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RG8x on UHF? Definitely not a optimal choice no matter where it's made. I use RG400 on all my NMO mobile installs. It's quality stuff even if it's made in an Asian country.

DCS code "123" is not a standard code nor is it in the MXT400 DCS table. DCS "125" code is in the table or you can select the decode DCS be "Off". The DCS "411" is a valid DCS code. The MXT400 will do split tones or codes even a split combo of CTCSS/DCS. If you want to set up a simplex channel to transmit on a specific channel directly to another radio device talking around the repeater, you would program your radio to transmit and receive the output freq of the repeater, in this case, the respective 462 MHz freq for that channel, with the same repeater output tone freq or DCS Code with your transmit freq. It isn't necessary to program a receive tone or code for you to have direct communication with another radio.

I understand that some repeater owners want to know who is using their repeater even though they list it as open and therefore the request permission option is set. It’s their repeater so I guess it’s their prerogative. I do personally feel if it’s open then turn requests off. Less to deal with for the owner for sure. I guess it depends on how people behave in a given area. One thing I think for repeater owners that is not a great choice is listing a repeater as permission required, keeping the tones hidden and then using 141.3 as your tones. Many consider this to be a travel tone and may not be a great choice for a permission required repeater if the owner is trying to make it obvious it has restricted use. Just my two cents.

If the repeater is using different tones for RX/TX (123/411), and you enter the input tone (123) in your radio for both TX and RX, your radio will not receive any audio from any station on that channel that isnt transmitting that tone (123) - you'll see the signal bars light up on your screen but no audio from the repeater. ***Just re-read your question and missed the whole (CH19/RPT19 part), and in short, yes you are correct - if you put tone 411 as receive on RPT19 and simplex channel 19, you will only hear traffic from stations sending the 411 code (ie, the repeater)

With the Midland MXT-400 I have a similar question regarding the split tones. Say for example, the repeater receives a TRANSMITTED Tone (RX) on the CH 19 of 123 and then transmits the message out to the world on (TX) tone 411. It seems to me I could just set the RX tone to the input code (say channel Rp19) and do the same for the output channel 19. Of course I would only hear the output of the repeater and nothing transmitted simplex correct?

I've been thinking of turning access request off on mine.. My repeater is open with no tones. It's there for anyone to use as advertised. Of course, rules apply. Only had one problem early on when a local guy insisted on belching every other day on the repeater, until i actually busted him doing it as he was sitting in his mini van in a nearby grocery store parking lot. Kind of funny when you roll up on someone and you nail em .. Never had a problem since. Nuff said.

So you have a ground plane antenna with out a proper ground plane? Why bother you neutered your antenna. The whole system is not good at that point. You probably 1/4erd your tx distance. All that time and money wrapped up in a bad ground plane makes the rest pointless.

I don't have a repeater so I don't know what the setup page looks like. My point was the combination presented should be logical from the user's perspective.

One friend is using a rugged radio G4, and the other is using a Radioddity GM-30 handheld. I will have them check if they are set to wideband, and also I will try holding the mic at different positions. Thanks for the help.

If The Repeater Owner Has Previous Approved Or Denied Requests Attached To Their myGMRS Repeater Log, The "Request Access Disabled" Function Is No Longer An Option, Regardless Whether The Station Is Listed As Open - With Or Without The Squelch Tones. The Only Way To Correct & Have That Option Available, Is To Delete The Listing, Which Deletes Previous Requests, & Re-post The Repeater Station. Some Repeater Operators In WI Done That When They Went From A Paid To An Open Repeater Station.

It is certainly interesting when you chart it that way. As you say, the SWR improved on the bands for which the antenna was not designed, but not on the bands for which it was designed. In effect, it made this antenna a little more broad-banded. Now I need to do some more testing. I'll try a couple of different antennas and maybe the dummy load test.

He's using a nanovna -- it has the smith chart on it.

Some fancy pictures you have there! How did you draw them maybe a swirl o'graph? I had a SWR meter on the CB but it was a needle and flat graft of numbers. Reminds me of the ole navagation system Loran C location mapping.....

Thanks for posting.

