WSBV579

Thanks

It appears Northwest District 1 would be my area, so should I listen in to 151.13 or 156.135? Or both?

I know some ham guys are in here, so maybe they can help. Missouri has a big snow storm coming, and I was think of listening in on MoDOT frequencies to hear how plows are doing and such. I found two callsigns they have designated for my area...KFN580 (151.130, FB2) and KRZ38 (156.135 and 156.045, FX1). http://www.interceptradio.com/fcc.php?z=1&sfreq=4&scall=KFN580&cfreq=1&cstate=1&ccounty=1&ccity=1&cpl=1&ccall=1&cchan=1&cue=1 ...and... http://www.interceptradio.com/fcc.php?z=1&sfreq=4&scall=KRZ38&cfreq=1&cstate=1&ccounty=1&ccity=1&cpl=1&ccall=1&cchan=1&cue=1 I have no idea what I should tune to, to listen...or what FX1 and FB2 mean. Could anyone provide any help?

I've purchased a shortwave radio (ATS-20+) as a beginner radio to fool around with. It comes with a telescopic, bnc connection antenna. If I buy a connection adapter, can I use my outdoor mast mounted GMRS antenna for listening on this radio? I'm brand new to shortwave radios, and know very little about them...but I really want to learn.

Yeah, I figured that...I was just curious if it really was 8, as Amazon advertised. I doubted it, but bought it anyway. 5 watts is good enough for me. My 5R and 9R are gonna be having some fun together tonight...maybe some antenna swapp'n, some Rx and Tx, maybe even a few Roger beeps back and forth, and I'm not even gonna use my callsign...it's gonna be SO hott!

I'm just wanting a couple miles, like my UV-5R gets. The UV-9R Pro says "8 watts"...but I doubt that. Did you ever do a video testing the wattage of the 9R Pro?

I just bought a UV-9R Pro as a cheap water resistant option for junking around: hiking, farm work, weekends at the cabin, fishing. Something I won't be upset if it gets broken. Anyway, right now I've got the stock mini whip antenna (NOT a rubber duck antenna) on it. For those who own this HT, what's your opinion of the stock antenna? Or, do you prefer another antenna for it?

I write down a few people's calls signs when I have an interaction with them on a local repeater, or if I find out they use simplex in my area. But after I learn their names, I typically just refer to them by their number or first name (WSBV579 to ###, hey *name*, how you doing?) But the simplex guys around here know I monitor 19 for family use, so they'll just get on and reach out to me by first name...likewise, I do the same for the channels they typically monitor. It kinda makes sense to log call signs on repeaters until you get to know everyone...just so you can remember and associate a call sign to a name.

Oh, alright...I think that makes sense. Thanks

I'm using the Surecom SW 102, that I'm sure most people use. Are they not meant to measure HTs that tx 5watts?

I was curious and just started fooling around today. I hooked my UV-5R up to my base station antenna to see if I could hit a repeater I use occasionally at around 30 miles out...which it did. I was kinda shocked. So, I hooked up my SWR meter, and damn! I was getting a 1.02 and 4.8-ish watts hitting that repeater. So, I hooked my base station radio back up and tested it. It's a Btech UV-25x2. It got 1.4 SWR at about 18 watts. Why would a 5 watt radio have a better SWR then a 25 watt radio when using the same coax and antenna?

I'll be holding onto this antenna. I may decide to play with it at some point (maybe an antenna for our camping trips), but for now the frustration has hit me pretty hard and I'm kinda done with it for now. I'm a mechanical/manufacturing engineer as well. Not leaving "well enough" alone is a bad habit of mine, though it typically does well for me in my career field. But radios, antennas, RF, SWR, dbi...it's all new to me and I'm still learning. I appreciate the help.

Well, this has all been a lovely learning experience and everything...but I'm just gonna have to be without my base station radio until I can get a new antenna. I've got a problem with not being able to leave "well enough" alone. I'm the type that wants to always try to fix it to make it better, whatever "it" may be. That didn't work this time. Now that I've decided on GMRS, rather than getting my ham ticket as well, I guess I'll be buying a GMRS antenna when I can afford to.

