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Yes the Comet 2x4SR will be an improvement if you want multi band use. You are correct that you would not have to change the mag mount to go from the MXT-26 to the 2x4SR. All you have to do is swap them out on your mag mount. I would run the 2x4SR on my Ford Escape all of the time if I didn't have height restrictions to deal with.

While I like the ut72 and think it would work well for most people the mxt26 is a big step up. However the 2x4 is a much bigger step up. It doubled our tx and made our rx much more clear. Other then one old truck still running the 72 all our other trucks now run 2x4s. Even with 20w radios if we can see it we can hit it out over 100miles simplex in the clear and we get all the available weather stations and murs comes in RX perfect as well.

Alright, so I have a Retevis RA25 mounted in my Xterra. Right now I'm using an NMO mag mount MXT-A26 antenna. It works great for GMRS. I used to have the Nagoya UT-72G mag mount hooked up to a TD-H3. I seemed to be able to get a lot more reception on that set up, using both GMRS and HAM. With the UT-72G, I was able to get NOAA channel 5 in super clear, plus I think channels 4,3, and 1 a little bit. With the MXT-A26, I can only get NOAA channel 5, from the same spot. I know the MXT-A26 is tuned specifically for GMRS. My question is, should I get the Comet 2x4SRNMO antenna? I would like to be able to just screw it into the NMO mount and not switch out the whole thing. I'm not HAM licensed yet, but I like to listen. And also I would like to have it in case of emergency. Plus I probably will eventually get my HAM license.

This is why it's good to have Socal around. Eventually he get's a NOOB that deserves it.

Gotta be the battery BMS because you use standard USB wall wart chargers. The battery itself shouldn't allow the charger to cause it harm.

Same issue here - I programmed one radio, did a wireless copy to the rest, and at least two batteries were charged in the charging stand while attached to a radio. So all four have the same setup, two were charged while attached and turned on, and no idea which one the dead one was because they all look the same and I wasn't smart enough to number them beforehand. They do seem to be aware of the battery charging issue - at the bottom of the "we're shipping you a new radio" email, they added this at the bottom:

I’m not sure. It’s not my problem. I did nothing to them that should have made them fail. The very first tdh3 I bought still works today and it was programmed abd used identically as the other 4. And none of these were DOA. All worked out of the box. Then approx 2 to 3 weeks later I noticed issues hitting repeaters and at that point realize no output. So not sure when these failed after charging or after programming.

TBH, I'm not sure. It has that dull sheen like aluminum, but that could just be the finish. I don't have a magnet handy, but a lot of stainless steel isn't very magnetic anyway. I think the whole "dissimilar metals" things is a bit overblown anyway. Cars and motorcycles bolt aluminum to steel all the time. If it were a part that carries a current, it might be different, but I've seen lots of aluminum wire secured to an outlet with steel screws for decades without any issue, so maybe not even then.

I'll recheck it when I have the antenna stood up. I hung it a few feet off the ground for the initial test. I wanted to be sure there wasn't anything to address before I got it 40' in the air.

Have you considered the TK-8180H model? You’re limited to 50 watts anyway on GMRS. https://www.kenwood.com/usa/Support/pdf/TK-7180_8180.pdf

How many were DOA and how many died after being programmed? I’m not saying you made a mistake; I’m simply mildly curious about the sequence of events.

I think you found the motherlode of the bad batch. This is what happens with mass produced stuff. If you get a problem it's not one or two, it's hundreds or thousands if they don't catch it. Apparently I've been luckier than you with 2 out of 14 being non transmit.

I have been scratching my head over this for a long time now. I understand being cautious about the security of your home, but do you all (those that have this issue with the address on the FCC database) live in an extremely high crime neighborhood? Are you all filthy rich, prominent, and in the newspapers front and center? I have had a Ham license starting off in 1996 with several different addresses over the years and now have GMRS and Ham with my address on there. I know hundreds of Hams out there that have their address on their license and don't know of anyone who has been harmed or robbed. Could it happen? Absolutely. But ask the many radio operators out there. How many have had their house broken into and been robbed or half beaten to death? I think the key thing is to NOT display your equipment online in either a list or pictures. Even then, who is coming to steal it? Probably only another radio operator. I remember when I got one of my licenses recently, someone sent me a message warning me that my address was online. Yep, it was, just like it had always been. And if people did further searching, you would find that a hundred other sites had my address and probably every address I ever lived at, including every phone number I have ever had. The FCC website is the least of your worries. Try fast people search, been verified, and hundreds of other data mining sites that collect every bit of information on you, place it in a blender, and whip up a mess of info on you that can sometimes make you look really sketchy. Unless you paid a lot of money to the right people to have all of your information scrubbed from the internet, something about you or related to your address is going to pop up. To want to give up on having a radio because you think that someone is going to break into your house just because the FCC has your address up for all to see, is crazy. Best bet is to get a P.O. Box so that your address wont pop up. The issue is that other websites will still have your address. If you own your own home and I find your name on the FCC website, I can then take that name and then enter into the tax assessors database for your town and find your address that way. Too much is public knowledge these days. It is almost impossible to hide. My thought is that criminals looking to steal to make a quick buck are going to break into your house just because. I highly doubt they will get sophisticated enough to monitor radio traffic to see when you are not around. The best thing is to maybe get cameras installed on your house. Put up signs stating that the property is monitored by camera surveillance.

