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Looking at this again, that is a 10 Amp power supply, which in reality probably provides enough power for the normal functions of the radio. If the radio is fused for 15 amps then that usually means the highest consumption of current shouldn't exceed 12 amps. It could be lower and many times the fusing is to protect the wiring. It will be interesting to see what the actual current consumption is when the radio is stress tested. As soon as I get my hands on a radio I'll put a DC ammeter on it and peg it at one of the higher wattage channels and then we'll know. Thanks!

I HAVE ONE OF THOSE SUPPLYING POWER TO ONE OF THE KG-XS20G'S RIGHT NOW, WORKS GREAT!

Your dish mount should be grounded already. But if it is not grounded, you should ground it. Ideally to it's own ground rod with #4 wire (according to the code) or at least to something that's already grounded. That would not be by the code, but it will allow static electricity to discharge through something other than your radio. Static is generated in surprising amounts just from the wind.

You should be good to go. Just use the hose clamps that are provided. Put the top hose camp at the very top of the dish bracket arm.

There is no requirement that transmitters for different services were in different rooms or vehicles. "Station" is an equipment, not a location.

This isn't entirely true. There are "closed" repeaters that are intended to be used only by club members or members of specific groups (such as Search and Rescue). This seems to be the exception for the most part; many ham repeaters are "open" to all licensed hams to use freely. In fact, for most that I'm aware of, use of the repeater is encouraged, likely to increase traffic and give people someone else to talk to. Unlike many GMRS users, most hams I've met like to talk to others whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Glad I could help, and usual caveats apply (driver is in development, use at own risk, part 95 yadda yadda). Really do hope some fully fledged drivers for the Wouxun GMRS models get developed eventually. Definitely wouldn't be hard to port over the existing ones that sort-of work on the 805 and 935; I just don't have that sort of coding skill or confidence! It is a huge help to have CHIRP just for channel editing alone. It's downright painful to move or reorder channels in the manufacturer software.

Yeah, I got 12 volts in the RV but much easier to plug into a 120 volt outlet not only for now but in the future if I want to use it in the shop or wherever. Until I can put an ammeter on the circuit I won't know exactly what I'm dealing with so for the moment I'm going with the 20 amp power supply per the operator's manual. I'll check it out after I get it hooked up and then report back.

I wish I could like this post more than once... This PERFECTLY sums up my verbiage and writing from the from my post from September 28th, 2020 on page 3... Literally I've read through this half a dozen times and wrote down key points before going live on my tower site. I was going to go into this in my first post from last year but I thought it might have been off-topic but you can see now clearly it's *NOT* off topic. I wanted to thank you for writing this and leaving this post here, it's VERY good and I hope others actually read through the entire Part 95 thing as well.

Thanks Earl. I'm anticipating good things. I used my DB20G and the Bingfu mag mount (on a metal skillet) a few weeks ago and was able to hit the nearest repeater and talk to the folks over the hill (no the clearest transmission, but it worked), so this has gotta beat that, by far. ??

Unfortunately, I don't know much about antenna grounding. But I do know that copper J-poles and roll-up J-poles do not need a ground.

Sounds very cool. Good luck getting everything cabled together. 25 watts pushed through a roof antenna should give you very good range.

The section of the rules quoted refers to over the air communications. It's very common to have multiple sets of radios grouped together which operate on different radios services. It makes no difference on the location or proximity of the equipment. It's not uncommon to find Ham, GMRS, FRS, CB, police, fire etc. radios all in one location. The communications are maned by people with the appropriate licenses and or agency authorizations for transmitting. You don't need a license to just monitor, a very important point. To further clarify what's going on is the following. When a GMRS user communicates to another station he does so under GMRS rules. If the other station replies they also must operate under GMRS rules. For example if a GMRS user contacts myself on the air, using GMRS certified equipment and legal frequencies, and I respond I must also be using the same. I'm in fact dual licensed for both Ham Radio and GMRS. That doesn't preclude me from turning around and now using my Ham Radio to forward the message on legal Ham frequencies. When I do so I'm now operation under my Ham license and rules.

