nokones

I have a Repeater and my Repeater setup is as follows: Repeater - Vertex Standard EVX - R70-G7 403-470 MHz 40-Watt Analog/Digital - Tx - 462.625 MHz/Rx - 467.625 MHz Receiver Port Connector - Female BNC Transmitter Port Connector - Female "N" Connector Antenna - Laird FG4605 5 dB Omni-Directional tip at 30 Feet AGL Transmission Line - Times Microwave LMR400 27 Feet Total Run from the Polyphaser to a Termination Point at the Duplexer. From the Polyphaser to the Female "N" Connector at the base of the Antenna approx. 20 Feet, including a drip loop, not to exceed total length of 25 Feet. Polyphaser Lightning Arrestor with Gound to Existing Earth Grounding Point with 8 Gauge Wire. Duplexer - EMR Corp #65316-0/MC(5G) - six cavity duplexer with female "N" Connector ports. Duplexer Jumper Cables - Times Microwave Low Loss RG-8X Coaxial Bulk Cable 100 Feet in length ordered. Receive High Port - 14 Inch Cable Length with Amphenol #112533 BNC Male Solderless Connector (Repeater) and Amphenol # 172135 "N" Male Solderless Connector (Duplexer Connector) Transmit Low Port - 12 Inch Cable Length with Amphenol #172135 "N" Male Solderless Connectors on both ends. Antenna Port - 12 Inch cable length with Amphenol #172135 "N" Male Solderless Connector (Duplexer) and Amphenol #18211510 PL259 UHF Male Solderless Connector to Mate with Antenna Transmission Feedline with an Amphenol #AML-83-1J Double UHF Barrel Connector. (The Antenna Installer did not have a Female "N" Connector for a LMR400 Cable at the time of install so I was stuck with the PL259 UHF Male Connector) NOTE: ALL JUMPER CABLES WERE FABRICATED/ASSEMBLED BY A LOWLY LICENSED GMRS USER (ME) IN THE OLD PEOPLE COMMUNITY OF SUN CITY WEST ARIZONA

FYI - I found horrendous amount of desense between two KG1000G Plus radios that were side-by-side. With a Motorola XTS5000 portable radio transmitting 3.7 watts, I only got .7 mile from the repeater on flat terrain, in otherwords just straight down the street before any turns until the mobile could no longer be received by the receiving radio when the transmitting radio was keyed. The TX out was no problem in being received by the mobile or portable radios. With a 50 watt mobile measured with 44 watt of RF output with a 2.4 dB omni mobile antenna with a VSWR of 1.2:1, I got about 1.8 miles. At first, I thought my problem may have been the duplexer or a cable or two but everything swept out good. I stopped the duplex function and I ran a test transmitting through the duplexer and the same antenna with one of radios in the simplex mode, and received on the other radio with a separate antenna and drove around using a portable and had great results and farz throughout the area of at least 5 miles away. I reversed the testing procedure of receiving through the duplexer and using the same antenna connected to the duplexer and still had great results as before. That procedure essentially eliminated the duplexer and cables as being the problem. However, I took the duplexer back to EMR Corp to have them recheck it and it was performing as designed and tuned. I reconnected the duplexer and ran my test again and still no farz with the two radios acting as a repeater. I called a friend and asked him to bring over his two Maxon radios configured as a repeater and ran my same test and used the same TX points and we got many farz. This test results proved there must be a desense problem probably due to poor shielding between the two radios. The function of the two radios were also reversed and that did not change the results. So, I learned my lesson in trying to go cheap. I decided to buy a real repeater station and installed it. On flat terrain, I got about 10-12 Miles with a portable and about 22-25 miles with a mobile radio. And my duplexer is still working great and has not burned out the plastic inserts like the cheap duplexers are doing. I called the selling Dealer, because the two radios were still under warranty, explaining the problem that I was experiencing and my testing procedure. The Dealer's Tech Support person essentially questioned my testing procedure stated that my testing procedure was not technical and scientific enough for me to arrive at my conclusion. I told him that I am not an engineer but it still was a real world in the environment testing with poor results from the two radios acting in tandem as a repeater unit and fine as separate simplex stations. Well his candor really gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling that I was in a favorable position so I just requested a refund. He stated that I need to ship everything back so they can conduct their own test in order to get a refund. Fortunately, I was able to sell one of the radios and for some stupid reason thought it would be a good idea to keep one of them for another base station. That was kinda of a mistake, oh well. Never again. I sold one of the radios to a Club member and kept one as a second Base radio mostly for monitoring two other nearby repeaters.

