WRAK968

Hey Gary, I'm sorry I should have been a little more clear, I am not sure if I made a mistake somewhere, or if others are seeing the same problem. Anotherwords, I wanted to know if this is a problem before I send it over. I know the mods here have no access to site repairs

Hey everyone, Last night I added my repeater to the listing on MyGMRS. I did it mostly for frequency coordination as realistically the repeater doesn't cover very far [less than 5 miles.] I do have it set as an open system and have no problem if other licensed users join in. For giggles I did a look-up on MyGMRS, I added in the state (New Jersey) and frequency (.XXX) and was surprised to see the repeater does not show up. I figured that perhaps it must be approved by admins, but for giggles I played around with the settings, removing the frequency and looking up the input tone (DCSXXX) and my repeater listing shows up. I check that I put in the proper frequency, and sure enough I did set it to the XXX frequency. So I leave the input code in the search and add in the frequency again, and the search comes back with nothing. I don't know if this is a bug/glitch with the site or something I did. It's kinda odd that other XXX repeaters do come back in the search but mine doesn't, but mine will come up if I use the input code without the frequency. I also wonder if other listings have the same problem. [staff edit to remove repeater access data from the open part of the Forum]

After blowing finals on a yaesu 7900 due to an improper ground on a magnetic antenna that sent SWR through the roof, I became very strict about what my SWR was. I test and retest until I get down to about 1.5 or less. Currently all my radios, ham and GMRS, run about 1.05-1.2:1. I am ok with 1.5 but I always feel it can be tweaked that little bit to get better results. 2.5:1 is not very good and is close to infinite [3.0:1 and above] which WILL damage your radio very quickly.

Another thought on the subject, duplexers are rather finicky and even though they have been tuned, unless they are tested on the repeater afterwords, may still not be tuned properly. I went through this earlier this year where a new duplexer was tuned, re-tuned, and made me think it wasn't the issue. I went to my local shop with no idea why I was only able to TX @40w no more than a block when a handheld tx'ed nearly a mile. Even the radio shop tuned and tuned and found several spots where the equipment said it was tuned only to find it wasn't really tuned. After three days, they had the duplexer spot on and the repeater now tx's across town.

My personal view is that there should be NO automatic data bursts for GPS tracking. I really don't see what constantly transmitting your location would be useful for. I would think that if you do want your GPS location to be transmitted, it could be sent like an ID burst upon pressing the PTT. I believe that by doing this it would not only keep the air clear from constant data chunks being sent, but also extend battery life as the radio wont be auto transmitting for two and a half minutes or receiving & decoding two and a half minutes per radio in use every hour. This allows users to update their location either through check-in or through general conversation and could even be used on a repeater as it only sends the data burst when the user is talking.

Yes, the mic can control all of those and more, the down side is you need to have a "function" button. Now if you get the kit from Kenwood, the function button could be a foot petal, if not it is a button on the face of the radio (A/B/C/D) Thus it isn't really handy to use the mic for those functions. It is handy if, lets say a repeater has selective calling, you can set A to function, then use 0-9 on the keypad of the mic to set up your auto-dial. Basically it allows you to add more functions to the radio with only having 4 buttons on the face plate. For my set-up, I programed the buttons as follows: Scan: Scan Mon: Monitor Vol: Volume up/down Group: Ch up/down A: OST [for changing between 15 PL/DPL tones] B: Memory (RCL) for paging a particular radio or group using DTMF C/D: Group up/down [switches between my home repeater, all repeater channels, and simplex frequencies] Foot: N/a [i don't have one] I find this set-up works for my needs, your needs may be different. For instance you may not use radio paging when looking for a particular user or group so you may change "B" to something like Scan add/del. Perhaps you dont need the MON button so you may set that to key lock. Its completely customisable.

New firmware has been uploaded and so far the radio seems to work well. [No more "yyyyyyyyyy" upon power-up] I want to thank Radioguy7268 and Alex WQVX408 for their helpful information Thanks guys!

Hey everyone, So, I recently picked up a Kenwood TK880. I've heard quite a few good things about these radios, however when I powered it up for the first time, it displayed Ver: 1.5209, beeped, then showed yyyyyyy From research, I learned this is likely a firmware issue in that it should be Ver2.xxxx as per the sticker, but was flashed to Ver 1.5xxx for passport use. Does anyone know how to obtain the FPro software and Ver2 firmware?

