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Lscott

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Everything posted by Lscott

  1. They are better radios out there if you really don’t need the high power. You could be better off buying some simple commercial grade radios. Many of those are designed to take a beating from hard use and also survive in poor weather. Of course they will cost a wee bit more than a $25 to $50 Baofeng.
  2. Do you honestly really need 8 watts out of an HT?
  3. We’ll not exactly sell the licenses. One could offer a service where a small additional fee on top of the FCC application fee the service would do all the “paperwork” to get the license filed. Not much different than getting a ham license without the test. The VE’s take care of the paperwork details.
  4. I’m mainly a Kenwood guy but I do have a few Motorola XPR6550’s. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/261-e451d5e2-f358-40dd-95a1-af106f7e8584jpeg/?context=new
  5. The few photos I’ve seen don’t show the required FCC ID tag for the radio to be legally imported to the US. That was another question I had about these radios.
  6. Fortunately there are only a few of those kind of people here.
  7. Sounds like a plan. The Extra Class License doesn’t mean what it use to. The difference with any class of Amateur license is you gain the official blessing of the FCC to put signals on the air, with some limits of course. To experiment that is a big advantage. Something to reconsider.
  8. There are 12 year olds with an Extra Class license. You would be in good company.
  9. When you get it and programmed let us know what you think about the radio.
  10. That's a bummer with my TH-D74A HT. A memory channel can only be programmed for a split frequency in the SAME band, no split band. My 20 plus year old TH-G71A lets me program in different bands for TX and RX. I wonder if Kenwood fixed that on the new TH-D75A.
  11. One on-line recommendation was to get the 4D model with display.
  12. What kind of programming cable did you use for the radio? I ran across some info where people had to buy a special one or made their own. I have a cheat-sheet, Excel, for my TK-D340's too, no display. That's why I primarily look just for radios with a alpha-numeric display. Various commercial radios come in the non-display and display models. The non-display models of those seem to be commonly available used, likely due to the cheaper price and most users don't need more than a few channels anyway.
  13. I've found that a Lithium Ion battery will hold a useful charge for a really long time. So an occasional battery pack swap wouldn't be a big deal. Of course one can buy a battery holder to use disposable cells. A few of my HT's I have battery pack eliminators, plug in to the accessory socket in the car. But you do have a point.
  14. I'll have to look into it more. Chinese manufacture are known for playing loose with the specifications and terminology. It wouldn't surprise me to find out it's really a DMR radio.
  15. The old IC706MKIIG is one, but the power output is low due to the filters. IC-706MKIIG Freqequency Mod Power Output.pdf IC-706MKIIG Transmit Power Mod.pdf IC-706MKIIG Frequency Expansion.pdf
  16. Actually I was looking into dPMR radios, at one time. I still am occasionally. There are "license free" dPMR446 ones, for use on 446.0 to 446.2 band in the EU, but they are limited to 0.5 watts. dPMR isn't used, or so minimally it doesn't exist as a practical mode here as far as I can tell. I was looking into it as a novelty. I have the radio programming software for Kenwood's TK-3701D dPMR446 radio, but no radio. There is also a DMR 446 license free version too. So in effect they have two different digital modes and analog FM available in a license free service. The cheap Chinese DMR radio could be used with the correct programming. I'm not going into the topic if that's really legal. That's their problem over there. Kenwood sold, now discontinued, a NX-220/320 radio with a firmware update could be converted over to a dPMR radio. I believe I have the firmware, radio programming and license file writer software someplace archived on my FTP server at home. The problem is I need an "E", European, version of the above radios along with a license file to write to it so the feature is activated. I have an NX-320K, North American model which likely won't work. NX-220E-320E.pdf The-effect-on-dPMR-446-of-the-new-digital-license-v3-2019.pdf Upgrading Kenwood NX-x20E to dPMR.pdf TK-3701D.pdf
  17. I have one already. But it's not a digital enabled radio. The only thing I have that comes close to the cheap Chinese DMR radio are my Kenwood TK-D340's. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/291-tk-d340u-front-and-back-2jpg/?context=new That's if I can find them where the seller isn't asking well over $100 each for one. I managed to score a few for around $50 each, but I have to check the auction site frequently to catch somebody selling one and doesn't know what he has for sure. My buddy just got one the same way for about $50. He should get it in the next several days. I wouldn't consider these glove-box beater radios.
