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That is simply awesomely lovely!

How is getting a ham license dificult? The FCC is allowing people to take the test remotely, which I hope will continue into the post-Covid-19 era.

Something not already mentioned is that if you want to plot GMRS coverage, you will not be able to enter 467.xxx since it is a ham oriented tool. 446.xxx is as close as you can get. When I was trying to get a repeater up and running, after laying out well north of $2k I discovered much to my chagrin that I'l need to get my antenna up to at least 200' to get the minimum coverage that would be useful. I got very lucky and sold my three month old repeater for just a few hundred less than I paid for it. Lesson learned: DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST!!!

One feature of the TM-V7A that I truly wish they'd carried over to the newer TM-V71A was having the requirement to 'split' the memory into VHF/UHF segments. This way the left side (A) would be all VHF, and the other side ( would be all UHF frequencies, so when in scan mode one had full control over scan results. The way the TM-V71A does NOT allow this band separation makes scanning practically worthless since one is scanning the entire set of programmed frequencies on both A and B simultaneously!

The 'coil' is about 2.5' diameter. You can see it in this zoomed picture: The connectors I bought for the (free!) heliax are not crimp type. The tool for prepping the heliax cost $139, but only takes about 10 seconds with an electric drill to complete the job. The connectors are compression type and requires only two wrenches to tighten 'em up. I didn't mind buying the tool to do the job properly since the heliax cost me nothing! Here is a shot of my 'antenna farm' on the roof. The G5RV-Junior is strung between 2 x 32' fiberglass poles on the left side of this picture. You can see the 300 ohm ladder line towards the middle of the antenna. The tall white antenna near the front of the house is my UHF antenna I originally had for my repeater. I wasn't happy with the performance of only 5 mile radius so I sold the repeater to a gentleman in Oregon who had a nice tower space at 450' on top of a mountain for it. He was happy to pay me about 90% of what it cost me. It was not quite 5 months old. Near the center of the roof is a dual-band V/U antenna, with another V/U antenna on a chimney mount. There is another antenna on the chimney UHF mono-band. There was a 6m antenna on the chimney as well, but a storm eight years ago took it out. I managed to put it back together but haven't bothered having it put up again, as I no longer am physically able to do any roof walking at 73 years old! Not visible is a J-pole UHF antenna on a short mast which I use as a test antenna when working on fellow hams/GMRS rigs. In the foreground is my "ARC(h) Nemisis, doggone power lines...

Yeah, it is a real dinosaur alright! I bought it new in 1996 the year it was released. It was retailing for almost $700, which is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1,161.22 in 2020, a difference of $461.22 over 24 years... ...and I just bought a virgin one for $100! Actually I bought it more for the display; the radio itself was a bonus. When Kenwood developed the new screen module, they replaced defective one for free, as long as it was within 3 years of original purchase and an original receipt. For everyone else they sold them for $172.

I got an email from Jerry about six months ago letting me know that he was clearing out some orphans from their warehouse (new, old stock) and had a single CS800D to sell. I bought it immediately for $199.00. I haven't even taken it out of the box yet! I am planning to program it and replace the CS800 UHF currently in my car with it. Last year around a week before Dayton Hamvention, Jerry ran a discount on the BFD (Big Freaking Display) for the CS800 for $199.00, I snapped that up quickly! I have it mounted on a flexible stalk and angled towards the driver's seat. It has a lot of really cool features, including two memory functions: touching the screen where the Zone is displayed will allow me to select any of up to 16 Zones with a single tap, with the other memory function I can tap on the center of the screen and choose from among 16 Zone+TG presets. The huge 7" diagonal full-color screen is easily readable. Even cooler is that the BFD will support a single 800D, or 800(U) and 800(V), plus an FT-857! I got lucky at eBay about a year ago and got my FT-857D from a fellow ham who'd bought it and then changed his mind before even unboxing it and sold it to me for $650. The darn ATAS120A antenna however is rather expensive so I had to buy one from a dealer. Gigaparts had the best price at $369. Fortunately I already had a diplexer for HF and V/U so saved $70...

