Leaderboard

Could also be something as complicated as the volume knob....

I recently built a 50W repeater with two Wouxun KG-1000G radios.. It worked pretty well, but because the radios are not well-shieleded I got a lot of "desense" so my range was not as great as I'd hoped - It wasnt "cheap" either. I then got a used "real" repeater - a Vertex VXR-7000. You can find them from $400 to $1000 depending on the options, age/condition.. It works GREAT.. I live at the top of a hill so I get a huge coveragare area, about 40-60 miles in each direction. Bang for the buck, a good used "real" repeater might be the best bet.. although, I will be testing the Retevis RT97 soon to see how it compares.

It was an easy "impulse" buy for me at $22 and my desire to see the existing limits of this technology. The list of current models that it supports is woefully short; missing my two desired models: my Anytone AT-779UV in my car and my recently purchased for $28 Pofung P15UV (a/k/a Radioddity GM-30) for use in wargmrs'ing to detect repeater tones with its tone scanning feature. But it does support the Baofeng UV-5R for which I currently have 3 variants: UV-5RHP (8 watt), the UV-5x3 (tri-band) and RD-5R (DMR). So far I have only used it successfully with my UV-5RHP and unsuccessfully with my Pofung P15UV. I have yet to read the supporting User Sheet and it is relatively intuitive and easy to install (after first charging it with its included USB to USB Micro cable): Plug the device into the K-1 speaker/earphone jacks, turn on its power switch and turn on the UV-5R's power switch. Download the ODMaster App on my iPhone, click Program, then Connect Bluetooth, Turn on the Bluetooth connection to "TIDRADIO KIT, Select Model: BaoFeng UV-5R, click Read and as the transceiver blinks red, the BL-1 blinks green and the status bar moves from left to right on the ODMaster App. It then goes to Program & Setting with a choice of Channel or Function and all of the normal "Chirp-style" options are available as downloaded and easily modified and then click WRITE to upload the changes, with the blinking lights now both green as it uploads. I have not yet been able to get the SAVE feature to work: it presents me with a box that says Save to RX/TX List and I can give the file a name and then Confirm it. But I do not know where these files are stored and how to retrieve them. If I try to "experiment" with a model that is not the same as my HT, such as trying to experiment with my Pofung P15UV, it freezes up and I have to shut the dongle down and restart. I am somewhat optimistic that they will soon support the P15UV as TID Radio sells their clone, the TD-H5. I am not very optimistic about my RD-5R which is manufactured by Radioddity based upon their GD-77 DMR HT in the Baofeng format. Not even Chirp tends to support DMR radios which require more complicated database programming. And my Anytone has a R45 microphone/USB cable connector, so I am not too optimistic about this one either (although I would be willing to make a K-1 to R45 adapter if the ODMaster software ever supports it or one of its clones (Radioddity DB-20G)). Later today, I will pull out the User Sheet and see what I am missing. So next to confirm it works with my Baofeng Tri-bander, as well; which I suspect it easily will. All in all, it does what it claims to do but with a very limited list of supported radios at this time. And with new radios added to the list, presumably only the ODMaster software has to be Updated and still work with the BL-1 hardware.

Ed Fong has documented how to build a dual band J-Pole here: https://edsantennas.weebly.com/uploads/2/9/3/5/29358461/dbj-1_qst.pdf That should get you started in the correct direction, but it's going to be a build and test, tweak, update, test again.

I was able to reach them in a chat today. They said they expect a shipment before the end of September and anticipate my order will be filled soon. Thanks!

P25 is widely available, as that is really pushed as THE public safety mode now, and as such, all the manufacturers have built P25 equipment. Motorola, Kenwood (and Kenwood Viking), Icom, Tait and L3Harris all have P25 offerings, both Phase 1 and Phase 2.

A box will be heading your way next week Lou..

Lou: A box is going out to UPS today with the following: Baofeng UV-5R5 Baofeng BF-888S Baofeng BF-T1 and specialized programming cable (USB to USB-micro) All have been pre-programmed to your 4 repeater channels, two simplex channels and the remainder filled to the other GMRS/FRS channels as space remains. I did my due diligence and this is a tax deductible 501(c)(3) organization helping out the homeless of Atlantic City and I strongly encourage others here on myGMRS to donate their unused HTs to them (or a local homeless organization that is utilizing GMRS): https://www.havenstreets.org