You'll end up like me with a bunch more radios in your collection. It's addictive.

[Bird 43 Wattmeter]

[Bird 43 Wattmeter]

[Bird 43 Wattmeter]

3 hours ago, WRXN668 said:

Were the plug-in elements included in the $200 purchase or did you have to spend extra, and if extra, what are they going for these days?

I also have a Bird 43, mine came with N-type connectors and a single plug-in element, a 400-1000MHz 250W unit.  A bit too strong for GMRS on an HT but I'm also licensed for amateur.

It cost me another $50 extra per element. The prices are all over the place for them depending on power and frequency range. Looking on eBay they’re going for as little as $30 to $100 to $200 used. I’ll just have keep looking at the swaps and see what shows up for a good price.

[CA-2x4MB Scans.jpg]

These are the SWR scans for the Comet CA-2x4MB dual band antenna I had on my old Jeep. I have a photo posted of the antenna on the Jeep. The antenna is a non-ground plane type so the luggage rack mount works just fine.

So far this is the ONLY dual band antenna I've tested that works with an SWR under 2:1 on both the Ham VHF / UHF bands and the MURS / GMRS bands too. The scans were done using a RigExpert AA-1000 antenna analyzer. I wished Comet still made this model but it's been long discontinued.

The one on the Jeep is still in decent shape other than the fold over spring is too weak to hold it in place, fixed with tape to keep it in the socket and not flip over while driving. It's been like this for years and no further issues. I do take the antenna off the Jeep once in a while to clean it.

I do have a spare, I purchased two at the time. The spare has never seen the outside, so no visible wear. Looks like new. If the one I have on the vehicle gets wrecked I have a spare.  

[CA-2x4SR]

5 hours ago, wrtq652 said:

This is nice efficent setup!

When I lived in an apartment there wasn't much for options. VHF/UHF was about it with operation through local repeaters.

[Never enough antennas on mobile.jpg]

Mobile antenna installation idea and examples. Yes this is real, but not mine.

[UHF Antennas.jpg]

Antennas for UHF are fairly simple to build. You don't need much if the antenna will be used indoors.

The square loop is built for 432 MHz for the Ham 70cm band and sideband. It uses a simple hairpin type match. This was built, using some 12 Gage copper wire,  to test some simulation results. It came out reasonably close. The hairpin matching section is sort of touchy.

The antenna on the right was built using a cheap BNC panel connector and some buss wire. It's a 1/4 wave ground plane type with elements about 6 inches long. The simulation results showed it should have an SWR under 2:1 from 430 MHz to 470 MHz. The measured results where close making the antenna usable on the Ham 70cm band and also for GMRS. I built another one and use it in my office at work with a cheap CCR used as a scanner. The antenna is on top of a book case for better range.

[TK-3170.jpg]

This is a TK-3170. A number of people like these for GMRS. They're small, light weight and use Lithium Ion battery packs. This radio model is my typical carry radio for GMRS and UHF Ham use. It is Part 95 certified by the way.

https://pdfs.kenwoodproducts.com/9/TK-2170&3170Brochure.pdf

And the identical looking TK-3173 with trunking. Both use the same programming software.

https://pdfs.kenwoodproducts.com/12/TK-3173BrochureRev.pdf

I recommended one of these for a buddy at work for GMRS who was hooked on Baofengs. Now that he has this one I don't think he bothers with the cheap Chinese radio anymore. 

These radios use the same speaker microphones and programming cable as the common Baofeng type  radios so they are cheap and easy to find and share accessories. 

[Busted Flat Cable - 4 Edited.jpg]

This is the broken flat flex cable in the TK-2170. The break is in the red box. The fat trace is the power connection between the main radio's PCB and the On/Off volume control. The end of the cable for the power trace is soldered on the edge of the PCB making the repair a PIA. The cable has to sit at 90 degrees to the PCB making the job very tricky not to get solder on the surface mount parts close to the edge. You can see the solder point. It's the large solder blob at the 90 degree corner on the PCB on the right side in the other photo.

[Motorola XPR6550.jpeg]

I have a few Motorola radios. The XPR6550 is a good choice. You can buy them for reasonable prices. They also use a standard SMA type antenna connector. The XPR7550 is a better radio, but they are expensive used and have a funky stud type antenna port. So, if you need to use an external antenna you want the XPR6550.

The XPR6580, with instructions found on the Internet, can be hacked to get it operational on the Ham 33cm band. No hardware modifications are necessary.

Radio specifications are here:

https://www.motorolasolutions.com/content/dam/msi/docs/business/products/two-way_radios/portable_radios/wide_area_large_business_portable_radios/xpr_6500/_documents/static_files/mototrbo_portable_spec_sheet.pdf

[TK-5320-1.jpg]

One of my TK-5320 UHF P25 radios. Uses the same case style as the NX-200/300 NXDN radios. Makes them hard to tell apart without looking at the model tags on the back side. I also have the VHF version too.

The 450 MHz to 520 MHz band split models have Part 95 certification so they can be used on GMRS FM mode only.

