Lscott
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Posts posted by Lscott
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2 hours ago, WRWM850 said:
I thing I bought the 450-512 but I'm not positive (I bought 2 for just over 20 bucks so ill be happy with either!) I have recently programmed a couple Motorola cp200 radios so I have a bit of experience, but I have never programmed or used a digital radio.
For $20 you can't go wrong.
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Looks very readable.
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9 minutes ago, tweiss3 said:
That is Kenwood's stuff. All the kenwood softwares allow you to program a codeplug without the radio first.
That is unbelievably convenient. If I'm on lunch at work I can putz around building a code plug or making changes to an existing one, then upload it to my home FTP server.
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3 minutes ago, kidphc said:
NIce.
At least you can do that. Can't even do that with the XTL5k. You need to hook up to at least one radio to read the serial before you can even open a file.
What version RPM is that?
This one is the Kenwood KPG-95DGN V8.30. I think this one was modified, or I used a wide band install key forget which, to allow wide and narrow band FM since I can freely enter either one.
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1 hour ago, Sshannon said:
So one more level of organization than DMR? So, when you add selections to zones are you including the entire Personal group of individual channels or do you assign channels to zones individually?
It looks like it's done on an individual basis. I haven't played with the software extensively but that seems to be the way it was intended to be done. The other thing is the radio comes in I think 3 different hardware versions. Due to the above I have sort of lost interest in getting one even if it's a reasonably priced used P25 radio.
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1 hour ago, kidphc said:
I hear horror stories of trying to get software for the Kenwood NX series if you don't have a dealer that is Ham friendly. Much less assistance on programming. Guess that is why a lot of Hams stick to Motorolas.
That's the issue with their new NX line of radios. I'm guessing they want everyone to go through their dealer network.
The licensing model Kenwood uses for the new NX series is a PIA from a single user/hobbyist point of view. Very unfriendly and expensive. Read some horror stories about people having hard disks die. They reinstall the software on a new drive but it won't recognize the license. Some are lucky and Kenwood feels kindly so they reset the license in their server, others they tell them buy another one for $100 plus each. They are looking more like Motorola, and will likely earn the same ire after a while too.
The point to consider is what happens when it's time to replace the radio? Right now with the older radios the software is fortunately easy to get through various sources. There is a good business being done where people like me are forking over money to buy them since you can at least reprogram the radio. If you can't easily get get the programming software IMHO that considerably reduces the residual value it has. That's why I have ZERO interest in the NX-3000 and NX-5000 series. At least for the NX-1000 series there is a hacked version of the software that gets rid of the Internet license server and single PC locking crap. The cost of the software was a bit high but the deal killer was the ease of use issue. Now I'm a happy owner of a new NX-1300, at $400, a sale they never would have gotten without the hacked version of the software. If a hacked version is made available for the other two I would be seriously looking at getting one.
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Talking about "Mission Plans" I wonder if it's like the Kenwood TK-5210's. I don't have any of them, seen them for sale. I did install the software to see exactly what features are available. Yikes! these are nothing like any of the other Kenwoods I have.
For the 5210 you create named groups of channels called "Personal". Then you can create zones and populate them with selections from the named "Personal" channel lists. You can have the same channel appear in more than one zone. This way you don't need to duplicate channels.
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How easy is the screen to read in full sun light? That seems to be the major pitfall with a lot of radios using these newer color LCD displays, some are hard to read.
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See attached brochure.
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13 hours ago, WRWM850 said:
Just picked my first digital radio vertex evx-534
I have an archive of brochures for various radios I use for reference. The EVX-534 looks like a very nice handheld radio. I'm primarily a Kenwood guy but this radio has similar features to Kenwood. I'm sure you're going to be very pleased when it's programmed up.
One point with the programming software. Commercial radios of later manufacture the programming software limits the bandwidth on analog FM to narrow band (12.5KHz). For GMRS and Ham it's wide band (25KHz). There are hacks/patches/install keys etc. you can get to enable both wide and narrow band FM. Some of the members here with this radio series can help you out with this.
