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The antenna farm cable is a USB to serial cable and is not a two-part cable. It connects the computer's USB port to the Mic jack on the VXR-7000. As for the software, I run it on my Linux computer using Wine with the Windows XP profile, and once the proper COM port was configured, it worked well for me. I purchased a used VXR-7000 and added a duplexer to it, installed in a similar manner to the "official" Vertex model, then programmed it using the cable and software from Antenna Farm. I'm about to turn it on to test it out, so hopefully it will all work as planned.

It’s never to late to get started.

The nice thing about both GMRS and HAM is you can put as much effort into it as you want and enjoy radio. I got a HAM license years and years ago and upgraded to General. I recently got into GMRS because my family can get involved and don't have to take the test. There is not much traffic on GMRS where I live. I still listen to 2m and 70cm via local repeaters. I also still listen to SW. Enjoy whatever part of the radio world you choose to use. These days there are a lot of good resources on the web. Sean

I figured it out! Not only do you have to right-click KG905G desktop icon--> properties--> compatibility mode, you must run the app in Windows Admin! Thanks for the help, guys.

The operation performed by the Function Keys A, B and C on top of the radio are changed by altering the settings of Menu Function 48, 49, and 50. (Example: Press , then scroll to the setting you want to assign to the button, . Hope that helps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I don't care what other people do but absolutely no roger beeps on my radios. The absolute last thing I would want with my professional quality commercial radios is for them to sound like FRS bubble packs. I have played around with MDC1200 signaling in Motorola radios and Fleetsync signaling in Kenwood radios. I haven't used DTMF signaling because it's too d@mn slow. I put the PTT ID at the start of a transmission, not at the end. It can be programmed as Pre or Post, or Both. I like Pre instead of Post because it forces users to wait half a second for the Talk Permit Tone before speaking to allow receiving radios to wake up from battery save mode and allow for CTCSS and/or DCS to decode so the beginning of transmission aren't missed. I've played around with MDC1200 and Fleetsync signaling but eventually turn them off because they are annoying. Peace and quiet at the beginning and end of transmissions is a lot nicer.

According to the FCC grant the radio is rated 5 watts. https://fccid.io/2ASNSRT97 As far as filters, doesn't the RT97 already have a cavity duplexer in it? Have you verified that it's tuned? Being off center could be giving you several tens of dB of attenuation and cavity filters aren't wide bandwidths. Just temperature fluctuations can cause them to drift. You shouldn't need a preselector with a cavity filter unless you have a very strong source interfering. It's possible but you need to verify that overload is actually your problem. It's not likely to be out of band with cavity filters, which are going to give you 80, 90, 100dB of notch. You do sometimes see sensitivity issues when the transmitter isn't clean enough and the radios are interfering with each other despite the filters. It's possible and easy to test. Disconnect the transmitter from the duplexer and connect to it either a dummy load or another antenna and see if the reception improves. If this helps then it's not really easy to filter without incurring a lot of insertion loss that negates the steeper notch. Usually means you need a better transmit radio when this happens. When additional bandpass filters are used in repeaters there's usually an accompanying amplifier to offset and the preselectors are also cavities and not discretes. I'd really make sure the duplexer is tuned before anything else.

Done. Thanks! Sent from my SM-A125U using Tapatalk

The higher up in frequency you go, the more line-of-site it becomes. This means that, in part, obstacles have an increasingly adverse affect on range. In GMRS, height is might. The fewer the obstacles between two antennas the greater the effective range of the signal travel. 50, 60, 70 miles on earth is truly possible, but these ranges are also truly exceptional, not the norm. When a city has a repeater that seems to work well and covers the whole city it is because the repeater antenna is usually way above average terrain and well above most buildings. If you could put an antenna up to that same degree at your home you too would experience that same wonderful coverage. Case in point. I can open a repeater 50 miles north of my home using just a 5w HT while standing outside. Why? Because the repeater antenna is 500’ or so higher than me. Now, if I hook up that same HT to my base antenna at 40’, 5 watts is more than enough to carry on a clear conversation through that repeater. However, the base antenna, again at 40’ feet, is still only sufficient for reliable simplex communications from my base to a 5 watt HT out to about 1.5-2 miles. My base antenna needs to be raised higher to get more base-to-HT range. When I do raise the antenna to 55’ or so and I gain an additional couple of miles. Raising the antenna nearly always decreases the number of obstacles that attenuate the signal, so that is why it is so important for good communications. Hope this helps some. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I am glad you are enjoying your radio. I also have that same model on my Impala with the same antenna. It is my wife's primary vehicle and I have shown her how to use it. It is a great radio for a small setup that is easy to use.