Lscott
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Everything posted by Lscott
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Many Many years ago I had a buddy who got a speeding ticket on his 15 speed bike for exceeding 25 MPH on a residential street. Yeah, it really happened.
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When I ran my IC-706MKIIG in a van I used a single sided head set with a boom mic for the exact above reason. The radio was setup for VOX for "Hands Free" operation.
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Yes you can. Go to the FCC Manager Help page and scroll down a bit to the "Contact Information" section: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/helpfiles/licensemanager/commonQuestions.html
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Nothing prohibits it. Some people dislike the idea of GMRS turning into a sort of "Ham Lite" service, but if nobody is breaking the rules so who really cares?
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I'll look into those. Heil Sound is well regarded. The price isn't bad either. Thanks.
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https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047577/ It was a decent movie except for the cheesy rubber suited monster.
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This is more along what I was thinking. I was considering the use of a Comet CA-2x4SR wide-band antenna if I can get enough of a ground plane for an acceptable match. Otherwise I would have to go with a 1/2 wave design, which likely would be limited to just the Ham bands. The radio would very likely be an HT. The high gain antenna would help mitigate the power issue. I do have a couple of Mirage dual band FM amps and power it off a LFP battery pack if I need the power. The radio would stay securely in a utility vest. The extra pockets can be used for spare battery packs. I was thinking of using a short pigtail coax from the radio terminating in a BNC connector. That would connect to the coax running to the antenna mount. That leaves just one quick simple connection to when getting on or off the bike without having to mess with antenna port on the radio itself. Some of the radios I have feature a voice announcement function. Once I get use to what’s programed in each zone/memory slot I wouldn’t need to pull the radio out to look at the display. Of course being on a bike I could just stop if it’s really necessary to look. I’ve looked at some headphones, signal sided, and a throat mic to cutout wind and road noise. The radio would use VOX operation for hands free use. The sets I’ve seen are rather expensive.
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Anyone have some good photos of a compact radio installation for operating bicycle mobile radio? I've toyed with the idea a bit and wonder what others have done. Some of the requirements are a good antenna for the Ham and GMRS bands, and the ability to quickly install and remove the radio for security reasons. Hands free operation would be a definite plus.
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From the album: Misc. Radio Gear
I got this at a local Ham flea market. I think I paid somewhere around $50 to $75 for it. For a 100 watt panel it was a decent price. As you can see it's a complete kit including the tot bag for transport. The charge controller is a basic PWM type. I would rather have had a MPPT one, but they are not commonly found due to the higher cost. People go cheap buying the PWM ones. I'm planning on cutting the cables to the solar panels to add in some in-line Anderson Power Poles on short pigtails. This way I can just unplug the panels from the cheap Lead-Acid PWM charge controller and run them separately out to some of my LiFePO4 MPPT charge controllers. If I need to use the included PWM charge controller it only takes a few seconds to plug them back in. Larger solar panels seem to disappear quick at the flea markets during the April to May time frame. People buy them for use during "Field Day" in June. I also have another 100 watt panel, 2 x 50 watt, 2 x 30 watt, 2 x 20 watt and a collection of 10/5 watt panels in addition to the one in the above photo. The main application for the panels is for portable and or emergency power. Some of the panels were purchased new and the rest were flea market finds. The charge controllers are a collection of PWM and MPPT types for lead-acid or LFP, LiFePO4, battery pack types. One of the 20 watt used panels, which was heavy and had a thick frame with riveted back plate, I discovered later, has an integrated old style shut type charge controller for lead-acid batteries. The output voltage seemed to be low when I first tested it, based on the number of cells, so I suspected the panel might be defective. It took a while of searching on the Internet before I found the equipment manual that panel was designed to charge up the battery and got the spec's. My measurements matched the manual spec's so it seems to be OK. -
You really want an antenna radiating 50 watts at UHF a few inches from your face? The FCC has limits for RF exposure in those situations. https://www.fcc.gov/general/radio-frequency-safety-0 https://transition.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/bulletins/oet65/oet65b.pdf
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Look through the posts in this thread. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/8037-kenwood-tk-8180-vs-tk-8180h/ While the 400-470 band split isn't certified for GMRS, just Part 90 business band use, the FCC seems to ignore people using them if programmed right. Also this band split is perfect if you want to get your Ham license later. The radio can be programmed for the full Ham 70cm UHF band too. With one radio you would have access to both Ham and GMRS. The thread above has the programming software for download if you go this route. https://www.ebay.com/p/1200813129 You can use the same radio for both a base and a mobile radio. You'll just need a good 13.8 VDC 20 amp regulated supply for base use.
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People have used a P.O. Box when they registered for their license. So, if somebody looked it up on the FCC database they still wouldn't have a clue where your house is located.
