51 replies to this topic

[kidphc]

But, there is another option: Amateur Radio. This service would seem to check all of your boxes - in particular, a very active community and lots of options to join in. Depending on your choice of equipment, you can communicate around the block or around the world. The technicians license is not at all hard to get, and would give you a wide range of local communications options. The general license is a bit harder, but would, literally, open up the world to you.

My suggestion, stop bemoaning the way things are and asking the world to change and go find a way to change yourself (and maybe your expectations).

 

Pretty much how I look at it. Wife has been preaching to me for years about change yourself, you can't change anyone but that.

 

Side story:

 

In the D.C. area it is pretty much dead for simplex/repeaters on 2m and 70cm bands also with GMRS and CB, well at least up by Rockville. Spoke to a ham in my neighborhood for about an hour. Asked him if ham was really dead. He turned on a radio onto 70cm and started scanning simplex, turned on another radio and started scanning all the memory repeaters. 45 minutes of scanning and nada while we talked. Before I left he turned on a DStar radio it was just constant talking. His words were basically, it's not that we aren't out there. A lot of us are on different modes. Adjust your frame of thought a bit. The hobby is still alive and kicking just FM in our area is pretty quiet.

 

 

I should add the Technician test is pretty easy. I personally, think I could of taken the test with about 3 days of study. Unfortunately, couldn't match any test times. Which resulted in a 3 week study time.

[Ian]

On the contrary, simplex has managed to turn screaming-at-each-other into smooth trips to the grocery store while caravanning, so I've gotten the utility out of GMRS I hoped for!

 

Diabetes leads to "hangry" turns quickly to domestic abuse.  I've managed to defuse at least three screaming sessions because UHF, so I've gotten my money's worth.  Still, I remember hurricane Charlie, and when Verizon was the only network with generators on their towers… since then they've given me two hurricanes worth of disappointment, and my family switched.  T-Mo is still crap in a pinch, but at least they can be bothered to ring my phone when I'm home!

 

Okay, two big messages, I'll try to be thorough, but I appreciate the input!

 

 

I have to disagree with a good portion of this.  Especially about the "purpose" of CB and GMRS.  Depending on what service you are talking about, the purpose is non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, "radio sport", contesting, and emergency communication.  Meaning, these services are provided for users to incorporate a common communications platform into your life and life activities, such as the aforementioned.

That's paraphrasing the FCC's justification for services.  My justification is simple -- avoid getting screamed at.  That's solved, but I could do better.  (Though I've had to pull the Midlands out of service due to malfunction in at least one of them; one of the mag-mount antennas literally fell apart!  I'm disappointed with customer service so far.)

 

 

If lack of radio contact is truly your experience, its not the bands or the service you are using.  There is a very high likelihood that there are some significant flaws in your radio and/or antenna setup, and I will explain why.

Truly is.  I have to scowl at your luck with CB on I-95 -- what channel are you on?  I tend to prefer night driving to daytime, to dodge traffic, personally, but even day traffic is pretty silent.  GMRS is silent, but the SARnet repeaters are lively, and are motivating me to get my ham ticket.  (Close…)  I'll try and join the UCF hamfest when feasible, but I just buried my grandfather and my time is an ugly mess lately, so club meetings are a distant fantasy for the next couple months.

 

Thing with ham is that the screaming diabetic family members are also dealing with "just buried my grandfather" and are short on "bandwidth" (and I quote).  It'd be nice to be able to use the cheap radios, but I have some personal issues to deal with, and the rest of my family has more responsibility to the estate, so we'll see how it goes.

 

 

 

BTW, even if there were GMRS users in your area with the desire to talk to people on the same license, what makes you think they would or should want to talk to you?

Ouch.  That stings!

 

I'm working on my ham ticket, but it's not likely that I'm going to inherit my grandfather's Japanese-built WW2 VHF gear.  Florida seems to be all in on UHF, though, so no large loss.

 

 

I should add the Technician test is pretty easy. I personally, think I could of taken the test with about 3 days of study. Unfortunately, couldn't match any test times. Which resulted in a 3 week study time.

Agreed on all points, alas.

