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Missouri just enacted a hands free law at the beginning of the year. And they specifically state that amateur radio operators are exempt from the new law. Though no one should be driving distracted. Radios with everything built into the hand mic do have their place and use. A lot of newer vehicles just don't have the room to mount a complete radio or even a good spot for a remote head unit. And there is the factor of wanting to stay discrete with one's radios. These types of radios are not for everyone, but that is okay, variety is the spice of life.

I use a Tera GMRS/MURS radio to monitor the local police radio, so some will appreciate the ability. The main benefit I see is the ability to remote mount the unit in small vehicles like mine. The other is the bluetooth ability since in some states, mone included, the hands free laws apply to GMRS. The way my state wrote the newest regulations exempts licensed amateur radio users, but that related to HAM and not GMRS. It was badly written unfortunately, so GMRS requires hands free.

The same goes for capacitors too. Some of the machines I use to work on had banks of 24 to 36 capacitors that were bigger than a soda can. I forgot the actual farad rating for those but it was in the KF range.

You aren't everyone. In some states you can no longer use a radio without a hands free setup, so this radio addresses that issue. The ability to use a phone app to program the radio via bluetooth is also a nice feature. You no longer have to hook the radio up to a computer to program advanced features. Not a bad thing. I have numerous computers, but hate Windows, so I generally run Linux, one programming application I need doesn't run under Linux...yet, I am still trying. As a result, I run Windows on a Mac under a virtual machine for that application. This radio will fill the need for many people, probably not you, but once again, contrary to unpopular belief, you aren't the only one buying radios.

We are using air dielectric hardline.

Nitrogen Is Used On An Air Dielectric Coaxial Cable To Keep The Cable Slightly Pressurized & Reduce The Chance Of Moisture Infiltration. It Is Never Required For Any Purpose Or Use On Foam Type Dielectric Hardline.

I was just going to mention finding out that just because an old B&W TV was unplugged doesn't mean it can't bite. There are just places you shouldn't put a screwdriver.

The guys that installed our 7/8" and 1 1/4" Heliax purged and filled the coax with nitrogen. That has been years ago so no idea if the nitrogen is still in the coax or not.

You mean pull a vacuum....

Same here. I find I grab my RigExpert Stick Pro most of the time. A good antenna analyzer is definitely more expensive. I do find that the Stick Pro does most of what I need and I hardly use my NanoVNA anymore. There is a bit of learning curve with the NanVNA's but there are plenty of YouTube videos about how to use them.

I was looking on the map today and don't see the above repeater. If I remember correctly it was just south of Eureka. I also had a second repeater listed that had the same name, but a freq. of 462.725. Did this get taken down, storm damage? I showed on listed on Pinkham Mt., the other on Black Butte. Thanks, Dave

Make sure you pressurize and ground it

I picked up one of those mini Spectrum Analyzers. Interesting device, seems to work o.k.

I actually asked that about the Heliax cables because the center conductor was hollow. Turns out it's a weight and flexibility thing.

I had the coax assemble made by buytwowayradio and they looked like quality connectors. I got my Heliax coax assemble from theantennafarm. The only difference in the installation is I asked for shrinkwrap on the Heliax. Not sure if it was an option on the 239. Much better of a quality connector than in my younger CB days.

I have not used any radio tube amp but have used and repaired a few guitar/bass tube amps. The one machine shop was still using a larger surface grinder that was used tubes. So I have some experience working with them. Our club's VEC has an old 2000 watt tube amp that came out of the local AM radio station decades ago. We keep teasing him by asking when he is going to install that in his pickup truck. The amp is out the same size as a small 18 cubic inch refrigerator I remember working on the old TVs as a kid. one of my uncles owned a TV repair shop.

all things that normal people, aka the average GMRS user that this radio is marketed to, do not care about. This radio is marketed to normal people, not radio-dorks - It seems like you may be out of touch with what normal people want.

Another gimmicky radio on the market. There is no real need for having the ability to monitor the Aviation Band, FM, etc on a two-way radio. I wonder how often people really need and listen to that stuff. I'm not sure if the Queen stated if this radio was a hetrodyne or a SOC radio. Also, there was no mentioning of real radio features such as, talk around/simplex/direct, Monitor/PL Defeat, Radio Zone/Banks. The only feature that I see being a benefit is the channel capacity. Maybe this radio will motivate Midland to increase the channel capacity of the MXT575, and hopefully they don't follow suit and add any of the foo foo gimmicky features. It's best to keep it simple.

I like my NanoVNA also. It can do a lot, including measuring insertion loss and SWR. But I bought two different RigExpert analyzers and I haven’t used the NanoVNA since. However, the difference in price was a few hundred dollars.

i think everyone should start using Waveguide

I like the stealth approach, perfect for Jeeps ets.. For the price, hard to beat.. I like the Bluetooth programing, wish more radio manufacturers would do this.

Actually, the most used 'tool' i use.. Wished it worked on allegories. Hot Damn-it

If your coax is good I would cut both connectors off and install quality new ones, preferably N connectors. Professionally installed connectors are the worst for quality and reliability. Only premade cables I would use that had "Professionally installed" connectors would be Heliax or RFS hardline.

Works fine with the Firefox browser.

You really don't want to get bit by the high voltage from a tube amplifier, it will wake you up. You youngsters missed the good old days of flyback transformers connected to CRT, they hold their voltage for a long time after being de energized.