WRTC928

This question was prompted by watching videos of people doing it and I thought, "If it's really that easy, why does anyone buy a repeater? Apparently, the answer is that it isn't really that easy -- which I suspected. Nevertheless, a 6' monaural audio cable is $5, so I'm going to experiment a bit. If it can be made to work even somewhat, it might be something to have in my bag of tricks.

I spent the $50 for the Ham Radio Prep course because it uses multimedia, self-study, and practice exams and I do well with that sort of format. I have no regrets; it's a great course, IMO.

If the practice exams are an indicator, I should have no problem. Most importantly, I want to be able to go to NotaRubicon's YouTube videos and tell him I know he's wrong because I'm an official ham.

Interesting you should say that. I'm taking the ham technician test on 12/5.

That is true, but that won't satisfy my curiosity. This isn't really about having a repeater. As I said, I actually have little use for a repeater. It's more about knowing if it can actually be made to work easily and cheaply. My curiosity often sends me down rabbit holes. If it can work, it's worth knowing how in case it someday becomes useful.

That's exactly why I'm asking. I've seen videos where it seemed to work on the bench but I haven't seen it done "in real life".

I understand about the possibility of desensing, which is why I'm trying to find out if anyone has actually tried it and whether that was a problem. I suppose if you separated the antennas enough, it wouldn't be an issue, but then you're back to having to carry extra crap around. I'll go as far as an audio cable and maybe even a $30 connector box, but that's about it.

What, exactly, does the controller box do? One guy demonstrated it without the controller box; instead he just used an audio cable from the speaker output of one to the mic input of the other. What additional functionality does the controller box add? And I'm certainly not going to go out and buy a duplexer on the off chance that I may want to set up a quick repeater for the grandkids to run around on the farm. That's why I'm asking for personal experiences.

I've seen a number of videos demonstrating how to make an impromptu repeater using two HTs and a connector box. One guy even demonstrated it using a simple audio cable, which begs the question, what does the commercial connector box do? Has anyone here done this? If so, how well did it work? TBH, I can't think of very many situations where I would find it useful, but if it's as easy as throwing an audio cable in my bag, I'll probably do it. Any personal experience?

I did that too, but my small town hardware store didn't have any that fit just right. I even went to the NBC (next bigger city) and tried Lowe's but they didn't have any either so I gave up and went home. The next day, I was in my garage and my eye fell upon a caliper, and I thought, "Say...they make a tool specifically for finding the size of something... " so I measured the ones I had bought online. I could have done that to begin with, but I didn't think of it.

Perhaps you're not as afflicted with OCD as some.

Maybe everyone else already knows this, but... Sometimes when you use an aftermarket antenna -- especially a Nagoya -- on a Baofeng HT, the antenna doesn't screw down all the way and there's a gap where dirt or moisture can get in. I did a search and found O-rings to seal it from a radio shop online, but they were $0.49 each plus shipping. I know I'm going to lose those little things right and left and that could eventually get expensive. With a caliper and a little experimentation, I found that the ideal size is 3/8" ID, 9/16" OD, and 3/32" thick. This fits perfectly, is $5.86 per 100 from Amazon, and includes free shipping for Prime members. If you didn't know, now you do.

That's unfortunate. I've only had mine a couple of months but I haven't had any issues at all. Yeah, opening the squelch to change the volume is a little bit clumsy, but not really a big deal to me since I don't do it very much. You're not the first I've read saying the sound was poor but mine has been fine. The problem with the inexpensive radios is the spotty quality control. You can get a diamond one day and a rock the next. Obviously, if it were expensive I'd expect better QC, but when I buy a low-end radio, I'm always aware that I may be just flushing my money away.

I did not know that you can't program them via software. That kinda sucks, but for a GMRS radio, you'll probably only program it once and occasionally put in a repeater. Yes, I know Midland radios are made in China, but their reputation is that they have better QC than the cheaper radios. The Chinese can build really good radios, but in general, if they adhere to more strict QC standards, they're going to cost more.

Good to know! Thank you.

There are radios with all the controls in the handset which makes it convenient to mount them somewhere you normally couldn't like under a seat. I bought the Anysecu WP-9900 (recently posted a review) and it suits my purposes just fine. It was cheap and I wasn't sure if that type of radio was what I ultimately wanted, but it turns out I really like the setup. Midland also makes units with all the controls in the handset, and when (if) my inexpensive Chinese unit craps out, that's probably what I'll replace it with. The Midland 575, for example, uses an RJ45 connector for the mic/controller, and with an ordinary piece of cat 6 cable, you can extend it to place the mic wherever you want it. If you're using an amp, the power of the radio isn't a significant factor, so you don't necessarily need the more expensive 50 watt version.