There are two band splits available, 403-470 or 450-512. Both will work for GMRS. If you plan on getting your Ham license, if you don't have it already, the 403-470 would be a good choice. Almost all of my Kenwood commercial analog/digital radios are the 400-470 split. Do you know which one you got?
I think there are a few members here that have that model or the EVX-539. They might be willing to share a code plug you can import to your radio to get started. If you've never programmed a commercial radio before, particularly a digital voice mode one for DMR, it can be a bit of a steep learning curve.
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9 hours ago, SpeedSpeak2Me said:
N9TAX MURS/GMRS with 16' of RG-58A/U and PL-259 connector, that I purchased a month or two ago. Antenna hanging from tree branch that is about 8' off of the ground. Scanned with a RigExpert Stick Pro.
YMMV
148-156 MHz (covering MURS), 200 data points:
MURS Channels 1, 2, and 3:
MURS Channels 4 and 5 (Blue Dot, Green Dot):
440-480 MHz, 200 data points - this is a broad 40 MHz sweep, so accuracy suffers just a bit. The following three screen captures provide better data for GMRS:
460-470 MHz, 400 data points showing minimum SWR:
Same as above, but showing rough center of GMRS repeater inputs:
And GMRS simplex:
Hummmm. I'll have to try it again. I used a RigExpert AA-1000, down loaded the data and read it into a MathCAD software for additional calculations. My results sort of match yours in some areas.
I did my testing indoors. Looks like I should try it again outside with the antenna higher up in the air and see if I can duplicate the results.
Too bad this site doesn't have a dedicated area to archive info like this. It would save a lot of repeated questions with people asking for this sort of data or trying to compare their results to see if they really do have a problem.
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24 minutes ago, wayoverthere said:
Check Bluemax49ers on ebay or his .com . That's where I got both for my 539's.
I’ll second that. I got two from him as well. Being a customer has another perk, if you ask nicely he’s a good source for radio programming software.
- tcp2525 and wayoverthere
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1 hour ago, WRQC527 said:
Kinda reminds me of when General Motors stuck a Cimarron sticker on a Cavalier and called it a Cadillac.
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10 hours ago, jeffsimmons1960 said:
I have a UV5R-X3, which is actually a tri band radio. I bought it for my trek into 2 meter. I've only been listening, so I can't comment on performance. Maybe I just don't know any better, I don't know.
I have the Btech version which I use as a cheap scanner at the office. It's OK.
Another CCR, Cheap Chinese Radio, is the TYT TH-350 tri-band. For $70 I think it's better than the UV5R-X3 and Btech copy. I use one at home as a cheap scanner. One thing about the radios is the back light. It's so bright you can use it as a flashlight, and it's NOT adjustable in brightness.
https://www.buytwowayradios.com/tyt-th-350.html
If I were to recommend a CCR for a new Ham it would be the TH-350. Once you get settled and have a better idea of what you want and operate you can start looking at the more expensive stuff. Many people here use older, and new, commercial radios. My self I have a lot of used Kenwood analog and analog/digital mode portable radios. Those by the way are usually single band radios. There is a way to run multiple "RF Decks" using a single control. There is a thread here for one such mobile install, neat and impressive.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/5521-new-install-dual-astro-xtl5000-vhf-uhf-110w/#comment-55274
If you're looking at any of the digital voice modes, System Fusion and D-Star, they are Amateur only modes. The other main digital modes are DMR, NXDN and P25 are typically commercial voice modes and are also found on the Amateur bands. In particular DMR is popular followed by P25 then NXDN.
DMR radios can be found in both Amateur and commercial model radios. The DMR and NXDN radios are usually reasonably priced if you shop around. There are no Amateur type radios for P25 and NXDN so your only choice is new/used commercial radios. P25 radios you'll likely get raped on the price, but some good deals do show up occasionally.
The usual manufactures you'll see for commercial radios are primarily Motorola, JVCKenwood (EF Johnson - Viking - Kenwood) and Icom followed by Vertex, Hytera and Harris. I'm sure I missed a few others. With some of the manufactures being purchased by others, with name changes at times, it sort of hard to keep straight who is who without a score card.
