WSAM454

Yes, according to the calculator I posted earlier, the loss should be about 2 dB, and my quote of 10 in and 7 out would then be correct according to the calculator. If it IS actually a 5dB loss, then some other info is missing, or the cable is bad.

It depends on what kind of distance you need to cover, and how much power you are running, and how sensitive your receiver (s) is/are. As an example, 10 Watts out of the 900MHz radio with the cable you mention will result in about 7 Watts at the antenna. Fill in the Line Loss Calculator here: https://kv5r.com/ham-radio/coax-loss-calculator/

After you pull down the latch, the battery should just slide straight back and off; not too clear in the video, but give it a try. An excellent choice HT, by the way.

One thought; I also have my rig connected to the battery, but through a relay, so it won't accidentally be left on all night. (Does not have a 'turn off' timer setting!) Of course, the car has to be in at least the 'accessory' position to activate the relay, but even with the engine not running, there is circuitry activated. Anyway, I don't have any other suggestions, especially since this is one of those "it had been working fine" situations. Hopefully someone will offer a more viable solution. Good luck!

Since you mention a bulkhead fitting on the roof, it sounds like a mobile installation. Some thoughts: 1- Do they still hear the whine if the engine is NOT running, and is the radio is connected directly to the battery? 2- Is the negative lead of the radio connected to a near-by chassis/ground, and not a cable also running back to the battery? 3- Is the radio possibly being powered from an accessory plug, rather than directly to the battery? 4- You may be getting noise into the system from the running engine, and/or its associated electronics. Can you try the radio on a separate battery, not connected to the vehicle. 5- It may also be a poor ground/chassis connection to the radio's power or antenna system. Make sure all connections to the chassis (ground) are less than 1 ohm or so.

If these are both vertical antennas, how do you orient it so the stronger lobes are in the "right" place? Do you mean the antenna's take off angle? If so, that is not usually given in the specs.

The Arizona NOAA site shows another Tucson station, KXI24 (Safford) on 162.475. If you do not have any CTCSS or DCS tones enabled on receive, as Steve mentions, you should be able to hear it. Might the .475 transmitter be closer to you?

I would be sure it is more than the height of the antenna away from power lines, in case it comes down it will be less likely to hit/take down the power line. I would also mount the antenna so the bottom is at least 3 feet from the metal roof. Also, the suggestion by GROW to mount it on the gable is a good one.

It is still not clear if you are actually transmitting a carrier or not. It may not matter if the radio shows a full red line or not. If you key the radio, can you hear an audio-less signal (carrier) on another radio? if not, then you are not actually transmitting, and mic gain really does not enter into whether or not you are hitting a repeater, since it is the carrier that will activate the repeater, even if you have no audio. If another radio can 'hear' your carrier, but no audio when you talk, then the mic may be defective. Another thought: Does the repeater you are trying to access have a CTCSS (PL) tone needed by your transmitter, and if so, are you sure you have it programmed in correctly?

First you had an SWR of 3.78. After making changes you got the 19:1 reading. Now, you said that the meter no longer reads anything when the mic is keyed. Is it possible that the radio is no longer transmitting after that high SWR that it experienced? I realize that the radio should protect itself from extreme SWRs but maybe this time it did not??

The repeater may 'hear' the rf signal from your HT, and while it may be enough to key the repeater, the signal from your HT is most likely so weak that no intelligible audio will come through. Think of someone you have monitored who is very noisy into the repeater; it is not always possible to understand what they are saying, yet the repeater is keyed by them. Probably what is happening in your situation. If you are too noisy someone helpful may come back giving you a poor signal report, but more likely you will just be ignored. If you are that noisy, they may not even be able to understand what you are saying at all, and will not respond.

If it is a GMRS only radio, and there is no way to "unlock" it ( look it up ) then it will only offer the 5MHz split, since that is what is used on the GMRS band. If it can be unlocked, then you might be able to enter the needed offset, but make sure you would be welcomed on the repeater, since it does not sound like a typical GMRS repeater, and if it is, then it should be using the standard GMRS repeater offset.

These "400" cables can get confusing. The RG-400 you mentioned is a small diameter teflon Mil Spec cable with a 400MHz loss of over 8 dB/100ft. https://www.awcwire.com/rg-catalog/rg400-coax-cable You probably meant to write LMR-400, which is the agreed-upon default cable at a moderate price, for UHF operation with low loss.

Good info, but the recent assumptions and loss figures are for a 50 Watt radio, and the OP never mentioned how much power he will be running. Bottom line is to go with the RG-58U for better flexibility and easier installation.

While the thicker cable will have a lot less loss, you are dealing with an approximate 20 foot run, and the thicker one will be very difficult to route. Unless you are using a 5 Watt radio in the car, I would go with the RG-8 or 8x cable. As you will see from Steve's link there will be a good amount of loss with the thinner cables. While the thicker cable will have a lot less loss, you are dealing with an approximate 20 foot run, and the thicker one will be very difficult to route, so the thinner usually wins out. Unless you are using a 5 Watt radio in the car, with a loner than 20' run of cable, I would go with the RG-58 or 58x cable.