I guess I found this forum first 
I just want to say “Hi” to all my fellow Ham Operators living in WA! I’m located on Whidbey Island in the town of Oak Harbor.
I have recently earned my Technician License and I am using a BTECH DMR 6X-2 handheld radio. I have also recently joined a local radio club known as Island County Amateur Radio Club.
I hope to chat with some of you in the future!
Bob KK7DSO
Hey Bob!
I’m just over the water on the mainland near everett. I passed my tech in october and my general in Feb.
How you finding DMR? I dived headfirst into it but managed to get a permaban on the worldwide talkgroup on brandmeister on my first day…
I made a few DX contacts with DMR, but it always seemed to be the same few people, i’m slowly but surely going through the country specific talk groups calling CQ on my quest to call every country on every mode on every band 
dan
K7NGS
Hi Dan,
I haven’t really done anything with DMR. The only thing I’ve done is reach out to local operators using the repeater system.
The biggest reason I got into Ham Radio was for emergency comms. I’ve been on the island since Nov '97 and as soon as I got here I was informed that Whidbey is on an earthquake fault and is seriously overdo for a major earthquake. So, I’ve been slowly, but surely, putting together some things to help survive the after affects of that earthquake, should it ever happen. One of those items is comms. I’m hoping I’ll be able to raise help, or even support the help if I’m ever in that situation.
With the help of my local radio club, I’ve been able to learn how to use my radio through repeaters and through simplex operations.
That is about all I’m worried about right now. I have just a handheld right now, but I am considering getting a mobile unit. Time will tell if I go even further and get a desktop HF radio.
73,
Bob KK7DSO
Cool - take a look at the PSRG:
They’ve been around since '72 and provide a lot of local repeaters for Amateur and GMRS use, if emergency comms is your jam it’s a good place to start, the GMRS group has emergency nets once a month that link up with other local emergency comms groups like WA7DEM.
actually, as I thought about this - I just sold my jeep yesterday, it had a TYT-9800plus in it, it’s a great radio but i’m just not that into VHF voice comms and I actually want to put something different in my next vehicle, i’d be happy to gift it to you.
It’s a bugger to program through the front panel but is a cinch with chirp.
I could ship it to you pre-programmed with all your local repeaters. All I would ask in return is that you make a donation to charity for me.
Wow… that’s very nice of you! I would definitely like to have your TYT-9800. Let me know what you need in order to send it
No worries, it was a fun radio for what I used it for. The Tram Browning dual bander with an NMO magmount is what it was connected to - easily obtainable next day from Amazon.
I can get your postal address from the FCC and ship it. Just drop a reply on this post with a charity receipt and i’ll mail it over at the weekend.
Cool!
Do you have a favorite charity? I normally donate to The United Service Organization (USO) because I really appreciated their efforts when I was active duty military.
Let me know what you think.
Sounds good to me, thanks
Cool, i’ll ship it before the weekend.
Enjoy putting out 50w on vhf/uhf!
I look so forward to it!!
Hey there, I apologies but I only just shipped it, so it should be with you tomorrow / wednesday, if you can DM me your email address i’ll send the chirp file I programmed it with. I’ve shipped it to you programmed with every repeater on every band it supports within 50 miles of your zip code.
Programming preferences vary and you may hate how I’ve laid it out, but you can always change it with chirp
Hi Dan,
I just wanted to let you know that I am 90% installed . I have decided that I will use one of my two accessory outlets rated for 20A to power my radio. However, I need a power adapter to fit into the accessory outlet. I ordered one from Amazon and it should be here tomorrow! Once that gets here and I can wire it to the power leads, I’ll be fully operational with the TYT
I decided to place the radio under my passenger seat and use the cupholder adapter for the faceplate for now. I plan to eventually mount the faceplate to my dashboard.
However, I just realized I forgot to order the external speaker!! Oh well, I just ordered it and it will arrive in two days.
Thanks again for the radio. I hope to catch you on the air some day.
73,
Bob - KK7DSO
