Recent content by Bill Ruttan

The “sweet spot”, for Garmin, is their MXT275 MicroMobile. Just buy the FCC License ($35 for 10 years), plug the radio into your ‘power point’ (cigarette lighter), place the little magnetic mount antenna on the outside of your vehicle, and you are good to go. Oh, one more thing: the Chinese GMRS...

There is cell service in the vicinity of Furnace Creek in Death Valley.

I believe While not exactly ‘two-way’ communications, Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) are now available with Return Link Service (RLS). RLS will give the user notification that their PLB emergency signal HAS been received.

OnX Offroad (app) Users: I have discovered (and confirmed with OnX Support) that Trail Numbers (assigned by the Forest Service, BLM) will NOT be visible on the map unless the Activities Filter for “Difficulty” is set to “All” or “Not Rated”.

How do I access the tickets I purchased online for Overland Expo SoCal?

I would be very surprised if Apple decides to charge for “SOS” (not ordinary message) service. This is somewhat akin to 9-1-1 calls that can be made, free of charge, by any phone through any carrier (by Federal mandate I believe).

How can I prevent the vertical control panel on the right side of the screen from overlapping and obscuring the right end of the data field at the top (iPhone 12)?

In case this wasn’t already clear, a higher antenna in base camp will improve performance of radios that rely on ‘line of sight’ frequency propagation (e.g. VHF/UHF ‘ham’ as well as GMRS radios). Antennas can be elevated on lightweight telescoping aluminum poles that are attached to a tripod...

Just trying to regain, with what amounts to a low power HT, a capability that Radio Shack offered to the public years ago…

No, I am a simple voice😊

Indeed, the Midland MXT275 GMRS is about as close to a “plug-and-play” radio as you can get today (and is the model I have purchased for my next vehicle). Bill (WQXH544)

All true about GMRS and ham, but, back in the day, Radio Shack certainly found a market for their ‘plug and play’ 21-1850 vehicle mounted radios (even though such a FRS transmitter was then restricted to 25% of the current power limit)!

Yes, but that doesn’t help the “unlicensed masses” who would like to get better performance (through use of an exterior antenna) when using FRS radios inside their vehicles.

Thanks everyone, I do have dual-band ‘ham’ and GMRS radios (with external antennas) installed in my LR Defender. I will be getting a another SUV and began to engage in something of a ‘thought experimen’t’ to see how simple of an effective radio setup that I (and others without FCC License)...

Just trying to think of a legal way to gain the benefits of an antenna external to the vehicle under FRS rules. I am still missing my old Radio Shack ‘2150’ (?) FRS Radio that cleverly put everything (except the speaker/mic and radio controls) in a mag-mount pod on the car roof😊