Lscott

Yup you would doing well to wait awhile for two reasons. You don't want to be "Beta Testing" a version 1.0 radio. Let somebody else spend their money and deal with the problems. While that is going on just occasionally do a search for reviews and see how people are liking, or not, the radio before you spend your money. The second is new radio designs typically sell at the top end of the range the model is targeted for. After 6 months to a year once the novelty wears off, competitors come out with similar models, the price will slowly drop. After some time the manufacture may try to drive sales by offing "manufacturer's discounts" on many of the more well know radio equipment vendor sites. Keep checking to see who is offering the best deal, no sale tax and maybe free shipping. With the holiday season arrival you may find those vendors offering holiday specials. Pays to keep looking around. I was given a free Wouxon KG-UVD1P at a local Ham radio swap. It looked new in the box but no charger. Cost me $17 to get one off of eBay. One of the things I do is look for PDF versions of the manuals, FCC grants and a service manual. Turns out this radio really had a service manual complete with a schematic. That proved interesting. If you are familiar with electronics the schematic can tell you a few things the radio spec's likely won't. In this case the radio was in fact a dual superheterodyne design. First IF was at 29.250MHz using 2 cascaded resonators and the second IF was the usual 455KHz. However the bandwidth on the filters is not delectable so it will be fine on wide-band FM but too wide on narrow band, at least from the stand point of using closer spaced channels. Manufactures do this to save cost. To get narrow band operation the frequency deviation is reduced from 5KHz to 2.5KHz and the audio gain is doubled on receive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superheterodyne_receiver By contrast the commercial radios I have use two sets of filters, one wide band and the other narrow band. One even has a "tracking filter" on the input to pre-filter out any potential interfering signals before they get to the IF stages. These radios are designed to work in a very severe and crowded RF environment. You likely won't find this in consumer grade or even Ham Radio grade radios.

You’re right about testing HT antennas. It’s very difficult to get an accurate measurement for the SWR. I know because I tested a bunch I have in my collection. The only thing that seemed fairly consistent were the UHF antennas. At 450 to 470 MHz they only need to be about 6 inches long for a full 1/4 wave, thus you don’t have a real lossy helical wound coil found in the typically stubby VHF designs. Further on a decent sized radio the internal metal chassis provide a fairly good ground plane. When you look at the really tiny shirt pocket radios that isn’t so true. One other reason to stay away from the tiny radios had to do with the heat sinking of the final power amplifier stage. Using them for more that a few percent duty cycle the make wonderful hand warmers. One Ham wrote about destroying his output power stage more than once when running full power at more that the manufactures recommended duty cycle on transmit. On H PO T antennas testing one guy made an attempt to replicate the conditions the antenna sees when on a radio. There were some problems with his test jig that are pointed out in the comments. https://reflector.sota.org.uk/t/antenna-testing-jig-swr/14791

What is the capacity of the battery bank you have? I have a collection of LiFePO4 battery packs, 3AH to 40AH. Also I have several solar panels, none are permanently mounted outside, just deployed when needed. They range in size from 50 watts down to one at 5 watts. I use MPPT's specifically designed for the battery chemistry, most are for LiFePO4 and one is for Lead Acid. I would recommend that anybody looking for a battery type for portable or emergencies not to use Lead Acid types unless cost is a major factor. I've ruined enough gel cells over the years and gave up on them. My recommendation is use LiFePO4 battery packs, yeah they cost a lot more but they hold a change for months or longer without requiring a trickle charger like Lead Acid. This type of battery doesn't get ruined buy sitting around for long periods partially discharged. Lead Acid types will sulfate ruining the battery.

This topic comes up every once in a while in other threads but not discussed on its own. A number of people got GMRS, and or Ham, radios for use during an emergency but haven't given much thought to how the radio(s) will be powered once the battery pack is dead, for portables, and how to recharge them. For an extended power outage, over a large area, gas powered generators likely won't work for long due to the fact the gas pumps likely won't have power either to refill the gas cans. One case in point was the great northeast power blackout in 2003. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_blackout_of_2003 I'm in the Detroit area and the gas stations had no power except for a few. Those were only pumping gas for police, fire etc. nothing for anybody else. One solution is using a small solar power system to keep a battery charged up. There are plans all over the Internet for building "solar power generators" with one example below. https://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/PV/PortableSolarGen/easy_diy_solar_generator.pdf Some of the info above is out of date, but the general idea of how to build one isn't. So what plans have people made to power their radio equipment when the grid goes down?

