I just took and passed my Technician test today. Toughest test I've had since the Illinois Bar Exam 17yrs ago, but that isn't saying much. Thought about trying the General while I was there but decided to pass.

The hamfest that was conducting it in rural Iowa was well attended and there were 10 test takers.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Scuba Steve Sig,

Congrats and welcome to the club! You should've tried the General exam. Being at that level gives you far more (and better IMO) options for comms.

Congratulations, now to start buying tools and cables and connectors......

Congratulations Steve. At least you didn’t have to learn code. In 84 I took classes from Gordon West here in Costa Mesa to get my Novice. It required me to learn 5 WPM code in addition to radio theory and I needed my Novice to get to Technician. I did it but found it tough. Consequently, I lost interest for a couple years before advancing to Tech.

I’m now studying for my General so we’ll see how that works.

Congratulations again. 73’s.

I already bought the UV5R thanks to Para, listening to a couple Sunday night nets got me a little more motivated. I hadn't studied at all for General, otherwise I probably would have given it a whirl.

Any recommendations for a car magnet mount antenna for 2 Meter?

quote:

Any recommendations for a car magnet mount antenna for 2 Meter?

I have a Nagoya UT-72 that works for me on UHF/VHF and GMRS.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...n_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Congratulations on your new ticket!

Larsen, Comet and Diamond all make some pretty good mag mounts and antennas. I like the NMO style mounts. You'll find that there are many dual band antennas which cover both 2m (VHF) as well as 440 (UHF) so you can operate on both bands your radio covers with a single antenna and one feed line.

Don't forget you'll need an adapter to go from the connector at the end of your antenna feed line (usually a PL 259) to SMA on your Baofeng. While you can get a one-piece adapter which essentially allows you to connect the coax from your antenna directly to the radio, it can be difficult to manipulate the radio due to the thickness of the coax so you might search for a short cable using 316 coax which is rather small in diameter and has the appropriate connectors on either end. You also need to remember to get the right SMA connector for your radio. I believe the Baofeng uses a female SMA on the antenna end but I'm not sure.

Have fun!

For a VHF/UHF antenna, get a feedline with an SMA connector, not a PL-259 connector. PL-259s are good below 150MHz (UHF HAM in the USA is 420MHz-450MHz) while SMA connectors are good up to several GHz. Really, I have no clue, but the SMA up to several GHz is a potential question on the general test. The PL-259 and 150MHz is from the general test study guide I'm using, but I think it's wrong and should have said 450MHz.

The SMA connector is smaller and easier to route through a vehicle, though.

Here's an example Diamond Antenna: Link

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

Here's an example Diamond Antenna: Link

“ Works on 2m/70cm”

70cm generally only means the ham frequencies, not GMRS. Sorry I don’t have a recommendation for one that does ham and GMRS if that’s what you were aiming for.

Congrats on passing the technician test... Should have given the general test a go.. Remember even a blind hog can find a acorn ever so often.. personally need to get working on the extra exam again.. first ticket (novice) issued Jan 1978.. KL7JIU.. still my current call sign.. Vanity reissue... Uncle Sam was my travel agent at the time (Alaska) .............................. drill sgt.

Well now I've done it, I got a Surecom SW-102 antenna power & SWR meter. It seems antennas can make or break a GMRS system, and getting height out of it also, I have a feeling I'm going to collect some antennas...

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
I have a feeling I'm going to collect some antennas...

it will resemble "the holster drawer"

Here is an educational video for those who are wondering which channels or frequencies to program into their radios. the presentation leaves a lot to be desired feel free to skip around for the highlights. a lot of these freqs are already present in Chirp.



and another video on how to use Chirp and Chirp Next.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimineer:

“ Works on 2m/70cm”

70cm generally only means the ham frequencies, not GMRS. Sorry I don’t have a recommendation for one that does ham and GMRS if that’s what you were aiming for.

quote:

Originally posted by oddball:
Well now I've done it, I got a Surecom SW-102 antenna power & SWR meter. It seems antennas can make or break a GMRS system, and getting height out of it also, I have a feeling I'm going to collect some antennas...

Guys, the GMRS thread is over here: https://sigforum.com/eve/forum...0601935/m/1710009605.

I don’t have a mobile antenna or SWR meter, yet. I’m waiting to take the test. My understanding is that some of the dual band 2-meter/70cm HAM antennas will work with MURS and GMRS as well as their frequencies are just above the HAM frequencies.

Otherwise, as long as you buy an NMO mount (New MOtorola mount), you can buy whatever NMO antenna that would be appropriate for the frequencies you are using. Be sure to understand whether or not your antenna requires a ground plane though.

Ground plane, ah, another...ongoing saga.

I don’t claim to know anything about ground planes. I gave up trying to understand them over the summer when I realized there were no GMRS repeaters where we live so, vehicle mounted mobile radios and antennas wouldn’t add the range we needed to make them useful.

That Chirp video above has some great information, thanks for posting that.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I don’t claim to know anything about ground planes. I gave up trying to understand them over the summer when I realized there were no GMRS repeaters where we live so, vehicle mounted mobile radios and antennas wouldn’t add the range we needed to make them useful.

It's all about that swr.

Yes, the CHIRP video is quite helpful.

Another educational video mainly directed at persons new to the field.