 

Thoughtful edit:  If we sprung, as a family, for newer iPhones which supported the 600 MHz band, maybe we wouldn't have comms blackouts and I wouldn't have been screamed at for long enough to buy a radio license and hundreds of dollars of mobile and handhelds (MURS and GMRS) but then I'd never have discovered the amateur satellite field, which I'd be poorer for.

 

Also I can't change other people, but I still need to communicate with them.  That leaves not a lot of high-performing options, and I think I can't afford an itinerant license on, say, Red Dot.

[berkinet]

...I should add the Technician test is pretty easy. I personally, think I could of taken the test with about 3 days of study. Unfortunately, couldn't match any test times. Which resulted in a 3 week study time.

 

BTW, a slightly belated congratulations on passing your exam.

[kidphc]

BTW, a slightly belated congratulations on passing your exam.

Thanks.. More of a sweat fest because of the mentatility going in. Took longer to get test session setup them me actually taking the test.

[berkinet]

.... BTW, even if there were GMRS users in your area with the desire to talk to people on the same license, what makes you think they would or should want to talk to you?
...

 

...

Ouch.  That stings!

...

Florida seems to be all in on UHF, though, so no large loss....

 

Sorry if that sounded like it was directed specifically at you, it wasn't. I just meant other users might not be interested in talking outside their own user group. This is particularly true for family based groups where the communications tend to be limited to immediate practical matters (pick up some tomatoes while you are at the market...).

 

BTW, A quick look at the RepeaterBook page for Florida seems to show a lot of activity on 2M

 

Good luck with your ham ticket.

[marcspaz]

My condolences on the loss of your grandfather.  That is tough for many of us, for sure.

 

You put some pretty personal stuff out there... and I appreciate that.  It helps me understand what you are going through.  Knowing those things puts some light on what and why.  Also, makes it so I wish you success and wanting to point you in a good direction even more.

 

Truly is.  I have to scowl at your luck with CB on I-95 -- what channel are you on?  I tend to prefer night driving to daytime, to dodge traffic, personally, but even day traffic is pretty silent.

 

Most of my time on CB is pretty evenly spent on 19 and 28, but 6, 11, 19, 22, and 28 are all usually pretty busy.  However, night time it is almost completely dead.  Recreational users are mostly day-time and the OTR truck drivers are usually just looking for some quite time at night.

 

 

I wish you the best of luck.  If I can think of anything else positive to contribute, I'll let you know.

[n4gix]

I disagree that GMRS is only for talking to family members on the same license. Here in NW Indiana most activity is licensed user to licensed user...

[Ian]

I disagree that GMRS is only for talking to family members on the same license. Here in NW Indiana most activity is licensed user to licensed user...

That isn't the stated purpose of the radio service, but I think it's a better use of the band too.  I've reached out to random contacts, but usually they just stop transmitting.  D:

 

My condolences on the loss of your grandfather.  That is tough for many of us, for sure.

 

You put some pretty personal stuff out there... and I appreciate that.  It helps me understand what you are going through.  Knowing those things puts some light on what and why.  Also, makes it so I wish you success and wanting to point you in a good direction even more.

 

 

Most of my time on CB is pretty evenly spent on 19 and 28, but 6, 11, 19, 22, and 28 are all usually pretty busy.  However, night time it is almost completely dead.  Recreational users are mostly day-time and the OTR truck drivers are usually just looking for some quite time at night.

 

 

I wish you the best of luck.  If I can think of anything else positive to contribute, I'll let you know.

I wasn't doing anybody any favors dancing around the issues.  I'm aware my desires are idiosyncratic, and I'm sometimes prickly.  I look forward to devising clever solutions to my weird problems, sharing for the world to see, and making friends with the people who have similar problems.    I'm really tempted to put another Midland 275 in the family ragtop, after the 100 freaked out.  I'm super not impressed with their mag-mounts, and I'm trying to get Sti-Co to talk to me after early negotiations; I want a fender-mounted antenna that doesn't require any new holes for each of our cars, but they went silent when I pointed out that the sales agent was looking at roof-mount "sharkfin" antennas and I wanted their higher-gain fender mount.  Irritiating, but unsurprising.  Given the family friction, reversible mods are definitely favored over drilling holes, which is me-having-a-long-sigh motivating, but it is what it is.  Fortunately, Ozzie UHF-CB enthusiasts have embraced the handheld control head with 8p8c jacks -- ethernet.  So I'm looking for a good way to hang a few handheld control heads in a Tacoma's cab, and moreso a late model Miata.  Midland's mic hangers are too deep, and give the weight too much leverage to rip the sticky off; command strips with hooks and "buddy hooks" were quickly winning, but in flor-I-duh, the heat and humidity will melt command strips too!  Not quite back to square 1, but it's frustrating.  At least the buddy hook lets me stash the speaker-mic on the E-brake while driving, but you really can't see the display from above (stupid calculator display!)

