WROA496

Do any of them have a removable face option? That check block is what got my list narrowed down to what it is. That check block will go away when I look for something to be a base station radio or something portable to move between vehicles. For myself, it wasn't as much of budget issue as much as a: Will it physically fit in my vehicle and where/how?

Nice! I just bookmarked both of those sites. Sometimes I forget there are other places to shop besides Amazon.

Ooh, that looks nice... and for $250, that's not bad. Is it wrong.... I finally got a 1000g. Still havn't fully installed it (I have most of it put in, still have a box load of wires to run), and I'm already thinking about other radios? It's almost a guilty feeling like the wouxon is going to check my browser history.

Right. No dispute. I was confused at first because I knew it would be a cleaner installation (physically) if I just made myself a cable. Confusion compounded when I checked the cables that came with my radio and one of them (the longer one) was bad. (Pin #2 was shorted). Initial conversation with BTWR, they asked me to check the cable by pluging it into the radio. More questions... before I do that, what is on Pin #2? Maybe it's unused. Maybe it's voltage (On a POE setup, there is + voltage . Maybe it's best to swap out the $15 cable before messing up a $389 radio. They agreed and are sending me a new cable. But I'm still suck on.... what is Pin #2 for? (and all the others). I do not need that answer to install. I'm just curious and never know if that will be something good to know later.

Verified by BTWR, this IS the Microphone pinout. They are still waiting on the rest of the wiring stuff from Wouxun because they do repairs.

Steven (BTWR tech), said that was for the tethering (radio -> face) cable. But after sleeping on it.... it looks more like a mic pinout. And that image makes the 5-7 crossover even weirder. I just emailed him again to verify if that is the Mic or Data cable pinout.

This may help. I was troubleshooting with buytwowayradios.com today and they send me this pin diagram of the connection with a description of the pins.

That has to be a power thing. Even on regular CAT5, I don't think you are supposed to have any data loss until you go over 100 meters. (Way longer than the supplied cable). If it's a voltage drop thing, maybe CAT 6 or CAT 7 would help? That's why for POE, to maintain 12vdc at 100 meters, you inject 48vdc and let the device regulate whatever is left at the end of the run down to the needed 12vdc. Given that, if you could identify the power pins, you could (in theory) cut those pins at the head, then inject that voltage on those pins closer to the face to get up to 100 meters. FYI, I'm not a professional IT guy, so this may work, or you try this and your face plate explodes.

That's also interesting. The manual for the 1000G says to swap pins 2 & 4. Because I'm visual. I updated my graphic for the correct pinout for the 1000G Plus.

Interesting... when I tested both the short and the extension cable.... it looks like they are wired 1-1 through 8-8 (like a standard ethernet cable) with just pins 5 + 7 flipped. I also noticed that on my extension cable, the second pin is shorted. So... it may work (depending on what pin 2 does), but I'm going to reach back to buy2wayradios to see if they can swap it out. (before I go through the suck task of taking apart half the interior of my vehicle to install it).

The manual description says to swap pins 5 and 7, but that is after flipping over the connector. So if both ends are facing up with the strips facing you... 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5, 5-2, 6-3, 7-4, 8-1 I had to draw it out because it made my head hurt a bit.... but I'm pretty sure that makes the cable uni-directional. Like you suggested, I'd do some testing long before sticking that in my hole radio.

I think that's why I started with a UV-5R. Learn to use chirp, how to set tones, experiment with antennas, program in repeaters, local emergency channels, local school channels, etc. If I mess up and the thing explodes, I'm out $19. Now I'm working on my Ham license... not that I'm concerned about the "license" part.... I'm in it for the education part. Just to follow this thread, I have to google at least 4 things a day to understand what people are saying.

Space was my biggest constraint as well. Once you add "detachable face" to the list of requirements, the list of available products drops dramatically and the cost goes up. Tough pill to swallow, but it will be a clean install when done. That is one I initially looked at... my concern (with my aging eyeballs) is how far I would have to mount it from me and I would need a larger screen. But the cabin in my truck is so small, there is nowhere to mount it where a radio is visible that won't get kicked, kneed or launched at my face as an airbag accessory.... that brought me back to the detachable face thing. FYI, I'm just on the other side of the ship channel from you (League City/Friendswood). Happy to see a neighbor here.

Lots of Motorola/Kenwood/Hytera comments... I'm sure I will be happy with the Wouxun, but I'm also sure it won't be my only or last mobile.

I appreciate everyone's input. The Wouxun (20 hours later) is no longer on backorder, so I've got one on the way. I'm hoping this will be a good 1st mobile radio that will keep me interested and learning. My goal is to someday have the knowledge to understand this new world I'm walking into without getting overwelmed.