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57 minutes ago, WRWE744 said:
I'm new to ham and I don't have an SWR meter, but I decided to go ahead and try my Nagoya UT-72G that is tuned for GMRS. I have hit a repeater over 12 miles away on 2 meter with no issue, and the guys on the other end said I sounded loud and clear.
You should check the match on it before running high power. While you can hit a remote repeater OK on 2M the antenna is trimmed for the MURS band on VHF. The antenna would be too short. A high SWR could cause overheating and final amplifier stage failure. Many radios recommend the SWR not to exceed 2:1, which if they have a protection circuit will reduce output power to save the finals above that limit.
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16 minutes ago, markskjerve said:
Mine has a 16ft pigtail with a SMA connector on it. I never ran a SWR sweep on it for MURS until just now - it is actually quite good!
I wonder if anyone else has run any scans of the one they have.
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35 minutes ago, markskjerve said:
I did a SWR scan on my N9TAX GMRS Slim Jim as well, a bit different than yours. Overall I'd say it's a decent antenna for what it is and the price point. Much, much better than using a Nagoya 771G on a HT but sucks compared to my Comet GP-6 that cost 5x as much. After getting the Comet I relegated the Slim Jim as a scanner antenna for my SDR setup and it actually does a wonderful job for that. I bought a MFJ Discone antenna to replace it with but the Slim Jim actually performs better than the discone on receive, go figure...
The antennas are hand built. You might have got one that was better constructed. Also the connectors on the end can influence the results too. I have two of these antennas, both dual band. One is cut for MURS/GMRS and the other is for 2M/70cm. I forget which connector is on which antenna. One had a PL-259 plug while the other one had an "N" connector.
I might take some time to re-scan the MURS/GMRS version.
I've attached the scans I did for the 2M/70cm version.
I found some scans, the photos are poor quality, the builder posted on his web site. They are for the Ham bands. The best I can see it the UHF scan shows an SWR of 1.82(?) at 439MHz and 1.34(?) at 450MHz.
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1 minute ago, marcspaz said:
That image has a great looking setup! Ill check out the ZIP when I get home.
The antenna is screwed into a really short UHF barrel adapter and the other end has a length of RG-8 coax coiled up then reduced to a short run of RG-58. The whole thing is attached to a sawed off clothing display rack I found in the trash. A stainless steel hose clamp is used to hold it on the end of the tube along with 4 brass rods, about 1/16 inch diameter and approximately 19 inches long, bent down at roughly a 45 degree angle for a ground plane.
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42 minutes ago, marcspaz said:
Honestly, I don't know if it's just my antennas, but I have a CA-2x4SR both in NMO and UHF style and they both kinda suck. The SWR is fine everywhere except on 462 MHz frequencies. But they just don't seem to perform well compared to some of my other antennas. Like, to the point that I don't use either of the anymore.
At one point, they were my favorite, for reference.
I discovered the antenna is sensitive to the mounting location and type of mount. I've attached a zip file of some other tests I did with different mounting locations and types of mounts, like magnet - ground radials etc.
This was one of the better mounts and location in a home office setting inside a room.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/268-ca-2x4sr/
- wayoverthere, marcspaz and Sshannon
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11 minutes ago, WRWM519 said:
It is dual band, 2 meter and 70 cm, listed as:
Dual band MURS / GMRS Slim Jim Antenna with 10' or 16' Cable.
In the description:
Dual band versions Feature Trapped UHF section for proper band alignment.
I cannot say "what it is tuned for" aside from its being listed as GMRS and having the 2m/70cm tuning.
Thanks for the question.
I've done an SWR scan of the dual band, MURS and GMRS, version I have. The testing was done with the antenna hanging by a non-conductive cord. These antennas are not that broad-banded.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/284-n9tax-murs-gmrs-scansjpg/
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17 hours ago, wrci350 said:
It's advertised as "140-160/435-465 MHz" but I just went out to my truck and swept mine and the SWR is about 1.75:1 on the 467 MHz repeater inputs, which is certainly acceptable. It's a gain antenna, but it's kind of ugly and 40" high, which pretty much rules out drive-thrus for sure!
