berkinet

Oops. I mistook the ' for a ". In the case of eight feet, the loss is minuscule like 0.8db. But, if there is no place for the coil it is probably a good idea to pay a bit extra to get the right length. BTW, UHF male connectors are among the easiest to attach on your own, if you were interested in having a whack at the cable on your own.

If you can get the antenna mount with a shorter cable, I'd buy it. But, the loss from an extra 16 feet of cable is only 1.6db. I wouldn't worry too much about it. One other thing. NMO is a specification for an antenna mount - the juncture between the antenna and the post it will mount on. It is not a cable connector. So, what you want is an NMO mount with 1 foot cable terminated with an RG58. Just ask the Antenna Farm if they can chop 16 feet off your cable and solder on a new connector. But, Is the antenna really only < 1 foot from the antenna?

A couple of notes related to this discussion. #1 Frequency and wavelength are 2 ways of describing the same phenomena. The frequency (Hertz) equals the number of waves that pass a given point per second. A wavelength equals the distance between two successive wave crests or troughs. http://history.amazingspace.org/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/glossary/glossary_terms/graphics/igt2_wvlngthfreq.gif Here is the formula that is used to convert between the two measurements: Freq is the Frequency in cycles per second C is the velocity factor 299,792,458 meters per second (the speed of light) λ represents wavelength in meters So, a single wave at 462.725mHz (GMRS Ch 22) is 0.648 meters long, and a 1/4 wave is 0.162 meters or 6.379 inches. As for your ground plane, for a 1/4 wave antenna, it should be a bit longer that 1/4 wave in all directions. The longer the better. But, anything over 1/4 wave is fine. However, for your purposes, if you have the antenna mounted well above you and keep the power low, which you should do anyway, you will do just fine for most communications with the roll-bar as a ground plane all by itself. If you want exact measurements, take a look at this site. Also note that for repeater use there is a 5mHz difference between your transmit and receive frequencies. That translates to around 0.03" for Ch 22. The main point here is, unless you are designing the antenna for a single simplex frequency, there will always be tradeoffs in length. For more information, take a look at this discussion on RadioReference As to the number of channels. First off, don't confuse the term GMRS Channel, which translates to an FCC designated frequency, with the numbers of channels offered by your radio. With the radios, the term channel refers to an assignment of a frequency and other relevant information to a position in the radio's internal programming list. On simple radios, that is a dial position. On radios with a display, it is usually shown on the display. Some radios even allow you to hide the internal channel number and, instead, assign a name. While it is true that there really is no such thing as a sub-channel You might consider a specific combination of channel (frequency) and PL/DPL audio management to be like a separate channel. That is, if you call home on ch 14 with a PL of 88.5 and call your friend on the same frequency but with a PL of 131.8, you could either assign one channel on your radio to GMRS Channel 14, and then change PL as needed from the front panel or microphone (if possible), or assign two separate channels on kourradio, one for each combination. So, that is why some users want radios with more than 22 channels. See the Wikipedia for more information.

gman1971: We are not having a 2nd amendment argument here. My original observation was about the appropriateness of off-topic discussions. No comments were made, or implied about the second amendment, only about its (lack of) relevance to a Retevis-RT76. And, in response to RCM. You are correct, I am not a big fan of guns. But, that is separate from my views on the 2nd amendment, which I prefer not to discuss in this venue. So, apology accepted, and thank you.

You do? Actually, I doubt it. As @marcspaz noted, There is always topic drift in any forum thread. That is true, and topic drift doesn't help anyone in an online community. It makes it much harder to search for posts and focus discussion. These types of forums are threaded for a reason and one way to avoid too much thread drift is for the participants to raise it to everyone's attention when it occurs - which is exactly what I was doing. As to the 2nd amendment, there were actually three posts. But, why would you start with personal attacks, simply because I noted the topic was out of place on this thread. In fact, you have no idea how I feel about any current political issues. But, If I did want to share my views, I would use an appropriate forum, and that is all I was suggesting.

Ok folks. Severe topic drift here. This topic was about the Retevis RT76 radio, and has, in my view, been well addressed. Other subjects, such as FCC station identification requirements, should probably take place in the FCC Rules Discussion area. If you want to discuss the second amendment to the US constitution, I'd suggest the Miscellaneous Topics discussion.

While shrink tubing is waterproof itself, water can wick in through any exposed ends. So, should you ever have to remove the antenna, you might wish to reseal the connection by smearing some silicon caulk inside the shrink tube before you heat it. Or, try something like this adhesive lined shrink tubing.

You might want to take a good look at the manual. In particular, the Channrel Spacing is defined as... Dual Channel Spacing 12.5/25 kHz (12.5kHz USA) Now, the features do state "WideBandCoverage(VHF:136~174MHz; UHF:400~470,450~520MHz)." However, I'd suspect that means the radio covers a wide band of frequencies rather than wide-band channels. Also, there is an indicator lamp for Narrow/Wide but, that may be meaningless if the radio is locked to Narrow. And, finally, nowhere in the manual is there any mention of setting the bandwidth, or for that matter, the frequencies and channels. Since the radio can, in some cases at least, do both Wide and Narrow modes, and frequencies cannot be set from the front panel, it seems obvious this is a software feature. But, my guess is the US radios cannot be set to wideband, at least not without special unlocking software. Since the software is available you might want to download a copy just to check it out. OTOH, it might be easiest, and best, to just call Maxon or an official reseller.

