kipandlee

after i'm done playing with the CCR radios i program a few freq  and give them to the grandkids and nieces and nephews they don't last long after that but the kids have fun while they do 

Pretty much covered earlier in this thread.
 
Thanks.

Something like that, basically the ribbon plugs onto something like that, and then the cable extends to the faceplate... The XPR radios do it like that.
 

Ideally one would hope that eventually Anytone will add the necessary parts to multiplex at the chassis end and demultiplex at the control head end, and ditch the ribbon cable entirely, replacing it with a bog-standard CAT5 or CAT6 cable.
 
This is how my TYT7800, CS800D, and FT-857 radio's remote system works.

Are you suggesting a 20 pin connector? Or, do you really mean creating your own parallel interface? If you mean the latter, well I would be fairly sure that what you suggest cannot be done easily. On the other hand, if you just want connectors on the radio and control head, that should be pretty simple. I'd use two short ribbon cables at the body and head. One end connected to the respective unit, and the other terminated in a standard 20-pin female ribbon connector. Then just make a ribbon cable of the length you want and terminate it with a 20-pin male connector at each end.
 http://www.pacificcable.com/photos/IDE20.jpghttp://www.pacificcable.com/photos/IDH20.jpg

both are good  radios couldn't go wrong with either one 

Got to try the radio on Madison 700 just now. On just 1 watt, good reports so far. Love the fact that Low is 1 watt, mid is 10W, high is 25W and Turbo is 50W... the 1 W option is great. I can also use the 10dB attenuator and bring it down even further if need be... so far no issues with the radio...
 
Ideally you'd want to convert the ribbon cable to a parallel port, or something, similar to how the Motorola XPR mobiles work... not sure if that can be easily done. Certainly a relocation kit would work wonders for my application on a velomobile where space is at a premium...
 
 
G.

ribbon cables can be purchased fairly cheap at  different lengths even shielded or use aluminum tape for the shielding , would be a good project to give a try without harming the unit 

Well, depending on how daring and capable with tools you are, you might want to just open the radio up and see what exactly connects the front section to the rest of the radio. It could be just a simple ribbon cable, or it could be a myriad of wires. If it is a ribbon cable or similar you might be in luck. Of course, you would still have to rig up some cover for the back part of the radio and something to cover the back of the face plate portion. if you do open the radio, please post pictures of the inside. Good luck.

Hmmm...  if the photo below (from radioaficion.com) is accurate, the  control head is connected to the body with a 20 conductor ribbon cable. And, the part of the body that mates with the control head seems to have some sort of a bulkhead. You might just be in luck. Of course, there might be all kinds of RF issues if you lengthen the ribbon cable. But still...
 
 
http://radioaficion.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/AT-D578UV_teardown-3.jpg

you are very welcome 

THANK YOU very much!!
 
G.

argentdata  has some  APRS Packet Radio stuff reasonably priced and a pretty good selection of radio compatible cables giving a few different options     https://www.argentdata.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=22

'Tone' transmits the tone to open the repeater receiver, but your radio doesn't require the tone to be transmitted back in order to open your squelch. 'Tone Squelch' will open the receiver of the repeater and require the tone to be embedded in signals you receive in order to open your squelch.

Normally, I don't use tone squelch so I can hear everyone, instead of just repeater traffic... assuming the repeater passes or transmits a tone to begin with.

Any local radio shop should also be able to do the work of shortening the cable as well.

A couple of notes related to this discussion.
#1 Frequency and wavelength are 2 ways of describing the same phenomena. The frequency (Hertz)
equals the number of waves that pass a given point per second. A wavelength
equals the distance between two successive wave crests or troughs. 
http://history.amazingspace.org/resources/explorations/groundup/lesson/glossary/glossary_terms/graphics/igt2_wvlngthfreq.gif
 
Here is the formula that is used to convert between the two measurements:
 

Freq is the Frequency in cycles per second
C is the velocity factor 299,792,458 meters per second 
    (the speed of light)
λ represents wavelength in meters
 
So, a single wave at 462.725mHz (GMRS Ch 22) is 0.648 meters long, and a 1/4 wave is 0.162 meters or 6.379 inches.
 
