Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

I dunno, I had it for a cross country road trip and thought it would be super beneficial. Turns out, it was mostly just truckers complaining about merges and other drivers, a few talking about nav but they have to worry about a 48' (53'?) trailer, I'm in a taco, I don't have to worry about that. There was a car broken down in the left hand side somewhere in Louisiana, and ONE guy was on the radio warning other drivers, but if you look up and down the roads, most trucks don't even have antennas anymore. And those that do, it's a crapshoot, many only turn it on in the yards.

Anyway, I had a

$155 CMX760 Bearcat Off Road Series Compact Mobile CB Radio, 40-Channel Operation, Ultra-Compact for Easy Mounting, Large 7-Color Backlit LCD Display on Mic with Built-in Speaker Mic, Black

CMX760 which was awesome, the mic did all the controls, brains tucked away, so that might have had something to do with it.

 

Cell phones, radar detectors, and satellite radio have killed a lot of the CB use. Compound that with the fact that a lot of truckers use Amateur Radio to get away from the rif-raf on the CB and you can see why it isn't what it used to be in the 70's when we had them in all of our cars.

 

Yup. Still a great tool in yards, stops, etc but for the road - meh. I'll probably get a handheld one to shove in the glove box when I sell off my

$155 CMX760 Bearcat Off Road Series Compact Mobile CB Radio, 40-Channel Operation, Ultra-Compact for Easy Mounting, Large 7-Color Backlit LCD Display on Mic with Built-in Speaker Mic, Black

CMX760.

 

In hind sight this is probably the route I should have gone with. Those types were on my Amazon shopping list but maybe it typical car modder/radio geek fashion my eyes started to get bigger than my use-case- "oh, units with more power? Yes please. Ohhhh, units with SSB and different bands like 10m and 11m, oh and CTCSS? Yes and yes!"

Turns out the CTCSS is pretty much useless how its implemented, I probably don't even want more than 5-6 mile range so no need for lots of power. I'm having a heck of a time figuring out where I'm going to mount this CRT SS 9900.

Damn 2nd gen and above peeps have every product under the sun.
https://www.ruggedradios.com/products/toyota-tacoma-4runner-mobile-radio-mount

I can maybe cut, hammer and bang out something similar, but I'm not sure.

 

I never planned to do enough towing to need to figure out where the brake controller wiring was. I know the truck came with some kind of pigtail in the glove box, but didn't check the directions with it for where to hook it up.

Wherever you tap in, wiring a decently stout capacitor (fingertip-thumbtip sized piece, not the giant power caps used with crazy subwoofer setups) and either a LED switch or high-ohm resistor across the power wiring close to the radio should do a lot to clean up the power; even wiring to the battery could expose the power lines to RF from the ignition/spark systems unless you use coax or shielded cable for the power feed.

 

DMR. Wave of the future.

 

I believe you get longer range at the same power level with DMR right?

 

Two universal rules with regards to radio...

1. It depends.
2. Everything effects everything

Traditional radio (AM / FM / SSB) is all analog.
DMR (and many others) are digital.

Conceptually explained using over generalizations:
Analog USUALLY goes further but with a degraded signal.
Digital goes 80%(ish) as far as analog but with a crystal clear signal the whole way.

 

No idea. I use HF CW for long range.

 

I don't use digital voice mainly because I find it somewhat unintelligible and everyone sound similar. Also, like @GTGallop said, the audio doesn't fade when it gets weak, it just drops out. Out here in mountain land, I prefer fading.

 

FCC callsign lookup/ULS has been down since around Friday evening/Saturday morning.

According to the Reddits FCC's database/ULS is often down.

Frustrating. I want to make my first contact.

 

Holy Flaming Fokkers! Been trying for two days to get my antenna line fished into the cab.
I'm coming up under a blub plug under the cab and right behind the drivers seat. Just need it to run under the carpet for oh about 8" to 10". But GEEZ! Trying again today.

 

If you don't have a fish line, coat hanger. I had the same thing when I ran a CB antenna, I remember that part blew chunks. I can't remember what ended up working, I either came in with the fish line from the outside and then pulled it through, or taped it to the fish line and pushed.

 

I think I'm going to plasma cut the floor pan out and then run the wire and weld it back in place. - JK!
Bought a fish line last night. Figured it was time I owned one anyway.

 

Still down.

 

Looks up now!

If it's still down for you, DM me your name and I'll DM back your call.

 

It just loaded for me
https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp

 

Summa bitch- still no HAM callsign, just my GMRS callsign. Wondering if the old-timers that processed my paperwork messed something up.

 

No, takes a couple of weeks.

 

SB QST @ ARL $ARLB013
ARLB013 FCC ULS Reopened, Except Electronic Batch Filing System

ZCZC AG13
QST de W1AW
ARRL Bulletin 13 ARLB013
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT June 22, 2023
To all radio amateurs

SB QST ARL ARLB013
ARLB013 FCC ULS Reopened, Except Electronic Batch Filing System

On Wednesday morning, June 21, 2023, the FCC had reopened the
Universal Licensing System (ULS) and supporting systems, according
to an email distributed to VEC organizations. However, as of 4:00 PM
on Wednesday, the Electronic Batch Filing (EBF) system, used by VEC
organizations for filing exam sessions, individual applications, and
club license applications, was still not available as promised.
Unfortunately, this means applications for new and upgraded
licenses, and individual and club license filings still cannot be
uploaded in the system for issuance.

When the EBF system becomes available, the Commission is requesting
VECs to limit submissions into the filing system. In an email sent
by the FCC, all EBF filers were asked to adhere to a restricted
upload schedule in order to keep the EBF system stable and to avoid
any potential technical problems. The FCC will be monitoring to
ensure the EBF system is stable during this reopening period. If
they assess that the upload volume is too high, they will send out
another notice with directions to reduce the amount of uploads per
hour.
ARRL VEC will comply with the FCC directive, limiting our
transmissions but sending as many backlogged sessions as possible
without overloading their system. The files will be submitted to the
FCC in the order in which they were received, starting with the
files from Monday, June 12, and moving forward from there. ARRL VEC
will begin submitting the backlogged applications as soon as the EBF
system becomes available, and assuming all FCC systems remain
stable.
In an FCC notice published on June 21, 2023 (please see,
https://www.fcc.gov/document/uls-tcns-e-106-and-asr-available), the
Commission provided a deadline extension for filings in the ULS and
the Antenna Structure Registration (ASR) system, explaining,
"Because parties could not make electronic filings or view the
contents of the affected systems while they were unavailable, we are
extending the deadlines for all regulatory filings that were due in
the affected systems between June 9, 2023, and June 29, 2023, until
Friday, June 30, 2023.

"We note that we have provided for a longer extension for these
filings than initially contemplated in the June 13 Public Notice in
anticipation of high traffic volumes on these systems in the coming
days. In that regard, we encourage filers to consider deferring
discretionary filings this week, and we encourage filers preparing
large submissions to coordinate in advance with [the] staff of the
Bureaus."
NNNN
/EX