Wide band? I don't see the mode(s) in the spec sheet.

Did you check the Antenna Farm website? They list a number of sealing and weatherproofing tapes that should work. Or, you could put some silicon plumbing grease on the threads. If you will never dismantle the antenna, you could use silicon sealant instead.

I was away from the computer earlier. Now with a minute to check I found https://abeep.com/collections/mobile-radios/tk-8180-series Kenwood TK-8180HK, UHF 450-520 MHz, 45W, 512 Ch. sale $ 588.00 regularly $ 735.00 Kenwood TK-8180K, UHF 450-520 MHz, 30W, 512 Ch. sale $ 483.20 regularly $ 604.00 See what I mean. However, for a refurb I found https://refitradio.com/products/kenwood-tk-8180-h-mobile-vehicle-radio Kenwood TK-8180HK, UHF 450-520 MHz, 45W, 512 Ch. $219 with a 6 mo guarantee.

Look around, they are available. But, the, the price is steep. The reconditioned or refurbished units seem to sell at fair prices. Still used, but probably safer than an eBay cheapie.

Only 1 question... rodro123 lives in Wisconsin, where there is actually winter. Being metal and a lot of nooks and crannies I'm wondering how the DB404 will perform with snow/ice/wind loading?

Not per-se an endorsement, but I have used Wiscomm for parts orders in the past and found them to be helpful, reliable and fast. however, you probably want the 400-470mHz version. https://www.shopwiscomm.com/-Vertex-Standard-VX-2200-UHF-400-470-Mhz-128c-45-Watt-Mobile-Radio-P3164974.aspx

Yes that radio will give you everything you want and more. Cables and software are generally available. I don’t have a link right now, but you can get it by googling for Vertex software and cables. You might try eBay and look for bluemax49ers. If you think you might ever get ham license, you might consider the 400-470 mHz version of that radio (I think it is the G6) as it covers both ham and gmrs.

I think you wanted to say: no drivers are installed If that is the case, you can find the drivers on Maxton's web site.Once you have the drivers installed you should be able to edit the device in the Device Manager and select the appropriate COM port. You would need to set it to 1 or 2, and then make the corollary change in the programming software. OTOH, maybe you do not actually have a Maxton cable. The 2 most common USB chip sets are FTDI and Prolific. FTDI drivers are available from their web site. Prolific drivers are also available, but because that chipset is commonly forged, the Prolific drivers may not actually work if your cable uses forged chips. You can determine the actual chip set in use through the Device Manager. What you want to look for are the Vendor ID and Product ID. They will probably be shown as 2 digit hex numbers. Like a9ac. For more information and specific instructions for Windows, see this web page.

Did you look at the first thread I linked above where, in response to a comment from you, n4gix wrote: And then, all the way at the end, where bpendleton wrote:

Probably to prevent “like-flation”

There was some discussion of the RT97 a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, the forum search feature can’t find anything. However, Googling for “site:mygmrs.com rt97” found two mentions. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1571-seeking-feedback-on-gmrs-plan/ and https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1359-10-mhz-split-vs-filter-technology/page-3 Depending on your search string, you might turn up others.

I am not really going to defend this radio, I was just explaining what the seller wrote. If anyone wants information it is all there in black-and-white on the seller’s website. If anyone takes argument what the seller has written, they can take it up with the seller on the Reddit discussion. Just FYI, here is the comment about power and certification from Danny at buytwowayradios.com The hardware for this radio is the Wouxun KG-703E, which was previously type accepted by Wouxun for Part 95. When we started this we had to select which base Wouxun radio we wanted to start from. The requirements were a single band model with a display, so we selected their KG-703E. We chose this one because it is similar to the popular dual band KG-UVD1P. We've been selling the KG-UVD1P for years and know it's a high quality radio, plus it was nice that all of the accessories are compatible between the models. Turns out, the KG-703E had already been Part 95 type accepted. We worked with Wouxun to customize the radio's firmware and programming software, but the hardware is unchanged. Wouxun said that since the hardware was unchanged it wasn't necessary to recertify, and this is consistent with what I've seen previously. As far as the wattage, we tested it to be right at 4 watts. Since the power can be adjusted without a hardware change I suppose a new FCC ID wasn't necessary. And before anyone comments. I have no idea if Danny or Wouxun is right about their assertion that recertification is not required or as to why the original certification was at 741mW. Hopefully, someone will get one of these and put it on a spectrum analyzer so we can see what it actually transmits.

I am certainly not pushing these radios... however, the seller/importer does address that issue on the Reddit page and his own announcement. This is supposedly a revised version of a previously certified radio with the power now set at 4 watts. They claim they can continue to use the old certificate s long as the hardware doesn't change.

Yes. Both radios (GMRS & MURS) are available in two versions: basic and professional. The difference is, the professional version allows setting of PL tones from the menu system and PC programming, while the basic version only supports PC programming for PL tones.

I am hoping someone with the right test equipment can get one of these radios to check out the receiver and see if it really is better than the average CCR.

I just noticed a banner ad (Look Up) from buytwowayradios.com for a newly certified GMRS radio from Wouxun. I wrote newly certified since the radio was actually first certified for Part90 in 2012 and has now been certified for Part95. There is a lot more information on this Reddit thread.

Same goes for the RT76 too. No keyboard, no display. CHIRP may work, as many Retevis radios are already supported.