WRQC527

Direct to the battery with fuses is widely spoken of as very effective, because it's most likely the cleanest power you'll get. Some radio manufacturers put fuses on both the positive and negative leads as well, rather than just one. Putting a switch in the curcuit is a good idea so you can completely remove power from the radio. Some radios draw current even when they're turned off. I found this out when my QYT KT8900 killed my go box AGM battery in about a week, so far down it wouldn't charge. I also have an inline filter that I built. I've included the link below. It filters out almost all alternator noise. http://www.sanantoniohams.org/tips/whine.htm

I'm not sure how the FCC communicates your new license to you these days, it's been a couple of years since I got mine, and several years since I got my amateur call, but you can check daily on their site: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchGmrs.jsp Just type in your FRN and click on the search button, and if your license has been issued, it will show up. The FCC database normally updates once a day, overnight, so check in the morning.

Thanks Steve, yes there's not a huge cost difference, and I probably won't roll the dice on the cheapest coax. Some budget coax is definitely budget for a reason. I make do with my RG-8X when I need to set up a temporary base antenna. Obviously not ideal.

I'm curious if anyone here has experience with Bolton400 coax. I'm looking to upgrade to 50 feet of an LMR400-type coax. I don't want to cheap out, and $1.20 a foot seems a little too good to be true, but this coax gets decent ratings. I know there's other brands out there, but for a budget like mine, and maybe some other folks out here, I want to keep the cost down. https://www.amazon.com/Bolton400-Cable-Coaxial-Commercial-Installations/dp/B07YBJRBW7/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1

My Quantar lets you talk over the IDer but if you interrupt it before it gets the entire ID out, it will keep trying every minute or so until it IDs completely. Once it IDs completely it won't ID again for ten minutes.

Is it just me or does this entire thread remind anyone else of the final scene from the movie "Burn After Reading"?

I think you should work "moral turpitude" back in somehow, because after reading his comments, it is rather fitting.

I have to admit, I had to look that one up because I had no idea what moral turpitude was, but now that I know I don't want anyone saying I had it when they do my obituary.

Actually, I said dang hard instead of impossible so as to leave myself an out because I know some fool will spend the rest of today, all day tomorrow, and probably well into the weekend trying to find some American-made radio just to prove me wrong, and he probably would find some obscure used radio like a BK on Ebay that someone hacked. You know who those people are, you rail on them all the time.

I find it mildly amusing that the Patriot Radio Frequency link shows a big-ole American flag, the American eagle, an excerpt from the United States Constitution, and a Chinese radio. I get that it's dang hard to find radios made right here in good-ole 'Murica, but it seems a little ironic.

There's a little-known FCC regulation concerning a kosher license. It's so little-known, in fact, that no one knows about it.

Can you post a screen shot from Chirp of your settings?

Anyone with $35 for a license and maybe $150 for a good handheld (or halfway-decent mobile radio and antenna) gets all the functionality of analog amateur radio UHF equipment (radios, repeaters, etc) without the drama of testing. It stands to reason that GMRS is growing fast. Hard licensing numbers are tough to come by, but it does appear that GMRS is getting more popular, especially after the FCC cut the price of admission in half.

See folks? We didn't need 4 days, 83 replies, and bunches of hostility to communicate that, the mostest simplestest of answers.

So... 4 days and 83 replies later, are Midland radios good?

I build all my antennas for HF and VHF. Pretty darn good ones actually.

True. I use my HTs when I'm hiking, usually attached to the front of the shoulder strap on my backpack, with a speaker microphone. I suspect that the speaker mic cord "sort of" acts as a counterpoise, but when I set my HT on my desk with a speaker mic attached, the reception actually gets worse. Antenna theory is voodoo science if you ask me.

Consider this, if you will. HTs have been around for quite a while. I have both a Yaesu 2-meter handheld and a handheld Icom airband transceiver from the mid-1980s, and I have a variety of much newer HTs. In all that time, I have never seen a factory-supplied counterpoise, or a factory-designed way to install one. The manufacturers of HTs, who have all manner of RF and electronics experts designing these radios, have not seen fit to either provide or even recommend counterpoises. Because they've designed these radios to operate adequately in the hand of an operator, or with an external antenna.

Believe it or not, there are people here who will tell you that you can use cable TV coax for GMRS. I've never tried it, and I'm not so sure about 30-year-old coax, but hey, what's the worst that coud happen?

To be honest, I posted the image under "general discussion" because it wasn't specifically GMRS-related, but it had, among other things, radio content. I knew it would wander all over the forum map.

Could be his wife, now that she's seen what buying radios does to the bank account.

Nice. I was able to do the same thing in my Sienna with my FTM-7250 with the useless cubby.

You don't need your own linked repeater, all you need is permission to use an existing linked repeater. That is, unless you have money to burn and you want your own repeater. I used Zello once, mostly because I don't want to use it twice. Not a fan. Linked GMRS repeaters are a hot-button issue across the GMRS universe. Some people like them, some don't, some say they're allowed, some say they're not, some people who had them disconnected them to avoid potential trouble with the FCC (should the FCC ever crack down, which is unlikely). It depends on what you think GMRS is for and how you interpret Part 95 rules. Endless arguments are raging to this day. I would say that if you're this interested in linked repeaters, get your amateur radio technician license and play with linked repeaters to your heart's content. Amateurs have it figured out. I have some pretty strong opinions about linked GMRS repeaters.

Don't worry, Ray. This is just some local yokel playing dress-up. He just got back from the Army-Navy store.