I recommended one of these to a work buddy for GMRS. He mounted it on the driver's side fender of a pickup truck near the roof pillar. The match was reasonably good on the UHF GMRS frequencies. I've attached the scans I did with it mounted on his truck.
Being a 5/8 wave antenna it needs a GOOD ground plane to give acceptable SWR across it's operational range.
Antenna Scan Results (CA-2x4SR VHF TRUNK LIP MOUNT).pdf Antenna Scan Results (CA-2x4SR UHF TRUNK LIP MOUNT).pdf
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1 hour ago, marcspaz said:
Over the past few years, I have tried just about every commonly discussed antenna available in the US. I literally have 8 or 10 antennas sitting in my office and garage right now, and 4 more in/on the truck.
Anecdotal I know, but the absolute best antenna I have used for 2m/70cm/GMRS is the Diamond NR-7900a. It's rated for 300w/250w and, 3.7/6.4 gain. Real-world, it far out-performs my dedicated MXTA26 GMRS antenna, which is the best dedicated GMRS antenna I have used. Not only is the range the best and able to handle the most power, the SWR on 146.52 is 1:1, on 446 it's 1.3:1, on 462 it's 1.6:1, and on 467 it's 1.5:1.
The Diamond NR-770 is a close second. The power ratings are a little lower at 200w/200w, the gain is a little lower at 3.0/5.5, and the SWR is the same everywhere but 462, where it's a little higher... 2:1. It's 1.4:1 on 146, 1.1:1 on 446, and 1.5:1 on 467 (which is where I spend most of my time). The slight sacrifice in performance benefits does yield a smaller, thinner, lighter antenna that is more discrete. However, I still prefer to use the NR-7900.
I tested a Diamond CSB7900 and the match wasn't that good.
A Diamond SG7500A tested OK on the Ham bands but not good for MURS or GMRS. Maybe with some tweaking It might work.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/283-sg7500a-swr-scans-2jpg/
The only antenna I have that works great on Ham, MURS and GMRS is my old trusty Comet CA-2x4MB. Unfortunately they don't make them any more. I have two, one is new in the original packaging. The other one the fold over spring is shot so I have the antenna is permanently fixed in the upright position. Otherwise it still works fine, but it's a huge monster, about 5 feet tall.
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/282-ca-2x4mb-scansjpg/
https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/259-ca-2x4mb-jeepjpg/
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6 hours ago, gortex2 said:
Unless its an entire swap out most systems will migrate and allow phase 1 for a certain time to get folks into new stuff. Because of that you see less at good prices. You can get Type II dirt cheap now. Still if you search you can get XTL in both VHF and UHF for a couple hundred dollars with some searching. The issue is knowing the exact flashcode you need and band.
Most of my stuff is Kenwood. As far as I know only the new NX-5000 series supports P25 Phase 2. All their older radios are Phase 1, including the few I have. No upgrade to Phase 2 that I know of. If somebody wants Phase 2 they have to dump their their old radios. The feature license key to enable P25 on the new radios is almost $600! It doesn’t matter if it’s an HT or mobile, same price. For DMR or NXDN conventional it’s about $40. Yeah, dirt cheap. Trunking is another feature key add-on. The price list attached is for the HT.
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14 minutes ago, Sshannon said:
That’s true, but while a grandfathered license limits them to a specific frequency it doesn’t grant them exclusive use of the frequency now. I don’t know if it did in the 90’s when the incident occurred.
Unfortunately the typical user thinks that a licensed frequency grants them exclusive use of a frequency. That might be how it was explained to them when they got the radios. Some will be receptive to an explanation. Others, unfortunately, will tell you to go bugger off and quit using "their" frequency/channel. Their learning experience will be longer and more stressful.
Toy to play with Harris XG-100P
in Amateur Radio (Ham)
Posted
Or keep buying those lotto tickets.
If you wait 20 years the APX model you want today might be a bit more affordable when you find it on eBay.