Lscott
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Posts posted by Lscott
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On 4/15/2023 at 6:59 AM, CogentRadios said:
Once again while trying to fix the desense issue I found several articles relating to the sensitivity and selectivity of a repeater, these are NOT the same thing. Radios like the Vertex 2100/2200 have adjustments that can mitigate some of this but the Chinese radios do not and just dont have the selectivity to eliminate desense like an actual real repeater.
As pointed out you likely need a real band-pass/band-reject type duplexer. The cheap simple ones are just band-reject.
If your repeater is built using two radios you can add a band-pass filter inline between the RX radio and the duplexer. You can try an inexpensive one to see if that helps.
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I mentioned in a previous post some commercial radios have a signal strength measurement feature, RSSI, built into them. This is NOT the simple bar graph display you commonly see.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/302-nx-1300duk5-rssi-display/?context=new
A number of radios have the ability to measure the RX signal strength during normal operation, typically for trunking systems with multiple TX sites. The radio can be programmed to use the site with the strongest signal.
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6 hours ago, Luish19779 said:
If my Baofeng spying me, only going to hear is my fart
all day and is not anything compromises on that.
Don't keep it in your back pocket. Also make sure you have the VOX feature disabled if you do.
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2 hours ago, Blaise said:
That's actually amazing. I've been wondering all morning how I'd explain to my wife why I was buying a bunch more test equipment to do the same thing!
I want to try it across city and inside buildings, too...
You might not need to do that. There are a few select radios that include a field strength measurement feature right in the radio. I'm not talking about the crappy bar graph display either.
On some of my radios there is a "maintenance" menu where it will show the RX signal strength in dbm.
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This is an old thread but a few more frequencies are mentioned in it on UHF for specific locations.
https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/noaa-uhf-repeaters.253483/
Also I have a list of VHF frequencies used for weather broadcasts. See attached file. Two are listed for Canada. There is one for the US in the 163 MHz range you don't find commonly listed. I have no idea if that last one is really used.
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1 hour ago, WRQC527 said:
My dog wasn't broken but we fixed him anyway. That's the old saying. "If it ain't broke, fix it til it is."
Yup. When I was out of college for a bit I was doing field service work on the company’s equipment. I learned real quick if it isn’t broke and you start screwing with it then it will end up broken almost for sure.
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8 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:
I tried investigating a bit further and turned squelch off completely on the SOC radio and still nothing at all at 410.000. I still hear the medical dispatch on the Super Het on 410.000 very clear even though it’s not listed to be there. I’m baffled by this. It is not like a faint reception or at a location I’d expect bleed over. I guess it’s just an RF mystery.
This is just a wild guess but you might be experiencing a case of intermod, inter-modulation interference.
https://www.everythingrf.com/community/what-is-intermodulation-distortion
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2 hours ago, PACNWComms said:
Great thread. I have dealt with Motorola, Thales, and Harris for a long while, and ended up working with Harris for field testing both the military AN/PRC-152 series and the XG-100P Unity radio for various agencies (my personal collection shown in the attached picture). Harris brought a multi-band radio with GPS to the table first, but then did not support it well when the sales did not take off (who could afford the XG-100P).
In preparation for the 2009 Police and Fire Games, and Later the 2010 Olympic Games in Canada, many fire and police elements in northern Washington State were provided grant money for XG-100P/M radios.
I bought a demo unit while working for the oil industry, being an intrinsically safe radio that allowed me to carry one radio instead of three (VHF,UHF and 7/800 MHz). However, I only have RPM12, so know I am missing out on some newer features. Compared to the military Motorola APX7000 (dual band I was issued), the Unity was a great radio. It still is for me now, but is heavy and lacks some refinement of newer Harris radio. They still come up on auction sites and used radio vendor sites for $800-1200 often though. There are people I know that use them for bragging rights as well, for those that want to flex on their radio geek friends.
As mentioned by others the "mission plans" on the XG-100P are much like those on the true military AN/PRC-152 as well. Harris makes a great radio, but the price also reflects that. Now, if I could only buy AN/PRC-152's without dealing with export models (type of encryption or lack thereof) as having AM and FM (satcom, HPW and other military specific waveforms) in the same radio in very convenient, but comes at a huge cost many hobbyist can't afford. But, I see that like Motorola making Trbo DMR and P25 TDMA in the same radio, only a wish that may never happen, or will only happen a huge cost.
Lots of money laying on the grass there.
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6 hours ago, vefrancis said:
New to GMRS, so be kind. Does GMRS have Weather channel frequencies? If so, What are they? Thanks in advance
The official NOAA weather channel frequencies are on VHF. However some have discovered that the studio to transmitter site audio link at times is done on selected UHF frequencies.
You can look at the attached file and see what kind of luck you have with it.
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23 minutes ago, GXExplorer said:
While I'm waiting for the Wouxun to arrive, what resources should I soak in before I start using it?
I would HIGHLY recommend you read over the GMRS service rules. It will save you asking some questions later on.
https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-E
Getting familiar with the channel frequencies/channel numbers/power level allowed helps when reading various posts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service
Finally getting the hang of how the whole repeater thing works helps a lot when trying to figure out how to program your radio. This topic seems to trip up a lot of first time users.
https://woofthebeatenpath.com/how-do-you-use-a-gmrs-repeater-for-longer-range/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxbL2g4E7KU
If you have any more questions we're all right here.
- WRQC527, WRUU653 and GXExplorer
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8 hours ago, WRUU653 said:
That’s not to say that there aren’t businesses forging ahead without licenses.
