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Vaporware posted:Ok I got the 6 pack of uv5Rs and they're awesome. Is there a quick GMRS training guide for me on how to properly use the airwaves before I give them to the scouts? Keep in mind that Bofeng got a fine for the U5R and the fact it's actually not FCC compliant for GMRS (I can't remember if that's resolved by using GMRS with a License). but they're so cheap and easy to use, and I doubt that FCC is gunna come down on a bunch of scouts yelling PENIS into their GRMS radios. Edit: This has a decent best practice guide (And also goes deep into it with repeaters n stuff which you probably aren't doing with scouts. ) https://portlandprepares.org/net-resources/radio/frs-gmrs-radio/ But basically the guidelines are.. Speak after pressing button a short period of time. don't yell penis into the airwaves, and say your callsign occasionally (15 mins) Oh and 100% try and lock the keypads etc for your radio so the scouts dont' dick around and start broadcasting on not the right frequency. tater_salad fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jun 6, 2022 |
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Jun 6, 2022 19:12
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depending on the baofeng it might be able to go over 5w, which is illegal for gmrs iirc. you might need to lock that down in addition to frequencies
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Jun 6, 2022 19:31
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Achmed Jones posted:depending on the baofeng it might be able to go over 5w, which is illegal for gmrs iirc. you might need to lock that down in addition to frequencies GMRS allows up to 50W depending on the station type and channel combination. You can read all the rules here: 47 C.F.R. Part 95 Subpart E
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Jun 6, 2022 19:51
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Bofengs are also pretty noisey which is another reason I thought fcc didn't licence them on gmrs frequencies? Aside from them not power limiting on the respective channels.
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Jun 7, 2022 02:56
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Vaporware posted:Ok I got the 6 pack of uv5Rs and they're awesome. Is there a quick GMRS training guide for me on how to properly use the airwaves before I give them to the scouts? The license only covers you and your family , not people you hand radios out to
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Jun 7, 2022 10:13
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JointHorse posted:Speaking of Baofengs, what's the latest good version to buy? Anything newer/better than UV-82, that's not a rebadged UV-5R with a fancy name? Get a UV-5R III or a BF-F8HP. As far as I know anything else (aside from dmr stuff) is just a regular UV-5R. If I'm wrong please tell me!
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Jun 7, 2022 11:54
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Partycat posted:The license only covers you and your family , not people you hand radios out to Yeah, I know all the other scout parents and I'm working on getting them to pay the $35 for the license. The only hard part of that is figuring how to pay. Achmed Jones posted:depending on the baofeng it might be able to go over 5w, which is illegal for gmrs iirc. you might need to lock that down in addition to frequencies I went thru the chirp options and a set low power for all the <5w stations. I'll probably just lock them to the channel mode and give them a limited preset list. tater_salad posted:Keep in mind that Bofeng got a fine for the U5R and the fact it's actually not FCC compliant for GMRS (I can't remember if that's resolved by using GMRS with a License). but they're so cheap and easy to use, and I doubt that FCC is gunna come down on a bunch of scouts yelling PENIS into their GRMS radios. Yeah haven't figured out repeaters yet, but that's all good info. The scouts are aiming for HAM badges so I don't think they're out to harass anyone. Last time they played with an FRS radio at camp they thought they were talking to truckers.
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Jun 7, 2022 12:54
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Does that ham badge include getting in the battered troop xxx bus and going to the ham test?
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Jun 7, 2022 13:32
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Hey thread! So the genuine RTL-SDR is perpetually out of stock so I need a recommendation on what to get to dip my toe into SDR stuff. I’m in the US (texas) and kinda interested in: Identifying planes since we see lots of them overhead Scanning fire/police stuff for fun Other infrastructure stuff, it’s just super interesting to me LORA seems neat, I have an ESP32 that does it The satellite slow scan stuff seems cool Numbers stations seem cool (shortwave, right?) Mainly receiving, not really interested in transmitting or getting a license yet but I could if it mattered Is there something that fits the bill for all of this? Or at least the first couple of items? Is there a clone that’s confirmed to work well? I’d like compatibility above all else. I dont want to buy something that’ll be useless if I want to go further into the space <= $100 Unless there’s a compelling reason/value to spend more Thanks!