It was my clumsy fingers that caused that, indeed I meant to type FT-857D. As for the Xeigu G90 it is indeed made in China, but the build quality and superior parts used push it into the same category as any of the three Japanese brands, as does the price! I was honestly amazed to discover that it actually receives slightly better than my IC-7300, and transmits equally well. I put a two way coax switch and set both radios to the same frequency in the 20m band. I also set the 7300 to 20 watts to match the G90. I made six contacts in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas. During the contacts I switched between the two randomly. Each of the six reported no change in signal quality. In fact they weren't convinced I'd actually changed radios! However, when receiving, the G90 produced a much richer and fuller sound with far less hiss. It was far more pleasant to listen to. Imagine my shock discovering that the $500 Xeigu G90 was easily as good as my $1000 IC-7300! Okay, the 7300 does have more "Bells and Whistles" than the G90, but still... BTW, I still have and use my really ancient Kenwood TM-V7A. The blue/white screen died about 12 years ago, but the radio still works perfectly! I keep it parked on my club's 2m and 70cm repeaters. I was at a pre-Covid hamfest last winter and found a brand spanking new TM-V7A still in the box! I offered the guy $100 for it and he said "Okay." So I have a brand new "old" radio as a backup.

I went with 7/8" Andrews Heliax myself, but kinda overestimated the length I actually needed. Hence I have nearly 20' excess which I've gently coiled up and tie-wrapped neatly. For any future needs I have 678' of 1/2" Andrews FSJ4-50B Heliax. The Type N Male connectors are $20 each.

Interestingly enough, that same programming cable will work with any radio that uses the same "Kenwood" accessory jacks.

Of more recent vintage, there is the Bridgecom BCR-40U repeater.

The only feature I ever added to it was the 25MHz entitlement key so I could program wide-band for both ham and GMRS. Tomorrow I'll take some pictures since I'll need them for FleaBay anyway should I decide to list it. Considering the accessories to go with it, I'm thinking about $375 for the complete package with free shipping. MOTOROLA XPR7550 AAH56RDN9KA1AN True story that's kind of funny. I went to Hamvention the last time it was held at the Hara Arena. I made mistake number 1 by choosing to fly instead of driving my own car. I had to pay a cab to travel from the airport to my hotel, where apparently someone there had a brain fart and screwed up my reservation. Two hours later I finally got to my room and rested up before walking about a half-mile to eat dinner. I had brought along my trusty 7550, but managed to forget to pack my charger! In the morning I had to take the city bus to the Arena. Fortunately for me, a fellow ham had a brand new Impress charger and the speaker mic on his table. That solved the matter of putting more juice in the battery at least. After exploring the whole fleamarket and the inside exhibits, I walked across the road to wait at the bus stop to return to my hotel. Even with my frantic hand waving, the darn bus driver barely slowed down enough to make a right turn. He just blew past me! I had to call a cab to make it back to the hotel and the cab driver must have taken the longest way possible (at least twice the actual distance) and ran up the meter to $28 and I only had $17 in cash on me. He got really upset but when I opened the door to exit he asked "Where are you going?" I replied with a smile and told him I was going to the office and call the cops to come and settle things. He just put his cab in gear and left... quickly!

One "Con" for the XPR7550 (Gen 1) is the proprietary antenna port that does not allow one to connect to an external antenna. There is a rather expensive testing adapter that a bench technician can use during transmitter alignment, but it requires partial disassembly of the case in order to use...

I only run any of my UHF gear in analog mode on GMRS. While I had my 868 on the service monitor I adjusted the output to 5.0 watts mainly to prolong battery life. As for Part 95, I'm not the least bit concerned. I have yet to find a GMRS repeater on the air that is Part 95 certified, and precious few users who's HTs and/or mobiles are Part 95 for that matter.

I got the impression that you overlooked my critical comments regarding the CCR gear. I was on a quest to find the best dual-band, analog and DMR HT I could find. Thus far I've been very happy with my AT-868. One of the first things I bought for it was a very well made leather case, and yes I have dropped it more than once with no damage except to my ego. I'm normally not that clumsy! Absent that I'd wind up carrying three HTs at the same time: UHF/Analog XPR 7550, a 2m HT, and a 1.75m HT! I'd look even more like a dork carrying all that hardware, especially when the combined weight pulled my drawers down... As it happens, I own two service monitors and have run extensive tests on all of my gear. One is a CT-Systems 3000 and the other (better one) is an IFR-1200 Super S. Both are fully calibrated and I keep them so via a 10MHz Iridium standard. I like to keep my gear in peak condition. I offer my services free of charge to any licensed ham or GMRS operator in the local area. As for any future possible SHTF event, I'd trust any of my commo needs to my IC-7300, FT-857D and Xeigu G90 HF gear. The 857D stays in my car, along with a Kenwood V71A and a CS-800D (dual band analog/DMR).