As for your ground plane, for a 1/4 wave antenna, it should be a bit longer that 1/4 wave in all directions. The longer the better. But, anything over 1/4 wave is fine. However, for your purposes, if you have the antenna mounted well above you and keep the power low, which you should do anyway, you will do just fine for most communications with the roll-bar as a ground plane all by itself.
 
If you want exact measurements, take a look at this site. Also note that for repeater use there is a 5mHz difference between your transmit and receive frequencies. That translates to around 0.03" for Ch 22. The main point here is, unless you are designing the antenna for a single simplex frequency, there will always be tradeoffs in length.    For more information, take a look at this discussion on RadioReference
 
As to the number of channels. First off, don't confuse the term GMRS Channel, which translates to an FCC designated frequency, with the numbers of channels offered by your radio. With the radios, the term channel refers to an assignment of a frequency and other relevant information to a position in the radio's internal programming list. On simple radios, that is a dial position. On radios with a display, it is usually shown on the display. Some radios even allow you to hide the internal channel number and, instead, assign a name.  
 
While it is true that there really is no such thing as a sub-channel You might consider a specific combination of channel (frequency) and PL/DPL audio management to be like a separate channel. That is, if you call home on ch 14 with a PL of 88.5 and call your friend on the same frequency but with a PL of 131.8, you could either assign one channel on your radio to GMRS Channel 14, and then change PL as needed from the front panel or microphone (if possible), or assign two separate channels on kourradio, one for each combination.  So, that is why some users want radios with more than 22 channels.  See the Wikipedia for more information.
 
 

If you want to do an "in-band" repeater you will need two radios, a duplexer and a controller as the main components.
 
You can buy a cheap UHF duplexer at this site. If you supply the two frequencies they will tune the filter at no extra cost. Also don't forget to get any N to whatever RF adapter you will need to connect to the radios and the antenna.
 
www.409shop.com/409shop_shopcat.php?&usercat=4942
 
If you want to know how well these cheap Chinese duplexers work a guy did some testing on one here.
 
http://www.repeater-builder.com/antenna/pdf/chinese-mobile-duplexer-measurements.pdf
 
Then use a simple repeater controller like this one.
 
https://radio-tone.com/product/rt-crc1-repater-controller-full-duplex/
 
I see ad's for the "Surecom" controllers but have read a lot of bad or poor reviews. The one above seems to be OK. Also don't forget to get the right radio interface cables with it.

Nice find!! Balloon would work too.... 
 
Altitude is certainly king when it comes to higher freqs like VHF... 
 

never thought about the drone but wanted to try this some day just for fun  (Balloon Experiments with Amateur Radio) http://bear.sbszoo.com/

Got my hands on a TK -880 and in the process of programming it.

Yeah, I've heard them too, but in the past, nowadays MURS is pretty dead around where I live. I've done some data telemetry with packet radio, fun stuff... 2W with a good antenna will reach ridiculously far if placed at the right location... my record was 30 miles, but one of the radios was strapped to a drone... so I guess that doesn't count...
 
G.

I hear DTMF tones all over Nebraska on MURS.  I looked into it a year ago, and found out that several farms in the area use MURS for a remote monitoring and telemetry system for their crop irrigation systems and water wells.  There is also at least one company making MURS remote alarm systems for farm buildings and gates.
 
MURS is legal for all of those kinds of things, so that's likely what you're hearing.
 
Most people using MURS for these types of operations do not even know what frequency or band they are using.  All they know is that they purchased this wireless thing that lets them know back home when someone opens the pasture gate, and they have another wireless thing that tells them how many gallons per minute the pump is flowing.

Connectors, no matter the type will always degrade as they represent a break in the electrical path and a mechanical restoration of the circuit. The mechanical pieces will ALWAYS introduce less than perfect electrical properties and a less than perfect mating of the parts, The only connection I am aware of that does not result in a break in the electrical path is a fused connection where two conductors are fused together. That doesn't imply there is no loss or impedance introduced due to impurities or misalignment in the fusion process. 

Just solder, sometimes. Feedline disconnects, indeed feedline itself is at best a necessary evil. Why mess with it in applications where it is not necessary? For example, pop the cover from your radio and see what the board connection looks like. The fact is, the only time connector impedance really matters very much is when it is actually somewhere along the feedline. At the ends there is an impedance bump regardless of what connector you use.
 
I've been known to build radios (uhf included) that don't even have what most people consider an antenna connector.

I've gone through enough Flex-Shot to name a radio after it.