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Jun 7, 2022 16:12
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I'm showing the rtl sdr blog units (the best cheapies imo) in stock here https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-RTL2832U-Software-Defined/dp/B011HVUEME/ref=sr_1_2
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Jun 7, 2022 16:43
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namlosh posted:Hey thread! So the genuine RTL-SDR is perpetually out of stock so I need a recommendation on what to get to dip my toe into SDR stuff. For watching planes I just use https://globe.adsbexchange.com/ so I don't have to spend one of my SDRs on it. Most of TX is on trunked P25 systems with some counties being completely encrypted. Check out https://www.radioreference.com/db/browse/stid/48 to get an idea of what exists in your area. I have a few of the RTLs that Jonny linked and they work just fine for most of the stuff you've listed.
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Jun 7, 2022 18:04
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Jonny 290 posted:I'm showing the rtl sdr blog units (the best cheapies imo) in stock here Omg, ordered… I swear I went here at the bottom and it showed no availability yesterday before I posted And I’m sure I could use flight aware or another site to listen to/identify the planes l. But this was a way to get into radio Thx to both of you!
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Jun 7, 2022 18:23
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A big reason why baofeng & co are not approved for any transmitting use by multiple countries, is that the spectral purity of multiple models is abysmal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjEl6dciLS0 40dB is barely passable (though still illegal), 34dB is really bad.
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Jun 8, 2022 21:08
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I know this isnt strictly the thread for this, but what is the state of CB radio in 2022? I'm about to buy a Honda Goldwing from the early 2000's, which comes with a built in CB radio that it will pipe right into your helmet. That seems like a cool option to have, but have truckers and other highway traffic moved on to some form of digital CB, or do they use some sort of internet connected thing now? Or is it still just plain old analog CB out there?
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Jun 9, 2022 15:42
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:I know this isnt strictly the thread for this, but what is the state of CB radio in 2022? I'm about to buy a Honda Goldwing from the early 2000's, which comes with a built in CB radio that it will pipe right into your helmet. That seems like a cool option to have, but have truckers and other highway traffic moved on to some form of digital CB, or do they use some sort of internet connected thing now? Or is it still just plain old analog CB out there? I think the FCC just approved FM on CB. Otherwise it's probably mostly AM and SSB still.
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Jun 9, 2022 17:45
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Pretty much just dump trucks and asphalt companies in town here, but on the open road i heard a bunch of chatter on 19. Went to Santa Fe, took back roads and got a surprise blizzard. I was the #2 car in the train behind a semi, and we stayed in touch and he called when he would slow down etc.
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Jun 9, 2022 21:02
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Anyone have any experience with these flagpole antennas? I live in the middle of HOA land and I really do not have the spoons to argue with old people about my antenna giving them the 5g coronavirus or whatever. But my CC&Rs say I'm allowed to put up a flagpole up to 20' tall without any issues.  If there's someone out there making them better or cheaper, please, enlighten me.
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Jun 15, 2022 09:09
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I've heard good things about the flagpole antennas, get one of the ATUs they suggest though, the SWR is way higher than you'd think. There is a reason they suggest fairly high end remote tuners.
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Jun 15, 2022 12:37
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Will be fine or even good on 40 through 10 meters at the ~20 ft height. Absolutely ignore any and all claims of working on 80 or 160. they're just too short to be effective there. And yeah you will want an autotuner at the feed point and a good radial field, but they do work. God thats pricey though, my DIY reflexes are firing, but i suppose it's not that bad for a one-and-done thing that you don't want to have to Engineer. 16 radials the same length as the pole (ignore the 1/4 wave radial myth, it doesn't matter for buried ones) would be a pretty solid counterpoise.
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Jun 15, 2022 15:58
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Jonny 290 posted:Will be fine or even good on 40 through 10 meters at the ~20 ft height. Absolutely ignore any and all claims of working on 80 or 160. they're just too short to be effective there. I don't need a counterpoise if I can ground it, right? That's the easiest part; it's going in my back yard, so I can dig whatever I want. It just can't look like an antenna when I'm done. 
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Jun 15, 2022 17:56
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Two types of grounds in play: * Lightning ground. This is the 8 foot stake that you're gonna whang down into the dirt. This is a great conductor of lightning, and a poor 'other half of the antenna' * RF counterpoise. This is the aforementioned other half of the antenna, and a terrible lightning ground. Both need to be in play for an effective and safe install. Like, yeah, you may get acceptable performance with just the ground rod. But if you a/b tested it versus a setup with a ground rod and 8-16 radials, you'd see another 6-10 dB of performance, and it'd also tune up more easily and have a wider operating range. Buried radials really are no big deal. You can cut a little slit in the soil and push 'em in (a burner linoleum knife is good for this), or just lay them on the ground and lock em down with lawn staples  If you get them in now, assuming you have a nominal grass yard, they would be like 1/4-1/2" below the soil surface by fall, and next year would be completely invisible. I had 12 radials stretching across the little grass patch in a freakin RV park and after a couple months they were pure stealth mode.