Thats what I am thinking too John, After doing a reflow and testing it, only 3 watts on low, 10 watts on high. Ill be checking around for the part, hopefully its not too expensive.

Did that, same results. I was told that the PA needs to "reset" by disconnecting power for 3-4 days when this happens.

Its within the first minute of being turned on. does it regardless of being on high(40W) or low(25W) Regardless of which is chosen, it shows 15W output that drops down to less than 1 watt, which is not enough power to trigger the meter for a reading. I believe the PA may have been fried, either before I purchased it, or due to the issue with the duplexer and such, and constant testing under those conditions. I did check the solder contacts which all looked fine, but I reheated the solder to make sure it had good contact.

Final update to this post. Finally the repeater is working. After a coworker Kevin (WQWU443) recommended I take the duplexer to A.R. Communications in Monmouth County NJ. I have to say the owner of the company was really cool and showed me around the shop while they looked into what was wrong. After re-tuning the duplexer, they hooked the repeater up to the duplexer and found a ton of de-sence and the SWR sky high [same issue I was having at home.] They kept the system for the weekend and on Tuesday it was ready. Here are the problems they found: 1) A minor issue inside one of the "cans" of the duplexer. I am not sure how the insides of the flat packs look, but I was told there was a small dent or something causing some of the issue. They "swapped" sides putting the low frequency on the high side and high frequency on the low and were able to by-pass whatever the dent was doing. 2) The stock jumper's between the radio and the duplexer were causing some issues with loss. They replaced the jumpers free of charge. 3) They recommended I check my power supply as on their equipment was letting the TX side run 25-40 watts on low/hi power. At home, I checked and was only getting 17 watts only. Turns out that even though I have a 15A continuous power supply at 12.5V, the system requires 13.5 at 20A to work properly. For safety I ordered a 30A 13V power supply recommended by a few hams as a replacement. This should let me get full power output when it arrives. I also found a problem, and that is that the GR1225 seems to drop its TX power from 40 watts to less than one watt. It does transmit and I can hear it on a portable if I am within a few hundred yards, but the meter doesn't even kick on when I transmit. For the time being a back up repeater is in use and is showing results. The SWR is very low, 1.04 and a .0071 reflection which is MUCH better than the 19 I was getting. With the test unity antenna about 15 feet up at 17 watts and a very rf unfriendly area [a lot of trees and buildings] I was able to talk clear across town (about 4 miles.) Now before anyone says 'thats not that far' keep in mind that this is low power, no gain, low height and a congested area [buildings and trees] so I would think its reasonable. I want to thank everyone again, Especially Corey and Kevin and the guys at A.R. Communications. I've learned quite a bit from this whole experience and hope to learn a bit more while improving the system overall!

I think there are two parts to this answer. The first has to do with emcoms, "(except emergency messages)" Basically, aside from drills, if you're using ARES or RACES you are considered emergency traffic and should have priority on a particular frequency or repeater in the ham band. If an operator holds two licenses and an outside agency [For example CERT] is using GMRS that traffic may be re-transmitted between the two sides by use of mouth [no automatic relay/cross repeater.] The same rules apply in that personal information may not be transmitted, and you can not transmit information for profit. Further, if I recall, unlike RACES/ARES where they can take over a designated ham repeater for operation, CERT is NOT allowed to take over a given frequency and must allow other users to communicate on the channel. The second part of the answer I believe means you can not have automatic control of a relay system that allows users of the two separate license classes to co-mingle, or, to put in English, you cant have a radio system that allows GMRS users to TX on the ham bands, or ham users to TX on the GMRS/MURS frequencies. This is to prevent unauthorized and unlicensed transmissions on either side.

