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WRQI583

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Posts posted by WRQI583

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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?

  4. 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.

  5. 9 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

    I’m always surprised when people pass on getting their ham licenses because of DXing and contesting.  One of my other hobbies is rocketry. A lot of people in rocketry get their Technician licenses so they can use 2 meters and 70 centimeters.  They’re able to talk on handhelds and put APRS transmitters in rockets.  They never go any further because they don’t have to.  They don’t participate in contests or DXing. There’s almost no contesting or DXing on either 2 meters or 70 cm. The main advantage of a technician licenses over GMRS is the vast number of frequencies available compared to the 30 channels within two shared one MegaHertz wide bands.

    Nobody should be pressed into becoming a ham if they don’t want that for themselves, but I have known people who didn’t believe they were smart enough or that they couldn’t do the math.  But the fact is there’s not enough math on any of the tests to prevent a person from becoming a ham or advancing through the levels and the tests are really not aimed at separating folks by intelligence.  Basically, the Technician test is about learning the rules and a few very basic concepts. Memorizing is actually encouraged because that’s how the basics of anything are learned.

    If anyone is interested in becoming a ham butt has self doubt I hope they will reconsider. They are smart enough and they can get past the math requirements.

    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.

  6. On 4/24/2025 at 8:09 PM, WRYZ926 said:

    Some sad hams hate on other amateur license holders especially the old curmudgeons that had to write essay answers on their tests and had to pass the CW code portion too. They feel that since they had to walk up hill in 2 feet of snow both ways to school that everyone else should have to do the same.

    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.

  7. On 4/24/2025 at 7:38 PM, OffRoaderX said:

    I have been assured by "some people" that this is a lie, this never happens, and it is impossible - and if you spread these vicious lies you are a racist or a nazi, or "too dumb to pass the test"..

    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.

  8. On 4/29/2025 at 6:11 PM, WRTC928 said:

    I'll bet at least half of them have GMRS licenses. Many (most?) hams are old enough to have grandchildren, and we help them learn the basics on GMRS.

    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.

  9. On 3/5/2025 at 1:07 PM, WRYS709 said:

    Can you imagine the reaction if you go on a Ham Radio Forum and brag about getting your GMRS License!?! 🤣

    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.

  10. 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).

  11. 11 hours ago, LeoG said:

    Got home to find out the PL had been changed somehow.  So obviously she wouldn't be able to hear me.

    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. 

  12. 29 minutes ago, LeoG said:

    We just keep the radios on 24/7.  In the shop it's hard to hear sometimes though.  I gotta get an external speaker to blast out the sounds of my beckoning wife 😆

    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. 

  13. On 9/14/2024 at 11:34 PM, 808Beachbum said:

    As with many aspects of life, you will be most satisfied by acquiring the proper tools, and proper knowledge, for the task at hand. Amateur Radio is actually for real hobbyists, providing a variety of modes, bands, equipment, power, antennas, and much more. GMRS is for self organized groups. There is very little ability with GMRS to modify or experiment due to it's very, very, narrow specs.

    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.

  14. On 9/16/2024 at 4:10 PM, CentralFloridaGMRS said:

    I find more seem to talk in smaller towns. Maine is active. 

    What town is that? Maine may have activity, but it is not active like I am used to. I have 11 repeaters with simplex scanning in my radio and it has been since I sat down here at 630 this evening and not a peep has come out of that radio. There are many evenings that are like this. Go farther north and it is worse.

  15. On 9/15/2024 at 8:08 AM, nokones said:

    Apparently, that is how they do it in Maine. I don't think cell phones is a very expedient method of getting any notifications out to the people during certain situations if that time comes and definitely defeats the purpose when people store their radio equipment in boxes and place them in storage. It appears to me that community is not prepared to deal with any situation if it should arise or could care less if it does.

    I dont know if that is how all Hams do it in Maine but that is unfortunately how I have to do it. When I am available to be on the radio, most Hams are not on the radio. Hams in Maine seem to go to bed real early from what I have observed. When I first got into Ham, Hams could be heard burning the repeaters up late into the night. Now, the repeaters are dead after 7 or 8 pm.

