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I was looking up specs on something else and stumbled upon yet another entry into the GMRS HT world. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-905g.html Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Alright, so I eliminated the 3’ cable and connected the radio to the dummy load using just an SMA to UHF adapter. I performed another test. This time I experienced full quieting reception out to about 300’, reliable reception with variable noise out to about 600’ and the complete loss of reception at about 975’. So it would seem the cable is definitely a contributor (perhaps 6dB more), but not the only one. That leaves us only two components. The radio itself and the dummy load. It would seem therefore it would take a faraday cage around one and then the other to determine which of these two ends up being the bigger radiator. One significant take away from this exercise is the knowledge that just because one is using a dummy load it should not be assumed that one is not transmitting a signal, but instead only that ones transmission range is being substantially reduced compared to a purposeful antenna. So, if a dummy load were being used say in a large apartment building or condo complex, the radio signal may still very well permeate the entire complex or even beyond. Also, as has been reported by me in other testing I have done, I experience very high propagation loss around me. Those without the dense stands of trees and other obstacles I have may very well see their signal travel much further. Thanks for all your input. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Have you tried talking to and from a company issue radio? Is there any delay in that mode? This is a common problem with cheap Chinese radios. Users cannot get them to work reliably with other radios or repeaters. They may be totally out of tune or have a defect because they are not engineered to the standards that more expensive radios are. Then we have the programming using "Chirp" software which is intended for ham radio operators, who may or may not have technical savvy to sort out the potential problems. If they cannot, its not a problem because they are playing in the ham radio "sand box" not a business or public safety environment (hopefully). Frankly I am surprised your employer is letting you use your own radio on the job. Your company selected a vendor, that admittedly is offering some pretty low end stuff, but it is perhaps well sorted out by their technicians before putting into service. How did you get the frequencies and DPL? Did your employer hand you the information or did you monitor it off the air? If off the air you may have frequencies transposed or erroneous, the DPL may be the wrong one because cheap radios respond with multiple solutions, two or three of which are probably wrong.

Well, couple things probably going on. First is what cable were you using? I am guessing that it was RG-58 or some other inexpensive cable. I have seen this before with both poor cables and damaged cables / improperly installed connectors on cables where the shield was failing at the connection point. It would be interesting to see what the cable loss on the cable you were using was. Cables are a mixed bag. As are connectors. A good quality phase stabilized lab grade test cable that is 6 feet long will cost over 200 bucks. And the cable due to the connectors are rated for a certain number of uses as the connectors wear and begin to leak RF, and the captive center pins begin to loose their springiness and fail to conduct as well. Mind you this is stuff that is used in the microwave engineering arena's and not even considered at the two-way LMR level of work. But professional two-way guys even pay attention to their cables when dealing with 700/800 stuff. I personally have seen overused cables cause radios to fail tests and alignments that were addressed by simply replacing a worn out cable. If you were getting enough signal to hear it 1/8 of a mile away, you have a bad cable. There is no other logical explanation unless the radio you were using had an internal antenna, or the antenna design was such that the antenna connectors outer body was the live connection. Newer better quality radios use a SMA or BNC connector for the antenna. Some of the old stuff like Motorola SP50's and others the antenna had no center conductor and fed the RF to the threaded part of the antenna. This of course would turn the cable shield, dummy load body into an antenna. second was the quality of the dummy load. Again, there are a number of grades of test equipment. The old 'cantenna' dummy loads that were designed for ham HF use were a poor quality load and were designed for HF only use. A good lab grade load is going to have an N connector or other good quality connector on it. Be mounted with a flange mount and have a single non-inductive 50 ohm resistor in it. Others, not so much.

ive had mine for a few days and with mine vs the ht on the same antenna i def hear more with the 1000g, antenna was a homebrew jpole. just put up a dpdproductions GMRS outdoor base antenna and the receive is even better on kg. picking up repeaters that i didnt get previously with the same radio and my jpole..dont judge me for using a jpole im a poor jeep owner and i built it for 10 bucks...

I just heard one on the local GMRS repeater. I agree about the audio. Very crisp and clear. Nice sounding radio.

Got a pair delivered today, charged them up and programmed using software I downloaded. Was a bit of a pain getting the program to link to a com port but once I did it was easy. Both radios put out a full 5W on my Bird 43, with no fade out and the audio is loud and crisp. Will test more in the coming days, overall very pleased.

Also, don't forget the other stuff you can do, like EHF, Satellite communications, etc.