RCM
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Posts posted by RCM
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That's a really good question. But do they actually discount stuff at the show?
I used to go to gun shows all the time, but found the prices were the same or higher than walking into a local brick and mortar store. So, I gave up on those types of events.
Yes, they do. But it is the manufacturers who actually sponsor the discounts. Not the sellers.
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I agree to a certain degree, focusing exclusively on mobile comms, if we take repeaters out of the mix.
My own opinion... CB is a much better stand-alone (peer-to-peer) radio service. In a mobile application, with 12.5 watts on SSB, I can talk 8x further than simplex UHF using 50 watts. Also, a few times a month, skip lets me talk around the country with 4 watts on AM.
I can talk to central Texas on UHF, too, but I need to be on a mountain top, using a 5 element beam and 1,500 watts.
That said, if you include repeaters, UHF FM radios provide great audio quality and coverage area. Though its still only local comms.
I'm not talking about repeaters. And for utility, mobile to mobile communications, skip is irrelevant at best and actually detrimental at worst. When I'm trying to talk to my buddy in the next Jeep, I'm not interested in having to compete with signals booming in from Florida or Texas.
Even SSB is pretty irrelevant for that use. Just about all the Jeepers I know use AM if they use CB. In fact that's the only real advantage I see to using 27 MHz for trail communications: they're ubiquitous and dirt cheap. It's possible to have a complete mobile setup including antenna and mount, for right around $50 if buying brand new.
In fact, going down that path a bit further, buying a brand new popular GMRS mobile setup including antenna costs $250. That's from a company that even CBers consider to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. I'll concede one thing: I would rather have a Cobra Model 19 (which can be found for as little as $20 new) and a 4 foot Firestik antenna than the aforementioned barrel-bottom-scraping GMRS mobile radio and antenna. And I don't know about 8x, but I don't doubt that that CB setup will beat that GMRS setup.
But, again for trail communications, I would rather have a $100 pre-programmed for GMRS, 25 watt commercial mobile radio working into a $25 hard-mounted 1/4 wave antenna than any CB setup. That's assuming my buddies have similar setups. If all they have are blister-pack radios and are unwilling to let me help them get setup with a decent radio and antenna, well I might just have to revert to CB again. I have both, so it's no big deal.
Now, if we're gonna talk about skip and working other states while mobile, I'm gonna bring up the subject of 40 Meters. I've worked quite a bit of 40 Meters mobile, mostly with the same or less power than the typical SSB CB radio. And with those setups I can work entire sections of the country, covering several states, all the time, every day. I don't have to wait for the skip to come in because the skip is always in on 40M.
First time I ever drove across the country with a setup like that, I was driving from Alabama to Lake Superior with a 20 watt MFJ SSB Adventure Radio to a Hamstick mounted on a Hustler 5" mag mount. The entire setup was less than $300 brand new, and I was into a couple of different 40M mobile nets the entire way.
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If they fixed those problems and lowered the price to the sub-$100 level, they might be worth looking at. The same basic radio minus overly-restrictive firmware and heavy marketing sells for +/- $100.
Also I just bought a tiny 10 Meter ham radio for $60 including shipping, and it works great. It's probably made in the same factory as that "Midland."
Basically, at the price they sell those radios for, they are a ripoff. To paraphrase Pink Floyd; even if they fixed it, I still don't want it!
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GMRS is a general radio service. That means it is for pretty much any two-way communications use that individual licensees desire, as long as it is not used for illegal activities (a lookout for a team of burglars, for example). Your family is covered under your license, but that does not mean it is only for family use. Nor does it say so anywhere in the rules.
Hobbyist use is more common in some areas than others. Nothing wrong with getting on there and trying to drum up some activity, though. I'm a ham (not HAM by the way; it's not an acronym) and have been for a long time, but I still enjoy playing with GMRS. MURS, too.
Welcome to the hobby of GMRS.
ETA: I think the future looks good for GMRS.
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Hi David. Welcome to this forum.
I understand your distaste for CB radio.
Unfortunately CB frequencies are better than ANY UHF frequencies. Especially for family comuications.
The FCC has completly ignored their responsibilities in enforcing their own laws.
How so?
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Setting the PL for receive filters out random noise as well. If you're scanning and you drive through an area with noise on one of the frequencies you have programmed, it will stop on that frequency and remain locked there until you either delete that channel from scan or travel out of range of the noise.
