Radioguy7268

Except that in order to actually transmit through a repeater - you do need to be operating under an actual GMRS License. So they're not really "license free" - they're just cheap 2 watt radios with a fixed antenna.

A Duplexer should be tuned for a single pair of frequencies - ie: 462.550 transmit (low) and 467.550 receive (high). There are people selling duplexers that are supposed to be tuned to the middle of the GMRS band - and are advertised to cover all the GMRS repeater channels. What they don't tell you is that they don't perform as well as a duplexer that's actually tuned to the specific frequency pair that your repeater is using. This is ESPECIALLY true for the compact "flat pack" notch duplexers which are often used by budget conscious repeater owners. A duplexer works best when it has high isolation & narrow notch windows. Trying to make the duplexer cover a wider range of frequencies will never improve system performance.

Which Vertex model do you have? Are you willing to ship it? Vertex software is pretty easy to come by, and a simple programming cable for most models is about $25 online.

Most of the cable TV stuff will be 75 Ohms - not the 50 Ohms that GMRS equipment would want to see. Would it work? yes, to a degree. You'll have higher losses and higher SWR than you would with "real" 50 Ohms coax. You will also find out that they don't really make LMR connectors that fit 75 Ohm cable (at least, not correctly.) You can buy some semi-expensive adapters or build your own toroid coils to deal with it. Putting a cheap radio together with cheap cable that's 75 Ohms will probably lead to a bunch of headaches, but if it ultimately means one more burned up CCR and a learning experience - then I'd probably be in favor of it. I would guess that in the long run, you'll end up buying more stuff in an effort to "save money" than you would have spent to do it right in the first place. If you want to get up higher so that you can get out further, using cheap CATV coax is NOT the way to go.

Just the other day I was setting up some rental radios on a MURS channel. I had some constant chatter on some of the frequencies from a nearby construction site. One of them was a Crane operation - who kept getting stepped on by a Paving Contractor. Not sure I'd want to run MURS or similar job site "dot" freq's for a Crane operation... but that's just me. MURS in my area is pretty well used. Not nearly to the point of congestion, but keeping it Simplex keeps out the worst offenders. Longer range CB sounds nice - but who wants a 4 ft. telescopic antenna for their portables?

A 2 watt mobile for $369. I guess it has a market... if you like to scan.

Here's a link to the manual. Disclosure: I've never used an ID-O-Matic, but sounds like you've got the deviation set too high on the CWID. https://radiodan.com/idom3/ID-O-MATIC IV-20140527.pdf

I'm hardly an expert. I've learned by doing, and I've just been doing for a long time. I still get twisted up sometimes. I once spent nearly an hour trying to figure out why I wasn't seeing an option that I knew should be there on a Vertex repeater, before I realized I hadn't set my new software to 'expert' mode. Rookie mistake, 20 years in. If you never programmed radios before, Kenwood and Vertex are probably 2 of the easier commercial software programs to learn on. Kenwood keeps a very common software platform among most of their programs, so once you learn their software, you're pretty familiar with where to look for most any settings you might need to adjust. For a first timer, I'd say that getting a basic codeplug set up for you from the start is a good jumping off point, and at least you have a working codeplug to refer to if you want to start modifying stuff on your own. Rule #1 if you start programming - SAVE YOUR ORIGINAL CODEPLUG before you do any modifications. Keep that original archive untouched, and you'll always have something to go back to.

Samlex makes some decent 24 to 12 volt step down converters for around $100. No matter what, pay attention to the Amp rating, the cheaper ones are often limited to just 10 or 15 amps advertised, which might be under what your 50 watt radio will pull under transmit. (Note that the actual ratings are often less for continuous draw - as compared to the "advertised" max instantaneous rating.) I wouldn't get too worried about DC noise getting into your radio from the converter. More noise comes from bad grounding and alternator whine. If you're planning to use a 1/2 wave antenna, then no ground plane should be necessary. Fender mounts are not ideal, but they work. Fender mounts will far exceed the range of any portable you're talking simplex with. You're asking good questions - but don't let perfection become the enemy of good. Your setup will be good enough.

I live and work in the real world. LMR400/LMR600 is what we use in probably 75% of our installations for repeaters. Price/performance, the stuff is hard to beat. Plus, it's easy to install & holds up well - provided that you install it correctly. That means that you need to shrink wrap the connections & use mastic on any outdoor connections. Keep the line secure & don't let it flap in the breeze, keep water out of it, and you'll see 15+ years out of it IMHO. When I have pulled LMR400 due to noise or "the Rice Krispies effect" it's almost always been soldered on PL-259 UHF connectors. I did have a recent replacement of a customer's LMR400 that was 20+ years old & was showing noise during the repeater tail. Once we got up on the roof, we discovered that the real problem was a cut in the line due to a recent roofing job, not really a failure of the cable due to install or age. When I do installations where the line runs are over 100 ft, or when the budget allows, then Heliax is my go-to favorite for UHF or VHF. I find more problems typically with the jumpers used for duplexers than I do with LMR400. Pay attention to the quality of your connectors and cabling used at ground level before you spend big money on heliax. There is sense to the idea of buying quality one time, but there's also a realistic factor.