Here a link to the spec sheet for standard LMR400 https://timesmicrowave.com/DataSheets/CableProducts/LMR-400.pdf. Bend radius specifications are included within. They give two ratings. A once and done installation rating and another where repeated flex will occur. Yes, you can using a different cable for jumper, but is should be a 50-ohm jumper. Use the shortest practical length that suits your application. Do not deform your cable. Do not kink it. Do not secure it so tight that shape of the cable changes. Take and record reference measurements of your antenna system (feed-line, adapters, antenna) before permanently installing anything. Make sure all is acceptable first. If all is good, then install. Take SWR measurements along the journey so you can immediately spot any issues you have caused (such as kinking or deforming cable, effect of adapters, etc…). Yes, in most cases you can leave an SWR meter in circuit. Mine remains in circuit full time. I power it up when I need or want view readings, otherwise it remains off. It continues to pass signal when no power is applied. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I depends on the matching network (if any) on your GMRS antenna. If it has a matching network and it's a high pass type design it will attenuate the lower freq signal. I think many GMRS antennas do not require a matching network so not super likely that there is a high pass network in the bargain. I have tested a few dual band 2M/70cm antennas on my GMRS radio and SWR is just fine. Remember 465 MHz is only 8% higher than 430 MHz. That's not a big deal. Vince

Great that it's coming together for you. The jumper can be different size, just needs to be 50ohm coax. Do not leave the swr meter inline. Once you check it remove it. The antenna is pretty straightforward. Just bottom out all the stingers/radials and start from there. You should get a chart to see what the stinger needs to be cut down for gmrs if it hasn't been already tuned for GMRS. Coax: do not bend coax past a 12in loop and don't over tighten zip ties if you are using them to hold up the coax. Can't wait to hear your feed back once everything is setup.

Generally speaking, you'll want to use the SWR meter to ensure the antenna is properly tuned, then remove the meter. As for the "jumper" cable, no, it does not need to be the same as your feed line. A short length (12 to 18 inches is typical) of 50 ohm coax with suitable connectors is sufficient. Because of the short length and temporary nature of the connection, the type of coax doesn't matter much.

First off, Happy Friday and I hope all is well with y'all out there. Getting so close...radio (DB25G) arrived, coax (LMR400) arrived, the SWR(Surecom sw102s)meter and antenna (Larsen BSA450) should be here today. Any tips on putting that antenna together? The coax was a bit more "hardy" than I imagined it would be. I'm wondering, though, if there's anything I should know about running the cable? It seems there's a couple of tight turns and I don't want to stress out or break the cable, in any way that's going to affect its performance. One other small detail I overlooked, and that's a "jumper cable (I think that's what it's called) between radio and the SWR meter. Does that need to be the same gauge? What's a ideal length (how short do I go)? Is it okay to leave the meter permanently attached to my set up or just remove it once I'm sure of a good swr?

Turn to 144.39MHz and see if you would ever be able to get a word in. Now think you had out a handful of radios to family members and just let them go.

I address the specific question that was quoted. Rule exceptions under emergency conditions are another whole topic. Mingling the exceptions with standard operating conditions does nothing but confuse people. People can decide themselves what to do with their equipment. What’s needed is clarity. You can have a radio that operates on both Ham and GMRS. So is it really a Ham radio modified to operate on GMRS frequencies, or is it a GMRS radio that can be programmed to operate on Ham frequencies? If it’s as you believe then why aren’t all GMRS radios out of the box designed to work on the Ham bands WITHOUT mucking with it first such as using manufactures undocumented software mod’s and “mode” changes. The same question can be asked about Ham equipment. After all what are the “MARS/CAP” mod’s? Reading the rules for GMRS one requirement is the frequency determining controls are not accessible outside of the transmitter. This is necessary for Part 95 certification. The channel selector doesn’t count because all legal frequencies are preset and can’t be changed by the user. Enabling a VCO type operation violates that requirement and by definition no longer meets type certification. While you may not care there are others who do and shouldn’t be misled.