  18. Has anyone had any experience with these super cheap Chinese DMR radios? A buddy alerted me to them. For a glove-box beater radio at the price point it might be worth it. https://www.amazon.com/Walkie-Talkie-430-470MHz-Communication-Confidentiality/dp/B08S3DG8PW/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=cotre+dmr+radio&qid=1705587997&sr=8-2 https://pnwdigital.net/radio-cotre/
  19. I have one zone on my commercial radios programed for narrow band specifically to communicate with FRS users too.
  20. Depends on the radio model and manufacture. For example the new KENWOOD radio series, NX-1000's, NX-3000's and NX-5000's they now require you to purchase a license key. The software communicates over the internet to valid the install before working. The keys are $100+ each and you can only have ONE install version of the software active at a time. If you have the software on more than one PC you have to deactivate the license on the one PC and activate the license on the one you want to use. Of course you can spend a wad of money buying more license keys. I have two desktop computers at work, one at home and a laptop. Buying a license key for each or trying to juggle the key between the various computers just isn't worth the hassle and cost. So far I've only found a cracked version of the software for the NX-1000 series that has bypassed the license key check. That's why I'm an owner of several NX-1300DUK5 FM/DMR radios now, one I purchased new from a dealer. I've also purchased the DMR encryption license for each radio, which gets permanently written to it. If it wasn't for the cracked version of the software I NEVER would have purchased them. I would like to own one of the NX-3000's or better yet an NX-5000, but I can't justify the cost of the software license key to program one radio that i might use a few times. IMHO if Kenwood is that worried about the software just roll the cost of the programming software into the cost structure of the radio and just give the programming software away. That's what they do for their amateur gear. The radio programming software is free. If I spot a radio that looks interesting I'll check for documentation for it on line. But most important I'll look for the programming software. If I can't get it I just forget about the the radio I was looking at. Just about all commercial radios are just paper weights without the programming software.
  21. By some reports it's already happening, unofficially. I guess FCC will have to deal with this sooner or later. One can either get on the bus, get run over by the bus, or just get the heck out of the way.
  22. You can see that in the antenna specifications referred to as "Down Tilt" angle. The purpose is to direct a bit more power closer in to the base area of the antenna. Otherwise the signal strength can be a bit poor close in but much better once you get some distance out from the repeater site. Both of the antennas in the attached datasheets have no down tilt. However look at the beam width specification. The higher gain antenna has a VERY narrow one, 14 degrees, compared to the lower gain one at 27 degrees. Something to consider before buying. DB408-B Product specifications.pdf DB404-B Product Specifications.pdf
  23. There are some "closed" amateur repeaters. You have to be a "club member" to use them. Granted they are rare but not unheard of.
  24. That's good news. I have stumbled across a story where a guy was running 1KW in their mobile. When he keyed up it would kill the engine of the vehicle next to them. Yes it's a very rare occurrence but does happen. I'm surprised this topic doesn't get discussed more often. As the electronics contents of vehicles goes up the "potential" of interference to or from the vehicle's electronics increases. And with EV's that get even more concerning. I'm sure manufactures are doing a good job of EMC testing and shielding, but nothing is perfect.
  25. I would suspect that the use of an FM radio would be less of an issue from a receiver stand point. However the RF generated could, in theory, could even jam an FM radio. I guess the real way to find out is get a radio and just try it. Basically any kind of motor controller can cause RF trash to be generated. The higher the voltage the controller uses the more likely the noise will be greater in amplitude. Also the closer the radio is to the motor controller, motor or interconnecting cables the more likely you might experience a noise problem. People have had issues with electric fuel pumps over the years. Usually a capacitor and or ferrite installed on the wires by it works in some cases to cure the noise problem. Somebody else was asking about fuel injector noise. Fuel injectors use a moderate high frequency AC signal on the main signal that activates the fuel injector. The injectors use a solenoid to force fuel into the cylinder. The solenoid shaft has a habit of sticking. The moderate high frequency signal, manufactures call it a "dither current" I believe, that very slightly vibrates the solenoid shaft to keep it from sticking and could be a source for RF noise.
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