TNFrank

I've added a bunch more 70cm Repeaters since I picked up a 9db Yagi for that band. The antenna also has an SWR of 1.01:1 for 70cm and 1.03:1 for GMRS so it should be fun to play with.

Most of the 2M repeaters in my area use 162.2 as their CTCSS, the 1.25M seem to use 156.7 and the 70cm use 100.0 for their CTCSS. I guess my 'Tisim saw a pattern in this and wondered if anyone else noticed.

I've also noticed kind of a pattern for CTCSS tones for each band. Not every repeater follows the pattern but I'd say a good 80-90% of them do. Has anyone else noticed this?

After more investigation it seems the RX issue at 33cm/900MHz was the antennas that were supposed to be tuned for that frequency. With other antennas the radio will actually TX and RX at 33cm.

I did get TX and RX on 902.200MHz with the 3" stubby. This guy also got 33cm/900MHz to work but the power out put HD got was very low. So, the RT-900 WILL do 33cm but not very well.

I'll have to look those 2 up, thanks.

The main issue I see is finding a 6M antenna for an HT. There's plenty of HT size 27MHz CB antennas to be had but nothing for 6M/50MHz that I can find.

LOL, thanks for pointing out that I'm an IDIOT. Do you treat EVERYONE who makes an honest mistake like this???? P.S. The Radio actually DOES work on 6M, CB-FM, 2M, 1.25M, 70cm, MURS and GMRS and I'll post another video to PROVE it to you. Love ya' Bro.

Update on 33cm/900MHz. The tuned antenna was the issue. TX/RX just fine with stock antennas so yes, it will do 33cm.

I do want to make a correction. 33cm/900MHz does seem to TX but there's no RX as I now have 2 of these radios and can't get them to RX on 33cm even with the proper antenna. I can TX and RX on CB, 6M, 2M, 1.25M and 70cm along with MURS and GMRS without any problems. Despite with the website says they WILL TX/RX on more frequencies than listed if they're set to "Super Mode", I know for a fact because I've done it. The website is probably listing what will TX/RX on "Normal" range. P.S. They also do RX only on Airband, FM Broadcast and NOAA Weather Radio.

See my video on the RT-900 in the Equipment Review section on the Forum. At 2M and 70cm I'm able to hit a Repeater on the White Tank Mts. at over 20 Miles away with a 3" antenna from a Suburban Area with trees, houses, etc. I'm sure this radio will work well enough for folks to dip their toe into other Bands to see if they want to invest more in a "Higher End" radio but for me on my tight budget this one will be just fine.

Been wanting something to play on the 6M and 33cm/900MHz bands and found this radio. The Radtel RT-900 will actually do 18MHz to 999MHz when put on "Super Mode" and with the proper antenna tuned for the right frequency just may be the ticket for a low cost HT to mess around on Multi-Bands. Enjoy the video and thanks for watching. TN.Frank Out. Correction on 33cm/90MHz. They appear to TX but I can't get RX even with a proper antenna so they don't seem to work on 33cm.

My Surecom will only test up to 525MHz so I can't get a power reading at 900MHz but I did test all the other frequencies. There's plenty of videos on YouTube about the RT-900 you can watch and I plan on doing one tomorrow to post to my channel. I'm also getting some properly tuned antennas for 900MHz to use because nothing I currently have is tuned for that frequency. Also, without actually getting one you can't just presume that it's junk. It's actually worked very well at 2M, 1.25M and 70cm hitting repeaters over 20 miles away with the Nagoya 320a antenna I have on it. I'd say pick one up and give it a try, what have you got to loose? At the most you've dropped $25 bucks on something that will work on several different bands and would be a good beater radio to keep in the truck or as a back up to your other radios.

I have one and it WILL do 33cm/900MHz, trust me. You set it to "Super Mode" and you can do from 18MHz to 999MHz. It only says "Dual Band" on the web site but it'll do 10M, 6M, 2M, 1.25M, 70cm, 33cm, CB FM, MURS and GMRS and alot of other Frequencies in between.

The Radtel RT-900 is suppose to do 33cm and is only $25 for the non-bluetooth model. I have one on order and I'll try to post a video to my YouTube channel. It might be worth picking one up to play around with.

I had a cousin on my dad's side of the family who lives in Pikeville. His last name is Jimmy Stanaford. I've not seen him in years. He had 700 acres that he raised cattle on. I lived in Crossville before moving back to AZ.

Same as my user name. Tennessee Frank.

I'll have to look up NanoVNA Saver. Also, I know ground plane plays a big part in the efficiency of the antenna and it hit or miss with an HT. I just wanted to get an idea of where each antennas "sweet spots" were so I'd have a better idea of which one to use for what. Plus I think it'd be a fun video for my channel.

I got my NanoVNA H2 in today and was planning on doing a video on antenna swril with the antennas I have. I'd originally planned on doing a 401 node sweep of from 120MHz to 470MHz then see where each antenna worked best between that range. Now I'm thinking I should break each range up by Band(2M, 1.25M, MURS, 70cm, and GMRS)to get more accurate readings. Does that sound about right? I'm curious to see which antennas are more limited to some frequencies and which word on a broader spectrum. Should be a fun experiment and make for an interesting video.

That's because as I've learned the radio is looking for a perfect 50 ohm load from the antenna and since the dummy load gives the radio the 50 ohms it's looking for the SWR is perfect. The load the radio "sees" from a given antenna can vary depending on frequency, hence the need to tune the antenna for a given frequency. I really want to pick up a NanoVNA to run SWR scans on my antenna so I can see what each is tuned for.

Just for grins I got my power/swr meter out(same one I used to test power output in my videos)and checked the swr(unscientifically)and got anywhere from really good on some frequencies with some antennas to absolutely awful on some frequencies. Some antennas did great on MURS and 2M but totally sucked at 70cm. Many didn't do well at all on 1.25M but were passable on 2M and 70cm. Surprisingly the factory 8" and Abbree 771 were both accaptably on ALL tested frequencies. 2M, MURS, 1.25M, 70cm and GMRS. I guess the factory provided antennas aren't as bad as the old rubber duck antennas they use to provide. I'll probably give the 320a a test to see how it looks before I make up my mind one way or the other.

RG-8x seems to be pretty good especially if I keep it at 10 feet.

Just watched a review on the 320a, the SWR was horrible especially on the 70cm band. I'll be sending it back without even opening it. Really disappointed that Nagoya would put out a product like this.

I ordered a Nagoya 320a to try out. I'll put it on my best radio(AR-5RM #3, see my power test video in Armature Radio section.) to see how it works. P.S. This antenna is rated for 10W, my radio is putting out 11W. Is there enough "wiggle room" for it to handle the extra watt?