LeoG

It can be set to TX, VHT+TX or ALWAYS. There doesn't seem to be an option to keep it off unless it's hot (VHT)

Here's my little setup. Of course the KG1000G+ radio, then a Jesverty 30A switching power supply with a Surecom 102 SWR meter and my wife's trusty TD H3. The power supply is new. The old one was a Pyramid but lacked the amps to drive the radio. It was able to run my KC XS20G+ to 29 watts out but won't drive the KG1000G+ to 20 watts for whatever reason. The extra power pushed my SWR up from 1.01 to 1.03 on my Comet CA 712EFC antenna. Power seems spot on. On the repeater 467MHz channels it's pushing 49.x watts and on the lower 15-22 channels looks like it outputting a bit over 51 watts. Haven't tried into a dummy load yet. Looks like I'm stuck with my DMR noise, no real change unfortunately. The speaker output is much louder than the XS20G+. The fan coming on every time you transmit is annoying. Guess the silence of the XS20G+ has me spoiled. 3 power settings is really 4. The medium setting has a menu choice of 10 or 20 watts, I keep it at 20. Low outputs 4.8 watts, medium 20.5 watts and of course high 49 watts. We'll have to see about the sensitivity of the superheterodyne receiver as time moves on.

Well I see that I have the priority scan off. I normally don't use the scan function anyway. But I have 3 repeaters that are in my area as well as my own. Maybe I'll set one side up to scan the 3 channels since in different areas I use different repeaters and need to let the little lady know when I'm moving out of one area and into another.

Doesn't look like you can not have a priority channel. There doesn't seem to be an off choice. Photoshopped the end of the list to the right.

It will be paired with my current Comet 712EFC, so 9.8dBi gain. 60 feet of M&P Hyperflex 13 and 24 feet of Heliax 1/2" hardline past the lightning arrestor. Eventually I'll get that same antenna on my repeater. I've only had it for a year now.

I haven't had one go bad yet. Only be delivered DOA.

Picked up the KG 1000G Plus to use as my base station to complement the repeater I have at my shop. The repeater makes it fine into the house but sometimes the house has a hard time getting through the trees to the shop repeater. Going from 20 to 50 watts is only a bit more than 3dB, but it seems to work from the repeater to the house. I had already setup the CPS with my channels and only needed to read the radio and write back. The CPS doesn't cover the A,B,C,D buttons so I'll have to do those manually. Like the power button in that you don't need a long press to turn it on. People complain about the screen brightness. Not exactly screaming bright, but it's in a lighted shop and not in a dark vehicle. Since I already have a KG XS20G I'm already pretty familiar in the way it should work. Wife doesn't know yet. I'll probably install it after she goes to bed and she'll see the new radio when she gets up. LOL. Hoping it might get rid of some of the off center DMR that I have in my area. The XS20G lets it right through with the SOC receiver. Hoping the Super Het might limit or eliminate it.

Since it'll be put at my shop I'm not sure she will see it anytime soon. She rarely comes here. I could hide it from her except for my exuberance of putting it up.

Not sure if this link will let you in. You are suppose to sign in to get there. https://walkietalkiesoftware.com/portal/index/software_detail/id/68.html

You can't use chirp to update the firmware. You need their IAP program.

Ya, he's guessing at how it could be used. And I agree. I also agree there can be many more uses for it too. The only limitation would be your imagination and the 15 watt output.

"Implies"

I have received 16 TD H3s. I bought 14 and 2 were bad and they sent me 2 more. I don't use chirp. The TD H3 has it's own CPS that works well and is similar to the way chirp works. So use the H3 CPS. Have you tried to update the firmware to revitalize the "broken" H3s? You can even install the same firmware and overwrite the existing.

Maybe he's setting it up by himself like I did. Not everyone has people available when they need them to talk on the radio. I myself used a digital voice recorder which only activates when a sound is made. Used an app on my phone. I didn't get a response but I would go to places that I needed it to work and transmitted where I was and if it got recorded I knew that was a good test. If not, more work to be done or just don't use it there.

If you are a non mobile station that communicates with another non mobile station that is a fixed station. As soon as that fixed station communicates with a mobile unit it becomes a base station in definition. And as soon as that same fixed/base station communicates with a repeater it is by definition a control station. The only one that seems to have limitations is when you operate a fixed to fixed station where you can't exceed 15 watts. Sounds like a specialty unit that has an antenna pointed at another antenna to communicate specifically with that station. Most likely LOS on towers so 15 watts would be more than adequate to maintain good quality communications.

Certainly not Michael Jackson....

I won't be showing my wife the invoice for my 80' tower when I finally get it.

I sure am. She makes me a sandwich every work day and dinner every night.

No BS. I would spend it anyway whether she approved or not. Life is too short to not have a few pleasantries and hobbies. She has surprised me in the fact that she shows interest in the radio - period. I expected when I got the base station installed it would always be "can you turn that thing off/down". But for the most parts no complaints. She even joins in on the nets on one of the repeaters. I consider this electronics which she has no interest in. I guess it's the gossip part of it. You get to listen to other peoples conversations and then talk about them later on. And after 38 years of marriage it's nice to have another topic to talk about.

When I got my first pair of HTs they were the TDH3 but the HAM version. Shortly after I discovered they could be switched over to GMRS. I looked into it and discovered the licensing was just $35 and that covered the family. The process was a pain and by the time I had finished up I had 8 windows open that were required to obtain this license. Not really the surprise. After playing with these radios I was surprised to find out my wife didn't hate them. After a short while I ended up getting a mobile tranceiver that I put in the house as a base station. My wife didn't really care for talking on it but she did like to listen to the active repeater. Eventually I put up a good antenna and I got a mobile unit so I could keep in touch with my wife. She enjoyed being able to contact me. I put up a repeater at my shop and even though communication was difficult because of hills and trees she enjoyed contacting me by the radio over texting or phone unless she couldn't get me through the radio. Eventually I found out my antenna and/or coax was faulty and changed that out and now the connection is much better. My repeater is 50w and the mobile is 20w and the repeater can get to the house better than the house can get to the repeater. So I decided to get a 50w for the house. Ordered the power supply and the radio. The PS came today and my wife was excited. She knew nothing of what I had ordered. She thought I got a new radio. I was a bit shocked. The normal expectation when a husband spend money without the wife knowing about it on his hobby is to be frowned up or worse, being yelled at. She was disappointed that it was a power supply and not a radio. She still doesn't know I ordered the radio. I didn't want to take the surprise away from her when it does arrive. Can a guy be more lucky.

The 712efc is rated at 112mph. I'd be surprised if it could handle that. My SWR is between 1:1 and 1.01:1 across the entire band, including 467mhz repeater channels. I was amazed. Best I got with my other antenna was 1.15:1 at the optimum frequency.

The main reason I operate tones on the RX is noise. There is a lot of DMR and other digital noise in my area that is beyond annoying. It interferes with medium to strong signals by either degrading the voice or overriding it. Tones don't help when the interference is active while someone is talking. But I would be insane by now if I had to listen to all that crap.

I leave mine on all day and only have a 2 mile trip to and from work. The draw for receiving is pretty small and more so if you have your lighting on the radio extinguish after 30 seconds after activity. When it's the dead of winter and temps are way below freezing I'm more mindful of the battery. But in the warm periods I don't think twice about it.

2.15 not 2.5

I have the 712efc and the paperwork that came with it claims 9.8dBi. It's on the bag and in the paperwork so that's what I assume it is. So it's even bigger than 7.2