Lscott

Don’t know but it’s in the rules. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-95/subpart-J/section-95.2707

This reminds me that from time to time I can see a group launching hot air balloons a few miles north of my folks house. You can hear the roar of the propane heaters. My understanding these are controlled by the FAA. Must have some type of pilot license to fly. If near an airport they are required to have an air band radio. Other than that I understand they use everything from CB, GMRS, commercial frequencies and Ham. However MURS is not allowed.

I checked and there is more info for a Japanese specific frequency expansion mod for that model, IC-706MKIIG. One guy was nice enough to check the power output on his radio after doing the US version mod. While the radio will transmit way out of band the output filters really roll off the power past a point. There are another mod for the radio to increase power output. IC-706MKIIG Freqequency Mod Power Output.pdf IC-706MKIIG Transmit Power Mod.pdf IC-706MKIIG Japanese Version Frequency Mod.pdf

Even if it didn't doing the MARS/CAP mod will fix that problem. IC-706MKIIG Frequency Expansion.pdf

Also, it's outdated but any how, the equipment is blocked from receiving cell phone frequencies too. If I'm not mistaken I think some countries have finally caned that requirement for their local certification since cell phone service is now gone digital, and encrypted I think too. People should read what is in Part 15. Just about everything electronic has the sticker on it and/or is mentioned in the manual for the device. It has some interesting statements about RF interference susceptibility. The next time the neighbor complains his yard lights flipping on evey time you key up your radio is sort of out of luck.

I've purchased stuff on eBay from some Chinese sellers, a few from Canada and once from Ireland. In all cases the seller took care of the paperwork. The most frustrating thing is when the package sits in the foreign country's export house for days. Then when it arrives here it sits in a custom clearing house for a week or two, if you're lucky, before it clears. So far I haven't had to contact customs or pay any additional import duty on purchases outside of the US. I have seen several IC-706MKIIG's for sale at swaps. Most were really beat up but a few looked OK. If you go that route DON'T buy anything EXCEPT the 706MKIIG model! The older ones had various issues including poor sensitivity. I liked mine and the limited DSP features they had worked well for the era. The disappointing thing is the power on UHF was a max of 20 watts. However I didn't find that a huge issue. I had some mobile power amps, Mirage and RF Concepts, that did 10 watts in and 100 watts out if I ever needed more power. IC-706MKIIg.pdf RF_Concepts_RFC-4-110_RFC-4-310_user.pdf D-1010-N.pdf

https://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hamhf/ht40.html

There are some decent Chinese PCB houses out there that can manufacture the blank board for a cheap price. This is one we used at work here for making some quick prototype boards. https://www.pcbway.com/ You just need a PCB layout package that can generate standard Gerber files. A number of people have used KiCad to do their own boards. It's used for a number of public domain projects. https://www.kicad.org/ Before that the favorite was Eagle. However it has some significant limitations with the "free" version that KiCad doesn't. https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-and-setup-eagle/all Were I work we use Altium Designer for schematic capture and PCB layout work. The projects and part libraries are cloud based. All you need is the software loaded on your PC and Internet access for the license server and the cloud server. Then you can work from anywhere as a team partner.

I’m going to hang on to it. It’s one of the smallest DC to daylight multi mode radios I’ve seen that can do 100 watts PEP on HF through 6M. It also has a remote face plate option too. It also has the optional high stability reference oscillator installed and I think the 1.8KHz SSB filter too. I’ve been thinking about just setting it up as a base radio

The commercial digital radios have better frequency stability spec’s. It’s necessary due to the quad frequency modulation, 4 discrete frequency shifts, used. If the frequency drifts too far off the radio can’t detect the particular dibit, two bits encoded per frequency shift, being sent resulting in a higher bit error rate. That’s by the way why people have to tweak their hotspot frequency. The other reason if the frequency drifts too much the RX radio will loose sync with the data stream if the transmission lasts too long, mismatch between TX and RX data rates. Then the communication fails. The same frequency reference use for TX and RX is also used for the data stream bit timing. The various digital modes standards have spec’s for the above. I wouldn’t be surprised that the cheap Chinese digital radios have a tendency to experience drop outs due to the above. Some of those radios have crummy frequency stability specs to save money on a better reference oscillator. For amateur use the dropouts aren’t critical. However for first responders it could be life threatening.