  16. On 9/15/2024 at 6:59 PM, LeeBo said:


    And oh how easy is it for that $100 billion dollar system to fail.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

    Oh and believe me, I cant wait until it fails. Maybe then, more people would be on the radio relying on it as a main means of communication rather than a hobby or a contest. Unfortunately, reality is what reality is.

  17. On 9/14/2024 at 9:24 PM, LeoG said:

    So you use the $100 billion dollar system to tell people you want to use the couple thousand dollar system....

    The simple answer? Yes. It sounds stupid and believe me, I hate it more than you know. I didn't get into radio just to use cell phones to figure out where I am going to talk. This is why I always loved CB radio or simplex/repeater on Ham. Everyone gathered there and everyone knew how to reach each other. Today, those means are not active like they used to be. You have the HF bands which have turned into a dumpster fire when trying to find a band to talk on (although it has been getting a bit better as of lately) and when it comes to talking to those out of my area on simplex, thanks to contesting and bands being up and down, there is no set place to meet regularly and besides, no one owns the frequencies. This is the reality that I have tried to show to other Hams when they all wanted me to get on HF. Until Hams stop using cell phones and are forced to rely on radio, cell phones will always rank higher. 

  18. It has already been said in here............ It depends on the area. Go to California and I am sure there are busy repeaters. Go somewhere else and GMRS is dead. Just like the VHF/UHF bands on Ham Radio, most places are dead. No one wants to bother with local communication when they have a cell phone. My wife and I both have GMRS and Ham licenses and with the exception of when we go out shopping or a few other activities, we use cell phones to communicate, as long as they work. When they dont, the radios come out. But everyone, and I mean everyone has a cell phone with the ability to have similar apps such as Phone, Texting, Zello, Facebook, etc to name a few. It is organized and guaranteed you will be able to instantly communicate with anther person. Not everyone has GMRS or Ham and even if they do, GMRS is limited and Ham has so much, there is no telling where a person might be monitoring and what mode they are using, so cell phones are a lot easier. 

    Another thing also is that if most people turn the radio on and no one is on, before that person even decides to throw their call sign out, they turn the radio off. I used to have a nice setup going at my home with three different directional antennas hooked to a GMRS radio. Because I live in a hole and there are limited repeaters and no activity near me even though there is a very active group of GMRS operators in my state, I took all the antennas and coax down and unhooked the radio and stuffed it all away in the barn in a box. It was taking up space and doing absolutely nothing. Most people I would need to contact, Hams and GMRS ops included, all have cell phones and before any of us start to communicate, we pick up our cell phones and contact each other and plan what frequency we are going to be on. Very rarely do I contact someone straight away on the radio. It is very sad that communication has come to this, and believe me, I dont like it either, but it is what it is. Until Cell phones are abolished, radio will always take a back seat.

    There are quite a few factors as to why people are not on the radio and these are reasons I have observed.

  19. In my opinion, if we had a large scale emergency, I do not think that licenses are going to matter. You will be more focused on loved ones and trying to survive and radio will be on the back burner on a list of priorities.

    On a small scale such as when a weather event devastates an area? It would be advisable for most anyone to possess both a Ham and GMRS license if you want to be of the most use in helping with communications. Please do remember that in a disaster, there is a good chance that repeaters wont work and if there is anyone in the Ham or GMRS world that still has the smarts, emergency repeaters or crossband units would need to be deployed to expand coverage. Either way, having both licenses is good to have. My wife and I have both and haven't used GMRS in quite awhile and rarely use Ham, but they are there if I needed them.

  20. With the exception of countries who do not allow you to "listen" to certain communications, you can receive (listen) to whatever you want and broadcast it wherever on the internet. 

    It is once you begin the act of transmitting (talking, you or something you have is uttering a sound to others, taking from that internet and re-broadcasting onto a radio frequency) that you have an issue.

    In any sort of radio (at least in the USA) you can listen until the cows come home and then some. The second you transmit, if you are not properly licensed to do so, you are committing a crime. 

    Listening, monitoring, copying, or whatever you want to call it, is one thing. 
    Transmitting, broadcasting, re-broadcasting, sending, putting out some information is another thing.