I have seen up to 9 watts of reflected power loss from a cheap non-nickel plated 90 degree elbow fitting with a 50 watt rated radio and an antenna that was metered with a VSWR of 1.15:1 on a 462 MHz GMRS freq. (No, the antenna did not perform at VSWR of 1.15:1 with that elbow. The antenna was swept without the cheap elbow.) If you go cheap your radio will perform as for what you paid for, "NOTHING".

The reason why I'm using the aforementioned two antennae is because I wanted vertical separation not only for between those two antennae but also from this antenna for my Repeater Station.

I'm also using the same antenna mounted in a garage window with a short 16' run of RG-8X for another Base Radio. Unfortunately, this radio is not a Motorola radio. It's mostly used for monitoring and if necessary for accessing nearby repeaters.

For one of my Base Radios, I'm using a Motorola XTL5000 Dash Mount Radio with a Desk Microphone. I'm also using a Motorola XTL5000 Remote Mount in my Truck. The Kenwood TK880 is a great radio but I'm very partial to the professional/public safety version Motorola mobile and portable radios. I won the Kenwood in a raffle and it has been refurbished and came with a DTMF microphone. As being a long time Motorola user, I originally thought that I would just give the radio away to a new Club member. After playing around with it for awhile, I kinda like the radio and I ended up keeping it and using it in one of my cars that can't accommodate a two-way radio installation. It does work great in that car because of its small physical size, low powered (25 watts), and with a low power draw on the electrical system (about 6.5 amps).

I'm using a Laird B4502N Non-Ground Plane mobile antenna in the attic with a 35' run of LMR400 coax for one of my Base Radios. Just make sure that the antenna is tuned for the location you end up using. Don't tune it in any other location.

If your local radio shop is unable to program the radio because they no longer have an old DOS computer, I can program it if you send it to me. Just include a return prepaid shipping label in the box.

What are you using for a repeater station? Just curious.

Does anyone have experience with MTS2000 portable radios particularly the 900 MHz radios? I have CPS version 2 something and I'm getting some unusual errors that are related to communication with the radio that I haven't seen before. I have an UHF MTS2000 radio that doesn't give me any problems with programming but this 900 Meg radio does. Did Motorola use a different CPS version just for the 900 Meg freqs? On non-900 Meg radios I'm using an XP Laptop with an USB port and cable with an USB cable adapter and prolific driver to the RIB with no problems. Does anyone know? Any help would be most appreciated.

Repeater Tones = These tone freqs are in Hertz. A repeater tone is never used in the GMRS world. Some legacy public safety radio systems use repeater tones to select certain repeaters from a mobile or portable, and/or a dispatch control point. The user would select the appropriate repeater tone depending on his/her location based on what repeater provides the best coverage. This repeater tone is in addition to the channel protection CTCSS tone. These tones are also known as "Single Tones" "Signal Tones", or Burst Tones" usually for one-second in duration on each transmitter key up. Public Safety Agencies used this type of signaling because of the expense and/or the lack of the means for a remote control system (Microwave or Telco) between the remote repeater station(s) and the dispatch control point. This method of signaling is normally used in a multiple remote site system in a very large rural area. In some cases, these tones (Usually 1450, 1750, and 2100 Hz) can be constant for use as a function or system status purposes on a remote control system (microwave or telco RTO/Pieceout circuit), behind the scenes to the radio user, and will not be heard, normally if the control circuit doesn't malfunction. The 1000 Hz tone is normally used as a "Test Tone" for equipment repair and tuning/Alignments. PT-T ID = Is a signalling method to identify the radio user that is transmitting at that specific time. For the Dispatcher the code would translate to the Unit's radio call sign on a display in front of the dispatcher. A specific code is programed in each radio to identify the specific user. This specific code is audible to all users monitoring the channel. In the old days analog radios like the Saber Radios used by L.AP.D., it was a series of tone beeps heard upon each key up a.k.a. MDC signalling. In the Astro Digital days it became a squawk on each key up now known as PTT ID.

