They talk! :D The power supply is holding 12.14V at high power transmission, which makes the radio happy, the radio doesn't seem to mind the antenna (which has a replacement rod I cut to the right theoretical length, hopefully the right actual one lol, replacing the original) and the little blue HT is talking to the base unit nicely. Like it should!
This should not be a surprise, but it's nice that it's all behaving so far. ^_^
new (to me) radya all cleaned up ^_^
(gmrs/frs)
(it was reasonably clean already I just made it cleaner, there was sticker residue and such)
@kd8bxp
#FRS has the advantage of being free to use without a license. I never felt compelled to get GMRS, since I already have an #AmateurRadio license I could use if I wanted more power.
So, why did you consider #GMRS worth the additional effort?
I had dug out my boxes of tech supplies recently to show my kid stuff they could work with on the spare computer. And found the lost #GMRS radios.
That caught their eye, and we were able to charge them. They’ve been listening to it on and off. Today I helped when they’d found a net. I was able to confirm it was a repeater setup, the reported cities were to far away. I then found out which repeater/net it was, and looked up the details to join.
$50-100/year, and they don’t want to spend the money to join.
I gently pushed for them to keep learning the #HamRadio questions, and I’d pay any fees.
"If you get out on the streets today, be careful... there are CRAZY PEOPLE out there!! ...I should know, I was one of 'em!" -random guy on a local #GMRS repeater
#Overheard #HamRadio #Snowmageddon2026 #Snowpocalypse2026 #Oklahoma
I finally just called out this morning on GMRS channel 20 and got a reply from downtown Minneapolis 5 miles away. It was my first GMRS contact and he said it was his first also.
I feel a little less silly now about getting into it without any of my friends/family in range. Also, there are at least 4 people in a local ham club licensed, but they're a bit far for simplex.
time for everyone to have #GMRS compatible radios, leave the cell phone in a verified radio proof pouch.
The 4th quarter #ARRL Roanoke Division newsletter is available at: https://www.arrl-roanoke.com/Newsletters/RK-Newsletter-Dec-2025.pdf
In which Division Vice Director N2COP reverses the previous anti-GMRS position he bull-shittedly expressed to me when I inquired why we weren’t in coalition with those operators to pass the Amateur Radio Emergency Preparedness Act.
Solarbird 
Earl
Jesse Alexander, WB2IFS/3
Christopher Evans
Baral'heia Stormdancer ΘΔ🐲
KFO̸UNK
HowToPhil (Phillip R)
diana 🏳️⚧️🦋🌱
Mike K3LOE