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I have been scratching my head over this for a long time now. I understand being cautious about the security of your home, but do you all (those that have this issue with the address on the FCC database) live in an extremely high crime neighborhood? Are you all filthy rich, prominent, and in the newspapers front and center? I have had a Ham license starting off in 1996 with several different addresses over the years and now have GMRS and Ham with my address on there. I know hundreds of Hams out there that have their address on their license and don't know of anyone who has been harmed or robbed. Could it happen? Absolutely. But ask the many radio operators out there. How many have had their house broken into and been robbed or half beaten to death? I think the key thing is to NOT display your equipment online in either a list or pictures. Even then, who is coming to steal it? Probably only another radio operator. I remember when I got one of my licenses recently, someone sent me a message warning me that my address was online. Yep, it was, just like it had always been. And if people did further searching, you would find that a hundred other sites had my address and probably every address I ever lived at, including every phone number I have ever had. The FCC website is the least of your worries. Try fast people search, been verified, and hundreds of other data mining sites that collect every bit of information on you, place it in a blender, and whip up a mess of info on you that can sometimes make you look really sketchy. Unless you paid a lot of money to the right people to have all of your information scrubbed from the internet, something about you or related to your address is going to pop up. To want to give up on having a radio because you think that someone is going to break into your house just because the FCC has your address up for all to see, is crazy. Best bet is to get a P.O. Box so that your address wont pop up. The issue is that other websites will still have your address. If you own your own home and I find your name on the FCC website, I can then take that name and then enter into the tax assessors database for your town and find your address that way. Too much is public knowledge these days. It is almost impossible to hide. My thought is that criminals looking to steal to make a quick buck are going to break into your house just because. I highly doubt they will get sophisticated enough to monitor radio traffic to see when you are not around. The best thing is to maybe get cameras installed on your house. Put up signs stating that the property is monitored by camera surveillance.

For what its worth, with both VHF and UHF, you can greatly extend communications well beyond the traditional LOS on the regular bases with the two stations involved being a bit 'over the top' for a typical Amateur or GMRS user. For example, if you have a 9 element or 11 element high-gain yagi on a 50' tower at both stations, you can reliably communicate 100+ miles with a 50w radio on VHF, and 60+ miles with a 50w radio on UHF / GMRS. If you happen to have your antenna somewhere comfortably above the average terrain, your station can talk even further. This is because the additional height above ground extends the LOS range a bit, but the magic is in the yagi antenna. Not only is the high-gain antenna able to pull more scattered energy out of the sky with greater efficiency, the fact that the beam is focused in a specific direction reduces the amount of random noise it pulls from the atmosphere. This allows the antenna to perform significantly better compared to a vertical antenna with the same gain as the yagi, for example. By reducing the total number of photons the antenna reacts to, you essentially improve the Part Per Million ratio in favor of the signal you are receiving. My radio club used this principle in combination with a propagation method called Sporadic-E (reflecting a signal off the E Layer) to talk over 1,500 miles on VHF, from Virginia to Texas. Our club had a stacked beam array and a 1,500w amplifier located on a mountain ridge in VA at 4,400+ feet and the Texas station had a similar setup in the western part of Texas, on a ridge line at about 6,000 feet. We were also running a UHF station with a similar configuration that same week. We contacted a station over 450 miles away. Though I don't remember the specifics of where the other station was for the UHF contact. Anyway, I guess the moral of the story is, while refraction off the ionosphere isn't an option for mid to upper VHF or UHF... if we get creative with location, antenna and available forecasts of atmospheric conditions, we can bend or even break the commonly accepted LOS rules with our base stations, control stations and fixed stations. We just need to leverage physics a little better.

Yes the Comet 2x4SR will be an improvement if you want multi band use. You are correct that you would not have to change the mag mount to go from the MXT-26 to the 2x4SR. All you have to do is swap them out on your mag mount. I would run the 2x4SR on my Ford Escape all of the time if I didn't have height restrictions to deal with.

