Leaderboard

Just a note about that. I've had very good luck using toothpaste to polish up the plastic screen on several radios I got used. I got scratches out I thought would never clean up. It takes a lot of work to rub out the scratches, toothpaste is a VERY mild abrasive. I used it straight from the tube on a paper towel while using a fair amount of pressure. Tilting the radio so the light reflects off the surface is a very good test to see how the polishing is going. I wipe the screen down with a wet paper towel first so I can get a clear view of the surface. At the end I sometimes use an electric toothbrush to do the final polishing. I did spend about an hour or more on the more damaged screens. On several radios when I got done the screens could have passed for new if you didn't do a real detailed examination. If you can't get a replacement case or don't want to spend the money the above procedure works well. Nothing like getting a used radio at a good deal, then clean it up where it looks almost new. 8-))

I guess this was the culmination of what started with just a couple of Baofengs UV-5R back in 2013ish... So, couple of days ago I finally bit the bullet and got my first XPR7550e, been eyeing those for a long time, form factor and performance, I've even programmed a couple for a friend, but never really tested them.... But now this one is mine... my own, my precious.... hahaha, and I just cannot even begin to describe how amazing this radio is. I ran every possible test I could think of, high RF noise, no antenna, ... everything short of an ISOTEE test (since the 7550e doesn't have an SMA connector)... and the 7550e beat every other commercial grade radio I own by an ample margin. Including EVX-539 portables, XPR6550s... and it utterly humiliated the garbage China radios... it demolished all those CCRS even harder than the EVX/6550 did... We did a 1 watt range test, on foot, one XPR6550 at home, ground floor, and the XPR7550e, along with a few other radios on us. Remember, terrain around here is very hilly, not flat, this is Madison WI, where you won't find a flat piece of land anywhere... So, we walked exactly 1.89 miles distance on 1 watt, ground to ground, before the XPR7550e was the only radio left standing, the only one able communicate with the 6550 at home. Measured RSSI Signal strength on the 7550e screen was -118 dBm @ 1.89 miles. Considering this radio would still produce audible (and intelligible) digital audio all the way down to ~ -129 dBm, I think it still had, at least, 1/4 mile of range left on it... The XPR7550e was using the PMAE4070A antenna, and all other radios used PMAE4048A antennas, except for the GD77 which used a Vertex Standard UHF antenna since it uses the sticking out SMA (female)... At that distance, 1.89 miles, even my best-tuned EVX-539 portable, with a really good Motorola GMRS antenna PMAE4048A, the RX light was just blinking but no audio could be heard. The XPR6550 was about the same as the EVX-539... the light would blink, but no audio heard either. All those LMR radios stopped communicating at about the same distance, or around the 1.5 miles mark, and at 1.6 miles the digital robotic/breakup made voice communication 100% unintelligible on all those. We also tested the following China radios on DMR: Alinco MD5 (made by AnyTone) Baofeng BF-1801Radioddity GD-77 Retevis RT-52 The Alinco MD5 was the best of the pack, it performed similar to the EVX-539/6550, and also used the same PMAE4048A antenna, but at 1.89 miles the light would simply randomly blink and no audio could be heard. Then the BF-1801, the GD-77 and the RT-52... all those stopped receiving audio completely at about .5 miles from the house, that's right, these cheap pieces of utter crap weren't able to communicate with a Motorola XPR6550 after just 0.6 miles... and you wonder why you don't have any range with these CCRs?... I think its time to stop wasting money, start saving up for a 2nd hand XPR7550e, just like I did... mine is used, it has a couple of small scratches on the screen... but those scratches on the screen certainly didn't stop it from demolishing the "mint condition" RT-52 and all these pieces of China garbage... Yes, I know, you need the CPS, you need a cable, heck, you need to actually invest some money to field a XPR7550e... I know, I know it quite well, b/c I also started with x2 Baoturd UV-5R CCR radios... but looking in retrospect I should've gone directly with an XPR7550e, I can safely say that it would've saved me a lot of money, a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out why my radio range was measured in tenths of an inch rather that in tens of miles.... G.

Thanks all! Going to digest this and see where it goes.

I have several LFP, Lithium Iron Phosphate, batteries. Gave up on any type of Lead Acid since they tend to get wrecked if you don't keep them on a battery tender at all times to trickle charge. The LFP's can be charged up and sit around for months or longer, great for emergency use, and they don't discharge hardly at all. In fact for long term storage it's recommended NOT to fully charge them. Try that with a Lead Acid type and you will kill it. The LFP batteries have a higher terminal voltage, around 13.3 VDC to 13.4 VDC when charged making them a better match to mobile equipment that expects a nominal 13.8 VDC. When the battery is nearly discharged, 90 plus percent, the terminal voltage is still around 12.8 VDC more or less. A Lead Acid battery is around 12 VDC when its at 50 percent capacity. Most mobile equipment spec's 13.8 VDC at +/- 15 percent so the low voltage cut off is at 11.5 VDC. You won't get most of the capacity out of a Lead Acid battery before the electronics starts to shut down or misbehave. The down side to LFP batteries is the cost and you need a special LFP charger for them. If you do buy a battery make sure you get a charger for it. I also have several MPPT charge controllers for solar panels. The charge controllers are used to keep the battery packs up. The link below is for a company that is friendly to two-way radio users for batteries and chargers. I have one of the 6 amp-hour packs for portable handheld radios and one of the 40 amp-hour ones for fixed location use. The charge controllers I have are from this company below. I have several of the GV-5 charge controllers for LFP batteries. https://sunforgellc.com/genasun/#gen_product_row The company below has decent prices on solar panels. I have a couple of the 50 watt, one 30 watt, and a couple of the 10 watt mono crystalline panels. https://www.renogy.com/solar-panels/ If anybody has a need for a pure sine wave inverter this company has some good products. I have the 300 watt version with a builtin GFI. https://gpelectric.com/product-category/inverters/pure-sine-wave-inverters/ For connections I use Anderson Power Pole connectors. A good source is from Powerwerx. Also one or two of the DC inline power meters comes in handy too. https://powerwerx.com/anderson-power-powerpole-sb-connectors https://powerwerx.com/watt-meter-analyzer-inline-dc-powerpole