Surprisingly, the Midland antennae and magmounts are not too shabby. They even improved on the quality of the PL259 for the magmounts.

Try a Glass-Mount antenna. For UHF they work pretty good.

Ok, its on low simmering. Give me an advanced heads up when you're going to be in the area and lets see what we can make happen.

OMG, it's the internet, social media, and You Tube causing all this undermining and disorder of a civilized society of "GMRS People". I think "these people" that are causing all this movement may be driving Jeeps and Nissans to their secret society meetings.

And if that does happen, I'll send if back for a refund heartbeat and buy a non-CCR radio like I should have in the first place. This purchase was against my better judgement. All I need was a decent small receiver for use as a RDF receiver on the UHF band. If I have to pay more than I did for this CCR so be it. I think I'll consider looking at Yeasu or Icom portables. I almost came to that point yesterday. I was right on the edge to ask for a RMA number yesterday when I was wasting my time with the selling Dealer that couldn'f help me with the secret handshake procedure to unlock the factory lock. Oh well, moot point now. This CCR may serve its purpose well for my RDF investigations.

In the early GMRS years, the 462.675 MHz (GMRS Ch. 20) freq pair with CTCSS tone 141.3 Hz was designated as a nationwide emergency channel. In the subsequent years and as GMRS evolved, the same channel and tone was no longer restricted to just emergencies and became recognized as a nationwide travel channel and tone and GMRS organizations recognize and utilizes Ch. 20 as the standard travel channel. Yes, CB Ch. 19 was recognized as a nationwide truckers channel except for a very small part of California, and in Oregon and Washington State. Three other CB channels were used instead of Ch. 19. Ch. 19 was only used in the California desert traveling north and east from Barstow. I get it that "some people" would like to designate GMRS Ch. 19 as a travel channel just like CB Ch. 19 was recognized as a nationwide channel on the highways and byways decades ago. But, why change something that has been in play for many years before GMRS has exploded in popularity in the last couple years. Ch. 20 should remain the travelers channel tone 141.3 and lets not create unnecessary confusion among the newbie and longtime GMRS users. I kinda like the idea of designating Ch. 19 as a nationwide calling channel but a nationwide travelers channel and tone has already been decided way before most of the newbie users were born. Keep Ch. 20 and 141.3 Hz CTCSS as the travelers calling/monitoring channel as it has been recognized as such for more years than most GMRS users have been living.

Ok, I don't believe it. I some how magically unlocked the radio, please don't ask me how. I called the selling Dealer earlier this afternoon and they didn't know how to unlock it. They said, I needed to download the User's Manual from their website, which I did, prior to calling them. That was a hopeless cause calling them. Just a few minutes ago, I decided to tackle it again, I just couldn't leave it alone and give up. I started by just pushing a bunch of radio buttons and turning the channel selector in a sequence that I don't remember and walla, the radio unlocked and I was able to read the radio so I can custom program the radio. So, I now have the unlocked and I no longer need any Wouxun Radio help, at least for the moment. It's a done deal.

Yes, but the radio is factory programmed with about 15 Part 90 freqs and I needed to clear those out and add the 14 FRS freqs and the 16 462/467 GMRS freqs and turn off the CTCSS tones. I read some where that the factory locks it down because of the default Part 90 programming and the user is suppose to contact the selling dealer for the procedure to unlock. See my next post on this subject.