I don't really have a need for dual band anymore. I was gonna get my ham ticket, but GMRS suit my purpose just fine. So, what your saying is, I can remove the could completely? How will that harm the dbi?

Above the coil. 467.000 is at 1.58, 462.000 is at 3.00. Should I have been trimming below the coil? How bad have I f'ed up here?

I've been trimming now, millimeter by millimeter, and I'm at 120mm-ish...and my swr is at 3.80 across basically all channels. Never got the swr below 2.5 the entire time I was trimming.

Thanks for messaging me about your comment. I don't have welding rod to experiment with, so I'll have to try trimming. Hopefully I can get similar results. I've got time today, if I can get the mast down. It's a two person job...but I think I can manage.

Alright, if I can figure out how to lengthen it...like loosen a set screw or something...then I'll see if I can improve it. If not, I'll just leave it as it. Appreciate the help.

Thanks! That's the kind of answer I was looking for...rather than "jUsT bUy a nEw aNtEnnA!" I appreciate the explanation.

Well, my disposable budget has been eaten up by other unexpected obligations this month, and with the hobby getting rather expensive, I told my wife that I'd wait to upgrade anything else until later next year...other than the cheap extension I'm adding to the mast. So, a different antenna is out of the question at the point, which is why I'm trying to make the best of what I have available. I'll add the extension and see what I think after that I guess.

First off, I'm still learning about radios and such. Basically all the repeaters in my area are south of me. I can hit one kinda reliably at over 30 miles, but I noticed the other day that I was hearing another that about 45 miles away that I can't normally hear...I assume the weather conditions were good that day. Anyway, if I tilt my Tram 1477 antenna slightly south, rather than straight vertical, will that help my reach? I'm adding an extension onto my mast next week, so I could force a tilt then if it makes a difference. If it won't make a difference, than I won't bother trying to tilt it.

Going to 470 MHz, the swr got even better. So I assume I would need to lengthen to make my ch19 better. I'm taking the antenna down on Monday to add a 10ft extension, I'll look and see if lengthening is an option. As it sits, is 2.18 on ch19 and 1.50 on repeater channels acceptable? If so, I may not even bother tuning any further.

I've got a Nagoya UT-72 dual band antenna on my Jeep. I've just cut it down to tune for GMRS. I've got Ch19 (my main simplex channel) from 1.75 swr down to 1.42. I did get it to 1.19, trimmed a touch more to improve repeater channels, and ch19 went up to 1.42...so I assume I'm done cutting at that point. That leaves the repeater channels around 1.98...it was 3.10 before I started trimming, yikes! First question...are those acceptable ranges, 1.42 simplex, 1.98 repeater? Second question concerns my base antenna. I've got a Tram 1477, pre-tuned dual band. I checked the swr on ch19 and it's at 2.18. and repeater channels are around 1.50. Are those acceptable ranges, or should I try to figure out how to tune it...and if so, do I trim or lengthen? Last question. Other than trimming/lengthening the antenna, is there anything else I can do to improve my swr?

I'm using a 50ft run of KMR400. I've got about 10 feet coiled, which is part of the reason why I was considering adding to my mast. I'm still fairly new to GMRS, and don't have to fun money to buy a new antenna right now...also, I just recently got the Tram, and the wife wouldn't be happy if I got another antenna. But, I've got some Comets on my wish list for the future.

I'm on a 25w Btech amateur radio, with a Tram 1477 antenna. I'm at 945ft in a hilly area, with immediate (2 mile radius) surrounding elevations varying from 900ft to 1100ish feet. It's odd, because going east I can get close to 15 miles on simplex clearly, but going south, I can't even hit parts of town 3 miles away...but past that is the repeater I can hit. North I get about 9 miles clearly. West around 15 miles...but I could probably get further since it's pretty flat out that way, I just didn't try it past 15.