Phantom antennas suck. Do a simple test: Put on the Phantom antenna, run your VSWR test, then step back 10 ft. from the vehicle & tilt your head 10 degrees to the right. Now, screw on a standard 6 inch hatpin UHF quarter wave antenna, measure VSWR again, and then step back 10 ft. and tilt your head 10 degrees again, this time to the left. I'm thinking the 1/4 wave hatpin will look much better after running your test. The 10 degree head tilt is optional.

The R1225's were famous for burning up if you ran them at high power. Someone probably did you a favor by turning down the finals to limit the power output. The sales brochure said they'd do a 50% duty cycle at high power, experience says that even at 25 Watts, anything close to a 50% duty cycle would kill them. Lots of the later Maxtrac/Radius mobiles that the R1225 series were based off of had a thermistor controlled limiting circuit that would turn down the power as the amp heated up - kind of a self limiting feature to keep the radio from burning itself up. I haven't dug into the manual for one of those R1225's in probably 15 years - so I can't say for sure that's what is causing the pull-back that you're seeing, but it seems like it might be. Make sure you're keeping the fan on & blowing cold clean air across the heat sink. Either way, if you want more than 20 watts out of your R1225 repeater, you should either get an external amp or go find a nice used MTR2000. I'd also say if you're trying to crank more than 20 watts out of your duplexer - what are you talking to? Portables at 4/5 watts? How far can they talk back in? Transmit power sounds sexy, but it's rarely the limiting factor in a repeater system.

Anything electronic is built overseas. Even Motorola doesn't do much in the USA except assemble parts built elsewhere. There's a pretty big issue with component supply right now due to some of the political wrangling that's been going on, tariff's, etc. There was a fire at a semiconductor factory in Japan (AKM) that's causing all types of trouble for Kenwood - but it's supposed to be affecting other products like some Ford Trucks and Tesla that have idled assembly lines for certain models. Rumor has it that another chip manufacturer had a plant fire in March - Renasas in Japan. Most of the rare earth metals are being mined in China. Batteries and semiconductors are not "green" when it comes to manufacturing. The USA has effectively off-shored most of it's pollution by having everything built overseas. I'd purchase what fits my budget - with an eye towards resale value. If it's $100 but has zero value once used, it is junk. If you want to support US business - consider your local radio shop. They probably have some well built equipment hiding on the back shelf that would work well for GMRS.

A remote mounted head would be a big help. There's very few options for a traditional install. Most of the dash & console are plastic, with no good options for mounting a heavy brick. You can also get an advanced mic option RMN5127 - or the full tilt PMLN7131 Hand Held Control Head mic (costs darn near as much as the radio - but makes mounting a breeze.) Either one of those allows you to hide the brick under a seat or behind the seat, and then control the radio via the mic. Having voice announcement enabled helps a bunch with the more limited RMN5127. If you go with the hidden radio - then you're probably going to need a mic extension cable - Motorola makes a few in different lengths - the PMKN4033 at 10ft or the PMKN4034 for 20 ft. are the ones we use most often.

Here's what Google says: https://www.rtsystemsinc.com/ST-980Plus-Radio-Programming-Software_ep_419-1.html In 25+ years of Commercial LMR experience, I have never heard of the Socotran brand - or RT Systems. Update: Well, that was an interesting little trip down the rabbit hole. Seems that QYT also makes an ST-980plus, and it's probably the same unit. You could probably try programming with Chirp - and select the QYT version to see if that allows read/write access to the Socotran. There's also a well-written write up done on the Socotran ST-7900 radio here: https://ka7oei.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-hiliariously-bad-multi-band-radio.html The guy does a very complete and thorough job testing the radio, and points out some of it's flaws - but also explains why it's happening, and why it's bad. It's a good write up for anyone who wonders why so many of us rail against the CCR radios that have come to dominate the lower end of the market.

When programming the CDM series of radios - you will need to pay attention to the "Personality assignment to Zone" tab way down at the bottom of the programming tree. Basically, when you add a new channel into "Personality" and set it up with Frequency and PL, etc. you're still not done. You need to drop down and assign that Personality to an actual channel position within the Zone. It's a little strange, but once you understand it, you'll do fine. There's also a "wizard" setting that might help you. Signaling is probably not where your problems are - it's mainly used for Push to Talk ID or Selective Calling. If you don't know what those items are - don't worry. You don't need them to access 99.89% of repeaters that are out there in the GMRS world. I don't have a codeplug available at the moment, but if you're still having trouble come Monday - shoot me a message and i'll get you a copy of an example codeplug for GMRS.