One fool can ask more questions than one hundred wise can answer, but I'll answer this: Specifically prohibited by 95.1733 (9). And I'm too lazy to look up an identical line in Part 97, but I'm sure it exists. Edit Ah, what the hell, here it is: 97.111 (b) and 97.113 (b)

He's on vacation.

Thanks Earl. I don't know who Michael, the site owner is, but yeah hopefully everything's okay. So here's what I finally went with for the homebase, and they should be here in a couple days: Larsen BSA 450 antenna - 30ft of LMR400 coax - Surecom SW102 - Radioddity DB25G I'm gonna get up there and remove the Dish, today or tomorrow,, and leave the bracket to mount the new antenna. then run the cable down into my office (not looking forward to crawling around in the rafters). Hopefully all goes smoothly and WROA675 will be up and running from home by weeks end.

For all of you that have rattled on about the 'cost' of putting up a GMRS repeater as an excuse.... We bought the TOWER SITE ours is on for 48K. So your few grand for an antenna and repeater don't hold water. Mind you they are not the ONLY radios on the tower. But crying about the cost of a repeater, antenna and line sort of falls on deaf ears for me. Spend 50K plus before you can even have somewhere to plug in the repeater and then we can talk. That being said. GMRS is NOT ham... it is a short form of private LMR. And you can have "closed" ham repeaters that are club only if you desire to do that. And you can require the payment of dues for entry into a club to get access to a ham repeater. The difference with GMRS and HAM is that with GMRS, you can do the same thing, BUT you can only take in enough money to support and maintain the GMRS system. It can't be for profit. And it can't go for club fee's or other nonrepeater costs. So my take is this.... it is YOUR repeater. You can choose to allow all comers, or you can choose to have it remain private and only used by you and your family. If you choose to accept donations... great. Electric costs money... tower site insurance costs money,, fixing stuff costs money... but while we would never refuse to take a donation,,, we will not ask for them either. Lets break down some REAL costs. Site 48K... rewire site 10K, monthly cost of ownership due to electrical and reaccuring stuff like taxes $200 - $400 TWO MTR uhf repeaters 800 each. 4 port combiner new cost, 8K per port. 600 feet of 7/8 hard line at 2 bucks a foot. Receive multicoupler for RX and window filter $3k new. Two DB-420 antennas (one TX one RX) 1.2K each new. I don't want to HEAR what it cost you. I don't much care... We are hosting TWO fully public GMRS repeaters which will be 3 total as soon as I get time to set down and repair the TK-850 Kenwood and program it. Then it will be 3 open repeaters. Tower is 240 feet tall. GMRS repeaters talk 3 counties away in most directions to a mobile with a reasonable antenna. When you spend that sort of jack and put forward that sort of effort, let me know and I will listen to how expensive it all is. Until then STOP hiding behind the cost of it. If you don't want to share, don't. There is ZERO requirement to do so. If you want to put up a repeater that is closed,, do it... but remember that if you are holding others back from having a repeater, because you happen to be able to cover 9 to 12 counties, don't. Will we be tying up 3 of the 8 repeater pairs,,, in a sense, yes. But they are open to ALL. And we have only irritated ONE person. He runs some sort of GMRS business. And the fact I am interleaved on his pairs, and stomp his coverage in the dirt with a single site where his crap is from here to there and back again and he STILL don't have the overall footprint we have. I honestly don't care if I am killing his pay to play GMRS business. And YES it's a business with an OHIO issued business license for GMRS. If you are reading this... you know WHO you are and who I am.... sorry but you don't get to claim all the freqs for your business and then be mad when someone comes in with a better system and allows folks on it for free.