I think they know they have this problem and really don't care because it's easy sending out a new radio that costs them a dollar or two to make than it is to have QC testing these things. With the advantage that people will just shrug it off and either not report it or just buy a new one without complaining. If you plan on being cheap (like me) and buying these inexpensive radios you are going to have to expect a couple of duds here and there. But with a responsive company like this it's just a bit inconvenient and somewhat frustrating to have to go through the process of swapping them out. And it's not even a swap out, they just send you a new one and don't care what you do with the old one. Usually they receive just fine so set them up as scanners.

Just as a quick update: I contacted TIDRadio about it and they sent me a new unit. Confirmed the new one outputs 5W with a dummy load and a 771 antenna. If nothing else, their customer support was pretty responsive and got this handled in a reasonable timeframe.

I had interference issues on 2m when transmitting on 10m when I first installed my Comet GP-9 and my home made 10m inverted v dipole. The 1:1 balun is about 2 feet below the base of the GP-9. I never noticed the issue until I was transmitting on 10m FT8 and talking on the 2m repeater. People told me I had an occasion buzz on my transmission. That only happened when transmitting on 10m FT8 while talking on the 2m repeater. The fix was five clamp on ferrite beads right at the 1:1 balun and I put three on the coax right at the GP-9. Both coax cables run within 2 inches of each other from the mast all the way until they enter the house. 5 clamp on ferrite beads works for the higher HF bands while 7 works better for the lower HF bands.

The one on the right is the exact one I'm using. Thanks for the photo as it helps a lot. Again, I put it real close to the original balun on the antenna.

I run common mode chokes at the antenna feed points and also use clamp on ferrite beads on all coax and computer cables inside my shack. A common mode choke helps keep RF from coming back down the coax into the shack. And that is a must especially on 40m. You can either use a toroid with the proper number of wraps of coax or you can use clamp on ferret beads. You want to use between 5 and 7 clamp on ferrite beads right at the antenna feed point to be effective. Less than 5 ferrite beads will not be very effective. I had a lot of RF issues with my computer when operating on 40M until I put 7 ferrite beads on the coax at the antenna. Another source of interference that is often overlooked is network cables. I kept getting interference on my HF radio until I swapped all of my cheap Cat5 cables for shielded Cat 5 and shielded RJ45 connectors.

So far I have been able to figure out a way to change frequencies to the VFO other than using the knob or up/down arrows which is painfully slow. With the XS20G+ you just use the keypad on the mic to enter in whatever frequency you want. So far the only way I can see to program frequencies is to use the CPS and program it with your computer. Am I missing some trick?

Confirmed, it works. Thanks.

While I like the ut72 and think it would work well for most people the mxt26 is a big step up. However the 2x4 is a much bigger step up. It doubled our tx and made our rx much more clear. Other then one old truck still running the 72 all our other trucks now run 2x4s. Even with 20w radios if we can see it we can hit it out over 100miles simplex in the clear and we get all the available weather stations and murs comes in RX perfect as well.

This is why it's good to have Socal around. Eventually he get's a NOOB that deserves it.

Gotta be the battery BMS because you use standard USB wall wart chargers. The battery itself shouldn't allow the charger to cause it harm.

Same issue here - I programmed one radio, did a wireless copy to the rest, and at least two batteries were charged in the charging stand while attached to a radio. So all four have the same setup, two were charged while attached and turned on, and no idea which one the dead one was because they all look the same and I wasn't smart enough to number them beforehand. They do seem to be aware of the battery charging issue - at the bottom of the "we're shipping you a new radio" email, they added this at the bottom:

I'll recheck it when I have the antenna stood up. I hung it a few feet off the ground for the initial test. I wanted to be sure there wasn't anything to address before I got it 40' in the air.

Have you considered the TK-8180H model? You’re limited to 50 watts anyway on GMRS. https://www.kenwood.com/usa/Support/pdf/TK-7180_8180.pdf

I think you found the motherlode of the bad batch. This is what happens with mass produced stuff. If you get a problem it's not one or two, it's hundreds or thousands if they don't catch it. Apparently I've been luckier than you with 2 out of 14 being non transmit.