As for scanning, yes it will scan the ham freqs you have programmed if it is set up for multi scan.
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Update FWIW.
I sent my TK-880 back to www.used-radios.com to verify firmware and install the correct V2. Turnaround was 7 days total. I got a call from the service manager and he got the tech to work it over and correct it. Fired it up this afternoon and all seems well, buttons are correct for me, groups and channel programming are right, and there's no 'yyyyyyy' across the display. Hopefully, it won't revert (it didn't do it the first time until power had been cycled multiple times). They suspected corruption in the software/firmware or such.
I would likely mention here if I'd received poor or sub-par service from a vendor, so it's only fitting that I complement one with great service. Some might say I paid a premium for a used radio but part of my rationale was the 90-day warranty they provide, and that it came complete with mic, power cable, and mounting bracket.
Now I can add good service to that. And thanks to all of you who helped diagnose the issue.
I might have mentioned that you paid a premium, but I didn't mean that as a bad thing. You got value for the premium you paid, for exactly the reasons you state here.
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That antenna along with many others on the market, reminds me of something I heard about fishing lures: they're designed not so much to catch fish, but to catch fishermen.
Generally speaking, the shorter the antenna and the wider its bandwidth, the less gain it has. A better way to state it is the more loss it has.
- berkinet, Radioguy7268 and Extreme
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Yup, I've put that one out of my mind for this application. The installation is complete on the UTV and I think it will be fine.
Waiting on software and cable to arrive so I can go through and verify programming on the 880 to be sure everything it correct and maybe change some button assignments (same thing, different hard and software for the 3170 HT).
Hopefully, I won't stumble around too much with the software.
Or.. I could move the 880 to my pickup and just use PL259 - SMA jumper for HT in the UTV on the mobile antenna.. I'm actually liking that idea - (attribution for that idea to WREN301).
Last TK-880 I bought didn't cost much more than a PL259-SMA adapter. In fact I passed on some just last week that were $15 each.
If I were you I would put the 880 in the UTV, get another one for the truck, and probably a couple more as backups. But that's just how I roll!
I was actually thinking awhile back that I had several TK-880s. But I started looking for them and could only find one that wasn't already in a vehicle. So I looked around for some cheap ones and bought three more for just over $20 each.
You're gonna need two for your repeater! What repeater, you ask? Just wait!
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Looking at this to resolve my concerns for a ground plane on UTV side x side. https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/laird-technologies-mbc-1649. The one with SO-239
Instructions say cut radials to 8" for 406 - 512Mhz but using this calculator it comes out to 6.25" or so. Either way has to be better than little to no GP.
I have a good visual on how to install on the kayak rack above the double plastic roof. And I expect to get some grief on the trail from the non-believers.. beam me up.. but it should hopefully maximize GMRS performance.
Critique away please.
Personally, if I had already bought that I still wouldn't use it on the UTV. I would just save it to use at the house, cabin or whatever. The 13" of angle iron or aluminum will be enough ground plane.
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I was sort of imagining a civilianized version of the military radios that share a common backplane a while ago -- something that'd fit in a double-DIN stereo slot, with separate radios, and a shared screen and mic. Seems like it has potential to work really well with an auto-voting mic like you're imagining.
I just looked through the MFJ catalog to see if they have something like that. They don't, although they do have some manual mic/radio selector boxes.
I don't think it would take all that much to do it. Just some latching semiconductor switches, controlled by the COR from each radio. LEDs on the box to show which radio is active, and some momentary pushbutton override switches.
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… Those exist?
Dunno, but if not it should. The technology exists.
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If you want to get rid of some, let me know!
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I was talking about DTMF tones, not PL/CTCSS. I'm not sure about PL, maybe you can configure the radio for assigning PL using OST feature. I do not do it, and cannot confirm it, but I remember people discussing the possibility on this board. The 99.99% of my usage is simplex, so I just never researched this option.
You can do that on most of the Kenwoods. Here it is, in the TK-3180 manual: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/1656566/Kenwood-Tk-3180.html?page=86#manual
"This function allows you to change the Decode/Encodecombination of the QT/DQT Signaling without changingthe transmit/receive frequencies.This is used when there are several Talk Groups usingQT/DQT codes on the same frequency.You can configure a maximum of 40 pairs of OST QT/DQT Decode and QT/DQT Encode to the OST table. TheQT/DQT Encode/Decode pair and the OST table areswitched when the PF OST key is pressed." -
Then, at 60 mph, what mic were you using?
