GMRS radios are overlooked for range. FRS is license-free but limited to 0.5 watts and ~2 miles. GMRS allows 5 watts plus legal repeater access—single repeaters extend coverage to 30+ miles depending on terrain and antenna location. The GXT1000VP4 is a straightforward 5-watt handheld: 50 channels, weather alerts, JIS4 waterproofing. Tradeoff: $35 FCC license (no exam, 10-year family coverage). Most cas...
https://bifl.top/outdoor/best-communication/#gmrs-radio

#BuyItForLife #GMRS #OutdoorGear

There we go, that's much better. Had to use CHIRP to give channels names, but that's fine, it's way better than Baofeng's software anyway and now I have it set up on the pocket PC.

Also I definitely need to relabel these little handhelds Beifong insead of Baofeng.

#radio #GMRS #ht

okay so let's think this out

I have a UHF antenna at a not well known height pinging a location gmaps says is 1084 meters away (line of sight).

We'll call the altitude of that location 0m to simplify maths. Openmaps has it on the low side of a 20m line. That matters to get actual altitude at the end; at most, it's another 2-3m down probably?

At 850m (straight-line) from my 0m location, a signal clears a +70m hill on its way to either end.

So start at 0m and create a right triangle with the signal path, and 70/850 should be the tan() of the angle from the 0m point. Therefore 70/850 = X/1084, and doing the maths gets you X = 90m.

90+20=110m, ish.

But my best direct estimate from the same topo maps is 93-95m.

#gmrs #AmateurRadio

I made a cable today for my new antenna which let me place it almost as high as it can physically go and yet still use it downstairs and I had two-way comms with an FRS handheld in a place previously _utterly unreachable_ due to hilltop and I have excite :D

(I was able to move it another 10cm up after that which isn't much but we're clearly _right_ on the edge of the hilltop so I legitimately think every centimetre counts and hopefully even this little difference will help that little bit more :D )

#gmrs #radio

Huh, I can't quoot my own comments from my blog. That's interesting, since posts are fine.

I might want to look into that, too.

Anyway, here's why FRS radios are good at protests:

https://solarbird.net/blog/?c=54567

#gmrs #frs #AmateurRadio #protest

RE: https://solarbird.net/blog/2026/03/20/gmrs-and-other-radio-adventures/

I need to find out why tags aren't being added properly anymore, it's a problem.

#gmrs #radio #AmateurRadio

gmrs and other radio adventures

So I’ve been getting my radio game back together, since in adventurous times – particularly times with the possibility of particularly severe emergencies and communications troubles – it’s very good to have access to and practice with backup comms that will work under almost all circumstances.

I’ve also been brushing up on my Amateur radio skills, tho’ really in both cases this comes down to “buying and/or making antennas,” which has meant a bit of both, but particularly making antennas.

I feel like I’ve got the GMRS kit into decent nick. I need to make a longer-term version of the attic antenna rig; while I can do about as well in the highest front window, that setup is somewhat inconvenient and has to be taken down every day. So if I can just have something just set up full time somewhere out of the way, that’d obviously be much better. I’ve got it all worked out at this point, too; all I really need is cable. And to build a functional duplicate of my latest GMRS antenna.

There’s been a bit of a learning curve but at this point I can reach the West Seattle repeater on 15, the Beacon Hill on 16, the Queen Anne on 18 – hugely important, the busiest repeater, an unknown repeater on 19, the Maple Leaf repeater on 20, and the Snohomish repeater on 22. I can also occasionally reach the Redmond repeater on 17, but that’s kind of a best-conditions ping and I don’t know how useful it’d actually be given how weak my signal must be even when it does get picked up.

Also, I’ve gone ahead and coded up North Bend on 21, just to have it there even though there’s no way in hell I’ll ever reach it from here.

Meanwhile, over on the Amateur bands, the new 70cm/2m antenna – this one, I bought – has made a huge difference and really broken me out of my UHF Hole. I’ve been adding Amateur repeaters as I verify I can reach them, and I even managed to get the local 1.25m relay into parrot mode so I know my voice is audible for sure now.

So far tho’ GMRS is much more active, probably because it’s much easier and because the license doesn’t require a test. You can just buy one for $35 and it’s good for 10 years. And it works with FRS which requires no license at all.

It’s also far more limited – no HF component at all, just UHF, just FM, no arbitrary frequencies, just channels and repeaters – but low barrier to entry is most definitely a good thing here.

I’ve got more posts I want to get caught up on but tonight I just wanted to get something – anything, really – out there to celebrate digging my way out of this RF hole which is where I live. So, uh…

RADYA! Yeah! xD