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Well, my wife and I did share a bottle of Prosecco this week and I had great baked clams for lunch today, so maybe that’s why I could find it… ??

I posted this on another forum, but I figured it might be helpful to post it here as well. This is a comparison of some of the top of the line radios in the LMR/LEO market. Including the mighty APX8000, and the HT1250 from the 20th century... Added the Astro Systems Saber UPDATED: Feb-22-2022

Yes - I have the head 50 feet away from the base. Base is in the basement, head is upstairs in my office. I suspect you could go farther but at some point the resistance in the network cable would probably cause it to not work correctly/at all. I've had nothing but positive reports on radio checks running 50 feet and a 12.34v power supply (old server power supply I had laying around).

Okay… here are the numbers. I will list what the Midland test numbers are and what I got for results. My results – Max Output: 47.9w @ 462.550 MHz 12 dB SINAD Sensitivity: -122 dBm / 0.177mv Midland results – Max Output: 48.3w @ 462.550 MHz 12 dB SINAD Sensitivity: -124 dBm / 0.141mv Overall, I am very happy. My numbers are close enough to their numbers that I am questioning the accuracy of my TEK or coupler more than their results… probably needs a calibration since it’s been almost a decade.

Some of us want to keep the riff-raff out while we tend to our caviar and champagne parties, you know...

@Over2U it sure sounds like you are experiencing differences between the two. I do own the 905 but not the UV3D and do find the 905 to be on par with the other Wouxun models in my possession. Yeh, the vary some but not by a lot. Most break squelch between -124dBm and -118dBm. @gman1971 I acquired a HP-339A. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Most likely desence. Just because you hear the tail does not mean the signal is good enough to pass audio. Who tuned the duplexer ? You need to give us more info on the setup. Repeater Model Feedline type Antenna Type Antenna Height ?

I found that adding a tiger tail, or rat tail, to my old GT-3 radio helped a lot... just add a short piece of wire to the outer side of the SMA. G.

There is no option for the display brightness. What they are talking about is the LED on the top right corner of the radio. When in standby mode (waiting) it is orange, when you transmit it turns red and when you receive, it turns green.

I've used a hand held radio in a mobile configuration simply by connecting a mag mount antenna on top of the car and using a battery eliminator to power it. Most of the time, I'm just monitoring the radio, but with only those improvements, the reception is much better than with the rubber ducky antenna. I can't speak much to transmitting, though, because I haven't tried using it outside of the normal range where the rubber ducky would work.

I know the SWR and watt meter may not agree with this statement, but I would try this anyway. Hook-up the Comet, put the tip (center lead) of the connector in the radio, but don't let any of the ground connection or collar touch the back of the radio. If it hears fine, you need to test your transmission line. I have experienced your symptoms many times over the years and found that there is a problem with the cable. Typically a full or partial short circuit in the connector during assembly, but also occasionally in the coax itself. If you have an ohm meter, look for a short between the coax center and ground both while connected to the antenna and on its own. Also see if you can find someone with an antenna and coax analyzer. That said, don't discount anything mbrun stated. That is all good info. I personally would start with testing the cable so you know you're not chasing a ghost while using his troubleshooting recommendations.

Even less than 10 years in some cases...

APX radios, new, are certainly out of my budget and most people's budgets, but that hasn't stopped me from finding many of the XPR7550e/XPR5550e I own, used, for < 300 bucks... Also, reliable radios are priceless IMO, yet people sink 1k+ on a phone... but they cheap out on the radio... I still can't wrap my head around that. G.