You need to look at EVERYTHING! And even then you may still get burned. You can get some very good equipment and deals on eBay but it takes time and research what you are buying FIRST before spending your money. I was looking at what was advertised as a TK-3170 UHF radio. Some of the photos looked like they were lifted from the manufactures web site, had that "new" look, not what you expect from a "used" radio. Others showed obvious signs of usage. One showed a partial of the rear of the radio which showed the model as a TK-2170 VHF type, which I would not mind getting anyway, so I ordered it. Well it showed up and it was a TK-3170 alright, name plate didn't match the sellers photo, but for the totally useless band spread of 400 MHz to 430 MHz. It was now obvious the seller was completely dishonest in his listing and knew it, not a common mistake where some sellers get the model or description wrong. That's why I like seeing the name plate with serial number, FCC ID and model number. The seller had a 99.8% rating too, but not after I was done with the feedback. I finally got eBay to refund the cost plus shipping. I've purchased plenty of handheld radios off eBay, have a good collection of them, so I know what to look for but still got burned. So if you don't have experience buying used, don't, or have somebody who does look it over and do your research.

If you're referring to me the radios I'm using are Part 95 certified, no modifications, and will accept entry of frequencies in the Ham 70cm band too, the programming software complains with a warning pop-up window but will accept the entry. That's why I use them. TK-370G-1 https://fccid.io/ALH29473110 TK-3170 https://fccid.io/ALH34713110 The FCC grants show Part 95A, among several others, since at the time that was the section for GMRS. When the rules were updated it changed to Part 95E, but that will not invalidate the original grant. You will also notice the grant is for both wide and narrow band too. It seems a lot of the older Kenwood commercial band radios have Part 95 certification. For Amateur Radio the only thing the FCC certifies the radios for is Part 15, making sure the radios can't receive cellular phone frequencies.

One can never have enough radios. 8-) GMRS is a good way for people to test the water and see if they like radio communications without having to do any testing. Good luck getting your Tech Class license. Later you can upgrade to General Class which gives you access to all of the HF bands for world wide communications, very handy if the worse happens and local public communications resources are completely wiped out. Some commercial band radios are FCC certified for Part 95, and the programming software will allow Ham 70cm frequency entries even if they are outside of the "official" range for the radio, the software throws up a warning message, but allows the entry. I've used two so far, both Kenwood radios, TK-370G-1 and the TK-3170. I can get them down to around 440MHz or so which covers the simplex and repeater sections of the Ham 70cm band. Now I only need one radio for both services and its legal since I'm licensed for both. There is one other radio service on VHF that could prove useful too. That's MURS and no license is required. You can find some MURS certified radios out there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service https://www.intercomsonline.com/murs-radio-multi-use-radio-service-technology-guide

Don’t forget with the change in the rules both GMRS and FRS now share the same frequencies. One of the major differences between them is FRS can’t use repeaters, thus my comment about using simplex, and FRS is narrow band. I have two sets of memories programmed in my radios, one for the wider bandwidth for GMRS, the other for narrow band for FRS.

FCC database search for the Virgin Islands shows only 15 active licensed GMRS users. I didn’t drill down to see who was located where however. If they are spread out over multiple islands your chance of contacting one on the air likely isn’t very high. The chance of contacting someone using a cheap FRS radio, simplex only since they don’t have repeater functions, might be higher. I would also suggest you look at getting at least your Ham Tech class license. That will increase the opportunity of contacting somebody during an emergency. About a third of the group of GMRS users on my local repeater are also licensed Hams.

If you're worried about having communications after a major storm you should also think about a source of emergency power. Last storm through Puerto Rico for example the power was out for a really long time from the reports on the news. After a few days you likely won't find any gas for a generator so a long term solution is needed. You will likely want something like a small solar panel, charge controller and battery. Then look for a 12VDC battery pack eliminator for the radio. I have a few charging cradles for the commercial Kenwood radios, with one modified to use 12 to 14 VDC input, instead of wall outlet power, to recharge the battery pack. If you can't find a 12VDC battery pack eliminator then a few spare battery packs you can cycle through the charger works too.

If GMRS ever allows DMR I would think SFR mode would be the way to go since it would be simple for a user to setup, no fancy controller or cavity filters to deal with. In fact this would be ideal for a Ham buddy that's into off-roading with his Jeep and the group he belongs to. They are switching to GMRS since that seems to be the direction the off-roading community is moving towards. He's trying to get the group members to get their Ham Tech class tickets. If he can do that then using DMR with one radio setup as the repeater using SFR mode would fit exactly what they are looking for without a complex system to drag around. If a particular frequency is busy you just switch to another one. Can't do that in the field with a conventional setup.