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Jun 15, 2022 18:18
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Jonny 290 posted:Two types of grounds in play: Yeah I may have to forgo that; I'm not sure I have a 40' radius area in my yard I can set this up without just plunking the antenna down right in the walkway to the carport or something- it's not that big, lol. On the upside, no one can raise my rent, so that's been nice. There's a lot more out there on this topic than I expected; apparently the olds in the Villages have to beat their HOA too, so they made a guide to stealth antennas. It looks like some hams have made their own flagpole antennas, so I might consider doing that.
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Jun 15, 2022 19:48
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Jedi425 posted:Anyone have any experience with these flagpole antennas? I live in the middle of HOA land and I really do not have the spoons to argue with old people about my antenna giving them the 5g coronavirus or whatever. But my CC&Rs say I'm allowed to put up a flagpole up to 20' tall without any issues. Do some research on the company, I’ve heard some iffy things on one of those flagpole antenna vendors, but can’t remember who.
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Jun 16, 2022 03:45
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blugu64 posted:Do some research on the company, I’ve heard some iffy things on one of those flagpole antenna vendors, but can’t remember who. It's this one. Don't do business with the guys I linked, they have an F with the BBB, which I've never seen before.On diving into the CC&Rs at my HOA some more, it just says that antennas require 'approval', so I may try my luck. Or I found a few hams who rolled their own flagpole antennas, I may try one of their guides.
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Jun 16, 2022 04:36
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I ran a Hustler 4BTV for a while, which is flagpole-shaped without the pretenses. 10/15/20/40m It wasn’t very effectively be without any radials, but was a fair performer once I got the kids to paper-clip 100ft of wire into the grass. My antenna was at the corner of my driveway pad, so I had a 90 degree slice without radials, but I didn’t notice in practice. Vertical antennas have a shallow takeoff angle, so I had kind of a donut of coverage of pskreporter. I usually hopped over nearby states. I tried adding 80m but the bandwidth was laughably narrow. I could only tune up like 1/3 of the voice segment, and if I wanted to try 80m digital, I had to bring down the antenna and physically adjust.
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Jun 16, 2022 17:21
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Yeah the best way to enjoy trapped verticals on the low bands is to just tune em up for the digital segment and call it good. You're not getting any solid ssb on 75m voice with a vertical and no amp, anyways. At any rate - radial fields are basically a large capacitor with one plate being the radials and the other being ~~~ THE EARTH ITSELFFFFFF ~~~ <scifi noises> . They don't have to be in an even circle. I've done semicircular and 90 degree arc layouts (good for when you got it on the corner of a chain link fence etc) with good success. You'll have 1-2 db less performance in the directions that don't have radials, but it's not a dramatic nerf.
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Jun 16, 2022 19:54
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Well I know some folks think FT8 is cheating, but I’m sure having fun.
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Jun 21, 2022 04:17
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blugu64 posted:Well I know some folks think FT8 is cheating, but I’m sure having fun. Anyone against digital modes is just an old mad that they don't have computers.
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Jun 21, 2022 19:00
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blugu64 posted:Well I know some folks think FT8 is cheating, but I’m sure having fun. Neito posted:Anyone against digital modes is just an old mad that they don't have computers. 
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Jun 21, 2022 22:07
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wolrah posted:Like a lot of hobbies, there is no right way to do amateur radio. There are of course some wrong ways, like transmitting where you're not supposed to or loving with other users of the spectrum, but as long as you're not doing those kinds of things then do what makes you happy. If you're enjoying yourself and maybe occasionally learning something you're probably doing pretty well. Ahem. Reminder, we use DMR to hold a net bi-weekly.
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Jun 22, 2022 04:31
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What's the discord invite? edit: found it https://discord.gg/R46wYGB Axis of Entropy fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Jun 26, 2022 |
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Jun 26, 2022 03:34
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I'm taking my general exam next weekend and my plan is to get a G90 for my first HF radio. I'm a renter with a balcony available to me, but can't set up anything permanently outside. My radio is about 40' away from the balcony. I'm willing to spend up to, say $200-300 for antennas and coax. Seems like 20m would be the primary band I'll care about, but I'd be interested in getting on others as well. I'd prefer not to DIY my first antenna. Is my budget reasonable? What antennas should I be considering?