What about a mag mount intended for vehicles with a Midland ghost antenna on it? It will give you 3 dB gain and looks nothing like an antenna to the uninitiated. Make a pseudo pass-through as kidphc recommended, run the cable through it, and put the antenna on a metal sheet on a little table on the balcony or something of the sort. You can use a decorated serving tray for the ground plane. The thing is, you don't need to hit a repeater with a lot of power; it will come out the other end as 50 watts (probably) anyway. All you need to do is get a little more signal out than you do now, and an unobtrusive antenna attached to your HT will almost certainly do that. Use a ferrous tray for your ground plane, and the mag mount will keep the antenna from moving around. I use a 3 dB gain mag mount antenna on one of my vehicles and attach a HT to it and it definitely improves the signal. It won't blow anybody's doors off, but again, all you need to do is improve your signal getting to the repeater and a 3 dB antenna will (theoretically) double the effective signal. I won't link it because an Amazon link is about 900 characters long. Just search Amazon for Ghost Antenna and magnet mount base with NMO connection. It's less than $100 total.

Thanks for the info! As I commented above, the QC on inexpensive Chinese radios can be spotty and it's entirely possible some of them get really hot and others don't. Also, it's very unlikely that I'll run mine as hard as you did yours. For $10, I doubt I'll regret buying the fireproof mat, and it makes me feel better. Yes, I can see that the DIN cords are probably more robust than the RJ45, but the way I have it set up, there's not likely to be any significant strain on my CB mic cable. It's something to watch, though.

With this in mind, I just went to Amazon and found a fireproof 16" x 24" mat for $10. I figure with that under the radio, I'll smell something scorching before it sets my truck on fire. I installed the radio with a quick-disconnect coupling on the power wire, so I can kill it quickly if necessary. Since the mat was so cheap, I ordered one to put under the CB as well. I didn't live to be this old by leaving stuff to chance.

Out of curiosity, what problems have you had with the RJ45-connected microphones? I have one on a CB in the truck (same situation - all controls on the handset) and it seems to work as well as the one on the Anysecu. I was able to extend the mic with a piece of ordinary cat 6 cable, which was convenient. If there are issues, I'd like to know what to watch out for.

That's interesting. I'll watch for that. Maybe I just haven't used it for a prolonged enough time to notice it. It may be getting a lot more "air time" as a base unit than it will as a mobile. Thanks!

I forgot to say, in my radio, when I downloaded to Chirp, 8-14 were blocked as I noted above. When I copy/pasted from the spreadsheet for another radio, 8-14 were still blocked. I had to "select all" and then "delete" so that I was working from a completely blank spreadsheet. Then, when I copy/pasted from the other radio it worked fine. As I noted, if you download it again, in spite of the programming you gave it previously, it will once again block 8-14. Save the spreadsheet you just created and then use it whenever you want to change something. I haven't tried to enter different frequencies into those slots, so I don't know if it would work, but if you want to have them, the copy/paste works. Just set duplex to "off" if you want to be sure you don't accidentally transmit on them. I wish the manufacturers wouldn't do this. Maybe in a "plug and play" dedicated GMRS unit it makes sense, but for a dual-bander that you're going to have to program from scratch anyway, it's stupid and annoying. Anyone who can program the radio can probably also turn tx off and anyone who wants to transmit with excessive power on those channels can probably figure out a way to do it.

I'm intrigued. Does that replace the sharkfin?

The reason you can't find the comm port is because of the driver issue I mentioned. If you have Chirp, open it, select Anysecu WP-9900, and it will tell you about the driver issue and direct you to a site to download the legacy driver. Read the instructions carefully. According to Chirp, you may have to do this again in the future because Windows will automatically update your driver at the first opportunity. Just keep the downloaded file and run it again as necessary. Be sure you get an aviation radio microphone cable. There's also a "microphone extension cable" that's intended for audio systems. It's also an 8-pin and looks the same in a picture, but it's a little smaller and won't fit. I found out so you don't have to. LOL!

The one I have is a dual band, I just didn't mention it. Despite that, it blocks 8-14. No problem, though, since you can just copy/paste over those channels and get them back. That may or may not be the case with other individual radios. These inexpensive Chinese radios can have quite a bit of "individual personality". It's possible that you could program them in from the handset; I didn't try it. Yes, it does function on MURS frequencies. Yeah, I don't think wattage is my limitation. It's just a matter of being in an urban area with a lot of interference. Ironically, where I live it's actually rural but there doesn't seem to be anyone to talk to. Speaking of interference, I didn't mention that this radio seems to be fairly sensitive to certain types of RF interference. Most of the time I don't notice it, but when I drive past a road construction site, I get a lot of static. Even the ignition systems on heavy equipment can generate quite a bit of RF emissions and this radio is more sensitive to it than some others. Not a big deal to me, YMMV.