DCDM, allows two voice channels on the same frequency. That's good to know. I wasn't aware there are radios that could coordinate the time slot sharing without a repeater in the mix. The question there is how many DMR radios have that capacity? The point about single frequency repeaters using DMR I think is a significant development. It just so happens the CCR's I linked to offer it but I'm not advocating people buy those CCR's, just used them as an example.

I believe that is only true when operating through a DMR repeater. The repeater supplies the sync signal so each radio knows when to transmit based on the time slot selected. When operating simplex there is no sync signal to determine which of the two times slots is slot 1 or slot 2. One of the interesting aspects of DMR is with the right programming of the firmware a radio could supply the sync signal. In the case of the D578UV, from what I've read, can do this thus you can run a single frequency repeater, no offset or tuned cavity filters required. There are some other DMR radios that claim to have the feature as well. https://www.ailunce.com/blog/What%27s-Single-frequency-repeater-function https://www.rexontec.com.tw/en/product/RPT-810.html

You can try the antennas from Ed Fong. He sells several models from base antennas to "roll-up" types for portable use. None require a ground plane so they are ideal for temporary use. For a base type antenna look at this one. "DBJ-1 (commercial) dual band base antenna - (152-157 MHz and 460-470 MHz). Maximum power input 75 watts. - $36" For portable use< roll-up type, this should work. DBJ-2 (commercial) dual band roll up antenna kit - (152-157 MHz and 460-470 MHz). Includes adapters for BNC, SMA and SMA - female. Also includes a 6 ft extension cable. Maximum power input 50 watts. - $36 The link to the website is below. https://edsantennas.weebly.com/ These are "J-Pole" antennas. For some background on what they are a basic theory how they work can be found at the following link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-pole_antenna Without seeing your situation a roll-up antenna might be a good choice if you have something nearby to throw a light string or rope over, like a tree limb. Then you just hoist the antenna up by the string, the higher the better. When you're done just drop it down and store it. Likely you can get away with leaving the string in place for next time. Some years back when I lived in a ground floor apartment I used a portable light fiberglass "pushup mast" stuck in a heavy duty speaker tripod. That got a telescoping dual band antenna up about 20 feet. I ran the coax out of the window. This was done at night so as not to attract too much attention. http://www.randl.com/shop/catalog/index.php?manufacturers_id=67&sort=3a&page=20&osCsid=6bcm5d1bpm8b0ar83lvi2h2a40

As mentioned you can use VirtualBox to make a virtual machine and run Windows in it. You can get an old version of windows here. Using Windows XP usually isn't required so running Windows 2000 should work fine. https://winworldpc.com/product/windows-nt-2000/final

For Kenwood handheld radios I would also recommend the TK-370G-1 and the TK-3170. Both are part 95 certified. https://mra-raycom.com/wp-content/uploads/simple-file-list/Specifications/portables/TK-270G-370G-Product-Brochure.pdf https://5.imimg.com/data5/MT/AL/MY-2136226/tk-3170-handheld-portable-walkie-talkie.pdf Make sure you get the type 1 radios. For UHF there are 2 or more models available. You want the one that includes 462 to 467 MHz in its operational ranges.

Have a look at this site for mobile wiring recommendations. While the topic is mobile Ham gear the same exact recommendations apply for GMRS radios. http://www.k0bg.com/wiring.html

I posted a link to this in another thread about the same exact topic. http://www.repeater-builder.com/k7pp/art005.html I think the best advise given is to stay away from the guy, do not confront him. You have no idea to what length he will go to if confronted. If he is asking for personal info from kids this would likely be of interest to the local police. The guy is maybe a known offender so the matter is better left to the local PD. They do keep close watch on these people.

Well just an update. TYT won't supply a schematic but they did send me two new pin jacks free of charge. Granted CCR's are not the greatest radios but for a general "beater radio" its not bad. I'm not expecting great performance out of it. If I have real critical performance requirements I'll depend on my Kenwood radios. People forget that years ago electronics made in Japan were considered a joke too. Now those same Japanese companies have upped their game producing quality products and are respected manufactures today. I wouldn't count out the Chinese where down the road they end up producing top quality products at some point.

