Lscott

The title of this thread could be interpreted another way. One could ask does the user care a lot about how much they spend on a radio? I know some on this forum have likely spent well past 4 figures on a portable radio. If I spent that much on a portable radio I would be reluctant to even take it out of the house. I have only purchased a few radios new over the years. The majority are clean used radios showing few signs of use. Even then I've spent maybe $200 to $250 at most on a used commercial grade radio. The more expensive used commercial ones tend to be FM/Digital types. Out of the later the FM/P25 radios seem to be noticeably more expensive than the other FM/digital types, especially the VHF models. Ham gear is a different story. Before the new TH-D75A was released the older discontinued TH-D74A was selling for a huge price premium above what they sold for new. I saw a few selling for above $1000+ on eBay. When the TH-D74A's were available one could buy it new for around $650.

The US auto manufactures made that mistake decades ago. They still haven't recovered.

This is true for anything. Some engineers here feel a bit too smug. Same goes for what school they graduate from as well.

And at times money. Oh well, its a hobby.

I was at my typical Thursday night radio coffee group get together last night. One of the guys had a good setup for a ground plane for a mobile antenna mounted on the rack behind the truck cab. I took a couple of photos to share on the group here. Might give a few people some ideas to try out.

Those radios were a source of cheap gear for Ham uses.

The purpose of government isn't to make things more efficient. It's to waste more tax payer money and hire more public sector employees.

With the software tools commonly available fake paper documents can be easily created too. With the now "Deep Fake" technology you can't even believe videos any more.

Maybe you don’t, but it does seem to be a popular topic on this forum.

A.K.A. -> FRS.

Who cares about the name? It’s the privileges you get that matter.

Humm.. clinically depressed? He should do a video on the virtues of Xanax. Have a video of before and after use, sad Ham to a happy Ham.

SMABNCTNCPL259N+ maybe?

Looks like a nice radio. https://pdfs.kenwoodproducts.com/30/TK-7360HV-8360HUBrochure.pdf What software are you using to program it?

The blue ones they advertise on late night TV?

One example. The antenna installation on my CX-5 the mount with cable was only was available with an SMA connector on the end. There was another one, with the mini RG8X cable connector on the end, but it was too short to make it from the roof rack mount to inside of the rear hatch. I wanted to go to some mini RG8X cable, as an extention, that only had RG8X connectors. All I had on hand was SMA to BNC. Had to use the higher loss RG-58 extension cable until I can buy the adapters I want at the Dayton Hamvention this weekend.

You get what you pay for, and sometimes not even that. I’ve gotten in to the habit of checking SMA connectors by screwing different types together. The cheap ones seem to have poorly cut screw threads on the SMA ends. If the connectors screw together completely, seats and doesn’t exhibit ANY hint of binding it’s useable. Otherwise it’s junk. I’ll spend some time digging through the vendor’s bins at a swap checking every SMA connector I want to buy before dropping my money on them. I’ve been burned before and have a handful of bad ones to prove it. At $4 to $5 each it adds up.

I would recommend the FTDI cable. Too many counterfeit Prolific chips floating around. While Blue Max 49ers cable likely don't have them but if you have a choice get the FTDI cable.

The official band runs from 420 to 450 MHz. Between 420 and 430 MHz it’s a bit interesting. There are a few users, some police or fire departments, that have licensed frequencies there.

You won’t be the only one. So long as people understand the potential problems they make their own choices. I have some friends who have done the same thing. I gave them “the speech” and they make their choices. That’s the end of the topic. I wouldn’t feel right if I didn’t at least point it out.