Thank you. The first link is the standard battery but with a direct connection for charging, using USB-C, and that is interesting because I wasn't aware they had a standard battery with this charging option.

The second link is to the battery with the mini plug instead of USB-C, which probably is fine, but USB-C would sure be nicer.

Looking through the Tech license question pool, I am curious why the redundancy here. Correct answers highlighted:

T3B04
What is the velocity of a radio wave traveling through free space?
A. Speed of light
B. Speed of sound
C. Speed inversely proportional to its wavelength
D. Speed that increases as the frequency increases

_____


T3B11
What is the approximate velocity of a radio wave in free space?
A. 150,000 meters per second
B. 300,000,000 meters per second
C. 300,000,000 miles per hour
D. 150,000 miles per hour


Three hundred million meters per second is approximately 186,000 miles per second, which is the speed of light. It seems odd that they would bother to have this question twice, unless it's a nod to the United States using the Imperial System when most of the rest of the world is using the Metric System.

The questions for the exam arise from a pool of possible questions and it would appear that their selection software wet the bed on these two items.

IOW, shit happens even when you're a computer.

RMD

I an guessing the two questions are there to see if you know what the speed of light is and how to convert to metrics.

USB-C

Shows delivery of 2-4 weeks but will let me place the order

Thank you. I ordered a pair of batteries, since their choice of single battery does not come with the charging cable.

We'll see how this goes, and if these are the authentic cheap batteries. I wouldn't want any phony fires starting in my house.

I swear, these Chinese companies and their stupid bullshit, Chenglish instruction manuals and all that. Shipping from the commie-ass mainland. I'm a running dog capitalist, you bastards!!

The saving grace is that Amazon has never left me hanging, always makes things right.

They’re two different questions. One is a question about radio waves and one is a question about light speed.

Similar example:

At what speed does a motocycle take the first turn at Brainerd International Raceway?

Top speed

What is the top speed of a 1999 Suzuki SV650?

145mph

What is the top speed of a 1999 Yamaha R1?

180mph

First question is about a particular track, while the second questions are about particular motorcycles.

It’s true the test questions are pulled from a pool of questions. More specifically though, the pool is broken up into multiple sections of related information and a specific number of question will be randomly chosen from each section. On other words, it’s not possible for the entire test to be circuit schematics. The test will include questions from every section.

The only difference is one question asks for an "approximate" answer.

What is the velocity of a radio wave traveling through free space?

What is the approximate velocity of a radio wave in free space?

I imagine the second version of the question asks for an approximation because remembering 300,000,000 meters is much easier than remembering the actual speed of light, which is 299,792,458 meters per second.

That aside, though, these are the same question, with different units of measurement for the answer.

You can say that a photon travels at the speed of light or you can say that a photon travels at approximately 300,000,000 meters per second, and both mean the same thing.

I’m sorry, you’re right. Same question. I glanced at the second one and misread it as: What is the speed of light? I’ve done enough of the practice tests, I know the correct answer just by looking at answers for the question without reading the question. Maybe because C represents the speed of light in e=MC^2 and FC^2=FCC and FCC came up with the quesrions?

That happens with the Ohm’s law questions as well.

I think the two questions combined are intended to make sure the testee knows that the speed of light is approximately 300,000,000 meters per second.

If the test question asked had the answer of "the speed of light" only, then as sure as I'm typing this some knucklehead would, when asked what then is the speed of light, say something like "50 feet per second."

This is answered by the same man who gave us the advice “to buy what you need when it’s quiet”…no more needs to be said!…the speed of light is the same now as it was then

More info on the UV-5R.

73

https://neatcircuits.com/progr...baofeng_portable.htm

Well, I have received my Baofeng radios, and adapter cable. I plan on sitting down and just spend some time getting used to them by sifting through the excellent information found here. Once things start to come together, I will deal the Chirp programming.

Baby steps. Baby steps.

The speed in meters per second is something that almost all of us will never use as mere mortal humans but if you really get into antenna theory down the road or are an electrical engineer in antenna design it will crop up eventually in calculations required to determine lengths for antenna elements. In other words something you will never need but can impress friends with your knowledge of arcane trivia.
Remember it as it a gimme on the test if you draw that question.

I jumped in on a pair of Tidradio GM-5R's that come standard with 3800mAh batteries. These are GMRS radios so no ham bands but are FCC compliant and completely legal. Getting my FCC GMRS license was as simple as setting up an account and paying a $35 dollar fee which covers all family members including aunts, uncles and grandparents for 10 years.
Ham licensing was, by comparison, much more involved, and being a complete newb, seemed daunting. I may venture into ham at a later date but for now I'm legal in every way, which was a big factor in my mind. $57 out the door for the pair on Amazon (20% off coupon clipped). Added Nagoya 771G whip antennas and couldn't be happier.
ETA: They also came with an adapter cable to connect to your computer to access CHIRP. I have 7 repeaters programmed in. The learning curve was steep but once I understood how things work and all the acronyms it's been a breeze.

Finding someone to administer the test is probably the hardest part of getting the HAM tech. license. The downside vs GMRS is that everyone transmitting on HAM needs the license, there’s no family provision like GMRS. The upside is there are way more HAM repeaters.

I haven’t tried it, but my better GMRS radios can receive HAM frequencies. If your area has HAM but not GMRS repeaters, you could set the GMRS radio to receive the HAM repeater’s frequency. The person with the HAM license could send messages the GMRS people could hear. It’s one way communication, but better than nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Finding someone to administer the test is probably the hardest part of getting the HAM tech. license.

It's not exactly difficult.

http://www.arrl.org/find-an-am...license-exam-session

^^^Finding a License Exam session is actually quite easy. Info regarding everything you need to do to get tested is on the ARRL website. Just enter your zip-code to find a exam session near you:

http://www.arrl.org/find-an-am...license-exam-session

ETA - Gustofer beat me to it!

Zip code search on the AARL website isn't very good, better to search city and state. If I punch in my zip with a 50 mile radius I get nothing. If I put in city/state I get results. I found it's even better to search for a club than a test as not all tests seem to show up if searching for a test. There's a club a town over that does regular testing but if I search for a test they don't show up, if I search for a club they show.

^^^Zip code search worked just fine for me. Did you follow the 'zip code search' instructions on the ARRL webpage? Maybe it's a 'God Awful New York' thing...

Regardless, as there are multiple ways to search, it's pretty easy to find a license exam.