WRQC527

Internet Troll A mythological internet being that lives under an internet bridge. Loves to hunt for innocent netizens. Common tactics: antagonizing other netizens by posting racist or offensive comments, or just plain rants. Weakness: being outwitted or unable to antagonize others The amusing thing is wondering what this pc fella's going to say next. I mean, obviously, we went well beyond a normal thread into the septic tank of the internet on about page three, and here we are on page five with no end in sight. We could all just ignore him, but my God this just keeps getting more entertaining. I feel like I'm playing with one of those Flat Earth folks.

Fool's gold maybe. I've seen a lot of threads hit rock bottom but not this hard.

In my entire life, I have never heard anyone equate questionable FCC type-acceptance rules with racist, discriminatory laws designed to humiliate, degrade and marginalize specific racial groups. Until today. Congratulations, pcradio, for achieving a new low.

Pretty much nothing I've heard over the past 12 years of amateur radio and a couple of years of GMRS would rival a group of falling skydivers!

In 2008, a Metrolink accident happened in Chatsworth, killing 25 people, when the engineer was distracted while texting with a 16-year-old railfan, ran a red signal, and hit a freight train. It's a terrible idea to communicate with railroad personnel while they're operating trains.

I don't think he hates all amateur radio operators, exactly. Just some people. He's actually had at least one amateur radio operator on his YouTube channel. He does enjoy (maybe too much) roasting some amateur radio operators over a fire fueled with old QST magazines and hard copies of FCC regulations.

I would be surprised if after you've read through 3+ pages and well over 60 replies loaded with happy horses#!+ you would still be even remotely interested in our H.A.M. license.

Stick around here long enough and your face will be palmed so often you'll look like you did 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.

Relax. I fixed it before you replied.

Is it at all possible for PCRADIO to have a conversation without insulting people?

Omg you were threatened? Here?

My guess is that the original post was simply to "stir the pot", which it succeeded in doing, but in case it's a serious post, the general public has at its disposal, with some subject to licensing, the following: 40 channels of CB radio frequencies, including AM, FM, USB and LSB. 5 channels of MURS frequencies. 22 channels of FRS / GMRS frequencies. An additional 8 GMRS channels, which also allow for repeater use. A wide spectrum of UHF, VHF, and HF frequencies allotted to amateur radio. With that much of the RF spectrum, and that many options, Is there any reason to "violate Rules & Regulations" by transmitting where you ought not to, other than the notion of getting away with something?

Here's an interesting tidbit from the California Highway Patrol that "exempts", if you will, radios such as commercial and CB, from hands-free laws. I suspect it applies to ham radio and GMRS as well. You be the judge, I'm just sharing it. AB-1785-CVC-23123-CHP-Memo-Leg-Intent.pdf

I commute 26 miles each way for work here in SoCal. My friends and I talk on ham radio the entire time. We see law enforcement all the time, they see us. I see drivers every day pulled over, but never us. My guess is it's cell phones and car pool lane violations. That's where the money is.

I would get a decent SWR meter. I have an antenna analyzer, which is great for tuning antennas, and in my humble opinion, is more for hobbyists and antenna builders. But my good old fashioned SWR meters reliably (and without batteries) give me the information I need to install radios and antennas, including reasonably-accurate power readings. I had a NanoVNA also. It lasted a few months before the readings went completely wonky, and while my SWR meters generally match my antenna analyzer, the NanoVNA never read the same even on a good day. I cannot recommend them.

Also, when yelling important stuff on your HT, hold it sideways. It looks much cooler that way.

Dangit. There's always a catch.The government will always get their moolah.

So if Adam and Eve or Noah and Mrs. Noah had a GMRS license, we all would be covered. I think I'll re-up my Ancestry dot com membership and search for a GMRS licensee. It's worth a try. Save some moolah down the line. Every dollar helps, what with this inflation thing going on.

I don't know about the rest of you, but here in SoCal, we have a repeater at almost 6,000 feet that sits unused the vast majority of the time, in addition to others that are not used a lot. The traffic I hear even on simplex as I drive 50 miles a day commuting is pretty sparse, mostly preschools, restaurants, Covid shot clinics, that kind of thing, on FRS. I'm not sure why we would want to introduce digital to GMRS. All it would do is run up the price of radios and overcomplicate things. In my humble opinion, people get into GMRS because it's cheap, reliable, and doesn't require a test.

W6XRL4 is Herman Munster's call sign. It's listed in QRZ.com. That's why I said "a "legitimate" call sign... Not really".

Fun fact. W6XRL4 is also a "legitimate" call sign... Not really, but it is listed in the QRZ.com database.

Depending on how you filter the Find Repeaters page, in California, there are at least 140 active repeaters, and another 130-some "stale" repeaters that haven't been updated in a while and may or may not exist. There are definitely not as many GMRS repeaters as there are amateur radio repeaters.

"This is K9DOG. Can I get a signal report?"