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Aug 5, 2022 21:05
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If you can't put up anything permanent just find a 20m whip antenna that you can clamp to the railing and get enough coax to make it back to your radio.
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Aug 5, 2022 21:33
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Motronic posted:If you can't put up anything permanent just find a 20m whip antenna that you can clamp to the railing and get enough coax to make it back to your radio. I'm coming at this from total ignorance (though I can tell you that two yagis mounted horizontally have a 3db gain over a single vertical yagi because that's in the question pool), so... something like this? https://www.gigaparts.com/mfj-2320t.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_7KXBhCoARIsAPdPTfgUZw40WpZZ8CcuhlYi3q_tLH50TojBMxBSSPD2R32J-6PaXN0d6OkaAg6FEALw_wcB Steely Dad fucked around with this message at 21:45 on Aug 5, 2022 |
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Aug 5, 2022 21:42
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Gigaparts guy has me getting a 44" 20m monoband Shark vertical and a separate mag mount so that I can swap in other monoband antennas when I want to switch bands. Seems reasonable? With R8GX to the radio?
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Aug 5, 2022 21:55
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Steely Dad posted:I'm taking my general exam next weekend and my plan is to get a G90 for my first HF radio. I'm a renter with a balcony available to me, but can't set up anything permanently outside. My radio is about 40' away from the balcony. I'm willing to spend up to, say $200-300 for antennas and coax. Seems like 20m would be the primary band I'll care about, but I'd be interested in getting on others as well. I'd prefer not to DIY my first antenna. Is my budget reasonable? What antennas should I be considering? You want the MFJ-2286 Big Stick. https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-2286 It's an adjustable tapped coil with a ~17 foot whip on the end and a very generic clamp mount on the bottom side. It will run 40 meters if you tap the coil low, or 20-10 without the coil in play at all. This is my portable HF antenna and I've got it clamped to a big telescope tripod for portable setups. Three 17' radials off of the base and we are rockin'. Best deal on a high HF antenna hands down. You might have to replace it in a year if you let it stay up through 3-5 hurricanes, but other than that, it's good. e: when i go camping and park the truck, i put the Big Stick whip on the mobile mount on my truck and use my autotuner. It does 75 through 6m there. Huge antenna. very good. Buy a big stick, cock it out at a 45 or 90 degree angle off your balcony railing, lay out a couple of 20 foot radial wires, and you're yeeting 20m sstv as far as the eye can see.
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Aug 5, 2022 22:05
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Every antenna is a compromise, but that mobile whip is going to work so poorly you’re going to get frustrated and give up. I have a g90 also. I like it, but I get the best results when I take it outside. I use a Wolf River Coils thing, which is a portable vertical with a tapped coil that you slide a contact along to adjust for different bands, 10m to 40m. It’s self-supported with little tripod legs. Can you stretch a wire from your balcony to another high spot like a tree? An end-fed thing might be an option. I’ve got that MFJ 2286 also, but the Wolf River is so much better built. I think clamping the Big Stick to a balcony rail is probably going to be disappointing and still need counterpoise wires stretched out. That’s why I tend to suggest the WRC with its legs that can set up anywhere. eddiewalker fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Aug 5, 2022 |
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Aug 5, 2022 22:14
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Crap, now I'm in the position of being the least knowledgeable person here, trying to make decisions based on differing opinions between people who all know more than I do. Would I be reasonable to start off with the 44" Shark 20m monoband (the Gigaparts guy, who had what looked like a stock photo of an Elmer as his chat avatar, said he worked all kinds of places with his) and then see if I'm ready to start packing big sticks and wolf rivers once I've at least gotten on the air? Or am I likely to find it too difficult to make contacts with it and only 20 watts, as someone new to HF?
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Aug 5, 2022 22:38
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What’s this balcony situation like? Tossing a wire dipole up in some trees should be your first step in HF, IMO.
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Aug 5, 2022 22:43
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It's on the second floor directly above a concrete driveway. There are two trees within about 10' of the edge of the balcony, one that's about three stories high, and one that's maybe four or five stories.
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Aug 5, 2022 22:45
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