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Didn't think about that but I see no vents anywhere on the unit. I've got the same impedance speaker just 5 watt instead of 2. Maybe I'll rig up a computer cooling fan blowing on the heat sink and see what happens.

GMRS seems pretty quiet in N Dallas. There are zero repeaters with hoards of users wanting in … sad, but true. Ham way mo betta

Well I see that I have the priority scan off. I normally don't use the scan function anyway. But I have 3 repeaters that are in my area as well as my own. Maybe I'll set one side up to scan the 3 channels since in different areas I use different repeaters and need to let the little lady know when I'm moving out of one area and into another.

Sometimes the existing vents are designed to direct airflow over certain components. Seems like the fan has to be pulling air from somewhere.... If you pull the speaker, you may provide additional ventilation throughout, but you may lose an important airstream over components like the processor or amplifier. IMO, if the existing vents are clean and clear, not blocked by anything externally, that's likely the best you can do for it.

Since this is the technical forum, what you are really interested in is the impedance of the speaker, expressed in ohms (unit of measure for resistance and impedance). An impedance match (amplifier:speaker) is important to both power transfer efficiency, audio fidelity and component longevity. "What is the pound of that pack of hot dogs?" vs "What is the weight of that pack of hot dogs?" (expressed in pounds). I would agree with @WRUE951that it is usually more important to match impedance than max power, since most applications never need max power. Answer to OP: Yes, using a 5 watt speaker in place of a 2 watt speaker is fine, although, depending on the speaker, you may require slightly more power to achieve the same sound level.

I found out that the Icom IC-2730 will do the same thing if you have weather alerts turned on. The radio will scan the weather channels every few seconds and cuts out the channel you are listening to. I've never turned on the priority scan feature on my KG-1000G and I made sure to turn the weather alerts off on the IC-2730.

This is 100% correct. EVERY new licensee is issued the next sequential call sign for that zone. If you want a vanity call, you have to first get your license, then apply to change. What you were told is not fully correct. Yes, they stopped sequentially issuing call signs according to license grade years ago, but there have not been dedicated call signs "per license level" for many years. This means there is no such thing as an 'Advanced' or 'Novice' call sign format anymore. The current format for a new licensee, regardless of grade, is xxXxxx. There are certain call sign formats you need to be AE to apply for, but none of those are new calls and are recycled from dead people and people who failed to renew for 2 years, thus giving up their right to retain their call. Even at that, xXx, xXxx and xxXxx calls are very hard to find, in the sense that anything decent (easy to key, easy to say, cool, unique, etc.) is snapped up if/when it ever becomes available. There is also a preference system, in which you would get first dibs on your deceased father's call sign for example.

Ok I see now, it was the PRIORITY SCAN(function 19) function that was causing me an intermittent receive cutout every 5 seconds or so when the radio would scan in the background for priority channel activity. This scan looks for whatever channel you select for the priority channel.

i would pay more attention to the ohm of the speaker making to to match that more than the power rating..

I neglected to mention that you have to check the box on the form, but yes, you're right. If you go from unlicensed to Amateur Extra though (assuming you pass the Technician and General exams at the same time), they do issue you one sequentially right out of the pool. I've heard that supposedly there are some regions where they have run out of AE format callsigns and new license grantees going from unlicensed to Amateur Extra are being issued Advanced format callsigns, but I cannot confirm.

Doesn't look like you can not have a priority channel. There doesn't seem to be an off choice. Photoshopped the end of the list to the right.

Great choice! Congrats!

Nice choice on radio/coax/antenna. I really like those radios, only quirk is be aware if you set a background priority channel. Two of my 1000+ radios exhibited a faulty acting receive when a priority channel was set. It seemed to create a cutout every so often. Also, I've been using the latest version of Chirp to program mine and it's been working awesome. The CPS software is good to but for some reason my computer settings make the cps text awful to read so everytime i use the cps I had to fiddle with the gridfont in the settings tab to make the text look decent.

I was gonna replace it with a external speaker and wire it straight to the wires from the internal speaker and remove the internal speaker so it would help ventilate the radio, the tiny fan can't pull cool air in if it has no vents to allow that, it has no vent holes anywhere on it. Preventive maintenance .

MyGMRS and repeater book are setup so that only the repeater owner or authorized representative are suppose to be able to add, edit, or delete repeaters from the lists. I know with how MYGMRS is setup, if you list someone else's repeater, you will be the one getting any and all requests for access. Both websites require you to acknowledge that you the repeater owner or an authorized representative when you list any repeaters. And yes we all know that anyone can scan and get the tones easily. That still doesn't make it right for someone other than the repeater owner or authorized representative to list said repeater. I know that I would nt care for anyone else listing my repeater on MYGMRS. The reason is that they would start getting all requests. Yes the repeater is open but it is still nice when people do take the time to request permission to use it. It's common courtesy.

Yes I have a 50watt dummy load. I just now downloaded new firmware, and downloaded the Tidradio CPS off their website which I created an account to use. It wrote to the radio and I updated the firmware. Still not showing any wattage on the meter. I I programmed with a baofeng kenwood cable, a mirkit brand ftdi kenwood cable still no joy. I give up.

My personal opinion is that if there is an open repeater which does not do anything to hide PL, e.g. input equals output, it should be listed regardless of the owner's desire. It is an OPEN repeater. Prohibiting anyone but owner to list OPEN repeater makes myGMRS site usability very questionable to say the least. I came here for the sole purpose to see if several really OPEN, input equals output, repeaters I can hear around me are listed on the site and they are not. I believe that there should be a way for anyone to post OPEN repeater information and give all users ability to confirm its status if they can access it.

Also double check to see what ohms the original speaker is and match it with the new speaker. Most are either 4 ohms or 8 ohms.

SWR is the Standing Wave Ratio, and is a function of your antenna, cabling, connectors, antenna mount, ground plane effectiveness, and environment. As power is reflected back into the radio rather than efficiently disappating it in the form of RF output, the reflection back into your radio is the standing wave. This is a bit of an oversimplification, but accurate enough to explain that if you see a higher SWR your radio is usually the last place to look, the last thing to blame. And into a dummy load -- it would be a terrible dummy load if it were reflecting power back into the radio. Their purpose is to absorb power with the proper ohm load to avoid elevated SWR that could damage the radio. Anyway, the RA87 has been very reliable for me over the past year or so. Unfortunately it fits in great with the utilitarian interior of my old Bronco, but not as well with the cushy interior of my newer F150. I'll probably go with something with a remote faceplate if I can figure out where i want to mount it, and how to route the antenna cable in this newer truck. In the old Bronco a few visible wires and a big radio under the dash just ads character.

The wattage refers to the power the speaker can handle. What tou need is to match the size and mounting.

If a receiver has a 2 watt audio output to the original speaker and it goes bad can it be replaced with a 5 watt speaker without hurting anything in the radio itself? Thanks, WSEK643

My RA87 in the truck as been great performer for months now. Many of the issues I faced early on was from me learning the radio. If things go sideways now( from me playing with features) I simply reload the code plug and all is right again. Not having a cooling fan is a good thing in my dusty truck.

Did you have either an antenna or dummy load on the power meter? If not, that could "in theory" fry them...."some people" say it will, and some say it wont....

It will be paired with my current Comet 712EFC, so 9.8dBi gain. 60 feet of M&P Hyperflex 13 and 24 feet of Heliax 1/2" hardline past the lightning arrestor. Eventually I'll get that same antenna on my repeater. I've only had it for a year now.

Compliment it with a high gain antenna 9,10,10 db gain and good coax and that 50w will radiate over 500watts. Should cut through cover very well.