That does make a difference, but what is the actual difference? How much of the difference is due to the antenna? Are the cables exactly the same length? Have you tested the insertion loss for each cable at each tested frequency? Remember, attenuation in an antenna makes SWR appear better. I believe these are the tabular results and I’ve arranged them by frequency It appears the older cable actually results in lower SWR for the 2 meter and 70 cm bands when connected to an antenna designed for those frequencies according to the value in the upper left of the screen. It would be interesting to see a single wideband sweep of just the cables into a dummy load to eliminate the effects of the antenna. Frequency Old Cable SWR -> New Cable SWR 462.000-470.000. SWR 1.900:1 -> 1.495:1 441.000-450.000. SWR 1.464:1 -> 1.498:1 151.800-154.600. SWR 1.888:1 -> 1.408:1 144.500-146.400. SWR 1.151:1 -> 1.395:1

There are some that are listed as Open but have tones unlisted and the request button enabled. Shouldn't @rdunajewski set up the site so that combination isn't possible, i.e. should be Permission Required in that case? There is/was one, now offline, that was Permission Required and Request Access disabled - shouldn't that be Members Only Free? These options need to make sense and apparently leaving it up to the repeater owners to choose sensible options is a failed exercise.

I was surprised. On the forums, there's always someone saying how Chinese coax is crap, real men only by USA cable, etc., but nobody's ever shown me the actual results. This is only one specific set of circumstances, and it's possible that if I had a good ground plane under the antenna, or a different antenna, the difference wouldn't be so obvious. Maybe in some cases, there's not enough difference to make a difference (RIP Paul Harrell), but in this case, it was worth the extra expense.

Would anyone here be interested in setting up a trivia game bi-weekly or monthly? A different person would volunteer to create the questions and keep give answers at the end of each round. Maybe 2 or three rounds of 10 questions. Scoring would be on the honor system. No prizes, just for fun and bragging rights.

That's really something. Even with such a short length, it makes a big difference.

IME, the general rule is that assuming both antennas are appropriate to the band I want to use, I'll get a bit more distance and clarity both rx and tx with the longer antenna. Often it isn't enough to matter, buy sometimes it's pretty noticeable. Individual radios may sometimes prefer one antenna over another for reasons I don't understand. That's kind of a long way around to say try them both under the same conditions and see what you get.

I recently installed some NMO mounting points on my truck, but for a variety of reasons, I wasn't entirely satisfied with them and decided to do it over. For the first installation, I used generic Chinese RG8X coax, but this time I went with USA-made MPD digital RG8X. The first thing I noticed was that the MPD coax is much more flexible and easier to work with, but even more significant is what happened to my SWRs/Smith graphs. With the Chinese coax feeding a Diamond SG7900 Super Gainer NGP 2m/70cm dual-band antenna, the 2 meter and 70 centimeter bands were good, GMRS was in the "I can tolerate it if I don't use it too often" range and MURS (Which I've never used and could live without, but why not test it?) Started at 2.0:1 and went up from there. The first four pics are the sweeps of GMRS, 2m, 70cm, and MURS in that order with the Chinese coax and the last four are the same after changing to the MPD coax on the same antenna. 2m and 70cm remained good and even improved a little, but GMRS and MURS improved dramatically -- all the way to, "Yeah, that'll do." If (like me) you have sometimes wondered, "Does it really make that much difference?" the answer is yes, it does. The MPD ain't cheap at $2.34/foot, but I only needed 30 feet. TBH, even if I needed 100 ft, I'd buy the MPD. The difference is that obvious. As the saying goes, if you buy the best, you only cry once.

Can you receive those same repeaters as well with the shorter antenna? You answered your own question.

Welcome, Zack!

No flashing required. Some early models had a few differences: USB-A and R8 firmware, and some USB-C models had the R8 firmware; so I specified to help whoever stumbles on this next. Could probably ship to Midland to flash. But you're right, at that point it's worth upgrading. But hey, gotta start somewhere!

I get people telling me the same thing from time to time. With no mic gain you just need to talk softer or further away. A good habit is to never use more power than you absolutely need! Use low power for all wheeling situations. When I use my kg1000+ people say I sound over modulated but when my family talks on the same radio to me I think they all sound fantastic which makes me wonder if some types of voices don’t do well on the kg1000+.