Well, I learned something new today. 
Here in the US, encryption is forbidden for ham usage. Even asking about it among ham communities usually elicits negative responses.
1 Like
You cover a lot of valid points! I may wind up needing to direct message you, but I like where your head is at.
- A second radio to communicate with my roof mounted unit is what I use for my setup. I may even add a second radio and a directional antenna to connect my setup to another nearby community - I have the idea that a 10’ spacing would be enough distance between directional and omni on the same mast, but will try it either way cause that is all the distance I have
Yes the globalist serving intel services have done a fantastic job of associating privacy rights to criminal behavior.
3 Likes
Glad to talk further in any format.
The story of this initiative is a bit unusual, and interesting. It’s not my initiative, though I kicked it off and continue to participate. it began during the pandemic, with people who asked me about ham radio. I’m a teacher, and have worked in sales; I dug in, to find out what their needs actually were. Not the involvement and licensing of ham radio; rather they simply wanted the ability to reach family, friends and colleagues in times of communications disruptions.
I explored ham radio groups that had responded to such needs (especially in Northern California, with its frequent fires and earthquakes); they had settled on GMRS and the FRS bubble-packs. I conceived the networking forms that I described in my reply to you, then bought some example radios and antennas, and began offering workshops (have done 11 in 8 towns in 3 states).
Slowly a few people began to buy radios. A couple of people offered gatherings at their homes, with food, drinks, and sharing of experiences and questions. One of the woman who organized these bought 10 radios and extended antennas, as she noticed the “hurdle” of choosing and ordering; she sold these at cost, and many bought them who had been interested but stuck.
The same woman had gone to a high point near her home, weekly, to get on the radio at a set time, for people to try out their radios and test connecting with one another.
Someone discovered that they could reach a repeater in a town 20 miles away. Our hills run north-south an prevent a lot of GMRS connections, but the repeater is to the north and often our signals can reach up the valleys to the repeater, which sends them out and reaches back up between hills. People a few miles apart but blocked by hills, reach one another through this longer and circuitous route.
She then bought one of the Retevis repeaters and began testing with it. The success was very encouraging and led to finding the high site (a home) where it is now located. That led to an antenna initiative, where many people chipped in money and several people joined in to install a six foot “plumber’s special” mast, 5 foot gain antenna, and coax into the home.
We now have an evening time once a week where we test and get experience through that repeater, which reaches many more people that the northern one.
Other people organized meetings at a local library (one organizer is a Meshtastic developer and the resource person for that initiative). The meeting this Saturday will focus on radio programming for repeater access; power outage strategies, antennas and cabling, equipment, testing etc., and Meshtastic how-to and testing.
- Christian
2 Likes
That all sounds fantastic! Reaching out directly