WRYZ926

One of the most popular (and most expensive) is the Wouxun KG-1000G Plus. The Midland MX500 and MX575 will cost about the same but do not have all the bells and whistles and are sometimes known to be under powered. I have two KG-1000G radios and like them a lot. One is my base station and the other is in my vehicle.

You will be good to go with 40 or 50 watts with LMR400 and the Comet CA-712EFC as long as you have a clear line of sight to the repeaters you are trying to reach. The following information is from: https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/ LMR400 has a loss 2.869 dB per 100 foot of length. The CA-712EFC is rated at 9 dBi or 6.85 dBd - calculate uses dBd For a 50 watt radio and 40 ft of LMR400 you will have an EPR (effective radiating power) of 172 watts For a 40 watt radio and 40 ft of LMR400 will will have an ERP of 137.6 watts That is not enough difference between the two to tell the difference in farz or to hear the difference in signal strength.

You won't notice much difference at all between 40 or 50 watts. AS far as reaching a repeater 40-50 miles away, that will definitely depend on your location, local terrain, structures, and foliage. If your antenna and the repeater are both on tall hills with nothing in-between them or you are in the wide open desert then 40-50 miles will be no problem. If you live in a hilly/mountinous area or heavily forested area then you would be lucky to get 35 miles.

Some people swear by glass mount antennas and some cuss at glass mounted antennas. I' have not tried them on any newer vehicles since most factory tinted widows contain metal.

The Midland MXTA38 adhesive-backed metallic mount works well. I use one on the aluminum diamond plated tool box on my SxS. It holds a Comet 2x4SR antenna just fine. https://midlandusa.com/collections/micromobile-accessories/products/micromobilemxta38-adhesive-backed-metallic-mount Unfortunately Midland is out of stock and I did not see it on Amazon. But something similar should work. Or go with a vehicle specific mount like suggested.

Your best bet is to return that RG58 coax and get some LMR400 or equivalent coax. RG58 is the wrong coax for UHF. And from the looks of it, you are going to need a coax with a PL259 on one end and a N Type on the other, or get a PL259 to N tip adaptor.

Terrain, foliage, and structures are going to have an affect. There is no getting around that. A mobile antenna on a cookie sheet will definitely improve things. Try to get the antenna as high as you can will also help. My club's repeater sight is 21.5 miles from my house. The 2m and 70cm antennas are at 900 feet while the GMRS antennas are at 400 feet. I can easily get into the 2m repeater with a hand held but can't get into the 70cm repeater at all. I can sometimes get into the GMRS repeater when out in my yard, but that is spotty at best. It's not the power that affects me but the short antenna on hand held radios. I can get into all three repeaters on low power using my mobile radios in the house using base antennas mounted up on the roof.

Generally the higher loss coax is not a big deal in a mobile install since most setups are 16 feet or less with most magnet mounts having a 12 foot coax. And yes the smaller size makes running the coax inside easier. Here is a good coax loss calculator: https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/

A GMRS license is not a waste of money if you want the ability to use a hand held radio with external antenna to get out farther while in a vehicle. A GMRS license also allows you to have mobile radios that put out more than 2 watts. FRS is limited to a maximum of 2 watts which will affect how far you can talk to people. Go with what service suits your needs the best. For most people, the $35 dollars for a GMRS license that covers their family for 10 years is worth it.

Yes it is. I searched for a bit looking for videos on programming the BDR50 but didn't find much. And the manual for the BCR40 isn't all that good either.

This is spot on! I would hear all kinds of FRS traffic on channel 17 if I did not have tones set for our repeater. It gets a lot worse during deer season around here. I live in a very rural area with lots of farm ground and two conservation areas. A lot of deer hunters use FRS which again shares all the same simplex channels as GMRS. Harvest and planting times aren't much better with all of the farmers that use FRS. setting tones on RX helps block out most of that.

Asking local public safety where they get their radios worked on is a good idea. We are lucky in that one of our club members retired from Sound Solutions Inc. and is still able to go in and use their equipment. Any business that deals with commercial radios and/or drive through systems, etc. should be able to help. It never hurts to ask.

Sorry about that, too much blood in the caffeine system today. And so are their videos for setting up the BDR50. Setting up the BDR50 for analog use should be the same as the BCR-40. The only decent video I could find for the BDR-50 is this one: DMR MADE EASY! | The Fastest Way to Get on the Air | Step-by-Step Digital Radio Workshop Be warned, that video is an hour long.

Let us know what works best for your situation. Each vehicle install will be different.

I want to learn CW but I also want to start studying for my Extra test too. And I have radio projects in the shack going on too. Decisions decisions.

Running coax inside at the bottom of the rear hatch was the best solution for me. The door openings put too much of a bend in the coax for my liking.

Look at running the cable in through the back hatch if the coax is long enough. I know there was plenty of room at the bottom of the rear hatch on my 2023 Ford Escape so there is no pinching of the coax.

Luckily I don't have to worry about solar arrays. I do have power lines and transformers on three sides of my property. I sometimes get interference from the transformers, especially after a really hard rain with high winds.

You will have to setup a SYS-OP user and use DTMF tones for remote control. The SYS-OP user is only used for remote control of the repeater. I found the manual somewhat lacking in areas. Here is a good video that helped me out. How to Program the BCR Repeater And another good video: How to Program a BCR Repeater System. This video gives more details about installing the program and getting ports configured.

I agree that it depends on the door and shape of the opening. I had no issues run-in the coax through the top of the door opening on my 2016 Jeep Cherokee. I had to run the coax down and around the rear hatch on my 2023 Ford Escape. @TrikeRadio see what works best for you and your vehicle. And you would have to really smash the coax dielectric before you would notice any effects.

I use several satellite dish mounts. The j mounts make good mounts for light weight radio antennas. Another nice thing is that most j mounts use a 1 5/8' diameter pipe which is the same size as 1 5/8" fence posts. You can find 1 5/8" fence post couplers on amazon to extend the mast higher. I will suggest that you use UV resistant guy rope if you extend it though. I can't get above the trees in my yard without going with a 40 foot or taller tower. My Comet CA-712EFC is actually under a big tree branch. I am using a j mount at the peak of my roof with the Comet and have no problems getting out.

I always forget about that since there is no code requirement to pass the tests and I don't use CW at all.

I just replaced my Yaesu FTDX10 with an Icom IC-7300. I personally prefer the IC-7300.

Are you wanting something for a base station, mobile or portable (parks on the air)? Yeast has the FTDX10 and FT-710. Icom has the IC-7300 and IC-7100. They all make good base stations and some people use all of them for POTA/portable setups. Though the FTDX10, FT-710, and IC-7300 are a bit big for portable work in my opinion. The IC-7100 does HF, VHF, and UHF. It is also smaller so works well as a mobile or portable setup. There is also the Yaesu FT-891 which is great for mobile/portable use. The down side to the FT-891 and IC-7100 is neither has an internal antenna tuner. You would have to use a resonant antenna for each band or an external tuner with both radios. Then there is QRP - low power operations. Most of the time they are 10 watts or less. There is also the Xiegu G90 HF radio that is 20 watts. The low power radios are good for portable work since thy won't drain a battery as quick as a 100 watt radio. Now if you want to get into digital modes like FT8, then the FTDX10, FT-710, IC-7300, and IC-7100 work right out of the box. The technician license only allows you privileges on a portion of the 10m band while a general license allows one to use all of the HF bands. I suggest studying for both at the same time and then take both tests at the same time.

Computer monitors are notorious for causing RF interference.