#gmrs — Public Fediverse posts

When the grid goes silent, your smartphone may fail. Master the airwaves with GMRS and the new FM CB to keep your family and neighborhood secure. 📡 Real men lead with preparedness. #GMRS #EmergencyComms #PrepperTech 📻

https://bdking71.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/the-silent-guardian-securing-your-home-with-local-rf-mastery/

Now with brush plates on both ends of the cable channel!

(This is going to go into a closet ceiling to get cables into the attic where the antennas live.)

I dunno if I'll keep plates on both ends, it may be too fiddly on the attic side. But it should help keep air in (and blown-in insulation out of the tube) so maybe I will.

#3dPrinting #AmateurRadio #GMRS

designed/printed a conduit tunnel for the attic antenna cables

I'll probably keep a chunk of rock wool in the top for additional insulation and such, and the plate will live in a closet ceiling so heat loss shouldn't be too bad I think

#3dPrinting #AmateurRadio #GMRS

The Simple PTT Lucid: A Push-to-Talk Radio Built with the Blind Community in Mind: https://blindaccessjournal.com/2026/04/the-simple-ptt-lucid-a-push-to-talk-radio-built-with-the-blind-community-in-mind/ #accessibility #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #GMRS #POC

It’s been a while since I last played with this, but I’m wondering if someone has a recommendation for a really good #SDR - receive only, a mix of #hamradio, #CB, #APRS…. Something with wide bandwidth so I could record say, all #FMRS or #GMRS channels at once, or listen to the whole #900Mhz #ISM band for #LoRA and #Meshtastic chatter.

I’d probably run it off a #RaspberryPi 500, so USB is preferred rather than PCI-E.

It’s been a while since I last played with this, but I’m wondering if someone has a recommendation for a really good #SDR - receive only, a mix of #hamradio, #CB, #APRS…. Something with wide bandwidth so I could record say, all #FMRS or #GMRS channels at once, or listen to the whole #900Mhz #ISM band for #LoRA and #Meshtastic chatter.

I’d probably run it off a #RaspberryPi 500, so USB is preferred rather than PCI-E.

It’s been a while since I last played with this, but I’m wondering if someone has a recommendation for a really good #SDR - receive only, a mix of #hamradio, #CB, #APRS…. Something with wide bandwidth so I could record say, all #FMRS or #GMRS channels at once, or listen to the whole #900Mhz #ISM band for #LoRA and #Meshtastic chatter.

I’d probably run it off a #RaspberryPi 500, so USB is preferred rather than PCI-E.

I just paid for a #GMRS license, my first #FCC issued radio license. Is this a slippery slope? Am I mere years away from having a large radio antenna installed at my house? Will I have a collection of radios I can’t find places for? What does my future hold?!?

oh neat

this thing also has an FM radio which is nice enough - it doesn't sound amazing but it sounds better than you'd expect - but if you're on a GMRS channel in the background and it gets activity, it'll silence the FM and play what's coming in on GMRS.

i mean idk maybe that's normal on these little HTs but I hadn't encountered it yet, nice little feature baofeng

#GMRS #ht

What this does is let me have basically the same labels on here as I set up on the Midland 40W unit, instead of frequency which is the default. Why frequency? I _do not know_. GMRS is _channelised_. This radio _does_ let you _receive_ on arbitrary frequencies and lets you store like 1000 presets, which is _great_, but the default on the bottom 30 should bloody well be the defined channel numbers.

But no, big string of digits showing the frequency that literally no one in GMRS needs to care about. Arf.

#GMRS #ht

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

Being at +93ishm _does_ clear the +70m hill (90m actual) but not at an angle that should let me see the 0m points - but I do.

So.

Bouncy signals? Bad maths? Weird RF-over-angle behaviours? (Same kind of thing gets you picket fencing)

I dunno.

hm

I don't think I'm fucking up my maths but am I?

Or is this "don't mix google maps and open maps it only leads to pain"?

