a General license back in the day, it wasn't easy like it is today. You had CW requirements etc. To get your General license now is actually simple. I have studied all three tests and the Tech is easy. The General takes the Tech and gets a little more in depth but is still pretty easy. The Extra is the one that is hard. I got to General and I am good for now. Eventually the older crowd will die off and the newer crowd will take full control. I think we have been seeing that already. They are making Ham more inviting and looking less like a brotherhood that you join. Ham is supposed to be fun. It isn't for everyone though, but for those who like it, it can be fun. You have people who just want to key a mic and talk to their friends, and then you have those that are electronics geeks and really get into the meat and potatoes of radio. Neither is bad, they just get into two different things.

I have heard the same. However, I don't make up what I have been told to my face or what I have heard come through my speakers. The way I see it, if these "Hams" don't like it being exposed like that, they should encourage those few Hams out there that have a hatred for other radio services to stop it. I have come across a handful of Hams who think getting people into GMRS is wonderful way to get into radio and then transition into Ham if they want. I know quite a few who have. However, Ham isn't for everyone and I respect that. It doesn't mean a person can't pass the test though. Out of the people I have talked to that are interested in radio but don't have their ham license, almost all of them don't want anything to do with Ham because of contesting/DXing and talking worldwide. That has been the main reason I have heard because these guys just want to talk local the way people do on CB. Other reasons are the "having to pass a test" just to do the act of talking on the radio to their buddy is dumb. I have only met a couple of people in my life that straight up told me they were not smart enough to pass the test. I know, "some people" will believe what they want, so to each their own. Whatever floats their boat.

There are a quite a few Hams in my area that do have GMRS licenses and are not afraid to talk on either or mention GMRS on Ham, but I dont live in the areas where they talk on radio. I actually live in a very quiet area when it comes to people talking on radio. It isn't an "in thing" to do.

All I had to do is make mention of having a GMRS license on 2 meters. The attitude that came off of the Hams just about dissolved my speaker. Needless to say, I quit talking on ham. I hop on Ham on a rare occasion to check into a net or something but my days of having conversations is probably over. I got this same attitude over making mention of an experience I had on CB radio. Just say the name of another radio service and the most vile hatred oozes out of some Hams.

Congrats!!! I have had mine for a year now. I don't really do HF due to all of the DX'ing/contesting but if it is your thing, you are in the right place. PLENTY of room to play night and day. I built a doublet antenna. 450 ohm feedline with two 60 some odd foot long 18ga wires for radials. Real simple to build and covers the HF bands. When you finally get on the radio, starting in the afternoon, they have something called the HF activity group. Check them out at HFQSO.com Real great bunch of guys and a lot of fun. They cover 4 bands (17,15,12,10).

Ah yes, those areas have a big GMRS presence on the radio. Sometimes I think it is more active than Ham.

I have had that happen several times and some times went as far as ripping everything apart and finally ending with the programming in the radio to find out it was a PL tone.

I keep mine going as long as I am in the shack, which is usually in the early morning and evening, There is some activity in the morning but come evening, it is dead. I swear, some evenings I could sit there screaming "emergency" and no one would answer. That is just the nature of the area I live though. I think people go to bed early.

Like I said, in some areas of the country, it is busy, and other areas, it is not. I certainly am not desperate when it comes to wanting to talk to someone on the radio. I would like to have what I used to have with CB and Ham back in the day before cell phones where there were groups that were always known to be on a certain frequency or channel and you sat there and communicated and it was local. That was your means of communications, not cell phones. I think a lot of other people would like that and that is why many are drawn to linked repeater systems and internet linked Ham where everyone seems to be. Personally I dont get into it. I prefer plain radio. I prefer local and simplex or maybe a repeater if need be. I actually don't like the internet linked digital voice modes because it is linked on the internet. Where I live, Hams locally are on the radio at weird times and most of them are off the radio by 7 or 8 pm. Due to my schedule, I am not able to be on the radio at the same time that other Hams are and that applies to joining clubs. I have time most evenings but Ham is usually dead at those times in my area. I come from a time with Ham radio where local Hams were burning up the repeater late into the night just chatting. These days, there isn't much of that going on. Simplex is a no go with me and repeaters are not used often. I know everyone says that I need to sit there and keep putting out my call and say "listening" and keep persistent but I don't have the time. There are plenty of people who sit on the radio all day who can drum up business and they don't. No worries though. I just go in the other room and watch TV. Radio is a fun thing you do for about 10-15 minutes a day. Sadly that is what it has turned into and what it will be until the day modern comms fail. I know this is a wrong thinking but it is the reality of our world. I do not believe it or like it but it is what I have to accept.