Well there are really two issues here. One is cheap labor. Second is cheap design. You can still move manufacturing back to the US and still produce garbage because the design was cheap. The CCR's are the way they are because of both of the above factors. Cheap labor keeps cost down. A cheap design that takes maximum advantage of highly integrated chips which very often results in a compromise somewhere in performance with a trade off in reduced cost. Now you have a really cheap radio with so-so performance. There is a reason why the higher end radios perform better, cost more, than many CCR's is because more effort was made during the design and testing phase with less corners in performance cut. To design high performance hardware requires very careful evaluation of nearly every component used. For a $25 Baofeng just how much R and D money do you think they are going to spend on such a cheap radio? For the CCR's they use a "datasheet" reference design, tweak it a bit. Then try some "can you hear me now tests" and then it goes to marketing.

Just for my info what FCC rules are they violating?

I think the closest thing to what you're asking is a "simplex node" connected to the linked GMRS repeater network. For an example have a look here. It looks like a modified Baofeng BF-888S UHF radio was used. These radios go for $15 or less on-line. https://gmrs1.yolasite.com/

Yes. Look on page 11 of the service manual for how it's done for the TK-370G models with full keypads. A hardware mode needs to be done in addition to enabling self programming in the software. http://www.repeater-builder.com/kenwood/pdfs/tk-360g-tk-370g-svc-man.pdf For the older TK-370 32 channel model the instructions are here. http://rsws.zapto.org/radiosoftware/kenwood/Tk270.pdf After looking at how it's done for the 370G I would rather use the software. Trying to do this in the field would be "interesting" to say the least.

I still have my very first radio, a Kenwood TH-G71A dual band, I purchased new. Had some repairs done on it over the years but still in great shape and working. Only draw back is it can't do narrow band.

I can speak to the few Kenwood portables I own. Those are: TK-370G-1 (FCC ID ALH29473110), 128 channel, wide/narrow band setting per channel TK-3170-1 (FCC ID ALH34713110), 128 channel, wide/narrow band setting per channel TK-3140-1 (FCC ID ALH32263110), 250 channel, wide/narrow band setting per channel TK-370-1 (FCC ID ALHTK-370-1), 32 channel, wide band only TK-3160 (FCC ID ALH36423110), 16 channel, wide/narrow band setting per channel TK-3360 (FCC ID ALH415100), 16 channel, wide/narrow band setting per channel Pro's: All of the above are Part 90 certified, however the 370G, 3170, 3140 and the 370 are also Part 95 certified thus are perfectly legal to use for GMRS. The 370G and 370 are larger older models, built like a tank and a bit on the heavy side. All the other radios are "palm-sized". Depending on the radio they will take either a nickle metal hydride or lithium ion battery pack. Some will take either one. The battery packs and chargers seem easy to find, original or clone on line. All of the radios, except the 3140, use the standard Kenwood style two pin accessories and use the cheap "Baofeng", cheap Chinese, programming cable. The 3140 however uses the Motorola type multi-pin adapter for accessories and programming cable. I've had good luck finding the programming software with license keys on line. Some have the "engineer's" key which lets you do anything with the radio even if it's password locked. If one wants to use the radios for the Ham 70cm band some model sdo cover 440 MHz and up, or allows entry of frequencies below the lower official band limit, 450 MHz, with a warning popup. The radios will operate there. From what I've read the Kenwood radios seem to work about 5 percent outside of the official band limits so for a lower limit of 450 MHz you likely can get the radio to work down to 440 MHz. I've got mine programed that way, and the simplex along with the repeater section are primarily above 440 MHz anyway. I've had good luck finding operator and service manuals for these radios as well. Con's: The radios are typically only 4 watts max output, option to select low of 1 watt. The difference between 5 watts and 4 watts I doubt is noticeable in practice. Chrip doesn't fully support these radios, and with most of them it's very buggy. I highly recommend using the official Kenwood software. They all use, except the 370, the reverse SMA antenna connector you find on just about every cheap Chinese radio. I think, my guess, is when they designed the CCR's they simply copied an existing interface design, looks like they picked Kenwood. The 370's antenna connector however uses the old Motorola screw stud type antenna connector. No true VFO. However on a few of the radios, after removing a configuration diode and enabling the feature in the programming software, the radio can be front panel programmed, but only to a memory slot. I know the -370G is possible since it's covered in the service manual, not sure about the others. Most of the radios do offer some form of security, voice scrambling or inversion, but legally it can't be used, at least not on the Ham or GMRS services. For Part 90 service I don't think that's a problem.