A couple!?! Bruh I’m 4 out of 5 failure on these pos.

OK, I'll give that a shot. Glad you didn't have to walk all that way Randy And there it is. Hard to believe after pressing those buttons randomly that it never showed itself. So there is a trick.

No, it's not a trick. According to page 40 of the user manual, after switching to VFO mode by pressing the 6/Mode button, then press the 2/Mhz button to direct-enter your frequency. ...and, i just confirmed this works with the KG-1000G+ in my office right next to me... I was going to try it on my Bathroom KG-1000G+, but that's all the way down the hall.

^ Good to know. Thanks.

Rhon or Universal Towers seem popular.

Let's talk about a tilting/tipping base for a mast. Any recommendations?

So far I have been able to figure out a way to change frequencies to the VFO other than using the knob or up/down arrows which is painfully slow. With the XS20G+ you just use the keypad on the mic to enter in whatever frequency you want. So far the only way I can see to program frequencies is to use the CPS and program it with your computer. Am I missing some trick?

I think they know they have this problem and really don't care because it's easy sending out a new radio that costs them a dollar or two to make than it is to have QC testing these things. With the advantage that people will just shrug it off and either not report it or just buy a new one without complaining. If you plan on being cheap (like me) and buying these inexpensive radios you are going to have to expect a couple of duds here and there. But with a responsive company like this it's just a bit inconvenient and somewhat frustrating to have to go through the process of swapping them out. And it's not even a swap out, they just send you a new one and don't care what you do with the old one. Usually they receive just fine so set them up as scanners.

Just as a quick update: I contacted TIDRadio about it and they sent me a new unit. Confirmed the new one outputs 5W with a dummy load and a 771 antenna. If nothing else, their customer support was pretty responsive and got this handled in a reasonable timeframe.

For what its worth, with both VHF and UHF, you can greatly extend communications well beyond the traditional LOS on the regular bases with the two stations involved being a bit 'over the top' for a typical Amateur or GMRS user. For example, if you have a 9 element or 11 element high-gain yagi on a 50' tower at both stations, you can reliably communicate 100+ miles with a 50w radio on VHF, and 60+ miles with a 50w radio on UHF / GMRS. If you happen to have your antenna somewhere comfortably above the average terrain, your station can talk even further. This is because the additional height above ground extends the LOS range a bit, but the magic is in the yagi antenna. Not only is the high-gain antenna able to pull more scattered energy out of the sky with greater efficiency, the fact that the beam is focused in a specific direction reduces the amount of random noise it pulls from the atmosphere. This allows the antenna to perform significantly better compared to a vertical antenna with the same gain as the yagi, for example. By reducing the total number of photons the antenna reacts to, you essentially improve the Part Per Million ratio in favor of the signal you are receiving. My radio club used this principle in combination with a propagation method called Sporadic-E (reflecting a signal off the E Layer) to talk over 1,500 miles on VHF, from Virginia to Texas. Our club had a stacked beam array and a 1,500w amplifier located on a mountain ridge in VA at 4,400+ feet and the Texas station had a similar setup in the western part of Texas, on a ridge line at about 6,000 feet. We were also running a UHF station with a similar configuration that same week. We contacted a station over 450 miles away. Though I don't remember the specifics of where the other station was for the UHF contact. Anyway, I guess the moral of the story is, while refraction off the ionosphere isn't an option for mid to upper VHF or UHF... if we get creative with location, antenna and available forecasts of atmospheric conditions, we can bend or even break the commonly accepted LOS rules with our base stations, control stations and fixed stations. We just need to leverage physics a little better.

I have my KG-1000G and my Icom IC-2730 under the driver's seat with the remote heads on a Lido seat bolt mount. I have to run external speakers if I want to hear either radio clearly. This is in my 2023 Ford Escape. I run the 20 watt Midland SPK100 in my Honda Pioneer 500 UTV.

I run my kg1000 at 25 on both a/b sides to hear it well. It is loud but it’s not loud enough for mud tires and windy days.