Hey Corey, I was thinking that myself, so I switched the jumpers around again and had the same 19.5 reading. So I had an idea, sweep the range until I find the sweet spot... I found it at 450.625 which gives an swr reading of 1.13 on the low side which is backed up by the MFJ tester, I cant even get a low reading on the high side with either meter, which tells me I am not doing something right for the test, but I am gonna go on a limb and say the dang duplexer is still not tuned properly. Sorry if I seem a bit short or anything, This repeater was meant to be a simple home repeater and an introduction to a new side of radio I hadn't had much practice with yet. Just seems frustrating to keep throwing money in but not be 100% sure if it will help. I'll send you a private message about some assistance you offered before, if your still willing to help out. And thank you for sticking around, I really am trying to get this thing off the ground before getting the much more expensive parts for it.

Ok, with the duplexer now tuned, still had the same issue, so time to test the PA's on BOTH systems to see what is happening. So, I purchased a better watt meter that will give me SWR, frequency, power out, reflected power and such. I also replaced the antenna with a loaner which gives me much better SWR readings on the MFJ meter. Here are the results; The GR1225 has no power out, or at least, not enough power for the meter to read when placed between the transmitter side and the antenna. Note I did not use the duplexer in this test so I know there are no losses from there. My thinking is that either A) the dreaded but common de-soldering issue has shown its face, Ill be looking into that later, or B )the PA went completely. From my understanding, any power output less than .5 watt will show a blank reading on the meter, and I think this would explain why I have shorter range using the repeater than I do using a 5 watt portable. So, I switched to the other repeater which only has a max output of 20 watts as it is only two mobile radios [m1225 series] This was planned to only be used for camping or as a back up when needed. I set everything up and ran the TX unit to the meter and out to the antenna, SWR is 1.2, frequency is spot on, power showed 13.9 watts out on low power. Wonderful I'm thinking, so I test high power and I have 22.5 watts out, still on the 625 frequency, swr went to 1.3 which, I didn't really think power out would increase the swr but, it is within spec so I wont complain. Now, for giggles, I figured I would add in the duplexer, and put the swr meter between the tx radio and the tx side of the duplexer, and the swr shot way up to 19.4. Now I know I have said a million and one times that I am still very new to this, but that number seems way too high for use and could have damaged the gr1225, and potentially damage the m1225 back up system. I tried to look it up but everywhere I have gone says I need to use a VNA to test swr of a duplexer, and nothing about using a normal meter. I rather not risk burning a second repeater up, so before I do more harm I need to know if this reading is simply because of the reject of the upper frequency or if there are other horrors at play.

Well, I sent the duplexer out the other day to be tuned and low and behold, the duplexer wasn't even close to being properly tuned. As of now the duplexer is tunes 92dB from the TX and 82 dB from the RX. When it arrives on Monday I will do another test and see if there is much difference. I do want to thank everyone who commented. As I said before I am rather new with repeaters and I am learning quite a bit. I was told from a few pros that the LMR400 should be ok for the time being. The antenna I have set up should also be ok [though they said I should look into replacement eventually as it is not exactly set up for repeater service.] For now though, just getting everything online and working is the goal, Fine tuning and tweaking can come later

Checked and confirmed, the RX wire went to the high side [467] and TX wire went to the low side [462]

Logan5 Safety would be the issue unfortunately. I could put up a 20-25 foot tower but anything higher and it risks hitting hitting a house no matter the direction it falls. I also unfortunately have one of /those/ neighbors who likes to complain and call a lawyer for anything he doesn't like. I had someone show up at my door to "investigate" how dangerous the Jpole I put up was. I could only imagine what I would go through with a tower lol. We can all dream though right? N4GIX, I know the range calculations and what they could be line of sight, however when your portables at 5 watts on level ground outdo the repeater running 45 watts 15' up then somethings been done wrong. This is mostly a family/local repeater so I am not expecting very long range on the unit, yet Durake, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! lol, you actually gave me a straight answer lol. Now I need to find someone who can tune the duplexer. I checked with a buddy of mine who programmed the GR1225 however he does not have the equipment. He's really the only one I know that would have the equipment. Keep me posted on how your duplexer turns out, if things work out perhaps Ill send it to the same place [if they are looking for a little extra business.] Also thanks for the info about the LMR400/213 issue. I thought several users mentioned using LMR400 over all else due to the price over quality of signal, then I couldn't find the posts lol [that what I get for working all night!]