    Simply put, the FCC does not want GMRS repeaters tied together by any means. They want your radio to go into the receiver, through to the transmitter and go back out. They do not want it taking a detour and heading out across the internet. If you know how a repeater works (which very few people who operate them do) you will understand the FCC much better.

    When it comes to SDR's, to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing wrong with broadcasting to the internet, just as long as it ends right there on the internet and does not proceed to head back out onto a FCC licensed and controlled radio frequency.

  21. 12 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

    I guess we have differing expectations of hf and differing definitions of reliability.  It sounds like you want the instant gratification of a VHF handheld, the addressable nature of a cell phone, and the long distance of hf.  That would be wonderful, but it’s just not realistic.
    As I’ve mentioned probably too often I always get through to the 40 meter net on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I’ve simply never failed at it and from Butte, MT to Keyport, WA the distance isn’t short. And that’s on SSB phone which is one of the most sensitive to noise.  That doesn’t mean I can hear every person who checks in.  As you say, atmospheric conditions sometimes make it difficult to hear some people. But what it does mean is that I know which paths work reliably, which modes I can fall back to (text or email style messaging via weak-signal modes are particularly useful, but the original CW is a skill I want to develop), and whom I can count on to relay a message if I must get a message delivered.  Now that’s not as convenient as a cell phone. I cannot say that I can talk to any other person on hf whenever I want, but I can rely on a network of hams to get messages through, and in an emergency that’s what’s important.

     

    I'm one of those types of ready operators who like to sit down after a long day and ragchew with other operators on the radio. If I decide to turn my radio on, and want to communicate with someone, I want it to work. If it doesn't work, it gets shut off and I find another means. If nothing works, I shut it all off and go in the other room and watch TV. My TV seems to be on more than my radio this summer. 

    Most of this summer, the solar flares and thunderstorms have shut down my radio operating. I really enjoy checking into the HF activity group in addition to a couple of other nets, but it's got to the point where I can barely hear anyone. For me, hearing only a couple people out of 30-40 people with most of it all static, gives me a literal splitting headache. I understand HF won't work 100% of the time, but this summer has been more than irritating and ridiculous. 

    If my life was an eternal emergency, HF wouldn't bother me so much, but for me, radio is supposed to be a relaxing hobby. It's been anything but that. I am hoping this winter brings some much needed change, at least as far as thunderstorms are concerned. I only have a yaesu ft891 on a doublet antenna about 45 feet in the air, not a kilowatt on a beam like many people. 160-20 are the only bands that work in my area. 17-6 are very hard to receive and 10 and 6 have been dead since late spring, with 6 having nothing at all on it since I started playing with HF. I've tried several other antennas both vertical and horizontal and nothing. 

    For some, a thin wire in a tree with 5 watts gets them around the world year round, round the clock. For me, I need much more. 

  22. On 8/10/2024 at 1:11 PM, GESchaefer said:

    HF is just generally unreliable, and not mobile at all.

     

    I have to agree. What many who love HF don't realize is this- if I need to communicate instantly,  such as you would with a cell phone,  generally,  VHF and UHF will do this for you. Sadly,  it has limited range.  This is where HF comes into play.  It has the distance,  however,  the band conditions have to be good to effectively communicate, and if you want to do short range,  you are limited on the bands you can use and also what antenna you are using in order to do short range (NVIS).  If the bands are dead due to space Weather,  such as has been the case this whole summer,  and then add into that all of the thunderstorms,  especially ones that pop up for no reason whenever they please,  you may as well just unplug your equipment and leave it shut off.  

    I just got into HF this past spring.  The beginning was pretty good.  Great signals and I got real good distance at most anytime.  Summertime rolled around and the highly unstable atmosphere with dangerous lightning, and the constant solar flares,  and I have actually disconnected my HF and packed it away. Every time I would jump on,  I had to keep plugging everything back just to find out I had thunderstorms threatening my area. When HF works,  it works well.  But lately,  it's been highly unreliable. 

    The only suggestion I could come up with is a linked digital voice mode. Sadly it uses internet,  but generally it's more reliable than HF. 

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