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cdesigns

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Posts posted by cdesigns

  1. That probably is the smallest (at this time at least). There's no mention of the number of channels, nor of programmability for that matter.

     

    Also, it is rated at 1 watt, but FRS can be no more than 0.5 watt to be legal for Part 95A.

     

    It says on the specs FRS/GMRS and also says 400-470mhz, if its programable it will be great for sure. I will buy them just to have them lol. 

  2. I would love for Motorola or Vertex to bring a decent quality GMRS full power radio with all the features in the front panel....... I saw the MXT100 at walmart last night, very small radio, I'm worried when they start selling the 15w and 40w version, we are going to have the airwaves full of unlicensed people at high power, I live in a rural area and I still can pick up unlicensed people all over (disney parks, neighborhoods) I have a good antenna :D, lately I see a lot of construction workers using this radios on GMRS frequencies, very little use the FRS channels.

  3. So I emailed him , and got this response....

     

     

    Hi James,
     
    I don't know if you are aware that DMR is illegal on GMRS, I don't know if you are using a DMR repeater in analog mode, but GMRS doesn't allow digital voice or use GMRS for business.
     
    FCC fines are big, not worth it.
     
    Carlos C.
    WQVA578

     

    HIS REPLY:

     

    lol no we have gmrs analog kenwood system and we have a digital system that we can cross link legally as it's non radio based and third party traffic approved. already checked with the fcc. only cross link that is illegal is cross band to another uhf, vhf in any mode and auto patch unless used for control access only. 

    it's all legit.

  4. First off, to the Admins, I apologize if this is in the wrong section, I couldn't decide if it was to go onto the fcc rules or general discussion.

     

    http://www.mygmrs.com/view?id=2274

     

    "New  System with link established to DMR and our own national network.  Available for use.  National network requires monthly service fee plus cost of portable radio"

     

    3 things that scare me:

    1, "link established to DMR and our own national network"

    2, "aprox 100 mile range"

    3, "available for use"

     

    Doesn't sound legal or real to me. Anyone in the Austin area able to confirm the repeater is real?

     

    I may try giving them a call later, says in the accounts description "Seacoast Telephone (James Black) is the owner of this account.  If you have questions about repeaters listed under our license, please call 603-758-6500 during normal business hours (8am to 5pm)."

     

    illegal in every way, GMRS can't be used for business and that sounds like a business billing you to use their illegal DMR repeater lol. 

  5. In that case...get some old cellphones without service and put them in the closets. All cellphones that are not activated can still call 911

     

    AntiSquid Disclaimer: All comments are personal opinion only and may not constitute actual fact.

     

    I have like 10-15 flip and numeric key pad phones to choose from lol, good idea, I forgot all about that, I will use an old sprint phone that has GPS and large battery and its analog/digital still shows signal from sprint, it will show locked on the screen when you call 911, I think is the only one with GPS that I have, the others are just to old.  good for my kids since they are only 4 and 9 years old and may forget the address. 

  6. I designed everything around 12 volts.  Lighting, water pressure pump, TV/DVD, Electronics on the frig, Furnace, Fan over the Stove, Fans over the upstairs beds, bathroom fan.  We have a small sine wave inverter in the living room and a larger one at the battery bank that we rarely use.  I have been religious when it comes to adding distilled water to the batteries.

     

    My panels for the repeater shack will be on a 12/12  pitch roof which is pretty close to the optimum angle for our locale. Even then the snow has a tendency not to slide off unless it warms up well above freezing.  I wont be using the repeater much in the winter so it wont be an issue.

     

     

    By the way I have already researched the MPPT controllers and had decided on the ECO-Worthy 20A after deciding I needed more power for the radios I ended up with.

     

    I love the Eco-worthy 20amp MPPT charger, is cheap and it works great, here is one that I made for campings, it gives me the option to charge the car battery and add more solar panels, underneath the charger I have (2) 12ah SLA batteries. They power a brushless fan, LEDS and ipads etc on my campings or out on the field adventures :D

    CHECK OUT THE VIDEO

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-mKA2k4EN8

  7. MPPT Equalization mode is not the same as pulse desulflation or even similar to the devices that claim to pulse desulflate.

     

    LOL, the point is that you need to give the battery some jolt once in a while to reduce the crystallization on the battery plates, expensive charges like the outback uses a controlled over charging method , and the desulfator is for those with cheaper charge controllers that don't have that equalization stage. Not the same methods, but at the end of the day it will jolt the battery to reduce crystallization. I have used it before on my cheap solar setups when I started doing solar and when I tried a desulfator the battery lasted longer 1.5 years more than my other setups, that were the same. This is for people who are using cheap solar chargers, if the OP decides to use a good charger then he doesn't need this. :D

     

     When the budget is low, I always recommend this MPPT charger, I have 2 running for 3 years now and they squeeze all the power from my solar cells and work excellent at least for the price, I have used them in solar powered pedal boats and electric wheelchairs lol

     http://www.eco-worthy.com/catalog/worthy-mppt-solar-charge-controller-12v24v-p-182.html

     

     

  8. So, I made a trade today and got myself a FT7800R ham radio, later I found out it was MARS/CAP modded = for those who doesn't know, it allows the radio to transmit out of band like GMRS, other than been illegal, the radio also looses power transmitting out of the HAM BAND, did some bench test and I get 38-41watts on HAM BAND but once I go over the 440mhz the power drops a lot, on 462mhz I'm about 23watts  and 467mhz at 19watts and drops by the second.