Thanks for the input Corey. The Diamond antenna I have is a BC200U [sorry for not posting the proper model number] It is a commercial antenna tuned for 460-470. Hard line is out of the question. This is a simple family repeater going no more than 20-25 feet up. I do not own a tower [and my local zoning office likely wouldn't approve of one being built where I am.] I will look into getting the 213 cable when I can, but still 30' of LMR400 shouldn't affect the signal that much. I think you hit a nail with the duplexer. Its an SGQ-889. Running out of the living room, I wanted to get everything into the GR1225's case to make it look nice. I know a lot of people said in a high RF area flat packs are no good but running out of a garage [or in my case the living room] it shouldn't be too much of an issue. I know I wont get a 30 or even 20 mile range, but I am ok with that for now. You mentioned these duplexers need to be re-tuned as they are never tuned properly. This answers one of my questions that it is likely the duplexer that is the issue. So I guess that is there I'll start and move forward from there. Thanks again Corey

Thank you for the input Martin. Unfortunately the linking side of the project has been put on hold due to an odd issue I am having, (https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1122-odd-issue-with-range/ if your interested) However I will look into your page and setup. I was able to order an APRS cable from baofeng which basically goes from the 2 pin kenwood to single pin which works with the dingotel, but I couldnt get the client I was using to work, so Ill look into the teamspeak as well

Ok, so I am having an issue and before I go any further with pulling my hair out I figured I would ask everyone here. I finally set up my GR1225 repeater and was all excited to test it out. However, when I tested it, I found my range was only 1-2 blocks distance [about .23 of a mile. Going portable to portable at ground level I get at least half a mile range. The repeater is running 45 watts with a 15A power supply. I have a diamond u200 mounted about 15 feet up with an SWR of 1.3 on 467 and 1.7 on 462, flat pack duplexer which I purchased new and was "tuned" when they sent it to me, and 30 feet of LMR400. I have done some limited testing with equipment I have here. I know the GR1225 is not to blame as I swapped it out with a pair of m1225's set up as a repeater. They can run 15 watts and 35 watts, but no-matter the power setting, the range was exactly the same. So I know its further down the line. Feedline is not the issue. First tests were with RG-8X and later upgraded to LMR400 with no change to range, however my SWR went from 1.3 on both rx/tx freqs to 1.7 on TX, 1.3 on RX. I was told by family listening to the repeaters speaker that I was clear coming in, which makes me suspect the antenna, however SWR of 1.7 shouldn't result in that drastic loss of range but I could be wrong. That leaves the duplexer, which as I said was new and tuned before being shipped to me. I have no way of testing it myself so it would need to be sent to a shop. Im not sure which way to go first. If I replace the antenna Ill be getting a comet 712 so Im looking at $150 there, and I dont even know which shops can check and tune a duplexer, let alone how much they charge. I would rather fix the issue than keep guessing like I have been. Anyone have any ideas?

So I was browsing the internet and for giggles I started looking into what it would take to link two repeaters [between my house and my fathers.] I came across a product from Dingotel that builds a simple bridge between two radios/repeaters using their VoIP server. I found it interesting and for the price of finding used devices on the net figured I would give it a try. There is one catch though, Dingotel went out of business in 2008. To my knowledge their servers are no longer online. Information about the company and product can be found here: https://web.archive.org/web/20070711174046/http://www.dingotel.com/2way/index.asp From what I can tell, the parts are nothing more than a USB sound card with an RX/TX adapter that goes into the mic port. Im not sure how well or if it even worked, though there seems to be a few posts in the past giving it good reviews. I would like to know if anyone has any experience with this product. Likewise I would like to know which VoIP/RoIP service would support it if any or if at this stage it would be a waste of time and effort.

Thank you PastorGary, Funny, one would think using the forums search feature the pinned message about staff not being responsible for sales posts would have popped up lol, Tis the only reason I had asked in the first place. So all for sale things will be posted under Miscellaneous then, Ill take a look over there.

Hello all, My name is Mike, just purchased my GMRS license last week WRAK968. I've been a Ham(KC2YQW) for some time as well. I've been checking through the forums and posts here and realized there is no equipment sales section. I found this common with ham radio forums and was curious what you wouldn't want members to have a swap/sales section on here as well. This mostly came about as I am looking for a used duplexer for a GMRS repeater and I figured it would be easier to find one with the proper specs (and a reasonable price) here than elsewhere.