Yeah, the house keeping employees at a local mall are doing exactly that, since 10/2015.
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1 hour ago, Guest Connor said:
Hey guys I know this might be a weird question but with the little knowledge and not knowing anyone in this space I thought I'd ask here.
I'm in Canada and from what I can tell it seems they lock our gmrs to 2 watts but that's the same as frs radio right? When I'm out in the hills or mountain terrain of Alberta/BC. Camping hunting or hiking the radios ive tried have not really been working well enough for me to be comfortable doing more than single day activities.
I'm looking to get a gmrs with at least 5 watts and antennas or a repeater so I can make it through the trees and hills a sufficient distance with clarity as well, instead of a couple hundred meters - 1 km I'm also not savvy enough to get into ham to have a portable unit in the vehicle or house with a handheld for myself. Can someone help me find a good solution/suggestion?
In Canada you're limited to 2 watts max. You also don't have repeater frequency access either. Your GMRS service is basically like the FRS service in the US.
Also Industry Canada wimped out and changed their mind about doing a MURS VHF service so you don't have that option either.
One thing that people have done is use higher power VHF radios on the so called Radio Controlled Roads that are found out on the west side of Canada. Likely not really legal.
Canada GMRS-FRS Rules.pdf Canada Annex E - GMRS and FRS.pdf Canada VHF LADD Channel List .pdf
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On 4/8/2023 at 8:45 PM, WRWP775 said:
To me, one of the advantages of GMRS is avoiding FRS congestion at campgrounds, parks, etc. If I have learned/read this correctly, the first 22 channels are shared between FRS/GMRS with the only difference being GMRS may use higher power on those channels.
I have nothing against FRS users, but I'd like to limit interference without having to mess around with CTCSS, DTCS codes, polarity, etc. when programming my radios for the family.
So I believe (and would like to confirm with the brain trust here) that with my GMRS license I may use repeater channels 23 through 30 as simplex only channels, without having to go through a repeater. That's my understanding from reading GMRS rules online.
Thanks.
John / WRWP775 / K6JJG
You could try switching over to use MURS radios. Those are also license free.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-Use_Radio_Service
Also fortunately there are a few affordable ones out there so you don't have to mess around with looking for an old Part 90 radio that would be grandfathered in, received the operating grant before MURS was created.
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This topic has been beaten up plenty before in an older thread.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/3523-what-is-a-fixed-station/
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1 hour ago, kidphc said:
Not at all. Since it's not my radio but "long/short term loan". Nothing really. My friend handed it to me with the hi gain antenna and lithium battery.
Only thing so far would be a charger (about $80 with shipping for a used harris multi Chem from ebay). Maybe a programming cable ($100, used to about $400 new in bag). Software I am hunting for (probably about $750 if I need to order from harris).
I have found new/old stock for about $1200 (no bat or charger) to about $1300 for a complete used set. You can find used ones without battery for about $600, normally $800.
So if I'd go out and buy one I figure close to $2k. Still cheaper then an Apx. Do I like it more then the apx, no but it's 1/2 to a 1/3 of the cost. Big if would be finding one that was widebanded on uhf.
Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Thanks.
That's why more expensive than I'm willing to pay even used for a hobby. If I needed one for personally owned professional use that would change the economics. None of my radios falls into the later category.
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About how much do you have invested in the radio and accessories so far if you don't mind my asking?
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13 minutes ago, Sshannon said:
Thanks! I studied it for a while. That helps, but I’m even more curious how one would look on an analyzer to see how one tests versus theory. Theoretically they should be close!
Happy Easter!
Provided I didn't make any mistakes in the formulas, which is easy to do, you could try using a dummy load on one end with the other connected to the analyzer. That would at least allow you to check the results with a "perfect" load on one end. If there was no effect the match should be exactly 1:1.
I guess the real point is these barrel connectors are likely OK for HF use. Once you get up to the 2M band is where the trouble starts.
Like I mention in the worksheet better quality equipment you will see the center pin on the SO-239 socket is supported by a spoke wheel type of insulator, mostly air. It's done in an attempt to get the connector's impedance back to the ideal 50 ohms. The worse connectors are those using the dark Bakelite material. The white insulator looks like Teflon, but in most cases I think it's something else called Delrin which is similar depending on who you ask.
https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/which-is-the-better-dielectric-teflon-or-delrin.28905/
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6 hours ago, kc9pke said:
Is it? They keep renewing the license and it's still active
I did a quick search. The links I found are below. The one link shows the last experimental license, WK2XIK, applied for was in 5/9/2021 with a status of pending. It didn't show up in the FCC's database when I just checked. Maybe they were assigned a different call sign.
https://fcc.report/ELS/Northern-California-GMRS-Users-Group-NCGUG/0960-EX-ST-2016/178767.pdf
https://fcc.report/ELS/Northern-California-GMRS-Users-Group-NCGUG
https://fcc.report/company/Northern-California-GMRS-Users-Group-NCGUG
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7 hours ago, WRWR489 said:
And radio reference and the number of posts in all of is no way a scanner only forum,
I don't really use the forums there. I'm primarily interested in what is in their frequency database. That's the main reason why the sight exists.
Also many people who start off with a GMRS license end up getting their Ham license. Wouldn't it be fair to call them SAD GMRS users? Perhaps you would be better off to refrain from applying labels to people.
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On 4/8/2023 at 11:12 PM, Sshannon said:
I’d be interested in seeing what one of the eight inch barrel connectors looks like on an analyzer.
I did a theoretical analysis some years back just to see what a short one would do.
Regulating voltage for radios in vehicles.
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