     

    Other than been illegal, the modification could damage your radio. I would love to be legal and have the full 40-45watts output :(

     

     

  9. "

    Several companies offer anti-sulfation devices that apply pulses to the battery terminals to prevent and reverse sulfation. Such technologies will lower the sulfation on a healthy battery, but they cannot effectively reverse the condition once present. It’s a “one size fits all” approach and the method is unscientific.

     

    Applying random pulses or blindly inducing an overcharge can harm the battery by promoting grid corrosion. There are no simple methods to measure sulfation, nor are commercial chargers available that apply a calculated overcharge to dissolve the crystals. As with medicine, the most effective remedy is to apply a corrective service for the time needed and not longer.

     

    While anti-sulfation devices can reverse the condition, some battery manufacturers do not recommend the treatment as it tends to create soft shorts that may increase self-discharge. Furthermore, the pulses contain ripple voltage that causes some heating of the battery. Battery manufacturers specify the allowable ripple when charging lead acid batteries. Last" updated 2016-09-22

     

    This is from http://batteryuniversity.com

     

    I am not aware of a quality charge controller that contains a desulfation stage.

     

    On the Outback is called Equalization mode, its a more controlled desulfation. Either way, the best way to protect your batteries is to never drain them bellow 50% and keep that water level full. I ran half of my home in Puerto Rico with solar and batteries, and its something I want to do here in my home in Florida too. But I want the Tesla battery $$$$ I have to wait a little. lol

  10. Many people don't know it, but the best type of solar cell out there is the Amorphous Silicon Thin Film, they require more space but they produce more power in many situations. http://www.ebay.com/itm/UniSolar-Flexible-24V-136-Watt-Solar-Panel-RV-Boat-Battery-Charger-with-Adhesive-/152115254978?hash=item236ac696c2:g:VMgAAOSwARZXi9VO

     

    You can buy a 100w Polycrystalline or Monocrystalline solar panel, and to actually get the 100W you need the perfect weather, full sun, cold weather, if the solar panel gets warm or hot, the power will drop very quickly. The Amorphous cell, will work great with cold or hot weathers, and under cloudy conditions.

     

    I made a test about 2 years ago using a Unisolar Amorphous 136watt solar panel and a Solarworld 160w monocrystalline solar panel.

    Both solar panel facing up, no angles, about 3' from the ground in Florida summer weather.

     

    8am readings:

    Amorphous  64w

    Monocrystalline 17w

     

    10am readings:

    Amorphous 113w

    Monocrystalline 72w

     

    12pm readings: (sun angle perfect)

    Amorpous 141w

    monocrystalline 128w

     

    3pm readings with clouds

    Amorphous 98w

    Monocrystalline 81w

     

    We installed 2 amorphous solar panels on my fathers RV and believe it or not, o a full moon or under a bright walmart light pole "depending on the type of light" you can see the charge controller working best we have seen is 7 watts. The only problem is that they require more space, but I prefer them over Monocrystalline or Polycrystalline solar panels, specially on cloudy days.

  11. I have run batteries for years and have tried a desulfalator and have yet to see any positive affect. I have charged from grid and from solar and a quality Charge controller is the most important element to maintaining expensive heavy batteries. I have seen chargers with built in circuits, batteries still last only around 3 to 4 yrs. I use an Outback Flex 80 for solar charging and I consider it among top of the line. for my AC charger I use a Samlex 2415UL. I maintain FLA batteries and these are the chargers I find work the best.

     

    All of those charge controllers you mentioned are top brands, they do have good charging algorithms that will protect the batteries and many have a desulfation stage, Outback has one if not mistaken, but many people use cheap $20-$60 ebay solar controllers, at least many repeaters setups I have seen on youtube are using cheap solar charge controllers that might have a few stages of charging, but do not have a desulfator setting, that's when the desulfator I posted comes handy. 

     

    Ones of the rules is to always have enough juice to power your system for 3 days without solar, and never discharge your battery bellow 50-60%

  12. Always keep this in mind, any battery NON lithium , will be only usable at 50% of its capacity, so if you have a 12v battery 100ahr , you really have 50ahr, draining the battery below 50% will kill it. If you battery is lithium , you can lower use up to 80% of its capacity on good brands.

     

    I spent a year playing with solar panels and different types of batteries. And I learned the hard way not to drain the battery below 50% of its capacity if its acid/gel type. 

  13. 467.5750      467.6000         467.6250         467.6500        467.6750      467.7000      467.7250      

    So we are licensed to transmit on this frequencies and receive 5mhz lower on a repeater setup right? But can we TX/RX on those 467mhz frequencies Simplex mode TX and RX on 467mhz? I'm looking for just a little more privacy when traveling and stay away from bubble pack GMRS people :D

     

    It should be legal right? 

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