Lscott
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Everything posted by Lscott
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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.
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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.
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What Would Cause Static/Noise Across ALL GMRS Channels?
Lscott replied to OffRoaderX's topic in General Discussion
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.
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From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
Need a loop at the bottom entrance to keep the water out. -
From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
This is the cable extension, RG-58C, from the mobile antenna mount. The mount uses RG-316 because it’s thin enough to fit along the tail light assembly. The other mount I looked at used RG-58, which would have required squeezing it to fit along the side of the tail light assembly. That would have likely screwed up the cable impedance resulting in an elevated SWR, which I didn't want. So, I stayed with the thinner RG-316 and a longer length even if it was higher loss. Sometimes you don't have much choice. I finally got the adapters I wanted and swapped out the RG-58C for a 10 foot section of RG8X mini. The RG8X mini has about half the losses of the RG-58C extension cable. It's also a bit fatter cable too. The photo shows the original cable installation. https://diamondantenna.net/c110.html https://fieldcomponents.com/mini-uhf-coaxial-Connectors.html -
From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
Used some Styrofoam stuffed in the narrow cracks to hold the thin coax in place. The gap between the tail light assembly and the hatch lip was too narrow to stuff even an RG-58 coax into it without having to really squeeze down the cable to flatten it out. That likely would have resulted in an elevated SWR. The only thing that fit was another mount with RG-316 cable. The losses where higher than I wanted, but I didn't have much choice. -
From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
I had to use a slightly different mount than originally planed. The roof rack rails are a bit under 3 inches wide which required a special mount for it. Seems this is more common on newer vehicles, the wide roof rack rails. https://diamondantenna.net/k550.html The antenna mount itself used an "UHF" type socket, SO-239, since that matches the mobile antennas I already own. The lead in cable is 13.5 feet of really thin RG-316 coax. I needed to get some SMA to RG8X mini coax adapters to use the extension cable. https://diamondantenna.net/c213sma.html The RG8X mini coax adapters look like miniature RG-259 ones but the big difference is they are rated for a constant impedance of 50 ohms up to bit over 2GHz. The RG-259/SO-239 connectors are not recommended for use above 300MHz. -
From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
This is the view of the mobile mount with the antenna installed looking at the vehicle from the drivers side. -
From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
This is a rear view of the Comet CA-2x4MB antenna and mount. This is the same antenna I had installed on my old Jeep. There is a photo of that in the album. Now it’s on my CX-5. The antenna itself is 59 inches tall. Then add a couple of inches for the rack mount and another 4 to 5 inches from the roof to the rack. It's up there. -
I’ve gotten some cheap magnet mounts at swaps. Also got a new tri-magnet mount new. The later I had to go through and swap out all the steel hardware, screws-washers-nuts, for stainless steel. Check what you have. If it uses steel consider swapping the hardware out for stainless. It will hold up much longer exposed to the weather.
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I'm curious to see how the prices look on used equipment like Mirage amplifiers in the flea market.
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A funny thing happened at my ham test today...
Lscott replied to back4more70's topic in Amateur Radio (Ham)
So when at a swap and the nice person asks you if you want to buy any of the General or Extra Class study guides you can say you don't need them any more. -
It does. One of the issues not really mentioned is the narrow band results in a low audio level. The level might be below the point where the repeater can recognize the access tone. This issue is repeater dependent. When than happens everything looks OK but you can't bring the repeater up to use.
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Just checked the indoor vendor list for the Hamvention. All the booths are sold. MFJ is NOT listed as an indoor vendor. I guess they will just sell out any remaining stock on the internet. Anybody hoping to buy something from them at the show can forget it.
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Point. Unless the manufacture hugely supports the group doing CHIRP development then the software has to be based on reverse engineering the code plug structure and communication protocol with the radio. Needless to say but the more feature rich radios are not fully supported by CHIRP. Yes, you can program them, but you don't have access to all the optional settings. I would recommend the manufacture's software be used where possible FIRST. If the manufacture's software is a POS then try CHIRP.
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You can't have just 10 either. Trust me on this.
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They already have. Done so for years in the commercial radio world. I own a bunch of them. Some even have Part 95 certification so are usable with FM only until the FCC approves digital voice modes on some or all of the channels. The situation with mixing analog and digital on GMRS isn’t so dire. It all depends on how it’s done. Read the attached file for my ideas on the topic. GMRS Digital Voice - 20231127.pdf
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That's what I normally had always thought. However this antenna was mentioned as no ground plane required. The poster who pointed it out said they had one and it worked fine. I have no experience with this particular one so I can't comment about it one way or the other. https://www.talleycom.com/product/ANXTRA4500N
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https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E/section-95.1705 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-A/section-95.305
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MFJ had too many "moving parts" they pulled under one umbrella. There is likely investor interest out there, but only for some of the subsidiaries, like Mirage, Ameritron etc. Now that the announcement is made that manufacturing will cease on 5/17, I believe, I wonder how the prices will look on new and used gear that will soon be out of production. With the Hamvention coming up in a few weeks that's going to be interesting to see.
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Also if the antenna is not "resonate" at those frequencies it will contribute to reflected power back to the radio and an elevated SWR reading.
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That says a lot about their quality control, or lack of it. Another reason why CCR’s have a poor reputation with people.
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From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
No one is a real radio hobbyist without collecting a bunch of antennas. I've accumulated a small batch of HT, mobile, magnet mounts and some special antennas for particular projects. Also built a few to test out as well. -
From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
This was one of my very early radios I used for GMRS. It is FCC Part 95 certified. Its a nice radio but a bit larger and heavier than newer models. The one reservation with this radio are the battery pack types. About the only ones available are the NiCd or NiMH types. https://www.manasrekha.com/pdf/TK-270G-370G.pdf