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I ran some tests on one of my flea market panels. Had no name plate so I needed to determine the rating. It was a simple setup. This was before I had a professional bench top type electronic load, but worked well enough. The "Solar24" mention was an integrated charge controller and a small LFP battery pack. The controller wasn't a true MPPT, nor a PWM. It was basically a buck converter which will load down a panel until it reaches the "typical" max power point terminal voltage. Not the best method, but they used a Ti chip that had the required circuitry builtin so it was a simple solution. The chip datasheet claims it's a MPPT type, but you read through it you'll soon discover it's not. Solar Panel Test Results (10 Watt No Name Black Frame Panel) Rev 3 - With Datasheet and Photos.pdf Which solar charge controller PWM-or-MPPT.pdf BQ24650 LiFePOS4 charge controller IC With MPPT.pdf
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That sounds about right.
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If one doesn't want to spend the money on new panels I've run across a few at flea markets. If the panel has a tag on the back side with the open circuit voltage and short circuit current you can estimate the max real power output by multiplying the two and them multiplying by 0.75. The last number is what's referred to as the "Fill Factor". A number of times when I'm at a large flea market I'll carry a cheap 3-1/2 digit multi-meter. If there is no tag on the panel and it's real sunny I can test the panel right there and do the calculation. You shouldn't pay more than $1/watt of output for a used panel. Now days more like $0.50/watt because the panels are getting cheaper. 20 Watt Daniel Heavy Aluminum Frame Solar Panel.pdf 5 Watt No Name Light Aluminum Frame Solar Panel.pdf 10 Watt No Name Black Frame Solar Panel.pdf
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Other than a few friends I rarely talk to random people. Most of the time I just monitor. The exception is usually somebody calling for a radio check on one of the local repeaters. If nobody else responds I'll try to give them a radio check. At least they ID and don't kur-chuck dozens of times testing their radio programming or new mic.
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I’m not in it for free energy. My interest is backup emergency power and portable applications.
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Looks like where I’m at we’re due to get hit with some significant snow fall starting around 1/2 PM Wednesday. Got my LFP packs on chargers to make sure they’re ready just in case. The black brick is the 40 amp-hour LFP. Have a smaller 8/9 amp-hour K2 and several 3 to 4.5 amp-hour LFP’s. The big LFP pack has a 45 amp power pole it came with. I salvaged some of the same type from dead server batteries they trashed at work. Saved a few bucks that way. Also use Anderson Power poles for interconnections between pigtail adapters.
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How did you qualify for a business frequency? Is your travel group a registered business, or one of the other special categories mentioned by the FCC? I occasionally read mention of people using business frequencies for "personal use" but I never see how one can qualify under the FCC rules to get one.
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That's a REALLY cheap price. I wonder just how good is the internal construction and battery protection board that should be inside.
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These people are good to deal with for LFP batteries. They have batteries up to 300 amp-hours. https://www.bioennopower.com/collections/all I have one of these I keep sitting around for emergency backup power with the optional charger. It's good enough to keep things like cellphones and some HT's, or mobile radios, and LED light strips going for a while. https://www.bioennopower.com/products/12v-40ah-lfp-battery-pvc-blf-1240a I use this one for portable use with HT's. https://www.bioennopower.com/products/12v-4-5ah-lfp-battery-pvc-pack?_pos=1&_fid=49921c351&_ss=c For charge controllers I've used these. I purchased a few of the 4.5/5 amp GV5's, one for lead acid, and a couple for LFP types. I have mostly 5 to 50 watts PV panels so that about right for that power level. https://sunforgellc.com/genasun/#gen_product_row I've purchased some new PV panels, 10 watt, 30 watt and 50 watt size for these guys. I also got some use panels at flea markets too. https://www.renogy.com/solar-panels/
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Here is a nice article on emergency solar power backup for the home. Emergency Backup Solar Power System.pdf
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And as luck would have it something better will come along too. Back To The Future and Mr. Fusion. https://www.backtothefuture.store/products/back-to-the-future-mr-fusion-scaled-prop-replica?srsltid=AfmBOoqH5KdIyFrYjZQwazZ6elK2rHomryWK5jx8rQ-RyXCgWU3NsWjQ
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TYT TH-9800 clicking noise on 2m transmit
Lscott replied to Wayfarer's question in Technical Discussion
I found one at a Ham swap fairly cheap so I took it home. I set it up on a home made portable antenna mount with ground radials and did some frequency sweeps. You can judge the results for your self. It's stored in the basement. Never tried to use it mobile. Antenna Scan Results (UHV-4 2M).pdf Antenna Scan Results (UHV-4 6M).pdf Antenna Scan Results (UHV-4 10M).pdf Antenna Scan Results (UHV-4 70cm).pdf
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Did you change the default volume limits in the programming software?