No, it's not a trick. According to page 40 of the user manual, after switching to VFO mode by pressing the 6/Mode button, then press the 2/Mhz button to direct-enter your frequency. ...and, i just confirmed this works with the KG-1000G+ in my office right next to me... I was going to try it on my Bathroom KG-1000G+, but that's all the way down the hall.

Obviously, I can hold the mic to my ear, however, for longer periods I am looking for an external Speaker (amplified). Remember the speakers we used to have for our PC's, they had small amps in them. I have it mounted just behind the center console of a 4 Door Toyota Tacoma. 4 Door Truck. I bought a Uniden Bearcat Speaker and it is not as loud as the radio. Is anyone found a speaker that can be turned up. I am 60 and worked in industry. I don't really want to wear a headset, which seams dangerous to me. Help. Any radio is no good unless it can be heard clearly. Note: I have a VHF Yaesu FTM-400 with a Yaesu external speaker and that radio can drive the speaker well. Jeff W Waldrop

Stainless steel and aluminum won't interact as much as carbon steel and aluminum will. Though you do take the chance of galvanization anytime you mix any type of steel and aluminum. I use to hate working on vehicles with aluminum rims when previous owners/repair shops would not use anti-seize on the rims. The aluminum rims would seize to the steel if one did not rotate tires on a regular basis.

Inductive coupling! It's fascinating, but also frustrating when you're trying to tune a mag loop, you get it "perfect", then move your hand away and your SWR shoots up.

The aluminum tube that hides the coax and mounts to their 2 struts is aluminum, so are the struts. The U bolts that secure the antenna to the mast are SS also. I assume most masts are some sort of steel but there are aluminum masts out there. So there can be some dissimilar metal issues over time between the aluminum and SS components. SS is much better over time in the weather than aluminum is. Time will tell.

I'll have to listen for those. Thinking either DMR/Trbo, or P25 as likely possibilities.

Not sure that's right. Part of analog VHF TV was below 100Mhz, but went as high as 210 Mhz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Television_channel_frequencies But, satellite communications are done, at least with ham radio, at 145Mhz. Now, there isn't much satellite happening below that, and the reason is the reflection. But low powered handheld radios with modest gain antenna's are used with great success at 145Mhz. So there isn't much 'skip' happening on the upper portions of VHF. TV signals are NOT a good measure of coverage distance, reason being is thousand foot towers and 100KW plus ERP's. You can't sit and have a discussion of GMRS or ANY type of non-broadcast radio and compare it to TV or even AM /FM radio. The antenna heights and power levels are so much greater with commercial radio and TV stations that it's not even apples and oranges. Its apples and steak, or beer, NOTHING is similar when it comes to coverage. And broadcast anything is just that, broadcast. It's all one way. Now if you operate simplex (without a repeater) it's at least one way at a time RF, unlike a repeater that's listening to something and transmitting it somewhere else.

Are you talking about a "Current Choke" very specifically or are you talking about a "Common Mode Choke"? Many people use Current Choke and Common Mode Choke interchangeably. These are 2 of the 3 Common Mode chokes that I own... I also have a 100w LDG Current Balun for when I am in the field without the amp (it's not handy for a photo). I think with the ACOM 1010, the Palomar would be the best choice.

What type of antenna you using? I had the problem with my 80m OCF dipole. I don't think it is a USB problem. A current balun cured my issue. I have USB cables going to all the radios and amp. Even have ethernet cables going to a few radios.

