Lscott

One problem with extreme temperature swings is frequency drift. I noticed this many years ago with my Icom IC-706MKIIG on SSB. I had to mess with the RIT control for a while until the radio warmed up during the winter. I had to swap out the reference frequency oscillator for a TCXO one to reduce the frequency drifting all over the place in cold weather until the cabin warmed up. Learned my lesson. If the radio has an option for a TCXO buy it and don't cry over the cost. Some of the higher quality VHF, and particularly UHF, repeaters have an option for an OCXO reference oscillator. This is even more critical on the dual mode analog/digital models. You won't see an OCXO option for a mobile radio that I've seen. They suck a lot of power and can take a significant amount of time to heat up and stabilize. Not really practical for a mobile radio that might get switched on/off multiple times a day.

You sure it doesn't need a ground plane?

>Your favorite GMRS radio/HAM< Sort of hard to choose. I get bored with one I start playing with another model. Lately I've been more interested in the digital radios. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/249-my-radio-collection/?context=new The one I usually carry around for GMRS is the Kenwood TK-3170, analog only. It's small enough to fit in a shirt pocket and has enough channels to cover the service including local repeaters. While the official lower frequency limit is 450MHz it will work very well down into the repeater section of the Ham 70cm band so I can cover both services with that. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/263-tk-3170jpg/?context=new There is a VHF version of the radio. Those make really nice 2M radios. Frequency range of those are 136-174MHz. Good for the full Ham 2M band, MURS, VHF marine, analog railroad communications and the NOAA weather service broadcasts. Those disappear really quick at swaps for obvious reasons. When I'm out walking around for exorcise at a local mall, and not at the gym, I use one of the digital radios since the mall security uses that mode. I monitor their communications to have something to do while walking. Every once in a while you hear something going on of interest. https://forums.mygmrs.com/gallery/image/290-nx-1300duk5/?context=new

I remember parking my van at a 7/11 to go inside for some stuff right after the attack on the World Trade Center. I had a bunch of rather weird looking antennas on the top. I had a lot of people staring at me and the van. Maybe if I had been wearing a black suit and sun glasses it would have been even better.

I’ve been across the border in the Detroit are a few times. I’ve mostly been questioned by the US customs than anyone on the Canadian side. One thing I wouldn’t think about doing is crossing the border with Mexico with a two way radio. The Mexican customs might think you’re cartel and the cartel might think you’re undercover police. Either way you might get shot.

In the end you use the service in a way that best fits your needs.

Who cares? I don't.

Oh, I also save ALL my prior code plug versions for a particular radio series by model type and date. Example: NX-1300DUK5_BAS15_ARC4__20241118.dat If I totally bugger up the code plug I at least have the prior one saved I can use to recover from. Normally there are only minor changes from the previous version.

That's when one learns their lesson to save their work every 5 minutes. It sucks when you spend hours building a big code plug just to have it go POOF in the blink of an eye.

Here is some additional info on those VHF LADD frequencies I have book marked. There is a specific protocol, and the roads they are used on, when traveling on the "radio resource controlled roads" in some of the provinces. https://radiofreeq.wordpress.com/2018/08/30/canada-vhf-ladd-channel-list/ If you scroll down you'll see a list of frequencies. The very first one has the name "LGRANT1". The frequency listed is "143.4150" MHz which of course is just below the Ham 2M band. Humm...

I've read about that. But the frequencies are incompatible with services in the US. I can picture people trying to use those frequencies, radios, here and the "interesting" results that will cause.

A side question here. Has there been any further action to authorize a MURS like service in Canada? I know around 2014 there was talk about it but due to a lack of interest and a number of users still on the frequencies the idea was dropped.

That could be the case.

I do some monitoring by me. It's basically dead, and I have a Wallmart maybe about 1.5 miles away.

Likely the local Walmart uses it. That's perfectly legal for them to do so. I think they use a Motorola radio specifically made for them to use on MURS. I think its an RDM2070D https://www.twowayradiocenter.com/motorola-rdm2070d-walmart-two-way-radio/?srsltid=AfmBOooM22JTaiiVs6p14OGd-I6fUSuFApLIvnLQlinXImdapa0ChQhX

We can start an on line group. Hi, my name is Mr. Kenwood, and I can't resist buying more HT's.

Just keep thinking about creative ways to justify spending the money. You'll give in sooner or later. Me, I won't give up until I run out of plastic storage boxes to put them in. Then I'll wait for the Dollar store to get more in then buy another 20 to 30. That'll hold me for a while.

You close by?

It's definitely cheap enough. And if they don't like it the money invested wasn't much. Better than spending a few hundred to learn the same thing.

I'm sure it doesn't since it just recently went on sale. No time to reverse engineer the hardware. I also haven't tracked down any schematics/service documentation even for the older D868/878 radios either.

For some it could be a good radio. While $200 isn't cheap the radio has features that are useful, and it does DMR as well, which is a favorite digital voice mode at the moment. Some of the favorite GMRS specific locked down radios, which are of Chinese manufacture too, are pushing the price point close to the D168. https://www.wimo.com/media/akeneo_connector/media_files/D/1/D168UV_brochure_240827_13fd.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoqv_ogmUf-Zccf4ya9l5vfGJnja8FYzUWz1MLKvLYIhxGyJ3hLr

You get a big round table going it's not unusual to time out the repeater if somebody doesn't let it drop out periodically. Also when running a net too.

I use my radios a lot for scanning. Having multiple zones organizes the memory channels neatly. The radios I have allow me to activate each zone, and select which memory channel in the zone for scanning. When operating DMR you really use up memory channels like crazy. The usual practice I use is one zone per DMR repeater, and one memory channel per talkgroup and slot number. If you travel around to different areas you end up with a huge collection of zones for each repeater loaded up with memory channels for the supported talkgroups. Other digital modes, like P25 and NXDN, end up being programmed in a similar fashion. Most of my radios are commercial types with no front panel programming, or VCO. So, to simulate a VCO I use one zone and enter sequential memory channels like 446.000, 446.025, 446.050 etc. for the simplex section of the band. The memory name mirrors the programmed frequency. Thus when turning the channel selector knob you see a sequence of memory names which looks like you're just adjusting the VCO with a 25KHz step size. You need a lot of memory channels to do this since the UHF simplex band sections might require around 80 channels each, and there are multiple sections. Doing the above on VHF isn't so easy due to various states use either a 20KHz or 15KHz channel spacing. In that case I did a spread sheet starting at the simplex section band edge and calculated a sequences of frequencies using both channel step sizes, then eliminated the duplicate frequencies. Still ended up with a lot of memory channels to program.

A coworker in my department is seriously considering getting his Ham license this spring or summer. He's Canadian so that's where he needs to get licensed. He lives in Windsor, across the river from Detroit, and crosses back and forth everyday. He asked for my opinion on what a good radio to get for hiking and camping. I recommended the D168UV. His budget limit was $200. This should work fine for him, and he can use it for Ham when he gets licensed later. For his wife and kids I suggested the cheapo Baofengs. If one gets trashed or lost he won't cry over the cost. Plus if they aren't used frequently he won't have a lot of money tied up in them sitting on a closet shelf. I have a couple of the original D878UV's myself. One I got at a swap in like new condition with battery pack, charger base and antenna for $35. The radios are OK. The $300 plus for the new D878 models I don't think are worth it. I suspect the new D168's will replace the older D878's at some point. The best feature on the radio is the digital monitor mode. Lets one zero in on the exact DMR settings without needing a computer and an SDR dongle.

I really hate people who fast key up on the repeater without leaving at least a few seconds for somebody to break in and ask to use it, or join in the conversation.