Since, the user's manual does not address the unlocking procedure and since I am a lowly internet user, I turned to the internet for information including watching the Jeep Dude's videos, I am unable to find any information on the subject radio. Has anyone experience this situation and can help I, the lowly internet user, so I can program the subject radio for my RDF Equipment Setup? I have the subject radio factory program installed on my computer and the "Red" USB Wouxun programming cable. Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks Steve, that is very thoughtful of you to offer but thanks. Given my track record of getting pass the electrical questions section on the test, it would be best for me to pass on the offer. I don't have the education on any math beyond basic arithmetic, (i.e. fractions, decimal, multiplication, division, adding, and subtracting) or anything that adds letters ("X" & "Y" or any other math letters) to the equation. Word problems were ok and I know my limitations very well. Its a mental thing for me because I just don't see the greater need today to afford a humongous amount of my time in learning something that I more than likely will never have a need to have or use just to communicate on 2M, and 33 & 70 CMs bands. I know that knowledge would be very beneficial for me so I can get the full benefits of using my Antenna and Spectrum Analyzer Instruments but what I do know and for what I use those instruments for I get by very well and I do meet my needs today with my limited knowledge. At least I can impress my non-radio/technical friends, and sometimes myself. I do learn a couple things here and there along the way as I play with them with my radios and that is the fun part, and I don't mind affording my time with learning stuff like that. Every time, when I come across the electrical questions on the test, its such a big distraction for me and effects my concentration and I get this mental block where I can't remember the answers that I studied for, prior to the real test. Its my problem to deal with because I think its not necessary to have that knowledge for what my intentions are for having an Amateur Radio Service License and that is why I have moved on. The biggest reason why I want to get my Amateur Radio Service License is because I have a strong desire to dabble in the three aforementioned bands for some reason and also have an excuse to buy the appropriate XTL5000 mobile radios, or the APX series radios, to have in my Truck along with my existing UHF XTL5000 radio that I use for my licensed Part 90 freqs and GMRS when I travel to/from races throughout the US as something to tinker with to occupy my driving time. Maybe someday the HF stuff will interest me, today it does not, and then maybe I would be more motivated in trying to learn the electrical stuff. Thanks again in your willingness to help.

The short answer is I have considered and tried twice and I can't get pass the electrical stuff. The test does absolutely nothing to verify if I would be a good HAM operator or not. I've looked into attending in-person classes with various Club's and all they want to do is refer me to on-line sample tests, they no longer have in-person classes. I had a difficult time trying to remember the correct answers or if "All or None of the Above" was the correct answer or not, especially on the electrical stuff. I remember when there were Community College classes for learning amateur radio and they no longer exist. I also remember there used to be a lot of ham/radio hobby businesses and they no longer exist. Some do still exist but only with limited hours a day for only a couple of days a week. Why is it this way now, I wonder. I wasn't impressed by the various clubs on their willingness to help. A matter of fact, several didn't even return my telephone calls. They didn't leave me a good impression on a group that I wanted to be part of or want communicate with. I moved on. Also, I considered taking the test for a third time on-line with a certified test person and the hoops that was required to jump through to take an on-line test was more than I wanted to endure. Something is telling me this may not be not be worth my while any longer and I shouldn't waste my time on. Time is precious and there are more radio paths to take with less effort in being compliant with the rules set. I've had a GMRS license since the mid-90s when my license had a mobile license callsign and I was restricted to one repeater channel pair and 462.675 MHz was for emergency use. I have seen the growth of GMRS take off in the last couple of years and I think it is great especially with a couple of the Club's I am involved with. I just don't see things like such happening in the HAM radio world especially with the social aspect and the willingness to help and welcome others to the hobby. This is where they get a "F" in. I am one of the Ambassadors for one of my Repeater Club's. My job is to not only welcome new members to the Club but help them get started and make sure they understand the technical side insofar to ensure their radios are programmed correctly with the Club's repeaters. It's a fun job. As an Ambassador we are a Club resource for members to learn radio and also we learn more still along with the new members. It's great even at my age. I would hope that exists on the HAM side as well. I just never saw it or experience that effort.

No doubt, the radio will operate as designed. The question should be does the radio have the capacity to meet your growth needs insofar as number of channels and the features you desire. In my opinion, the XTL5000 will offer more than you need and maybe the best radio on the market today.

Why not have a "Restricted Operators License" (ROL) in the Amateur Radio Services (ARS) that restricts the use to just the 2m, 70cm, and 33cm bands within the United States, and only allow the subject licensee to operate only type-accepted equipment, maybe with voice emissions only, to prevent any accidental/inappropriate use outside of those bands. What harm would that cause to the ARS. I understand that existing ARS licensees would object because they went through the testing process in order to obtain a license and they feel that others should do the same because of the International rules and I get that. However, this would be a great way to promote/introduce people to the ARS so they can work their way up to the Technician Level just like people think that FRS is a way to GMRS. I also believe such a Restricted Operators License can be granted as stated above without the ITU involvement since those subject bands can be or are restricted to use only within the United States as a condition of the ROL.

Do away with the written test for the Technician Class license. Memorizing answers to test serves no real purpose for an entry level license. No one is going to remember what the answers were and cares. So, why have a test. It's a waste of time.