Something I always found interesting is most VHF stations were using about 3kw ERP. Some UHF stations were 150kw ERP, but high-power stations were 500kw ERP. Between the higher power and shorter wavelengths, UHF always had better image quality compared to VHF. I remember dang near every house had a massive TV beam antenna on the roof and a rotator controller on top of the TV. We had a list of what direction to point the antenna to watch specific channels, and we would kind of fiddle with it to get it just right. But the best was if you had a set of TV top 'rabbit ears' and loop. I remember (before we got a beam) we weren't allowed to move around the living room while mom and dad were watching TV and we all had specific spots to sit when we watched TV, because our bodies would impact how well the TV signal were received. Or we would stand there touching the rabbit ears so grandpa could watch the news. LoL

I don't have to worry about that too much around here. The GMRS airwaves are mostly silent and sometimes you can hear the FRS HTs when you are driving around in the mobile. None of them follow any etiquette. Likely unlicensed. We have 2 major repeaters and a minor repeater in the area. One major is much more active than the other and the minor and less active major are on the same frequency but different tones. My repeater is on the same frequency as another inactive repeater. I accidentally found their tone because it was one above mine and sometimes when I keyed up my base that repeater would activate. I chose that frequency because of it's inactivity and noise level. Lots of DMR crap in the area on all the frequenies. It's a plague to analog.

The issue is that all of the pairs around here are jammed up with "private" repeaters (most of which are mostly silent). Simplex is full of farm worker traffic in Spanish or Punjabi. Of course, they never use call signs or follow any rules in any way. I suppose I could poke around and find a pair and tone that isn't already "claimed". But if you are close enough, you can hear traffic regardless of tone. Would I then be "interfering"?

Thanks for your input and the photos you shared, I'm going for the LMR400 equivalent. I only need 40 ft so it should work out for me,it just needs to make one 60º bend through a port in my exterior wall it should be flexible enough for that.

As mentioned, nothing will protect against a direct lightning strike. That being said, it is till a good idea to have lightning protection for the near strikes. Plus lightning arrestors will also help prevent damage from static electricity buildup on antennas when everything is properly grounded per NEC codes.

And the typical lightning strike is 30,000 amps. And the recommended wire gauge is #8. That should last a few milliseconds.

back in early 80's a Microwave site i maintained at Bird Springs took a direct hit on the overhead power power transformer. This site was well fortified with grounding.. Six charcoal/salt canisters and a ground web tied to each one.. The hit took pretty much everything in the block building and did some pretty good damage to the power panel. I remember walking into the building, it smelled like an electronic frying pan. The grounding system served zero purpose and won't on direct hits.

If you get a direct hit your radio is fried. Doesn't matter if it's a polyphasor or cheapy cheap. Close calls is where they do their work.

RG-213 has 5.28dB/70% loss at 100 feet and LMR-400 has 2.87dB/48% loss at 100 feet. The calculations were made using 50 watts in and an SWR of 1.5. You can get away with using RG-213 but LMR-400 will definitely work better. Cheaper alternatives to LMR-400 is DX Engineering 400MAX or R&L Electronics Jetstream 400Flex. As @nokones stated, stay away from the cheap stuff from Amazon and eBay. The cheaper stuff will have less ground shielding plus some use aluminum instead of copper shielding. You definitely won't get as good of a solder joint on your connectors with aluminum shielding, if you can even get the solder to stick to it.

Your multimeter continuity reading on the coax cable should be reading "OL" meaning no resistance. Your coax has an itty bitty short, that's not good. And more than likely it is at one of the connectors. If your coax run from the radio is more than 20 feet you should be using LMR400 coax that is purchased from a reputable radio electronics supply retailer and not from an operation that specializes in cheap discount inferior products.

I still don’t know what the length is, but rg213 still sucks for uhf.

WOW 40 years in radio!!!!! Every one gather around some dude has been in radios for 40years. Omg. Grab a chair. Skooch in. Quiet he may speak soon. Haha but you purchased a retivis, (-1) you couldnt program a pre programmed gmrs radio (-2) and you wouldn’t except help from others. (-3) You wouldnt describe the problem or any solutions you may have tried. You just wanted to be spoon feed in the exact way you demanded. You actually sound like a modern 20 year old kid.

How could it not

Funny, the song “Let’s all go to the lobby” popped into my head.