Citizens Liberty Organization / 🌎 Global Channels / 📡comms-radio

Anyone have a good step by step how to program channels on a Baofeng UV-5r

@BugsyBaldwin a programming cable and chirp is way easier.

Any recommendations on an ear piece for a 2 way radio

I'm new to this whole thing, but I'm getting a UV-5R gen 3, but don't know wtf I'm doing lol

It'll come with one that's good unless you wanna move up to military style comms.

"That's good" I threw that thing in the trash right after I tried it out for the first time

Okay, use whatever, but they work fine.

I use peltors 🤷‍♂️

There’s some pretty highly rated ones on Amazon for cheap. Acoustic tube is what it’s called

I'm thinking about the BF-F8HP Is there any resources yall would recommend for anyone new to radios? Never actually dealt with them before and don't wanna just have nice paperweight

Yeah looks solid, I'm sure I can figure out how to use it, just new to all this crop Heard you need a license to transmit or some shit? Is the mere possession of it illegal lol? Luckily I'm very clumsily and forgetful so I lose shit all the time

Need to read up on how to use the thing properly, haven't ordered it, yet wanted feedback before I threw cash at it

For sure, just wanted to know where the line is

The BF-8HP is a 8w UV-5R

Newer firmware is all.

Also, nobody cares about power or licensing on FRS or GMRS

GMRS *technically* requires a license, FRS does not.

Ive been dicking with murs recently and hamdheld to handheld it works good in the neighborhood inside and out of vehichles

VHF is good for open areas, UHF better for buildings and populated areas.

FRS has 22 frequencies that are shared with GMRS. Even if you high power a BF at 8 watts, which is above the legal limit, nobody is going to challenge you on the air because your range is less than two miles. There is no way to accurately measure power out in the wild. Behave and be courteous and nobody will care. Now, GMRS has an additional 8 frequencies which doesn't mix with FRS. These are meant for repeater us. GMRS is licensed but there isn't a test. Just submit a GMRS application with $70 to the FCC and you're licensed for 10 years.

I suggest everyone use https://signal.org as their texting app on your cellphone for end to end encryption with others also using it.

☝️

Agreed, it's so we'll encrypted that the creators can't hack it

@Reno do you know if installing a custom ROM instead of Android OS will stop it?

I guess it depends on your threat model.

For example, I'm no Edward Snowden, so I'm sure they're not going to get the supercomputers fired up to crack my YouTube password

I have practically zero knowledge of hardware and firmware exploits to spy on me sadly.

@Reno what about AMD?

Ah. Well shit. Lol. At least I use Linux.

I use a mainstream one, Linux Mint.

I have win10 on a separate hard drive for video games, but yeah Linux is my every day.

Do you think apple "refusing" to help feds break into encrypted phones was an act?

Let me get started on the comms faq. Entry #1, buttfangs are shite.

Gib me one on far left plz

I love Motorola’s

I’m happier with the APX 4k than I thought I would be. I used to have a 7000XE and loved it.

All but one of those has AES-256 encryption. 4th from left has NVG compatible display and its too dark to see on camera.

@redbeard I've been looking at the APX series, but I've always held off because I have 25 licensed UHF channels from the FCC and most of the people I work with use standard UHF channels.

And I'm not really trying to buy a bunch of them, lol.

@redbeard why are baofengs bad I’m still a newb working towards my license and have a GT3TP.

They aren't bad, they are cheap... 99.9% of people will be just fine with them or a standard HT from another Chinese or Japanese manufacturer.

Getting even business band channels licensed is expensive, and P25 digital even more so. If you're just talking with your crew, the FRS bands tend to be fine for most.

I programmed mine with a variety of things repeaters FRS MURS and simplex

NOAA too

Yeah, that's what most people do... with any HT you're limited in range anyway unless you setup your own repeaters, or have some local to you. But you're still on open airwaves anyway.

I guess so as long as you’re talking to people you know you can always talk in code

The ones redbeard has there are expensive digital radios that require existing infrastructure, or are just as limited as a standard ham HT, with the addition of *legal* encryption.

Do you need your general license for that right

Yeah, codes would be best anyway

It would be advisable to have your license for ham channels and definitely for repeater use, yes

Fuck the government and all, but the ham ops get their panites in a bunch over it, and things have been getting better and not worse over the years for that

Well small team use aside the hobby interested me in general. I got a 8watt HT figured it was a good place to start

When do you need a license? I'm getting a BaoFeng but not familiar with any of the legal crap

That's what I ended up getting too

But in truth, there is no radio police, and rarely has there ever been prosecution resulting from illegal frequency use. You could probably get away with faking a callsign if you know all the rules and regs... but at that point why not take the cheap ass test

@[CA] SoyBoi technically you need a license to use a ham radio period

That's fucking stupid

But..... many just use the FRS channels because they are unlicensed and absolutely not policed

Whata FRS? I'm new to all this crop

It's only slightly stupid

Just know a phone won't be a viable options, so need a radio

Only in that the government shouldn't be involved.

Just google FRS radio frequencies... much easier than me explaining it.

But they are the same channels the cheap radios from wally world use

I knew i should have boosted some xts5000's when i had the chance lol

But the china radios can be programmed for them and have much higher power than you're legally allowed to use so you get a little more range

@Yeetasaurus Rex you'd still need infrastructure and the programming software

Otherwise just a really expensive baofeng

Ypu can get Motorola CP200's for dirt cheap these days and use UHF channels and have a bulletproof radio

comms is the one thing im lacking right now. because IRC can only go so far.

Really it sucks for civilians.... either you use shitty China radios, or spend an assload of money getting a business license and buying frequency allocation

oh and CB's lol

I ran a radio rental business for a while, so I own some channel allocation, but still regular UHF that I'm not legally allowed to use encryption on. And that cost a few grand.

Stupid question of the day, So the point is to use a frequency that no one nearby is using, to speak to the parties you want, or find the Channel someone is on to join them, and you can utilize it within the range of your radios capability correct?

Yeah, kinda...

Any and all resources would be much appreciated

Say you had your HAM license.... you could most likely find repeaters in your area that you can absolutely jump on and talk to people, if you're friends have the license you can talk pretty good distances.

Even with a baofeng

If you're all in the woods doing innawoods stuff, you can just use those FRS channels, as most likely there won't be others within the few miles range that they work anyway.

Privacy and civilian radios isn't really a thing

Best advice study for the license you’ll learn a lot of good shit along the way

Yeah

So is the signal grid based? Or for example in the middle of nowhere can the radios be used stand alone to communicate to one another?

And if you're already into electronics and electrical stuff it's a breeze

I'm into it, just have no idea about this area lol

Stand alone, or "simplex" is radio to radio

Repeaters are what you would call grid based.

You talk to a repeater in your range, and it rebroadcasts the signal much stronger out to others... but they still have to be in range of that repeater as well

Then there's DMR, but that uses the internet, so if that's down it's useless anyway

Okay, and in simplex, would you just match frequencies or is it a different functionality on the radio?

Yeah, just match frequencies

Theres MUCH more to all this

But I'm trying to keep it super simple, YouTube really is your friend here.

Yeah I'm gonna have to do some digging for sure

I'll look shit up, but appreciate the help!

Look for “Ham Radio Crash Course” on YT lots of good advice

Basically it's like this.... if you want an expensive hobby, get into hams. If you just want emergency comms if things break down, just learn the basic FRS/GMRS/weather band programming and keep your batteries charged.

Also our little radios can reach out a little farther with a bigger antenna he reviews a 42 1/2 inch and antenna on there that’s pretty cheap

Yeah, but a few miles over flat ground is it