NX-1300DUK5 RSSI Display

A little known feature in some commercial radios is a very useful RSSI, Received Signal Strength Indicator, meter. The example is my recently acquired Kenwood NX-1300DUK5 radio. The RSSI feature is listed as "maintenance" as one of the selections for the configurable menu items. I added it to one of the user configurable menus. The reading should be in dbm. The current reading shown is -113dbm on the display.

The main use for this type of signal strength display is doing repeater coverage area surveys. It gives you an idea of how well a repeater is getting into a particular area. Also some repeater systems use multiple remote receivers with a signal strength "voter" feature, which will pipe the audio from the receiver with the best signal strength to the transmitter.

A few radios can use the RSSI info when doing site roaming. When the signal strength drops below a preprogrammed level the radio will start scanning for another repeater with a better signal.