Detailed spec's:

https://comms.kenwood.com/common/pdf/download/TK-5220_5320_Specsheet.pdf

[TH-79A.jpg]

I got this fairly clean looking Kenwood TH-79A at a local Ham swap for $30.

https://www.kenwood.com/i/products/info/amateur/th79.html

If you shop around at the swaps/flea markets you can find some great deals.

[First HT.png]

World's first HT?

[2117323252_BatteryPackTesting.JPG]

Battery pack testing using a lab grade electronic load. Battery pack is discharged using constant current mode. Rate is set at 0.2 times the rated battery pack capacity. This is one of the typical rates used for capacity rating by manufacturers.

The Kenwood Lithium Ion battery packs have a rated output voltage of 7.2/7.4 VDC. There is a protection circuit in them, over charge and over discharge, which shuts the pack down if the charge voltage goes too high or discharge voltage too low, around 5.7 VDC more or less. The HT's typically will alarm out/shut down around 6 VDC so that's my discharge cutoff voltage. 

Data sheet:

https://siglentna.com//wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/2019/04/SDL1000X_DataSheet_DS0801X-E01E.pdf

[NX-300.JPG]

This is one of the NX-300 400-470 band split radios. Just got it back from service and testing it out at the office by letting it scan.

The 450 MHz to 520 MHz band split models have Part 95 certification so they can be used on GMRS FM mode only.

I also have the NX-200 VHF versions too. This radio is easily setup for railroad monitoring if you are into that. The railroads use either FM or NXDN digital so the NX-200 is perfect for that.

These are very nice radios.

Detailed spec's:

https://comms.kenwood.com/common/pdf/download/02_NX-200G&300GBrochure.pdf

Depending on the generation of the radio they can be reprogrammed over the air remotely. You just need the master base radio connected to a computer running the application. For these radios the KPG-150AP package is required.

https://comms.kenwood.com/common/pdf/download/905_KPG-150APBrochure.pdf

[NX-820GH.jpg]

I got this NX-820GH mobile radio free from a buddy. Had to clean it up a bit. It's the 400-470 MHz band split version.

Detailed spec's:

https://comms.kenwood.com/common/pdf/download/10_NX-720HG&820HGBrochure.pdf

[934916052_RadioCollection.JPG]

I collect mainly Kenwood HT's. Some of the models I own several units of them, multiple units per box and several boxes for the larger numbers. The storage boxes are sorted by model type.

Many of the radios are UHF since that seems to be where the majority of the Ham digital voice activity is found. Not so much on VHF.

Fairly current list of models I have:

Tri Band:
TH-D74A analog/D-Star Digital (With MARS/CAP Mod)
UV-5X3
TH-350

Dual Band:
TH-G71A (With MARS/CAP mod)
TH-79A
UV-5R
D878UV analog/DMR Digital
KG-UVD1P

Multi Band:
FT817 HF/VHF/UHF AM/FM/SSB (With MARS/CAP mod)

VHF:
TK-270G
TK-2000
TK-2170
TK-2140
TK-2160
TK-2360
TK-2180
TK-D200E analog/DMR Digital
TK-D200GE analog/DMR Digital (GPS enabled)
NX-200 analog/NXDN Digital
NX-200G analog/NXDN Digital (GPS enabled)
XPR6550 analog/DMR Digital
TK-5220 analog/P25 Digital

UHF:
TK-370
TK-370G
BF-888S
TK-3170
TK-3212L
TK-3212
TK-3173
TK-3160
TK-3200
TK-3360
TK-3140
TK-3180
NX-340U analog/NXDN Digital
NX-300 analog/NXDN Digital
NX-300G analog/NXDN Digital (GPS enabled)
NX-320 analog/NXDN Digital
NX-1300DUK5 analog/DMR Digital (40 bit enhanced encryption enabled)
TK-D340U analog/DMR Digital
TK-D300E analog/DMR Digital
TK-5320 analog/P25 Digital
XPR6550 analog/DMR Digital
XPR6580 analog/DMR Digital (Setup for Ham 33cm band)
T5720 (Motorola FRS Radio)

Charger Collection:

KSC-25L
KSC-25
KSC-25 (Chinese Clone)
KSC-16
KSC-23
KSC-35S
KSC-32
KSC-32 (Chinese Clone)
KSC-30
KSC-31
Impress Motorola
EC1

[Battery Pack Testing]

35 minutes ago, PACNWComms said:

Ok, I am liking this. And priced well too. Tired of transporting a Christie CASP1000 everywhere, which condition charges but is not a good load. I may have to get one of these now. Thank you for sharing.

I got the cheapest one they make. For battery pack testing and playing with solar panels you don’t need the more expensive models.

[Battery Pack Testing]

On 3/19/2022 at 5:49 AM, Radioguy7268 said:

Nice!  How do those leads attach to the battery? I can't say I've seen ones like that before.

If you look closely at the battery pack terminals there are holes in them. The easy-hook test clips just fit through them to make a good solid contact.

[solar And antennas]

I'll bet the cat killed the output for the string the panel is in where the cat is sitting. Or at the very least for the one panel if they are all connected in parallel.

Big splashes of bird poop and other trash on the panels kills the output too.

Big panel arrays need to be cleaned periodically, otherwise the output suffers after a while.