My truck has 4 mics.
6 meter,
11 meter (cb)
2 meter / 70cm
Gmrs
You don't have one of those voting mic boxes that connects your one mic to the last radio heard?
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Used-radios has them cheaper, and they will program it for you: https://used-radios.com/products/icom-ic-f221-mobile-radio-series
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First, I would forget about dual band Yagis. They tend to be a compromise at best, and most of them have minimal gain. Also if it's dual band, it won't be 2M and GMRS; it will be 2m and 440. Even if it happens to work somewhat on 462/467, it won't be ideal.
I would get a Larsen welded Yagi that is designed for 450-470 MHz, like this one: https://amzn.to/316dWOk
Those will last a very, very long time; and a pair of them pointed at each other will probably solve your problem.
Then when you get your ham license, get a dedicated antenna for that based on what you need it to do.
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Oh, not to forget the heating taking place on one's cross-band radio from the 'extended keyup times'...
Agreed.
I just saw a discussion on another forum where most of the participants are 100 percent convinced that a portable "repeater" consisting of a Chinese dual bander in an ammo can with a battery, crossbanding from GMRS to 2 Meters, and a few Chinese dual band HTs to access it, is an awesome setup that can't possibly have any technical problems. And the illegality of it is just a minor technicality and not worth discussing beyond saying nobody will really notice nor care.
To those guys a couple of commercial UHF rigs, a simple controller and a pair of antennas with feedlines is way too complicated to even consider.
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Yes... a repeater to a repeater is usually not a good time. Plus, there is delays in key up times, leading to a word or 3 missing from the start of your transmission.
Don't get me started on that! There are some lids around here that I have no clue what their legal callsign is, because I have never heard the first half of it!
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Just a matter of de-solder and remove R614? used-radios won't do it in-house. Is access easy enuf?
..and is FPP a lot simpler than software programming?
Thanks.
Access is not bad. It is on the circuit board that is behind the front panel. With the top and bottom covers off, the front panel pops off via a couple of clips. Then a couple of screws hold the board in place. You don't have to disconnect the ribbon cable; just flip the board over.
It also gives you a perfect opportunity to pull the keypad out and clean it. Or better yet, replace it with a nice new, white one that is intended for the 863G. It fits, is not expensive and in my opinion, the white keys look better.
Software programming is simpler than FPP. FPP is just something that is nice to have, just in case.
I didn't expect that Used Radios would remove the resistor. But if you can get them to enable FPP in software when they program it, if you ever get around to removing the resistor yourself, FPP will then work without any further software programming. In that case you could add a couple of additional channels to your existing 15 channels, without ever needing to connect it to a computer.
If you get your ham license and want to program some ham frequencies in your radio, you will definitely need to be able to program it yourself. You will also need to tweak a couple of things in the radio to get it to work properly down in the ham band. It will still work fine on GMRS, too. I've done that on a few of them too, so just hit me up for the info when you need it.
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I desolder resistors on all three 880 I have. It is SMD resistor, so cannot be bent. You probably can carefully crush it with wire cutter, but I think, desoldering it safer.
I've done it too, and I agree. Actually you can just heat the entire resistor with a (preferably grounded) soldering iron, then just use the iron to flip it off the board.
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I hear lots of activity on a couple of them. Especially GMRS-Chat.
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Ya, I can go low and narrow 1 - 7 and still play with the grandkids in camp. It's not like all channels are congested out here so will rely on the 15 - 22 High/Wide that are not repeater designated in my system when with a group or family on the trails or fishing. Looks like I'll have 3 vacant after adding all the repeaters I might potentially use. And even the repeater channels should work HT-HT or HT-Mobile if not in repeater range, correct?
Good idea on Ch.16 for that off the travel tone repeater.
Coincidentally, the closest repeater to me locally is the same setup as one in Montana I plan to try when there.
Looking forward to playing with programming and keying up.
Yes, as long as you have a button set up for TA. Pressing that button puts it in simplex mode even on the repeater channels. Which is perfectly legal, btw.
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MXT275 missing 69.3 PL tone??!!
in Guest Forum
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No 69.3 Hz on Midlands... Hmm.
That's good to know! 