#gmrs #AmateurRadio

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

And NOW, I can get reasonable SWRs on this thing, because NOW, suddenly antenna length matters like it's SUPPOSED TO

#radio #antenna #gmrs

Hel-LO, NO COIL!

#radio #antenna #gmrs

FINALLY

extracted motherfucker

GOODBYE COIL

#radio #antenna #gmrs

Back-side view for completeness.

#radio #GMRS

I made a board for the radya so I can carry it all around at the same time, more or less. ^_^

Mostly I did this last night but I had to reprint the microphone clip this morning for a better fit, and attached it before eating lunch, so... here it is!

The "ah, satisfying" part is having exactly the right number of exactly the right screw on hand. I'm excessively pleased by that. No more than needed and no less, and they all match. So satisfying. ^_^

#radio #GMRS

YAAAAAS

IT READ THE DATA YAAAAAAAAY :D

#radio #gmrs #gpd #Pocket2

very pleased to have got the little retention post at the blank end of the power supply (on the right front corner) pretty much exactly right the first try ^_^

the dowel in back (slightly visible here, more visible on the other side) is the other retention clip.

anyway the switch LED is powered by actual DC power out, the switch controls AC power in so the power supply is completely actually off when it's in "off" position, not just in standby or something. (It uses like 1.4 watts in standby so it's not like it's a lot, but why use any when you don't have to?)

#PowerSupply #3dPriting #GMRS

DC light ON ^_^

#AmateurRadio #GMRS #3dPrinting #PowerSupply

no #baking today, instead i hiked up to the top of the hill and surveyed antenna pole locations

i think i can work out a reasonable path up there with a weedeater, but the problem is there are a bunch of trees at the hilltop and i don't know how much radio that'll eat

(and it'll be different hf/vhf/uhf of course; right now i'm more concerned with uhf than anything else but, you know, options are good)

but there's also a lower place and easier to reach place where i could mount a pole on top of a retaining wall. it'd need more height there but it has a peek-a-boo view south which _could_ let me straight-line to seattle assuming various terrain maps are correct

#radio #gmrs #AmateurRadio #AntennaConstruction #antenna

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. ^_^

#radio #gmrs

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)

#radio #gmrs #frs

@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?

#PublicServiceAnnouncements #EmergencyAnnouncements #PSA etc are actually allowed as one-way ///short/// transmissions on #FRS / #GMRS / #MURS / #CBradio

#PublicServiceAnnouncements #EmergencyAnnouncements #PSA etc are actually allowed as one-way ///short/// transmissions on #FRS / #GMRS / #MURS / #CBradio

Looks like GMRS license holders can also send letters about the HOA bill:

https://send-a-letter.org/gmrs

For more info about the HOA bill working its way through Congress:

https://www.arrl.org/current-legislation

#GMRS #HamRadio #AmateurRadio #hamr #HOA #ARRL #radio

What guidelines is anyone aware of about using #GMRS or #FRS #ht #radios at #protests vs. #cellphones ? The media has reported that the #insurrectionists used them. What about us? https://slate.com/technology/2022/06/far-right-extremism-radio-jan-6.html

Hackaday Links: June 30, 2024 https://hackaday.com/2024/06/30/hackaday-links-june-30-2024/ #conwaysgameoflife #HackadayColumns #Hackadaylinks #FluxCapacitor #hackadaylinks #spaceweather #enforcement #autonomous #FloridaMan #solarflare #gigawatts #SAELevel4 #spacejunk #repeater #lawsuit #sunspot #Slider #safety #gmrs #nasa #fcc #av

This is a #Dia #diagram of what I've been rambling about

#gmrs #frs #murs #ham #hamradio #NotRepeater #notParrot #LinkedSimplexZones

Since GMRS can send a text message or location data every 30 seconds (in a burst of data no longer than 1 second) and can send data-requests, I wonder if it would be possible to have a #GMRS to #Meshtastic bridge (for plain-text since encryption is not allowed on GMRS)
(I believe encryption is allowed on #MURS and know data is allowed, though I don't know the timeframe limits... So maybe a MURS to Meshtastic bridge as well...