Oddly enough, I've gone the other direction. My first HT when returning to active ham activities was a MotoTurbo XPR-7550. I added a custom made leather case with D-Ring and holster, a speaker mic, programming cable, another battery and Impress charger. I added the 25MHz entitlement key while I was on a roll. Things have sort of gone downhill from there. I really wanted a dual-band DMR HT because there are several VHF DMR repeaters in my area and I really did not want to carry two radios, so in exact purchase order I bought and evaluated these four radios: GD-77 MD-2017 Ailunce HD-1 Anytone AT-D868UVOddly enough this list is from 'worst' to 'best' in my personal opinion. The first two are really poor in both features (or rather lack of same). The GD-77 has a nice form factor, but the tiny monochrome display sucks. Battery life per charge is pitiful. Worst of all the replacement batteries are seemingly made from "Unobtanium" as they are no longer available. I'd give it away but I don't hate anyone that much! The MD-2017 is nearly the same size as the XPR-7550, but the 'genius' who thought a trackball in an HT was a 'good idea' need to be sent back into the kitchen to wash dishes. The stupid 'ball' is about the size of a green pea, and trying to use it is an exercise in futility. There is a 'hack' in an alternative firmware that 'locks the ball' but as you can imagine that makes navigating the Zones and TGs a PITA, not to mention navigating the Menu. I thought I'd found my answer with the Ailunce HD-1. It is actually a very well made HT, has a good form factor, and performs quite well all things considered. But no, it is larger that the 7550 and a bit heavier. I also have not found a leather case for it yet. The AT-D868UV was the latest (and last) purchase, and I've quite fallen for it. It is half the size of the 7550, and weighs about one half as much as the 7550. It's a pity I didn't wait another two weeks though as the AT-D878UV with GPS, Bluetooth, and a Bluetooth PTT button is the cat's meow! As I've not carried the 7550 for well over a year now, I'm probably going to list it on FleaBay and hope it finds a new owner eventually. I may also list the GD-77, MD-2017 and Ailunce HD-1. I also have a pair of UV-5R HTs I'm donating to my ham club as give aways to newly licensed hams. We have been giving them free dues for their first year, so now we will give them a choice of a pre-programmed radio or free first year's dues.

Typically that would be a "K" _._

...with the right App of course. On the other hand, it will be the call sign of the owner!

Yep, crank up the volume control to listed to the NB operator, then get blasted out of the room when the next person to transmit is WB...

Speaking of morse code, when my late father went to take his General Class ham exam, he utterly failed 13 word per minute (WPM) required. This by the way after having informed the FCC examiner that he'd spent his naval enlistment prior to and during WWII as a radio operator. The examiner asked him "How the hell did you fail to get clear copy?" My dad replied, "your machine is sending far too slow for me to copy. I don't hear letters, I hear words. Can you turn up the speed?" The examiner replied that their machine could only send a maximum of about 40 WPM. "I'm not really supposed to do this, but since you had to drive from Ft. Myers down here to the Miami Field Office to take the test, I am going to make an exception. My dad smiled and replied "Thank you very much. That's still only about half my usual speed, but I can probably copy that well enough to pass. Fortunately for my dad's already bruised ego, he passed with 100% clear copy.

"Works just fine" is subjective. Yes, one-half of a frequency modulated signal is understandable, albeit considerably lower in volume...

I think that the Saturday net is more informal in nature, and typically centered around a chosen topic for discussion.

The North Shore Emergency Association (NSEA) in NE Chicagoland has several repeaters on the air. The primary one uses the Travel Tone 141.3 and is open for any traveler to use to ask for assistance, emergencies, and such. But to use the repeater if one is a resident of the Chicago area, one must become a member of NSEA. There are no dues or other expenses, simply a free membership, and a valid, current GMRS license. At one time NSEA had a very hi-profile repeater located at the top of the (then) Hancock building. Unfortunately the owner/operator changed jobs and had to remove the repeater from that truly awesome location. The antenna was at 1,030' AGL. There are at least a dozen other GMRS repeaters in the immediate area, most of which are low-powered, low-profile family only repeaters, and at least five hi-profile, legal limit repeaters with a huge footprint available -- with permission. Each of these require permission from folks who live in the area, but are open for transient use by folks travelling through the area.

I've had my ham call for 37 years and my GMRS for only 6 years. I still pick up the wrong mic occasionally and put out the wrong bloody call sign... <oops>

That is not what I'd consider a sizable purchase. Now four base stations and 30 HT's might gain some interest...