 

I'll probably try to get the rest of my "minimally-licensed" radios bought or installed, and I've got like three cubic meters of the lights and luminaries of genre fiction competing with the ham study, which is the real limiting factor once I get done with estate work.  I'm leaning toward Uniden CMX-560 and 760 radios, but I really resent that you can't get a SSB CB in a handheld controlhead form factor.  It's stupid, but it's a big reason I hesitate.  Given the resemblance between the HHCH radios from Uniden on CB and Midland on GMRS, I really have to suspect a common cheap-chinese-radio source behind them, and wonder if I should go there.

 

Speaking of estate work?  My grandfather had one heck of a run, a long and happy life, and a short illness at the end - just enough time to come to terms with it.  Ideal, in most people's estimation, but I still miss the man.  Can't say he didn't do it all right along the way, though.

 

Sorry if that sounded like it was directed specifically at you, it wasn't. I just meant other users might not be interested in talking outside their own user group. This is particularly true for family based groups where the communications tend to be limited to immediate practical matters (pick up some tomatoes while you are at the market...).

 

BTW, A quick look at the RepeaterBook page for Florida seems to show a lot of activity on 2M

 

Good luck with your ham ticket.

it stung at first, but the more I tried to reach out to contacts, the more I realized that most of them were FRS users who were freaked out by sharing a channel than GMRS users trying to make contact.

 

I've got a ... (goes out to garage)  Midland 70-1336b 2m rig waiting for some love.  (It'll need a lot of bias resistors replaced to access the A range; the B range is very much business only, if my memory is correct)

 

Thank you!  Just need to find some me-time where my brain hasn't been reduced to runny jello first to polish off the studying and take the silly test already!

 

Anyway, I'm out of brutal honesty, and need some sleep.

 

Edit:  Oh, Berkinet?  GMRS isn't really dead in Florida, I just live in a big hole in repeater coverage, and those I can hear are boring to listen to.  I gotta believe they're run by snowbirds, who only use them seasonally.  Otherwise, it's hard to understand why tower leases are maintained while everything's abandoned.  I look forward to our resident mad scientist and his Oviedo project. 

[Jones]

I've got a ... (goes out to garage)  Midland 70-1336b 2m rig waiting for some love.  (It'll need a lot of bias resistors replaced to access the A range; the B range is very much business only, if my memory is correct)

 

 

I've got several 70-1336b units, and you don't need to do any major mods to them to get them on 2 Meters. You just need to re-tweak the RX and TX VCO trimmers until they go into PLL lock, and they work great.

 

Just program a low frequency into RX and TX on one channel, such as 144.300, then reset the radio.  It might RX just fine, and if so, then OK.  If it beeps and shows Error 3 on the display, then adjust the RX VCO until it quits beeping.  Next, hold down on the transmit button, (make sure to have a dummy load connected). You will get the beeping and Error 3 again. While holding down the transmit button, adjust the TX VCO until it quits beeping, and starts transmitting. 

 

Now, go back and program your favorite 2 Meter repeaters and simplex frequencies into the 8 channels. (If you have hacked software, you can actually put up to 24 channels in some of newer models of these radios, and most all of them will hold at least 10 channels.) That is all the mods needed to get a 1336b on 2 Meters.

[Ian]

Nice!  Now I have to bug my uncle to renew his amateur license since he's got a 2m rig gathering dust...

[berkinet]

Nice!  Now I have to bug my uncle to renew his amateur license since he's got a 2m rig gathering dust...

Enquiring minds want to know... Does this mean you now have your ham ticket???

[Ian]

Enquiring minds want to know... Does this mean you now have your ham ticket???

Yes -- that is a goal.