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We do 73 all the time on my repeater. 85 too, which is supposed to indicate a bro hug. However, there are a lot of, shall we say, "veteran" hams who will blow a gasket if someone says "73s" instead of "73". But truth be told, my life has no room for nitpicking other radio operators for how they talk. Deep down though I think q codes need to be reserved for CW and ten codes for CB. But I would never actually come out and say that publicly.

Sample on display.

Hey folks, we had an awesome turnout! Thank you to everyone who attended. I had a great time and it was nice meeting some of you for the first time. Looking forward to the next one!

I think the OP is over thinking all of this. When I hear 10 codes being used by people, other than public safety professionals, I think “Paul Blart, mall cop”. If you’re really in need of codes, have at it, but plain English works just fine.

Live from Hamvention.

I agree. I use expressions like "I'm Oscar Mike" and "my other radio is Tango Uniform". It's not really perceived as code. I'm just using nuanced words to convey the meaning of a thought. Or, when I am going to meet friends somewhere, I'll say "I'm 10 minutes from the spot." if I want to give someone an update. It's no one else's business where "the spot" is. No one could even remotely argue that you are being deceptive. If I am talking to my wife and say, "okay, I'll meet you at your mom's house.", someone can't seriously accuse us of using code, false or deceptive language because I didn't provide 123 Main St. Smallville, US as the destination. Mom's house is good enough and it's no one else's business. That said, if you're talking on the radio to a 'friend' and you say you are about to deliver 22 kilos of white bananas to the warehouse and you're expecting the customer to have 9 million gallons of green paint ready for pickup, I think that will raise some eyebrows of anyone listening. LOL

Little more testing today...tested swr on the truck, both with the mag mount centered and with it moved to the back edge of the roof to approximate the 3rd brake light mount. Under 1.1:1 across the same places I tested previously, and no problem opening a couple uhf repeaters 30ish miles out (in the foothills) from my driveway. Going to leave it on and hope to get some real world testing in this coming week. With the link from the local repeaters to the rest of the system down, things have been pretty quiet.

Two things stand out to me. 1st why do you have the mic clipped on the antenna? That almost certainly can only negatively effect it's performance. 2nd Does it do that when an external antenna is connected? I can get some interference on my KG935G+ if I do the same thing with the rubber ducky on it. Move it a few inches away from the dash and it stops. That's in an 98 Ranger. No issue with roof top antenna connected. There are so many electronics in modern cars it's not surprising. Most of the time just a little distance is all that's needed.

For those going to Hamvention, some information I can provide..... DARA Repeater 146.94 (-) 123.0 PL - Talk In alternate 146.985 (-) 123.0 PL - Talk In Alt Traffic Bulletin Station on 145.525 Xwarn - Greene County Skywarn 147.165+ pl 123.0 Dayton section Skywarn net - 146.640- pl 123.0 Clark County Amateur Radio Assn repeaters - 146.73 MHz (77.0 Hz PL), 145.31 MHz (82.5 Hz PL), 443.300 MHz (146.2 Hz PL), 444.6375 (77 Hz PL), 442.4375 (77.0 Hz PL) and APRS on 144.39 MHz Also 1620 khz near the site is an information station. Kaci WRXH467/KC8WWX ARES/Skywarn Twitter - @ - stormwarnwx

I am not an expert on this stuff at all, my two cents worth (half off today) is the rear light mount has a few things going for it such as height, position and ground plane. I’d be interested to see how that scenario works with something like the laird antenna that @wayoverthere linked.

Hey, folks.... we're looking forward to seeing everyone today at 3PM in Gainesville. Even if you don't have a mobile setup you want tested, come hangout! https://facebook.com/events/s/mobile-tune-up-session/172329032127594/

I'm planning on getting the D75A. Does do DSTAR on both vfos simultaneously, and the only one that can do it 220.

I can't make any promises on function (as I haven't gotten a chance to test it on the truck yet), but this one is rated wideband enough for 70cm and gmrs (430-490). I did get a chance to do some limited swr testing with a handheld and a mag mount on a chest freezer, and the swr was good, about 1.2 or less everywhere I tested....a couple gmrs simplex and repeater inputs, 446.000, and a couple other 70cm simplex frequencies. As 4wd fullsize is the plan down the road, I grabbed the phantom as a limited clearance option (assuming it works adequately in practice). Vhf...remains to be seen, Maybe a 2nd phantom depending how this does. Laird does have a couple vhf options, and I already have a diplexer.

I was thinking along the same lines. Even at or just a ove the same price point of the id52, a new d75 would almost be a no brainer vs a used d74

Expect to see those used prices drop drastically once the 75 reaches market... I don't need another radio (I have both a D74 and ID-52 -- along with half a dozen other dual-band [or even 3.5 bands for the VX-8DR -- flea power 222MHz doesn't deserve a full band if Kenwood can manage full power in the D74]). However, it is nice to see that Kenwood is still in the arena -- the most recent HRO catalog showed NO Kenwood HTs, not even their old 2m-only standby.

In recent years, Most Public Safey Agencies have abandoned the use Ten Codes, for not all Ten Codes have the same meanings. There for, there were a lot of critical information mishandled, because not all agencies use the same protocols when it comes to passing information via radio from point A to point B. Last year while I was working as NET CONTROL/ DISPATCH at the 2023 City to Shore Bike Ride for the MS Society, So I did use 10-4 to be briefly to let whoever I was on the radio that I understood and agreed. Of course, there was one Amateur Radio Operator that gave me some slack for saying 10-4, but I used it as an aide to help me with my duties as Dispatch / NCS. I know that Amateur Radio Operators don't want to hear Ten Codes, especially 10-4, because to them that's CB slang. I get what they're saying, but to put in CB slang, 10-4 Good Buddy That's what I would not say, especially working communications for any event large or small. My suggestion, if you are going to use Ten Codes or Q signals over the radio, use them in a professional manner. You don't want to sound as if you have watched too many movies and TV shows, that's not professional. Everyone that you have to communicate with via radio, must be on the same page, but this day and age, plain language is the best option. Don't double talk ok 10-4 or I'm 10-6 I'm Busy. I am guilty of double talking when I use the radio sometimes, but most of the time, I just use plain language. I can just hear some members of this forum. say no dah. Adam, tell us something new, don't tell us what is obvious, but it sounds like Sleep Typing. You heard of Sleep Walking, well Sleep Typing or Talking in my Sleep. I can't disagree and I won't be hurt for being chewed out with criticism. 73 to All Adam WQAI 363

It's interesting to note that according to APCO, the folks who came up with the whole idea of shorthand codes 85 years ago, 10-codes have been slowly phased out of public safety radio over the past ten years in favor of good old plain speech, for one reason because there are too many variations. So instead of saying 10-100, we can all simply say we need to pull over and take a ____.

Good grief, you're right! Somebody better tell OffRoaderX...

Here is a tip/trick we discovered last week getting 2 KG9000G's setup as a repeater. It was super simple to setup if you watched the video from BuyTwoWayRadios.com or NotARubicon. However one thing we noticed was we did not have a repeater tail. This is disturbing because when you put a call out there you don't know if the repeater is up or not. We found a strange menu option in the advanced settings called Repeat Hold Timer. Here is what the manual says: We were skeptical but we ordered the RT Systems cable and software and put in 700 milliseconds for this value in the software on the transmitter radio and now we have a tail. Very useful. @rayep

Tip: When mounting under the seat (or other hard to access locations), invest in another programming cable and leave it plugged in and coiled up so you can plug it in to a laptop whenever needing to re-program the radio's functions/memories.