I have a pair of 6-Volt Trojan golf cart batteries sitting in a large plastic tote just outside of the house. The batteries are hooked in series with a 100 Amp Maxi Fuse for short-circuit protection. I have #2 copper welding cables running inside the house to a ground bar, and a 12 Volt distribution block with 12 ATO type fuses. (look for 'marine fuse block') Everything in my ham shack, including my GMRS repeater, runs from that. I have a regulated power supply hooked up to it to float-charge the batteries. The power rarely goes out here, but if it ever did, I have a portable 5KW Generac Niagara mounted to a steel wagon siting in my garage, ready to wheel out and plug into the changeover panel on the back of the house.

Yes, the XPR7550e has some great performance. There's also a plethora of programmable audio options, and you can purchase (or not) a bunch of minor EID's that will enable things like Face-down mute, Enhanced Noise Cancellation (SINC+) Receive Audio Leveling, and Bluetooth. One point about your testing - be real careful just swapping around antennas just because they fit the connector. I think if you do a back to back test with the standard EVX ATU-16D antenna, you'll find an improvement over the PMAE4048 Motorola antenna. I think if you measure the length, you'll see that the Vertex "Standard" (Pun intended) antenna is a bit shorter. I've also noticed that the aftermarket Vertex antennas available by the dozen on Ebay seem to have issues with breaking apart internally due to over-torquing.

Personally I would go the route of batteries as the primary backup. Then, because I have them, I would use them also as the primary power source. I would keep them topped off at all times using a high-quality smart charger; one the floats when full and recharges fast. If I were planning for extended power outages, I would then look to either a propane generator or solar panels. If generator, I would use propane because I have 400 gallons almost always available onsite and fuel does not go bad. In the event of extended power outage, and assuming I was using a generator to recharge the battery, I would likely use a high-capacity smart charger to allow bringing the batteries up to full capacity with least amount of generator runtime, thus making the most efficient use of the generator when it was on. I would use small UPS units only for short term specialty needs like a computer because most are not designed for long-term use and because they have generally very limited storage capacity. UPS in general are not incredibly efficient. They use power to convert voltage from DC to AC. They will also draw your batteries down when turned on, even when you are not drawing any load from them yourself. I hope this helps. Regards, Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

That would be an advantage of a radio-on-a-chip and any modern radio over an old brick 3170. They are much more power-efficient when receiving. What helps is a new Li-Ion battery off ebay. My 3170 is usually good for the whole day (12-14 hours) with moderate talking. I did not know the AA pack exists, even if it does it is not really an option. The current when transmit is significant, that alkaline batteries cannot sustain for long. That probably is a reason for strange display effects and malfunction.

I know this is going to sound strange, but I have had to deal with this several times in the past. Fixing it on their end, psychologically, usually works best. First, never do or say anything on the air that would give the troublemakers an indication that they are impacting you. That is what they want... to know they are trolling you. The next thing to do is to make them think they are having zero affect on you. On repeater systems, We have gotten 3 or 4 people together in a parking lot and all started talking to each other on the mobiles, via the repeater. Even though jammers were jamming the repeater, we can all hear each other directly and just keep talking on the radio, having a full convo. Whenever the jammer lets his/her mic up and hears everyone talking as if nothing is happening, they start to realize that they are not impacting you. Then, they give up and go away. We do that on HF all the time too. We get some knucklehead try to cause interference on frequency, but most of the guys in the club are friends, we we get on the phone and talk over the phone in a conf call and on the radio at the same time. Me and my buddy Danny only live 35 miles apart and both have 1,500 watt stations. When someone tries to interfere with us, we just talk right over them. Using the methods I mention... usually 2 or 3 minutes of not getting the attention they want, and get get bored and go away. Lot easier than calling the FCC, who rarely does anything.

Man, I wish you the best of luck and if someone hasn't said it recently, thank you for allowing use of your repeater (even if it's down now, or inaccessible, thanks are due for your generosity, regardless). There are none within range of my home....dang it. But I do know there are many out there you've probably never heard from who appreciate yours being on the air. My daughter's a quadriplegic who still loves to camp, and one of her favorite sites has no cell service. We haven't been back since I've gotten my gmrs license, but there's a nice tall repeater nearby, and it disturbs me to think jerks like this will compromise my (and everyone else's) ability to punch out an emergency message efficiently.

They probably got scared when he did the drive by. If it happens again then yup I would report it. Personally, I wouldn't change a thing. Just to promote it happening again. When it does just have a buddy drive by in a black tahoe/suburban. Make sure to slap as many mag mounts on it before it drives by. Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

I'm not sure if any of you ever got a communications license for a business before, but it is really expensive and time consuming. I charge customers around $3,000 per site, for a single frequency, and I'm not even the final coordinator. They charge as much as another $500 per application. I have seen applications take months... even beyond a year in some cases, if the FCC asks for changes or amendments in order to come into compliance. And you can't legally operate until the license is approved. That means all of the engineering documents are submitted, surveys are submitted, etc. You could spend $10,000-$15,000 for a small, local commercial radio system for just one frequency and a few radios. Many businesses find it much easier and cheaper to stick to free services like FRS and MURS for that very reason.