I've run the Tram 1486 on GMRS before with no problems. Range of 10-15 miles with a decent repeater. That's not to say every Tram 1450 is good, because I'm sure that some are junk, but it's not the design that's junk - just the tuning and the materials they're made of. Oh, and those UHF SO-239 connectors should be banned from the antenna industry. That said, have you tried out your antenna & coax just using simplex & hooking it up to a handheld or mobile? That will quickly tell you what's going on. Eliminate the repeater/duplexer/jumpers - just use an adapter straight to the coax feedline. If that doesn't work, then you KNOW it's the feedline or the antenna. If that simplex test works, then you've got some investigation to do. I'd want to sweep the line before I'd just replace the antenna. A basic UHF hatpin antenna would get you 2 miles on a working repeater. Heck, I once had a hospital with a repeater antenna blown off the roof & the connector ripped out of the feedline - that was still giving them 80% of their in-building coverage. They only called because "it was a little scratchy in some spots".

If you don't have the tools for testing, your choices are limited. You can take your radio to a local shop to be bench checked - but checking isn't necessarily fixing. If you've got another radio to try, then you should program that up & see if you have a different experience. If both radios are doing the same thing (but those cheap company radios are not having trouble) - then I think you need to look at the idea that the DPL information on Radio Reference probably isn't correct - it's just what someone's scanner read out.

Without getting into the weeds of technical jargon - there are design specifications that determine the size of the "window" that a radio receiver will recognize as being a properly configured DPL code. That design window allows you to not quite be exactly on target, but still close enough to the bullseye to count as valid. As long as your radio stays within that window, you're going to operate. Deviate off center a little to the edges, and the receiver might decide that you're not really a valid user. Start outside the window, and then drift into spec, and the receiver might take a while until it decides that you're really supposed to be there, and opens up the audio circuitry.

Back up to the issue that WPXM352 brought up - how did you get the Frequency and Code? There are certain PL codes that can "false" as a DPL - and if you read the DPL off the air with your radio, it's possible that you're close, but not quite there. The idea that it's taking so long for your Gateway device to recognize your particular radio as a Valid User indicates that there's something not quite right with the way your radio is presenting itself. I hate to say, but there's also shops within the industry that will NOT give out PL tones correctly if a customer calls in looking for system information.

Simplest solution would be to just try a different radio (prefer a Part 90 type accepted radio of proven design/performance) and program in the same frequency/code combination. Beyond that, you could put your current radio on a Service Monitor & see how well it's actually performing, ie: How stable is it? How well does it hold the programmed center frequency - what's the amount of drift? What's the deviation level and stability of the DPL? What's the total deviation? When you programmed your radio - did you set it for narrowband 12.5 kHz? Pretty much any UHF business band frequency would be a 12.5 emissions mask.

Chances are that the device is having trouble decoding your particular DPL, as generated by your radio.

Not knowing what kind of radio you're using, or the exact style of headset you prefer, I'd point you over to Impact Communications & tell you to browse through what they've got available. I'm thinking you can buy directly from their store even without being a dealer if you use a credit card. Their quality is pretty good, the pricing is decent, and their service and selection is better than you'll find at any of the "big box" online stores. When I go searching for audio accessories, Impact is my first stop if I can't find what I need through OEM. http://www.impactcomms.com Klein is another option - and they have some Bluetooth options that other manufacturers don't carry. I'd recommend Impact over Klein. http://www.kleinelectronics.com

I'm pretty sure that the FCC would tell you that you need to identify on each and every channel that you're transmitting on. That's kind of the whole concept of ID'ing - it's a way to identify who is transmitting, so that any issues of interference can be more easily resolved. If you transmit on channels 1,3,5, and 7 - but only transmit a partial ID on Channel 5 and 7 (because the radio switched channels halfway through your voice identification) then I don't think you've properly identified. How does the radio accomplish monitoring the channel to make sure it's open and available before automatically switching?

I wonder if anyone has pointed that out to the FCC? Seems that an automated frequency hopping system in GMRS would not be monitoring the channel prior to each transmission as it hops around - potentially causing interference to anyone who is already transmitting on the channel. I'd also wonder how it handles identification on the 4 channels that it just transmitted on. Or, do you need to stop every 15 minutes to go back and manually key up on the channel(s) in question and properly identify? Type acceptance under Part 95 probably doesn't allow for such a feature. I'm not a lawyer.