Leaderboard

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.

I have shared similar stories with others over time that want to get into the radio hobby. Getting in cheap may not always keep them involved with poor performance. Buying quality equipment that works normally keeps them around a bit more. Its not only the subscribers but also when it comes to repeaters. A MTR3000 with a duplexor and DB404 is going to out perform and Baofeng back to back with separate mag mounts on an ammo can....but some people dont get that. (BTW not saying folks need to invest 15K for a repeater but my point was you get what you pay for)

The standard Morse speed for commercial (Part-90) repeater controllers is 25 WPM. The maximum speed for amateur radio repeaters is 20 WPM, but amateur stations using commercial repeaters often use the 25 WPM setting, and I don't think anyone has ever been cited for it. The older Bridgecom repeaters can be set for 10, 20, or 25 WPM. I'm not sure about the newer Bridgecoms, but I would assume they are similar. I have heard faster Morse sent on some machines. There are some that I can't copy, and I can copy 20 WPM by ear. I had to record one ID, and open it up in audio editing software so I could slow it down to the point of readability. I calculated it at 60 WPM. It was as ID that would play every time a phone patch was dropped. I knew there weren't supposed to be phone patches on GMRS, but when I ran the ID, it turned out that it is an old business licensed repeater on a GMRS frequency pair that has been grandfathered in. That brings up a topic for another thread: Even though grandfathered, it is still a GMRS license, not Part-90... so should they be allowed to use a phone patch?

Start with a good quality 1/4 wave antenna on an NMO mount. If you find there are stations that you hear, but weakly, then try a 3db gain of some type. Lots of recommendations on the forum. But, most likely, you will be fine with the 1/4 wave.

I recommend the Kenwood UHF commercial radios. There are lots of them out there used for less than $100, and most if not all of them are legal for GMRS.