There is a difference between “occupied” bandwidth and channel spacing. People tend to get the two confused. 25KHz channel spacing - typical 16KHz bandwidth (5KHz deviation) 20KHz channel spacing - typical 14KHz bandwidth (4KHz deviation) 12.5KHz channel spacing - typical 11KHz bandwidth (2.5KHz deviation)

People get distracted yacking on their mobile radio too. Sometimes that doesn't end well either.

I ran an Icom IC706GMKII mobile for a number of years in a van. That worked rather well. When the van got destroyed in a rear end accident I got another new one. It's never been used and still in the box. It has the MARS/CAP mod I believe. The FT-817 hasn't been used in a few years. I need to program up the AT- D578UV III Plus with the Bluetooth remote speaker microphone and stick it in the new ride. Just been too lazy to do it.

I know about some people who talk to the train personal when its in range. They don't do it regularly. And if the train personal are using NXDN they won't be using a Baofeng to do it.

I don't think it is either. If somebody was looking for a small HT with a bunch of features to use for GMRS that radio is one I would recommend. It's also Part 95 certified. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/263-tk-3170jpg/?context=new There is a similar model, TK-3173, that uses the same programing software, cables etc. http://www.swscomm.com/kenwood/TK-3173.pdf Both can be programmed out of their band split to get them on the Ham 70cm band. I have a number of Ham 70cm repeaters programmed in mine.

Some people put a few of the marine band frequencies in their VHF radios when out on the water. Also hunters have been frequently known to use portable VHF marine radios when out in the woods. That's a dead give-a-way as what they're up to with local conservation officers.

I don't believe Yeasu is making them any more but the FT-817, and the updated version FT-818, are multi band and multi mode QRP portable radios. You can still find them at various swaps. They aren't cheap even used. I have the FT-817. I used it portable while travel while staying in hotel rooms with a portable antenna system. I usually asked for a room on the top floor for the height advantage and put the antenna near the window. https://www.yaesu.com/downloadFile.cfm?FileID=618&FileCatID=154&FileName=FT-817.pdf&FileContentType=application%2Fpdf

I would tend to agree. I’m sure they envision the market are those Hams that waited too long to buy the D74A. Judging by the absolutely insane prices people are asking, and likely some getting it, for the D74A on the used market they might be right.

IMHO having 6M TX in an HT is a bit useless. You really can't put a decent antenna for that band on such a small radio. There just isn't enough of a ground plane. A loaded 1/4 wave antenna, to keep the length reasonable, is very inefficient. Also from my experience the band is mostly dead unless there is a band opening. Then most of the activity is SSB anyway. I think Kenwood got it right with including 2M, 1.25M and 70cm in one radio. However I would have preferred DMR over D_Star in the new TH-D75A. Being most new radios are DSP designs, including the CODECS, offering two different firmware options for the radio would make it appealing to a wider customer base. They have the technology to do it, on the commercial side at least. For example the NX-1000 series offer either FM with NXDN, or FM with DMR depending on which firmware is loaded into the radio.

Oh, you don't need to experience a direct strike to suffer damage. A near strike can do damage as well from the EMP generated.

Here is some more info. Grounding Tips for the Shack.pdf Lighting Protection Guide - 3rd Ed.pdf

YES!!! The commercial radios have a lot of options/features that chirp can’t adjust. Your only choice is the official Kenwood programming software. Most of the software can be found on the internet along with the installation keys.

Then there are those who get “educated” but tell you to go pound sand and refuse to get a license. You report them to the FCC?

You’re going to need a bigger boat.

This is what I have on file for one of those cheap Chinese Duplexers. SGQ-450D-N.pdf Chinese Mobile Duplexer Measurements.pdf