marcspaz

Oh yeah... and they have different handles for local and DX, too. I go by Papa Spaz locally and 410 on DX. My buddy goes by Porch Honky (he's a huge Moccasin Creek fan). I can't tell you how much dust that stirs up on the air. LoL

It works. Users just need to be sure to select the correct radio brand/model options based on the firmware loaded to the active profile on the radio.

Just do what I did and buy both! LOL

I didn't even consider that, which is bad, given I have one in the Jeep. That is a rock star radio as far as just simply communicating goes. Audio filters are really good too, and it has the ability to switch an amp as well as run digital modes. I suppose because it's a no frills mobile, I didn't think of it as a base station, but it can definitely be used as an affordable option.

In my opinion, the Icom IC-7300 or the Yaesu FT-991a are your two best options. The 7300 has better receive sensitivity and a better display but the 991a has 2m and 70cm.

I know a few members do emergency volunteer work. Anyone have a legit portable repeater setup? It's been about a year since I setup my portable "shack". Since the weather was nice today and I have a new repeater to field test, I figured I would do a dry-run at home before I setup in an actual emergency. It takes about 3 hours to deploy the portable setup with HF, VHF, and UHF amateur radio and GMRS. So, needless to say, unless it's a multi-day drill or real emergency, I'm not going all out, but it was time for that dry-run. I have a dedicated mast for the homemade 80m/40m/20m/10m OCF dipole, and then an additional mast for the VHF/UHF antenna(s). In these pictures, there is a Yaesu DR-1X and a Icom IC-7300.

Same issue here. Plus, you have to save them one at a time, instead of bulk imports. I suppose I can do that on Chirp, and then upload to ODM, but ot would be a nice feature.

6 negative votes?! That may be a new forum record!

@Slickii yeah, it really is okay to use for ID and I think it's like 10 codes... in that there is an exception to every rule. As long as you are compliant, I wouldn't worry much about anyone else's opinions. All of my repeaters ID with Morse Code. Voice modules are expensive, so I'm not buying one. I know I joke a lot, but in all seriousness, if I had a mobile or handheld radio that could do Morse ID on a timer, I would use it.

Technically, there is only one. Station identification. And there will be one ham radio operator on GMRS who did Morse Code in the Navy back in '47 who will know what he's hearing.

Your Honor, I object!!! My client is being black-balled!

Im not a lawyer, but I play one on the internet.

Better question is, does the FCC care? Honestly, the only reason why I use my call sign is because there is only one person with my call sign, but there are a lot of people on the radio named Marc. Makes it easier for people to call me by call sign instead of saying "hey, Marc "

There is a fire department near me that has a digital RF link between two locations on exactly 462 MHz. They had a really dirty transmitter for months, causing interference with GMRS for about 6 miles around. I was able to find out it was from them and got them to fix it. At first, they swore I didn't know what I was talking about... but a few days later, it was resolved. You may have something similar going on there. I would ask around to see if anyone local to you has a Kraken SDR or is familiar with RF triangulation, to see if you can find it. It may be a matter of just having a convo with the right person to get it resolved.

That's cool. I had no idea you could pair a couple of DB-40G's together. Is that a native feature or are you using some kind of external controller?

I'm not sure I would agree with that. Most modern vehicles don't have a traditional alternator (one that behaves like a generator) that puts out a fixed voltage. The car's computer monitors the battery values, like temperature, voltage, and power utilization, and then adjusts the alternator output voltage based on the needs. For example, if my Jeep sits for a week in the cold of winter and I start it up at night, the use of the lights, heat, radio and other electronics, I will see the voltage as high as 15vdc. On the flip side, the opposite is true if I have been cruising on the highway for hours during the day, in the middle of Spring or Fall, with nothing but the bare essentials to run the vehicle. My alternator will almost completely turn off and my electrical system will run near purely on the battery, with just a trickle charge holding it at about 12.4vdc-12.8vdc. It won't increase the voltage unless the demand draws the battery down. This is relevant to the point that at 12.4vdc, my 50w radio's total system consumption may be about 100w, but at 15vdc it may use 120w. With modern efficiency of radios, that is a variation of somewhere in the neighborhood of 10w transmit power.

Lower than advertised power was one of my complaints with the Rev 1 MXT500. I tested it with a Bird 43, an MFJ 842, the SureComm 102, and eventually a Daiwa CN-901 and if I recall correctly (it's been awhile) they all had the same result, give or take a watt. The Bird was the only one that was professionally calibrated and I just used that as a benchmark for my other meters. After some debate and sharing results, Midland did a full tune-up on my radio and sent it back with a performance test spec sheet that lined up well with my second round of tests. I was pretty happy with the radio and customer service once it was tuned for me.

This is great advice. I really like the BTech and Baofeng HTs and have had great luck with them. On the mobile side, a couple of years ago, I acquired 4 BTech mobile radios. The first 3 didn't make it a whole 3 weeks, combined use. The 4th worked okay, but the screen washed out when the roof and doors were off the Jeep. I sold it to a member here, and last I heard, they were happy with it. With a 75% failure rate, I'm going to wait on trying another one until people are bragging about them like the TD-H3 gets love now.

I think "it depends" is the best answer. I've owned and used well over 100 radios in my lifetime, varying in price (new) from $5 to $7,000. In my adventures I learned there is a huge difference between cheap and inexpensive.

Good deal. Have you gotten to the point where you are considering a particular repeater?

So much truth. While I have a CB it is performs very well, I only hook it up if I need to use it with the occasional person I'm wheeling with who doesn't have FRS or GMRS.

Based on the pictures, the o-ring wouldn't touch the mount to seal it, even if the radials aren't installed.

I would like to caveat for those without the experience, I found out in a somewhat painful way that SureCom SWR/Watt Meter and the Erik/ZeenKo TinySA and NanoVNA fall into the "Close Enough" category. Meaning, you are not going to be doing precision measurements. It's not that the TinySA and NanoVNA are inaccurate, per se, but rather they do not have a fine enough resolution for the type of work you would do with tuning a transmitter or a duplexer. However, you will be able to use all 3 devices to see if your SWR is broadly in a safe range, approximately what you power is, and other types of GO/NO-GO results.

Your response seems unusually harsh, especially considering you have asked such a novice question. Maybe I'm misreading it. That said, there is an overwhelming amount of new people that come here convinced they need a repeater, when the know nothing about radio and have only had a license for a few weeks to a few months. Given how long some of us have been around and seeing the trend of unnecessary repeater build ideas that never come to light, it's not an unreasonable question to ask why someone new thinks they "need" a repeater. Especially if there are some already in the area or possibly another solution. Also, not everyone can afford putting a repeater up, not realizing putting a quality and reliable repeater on the air cost anywhere between $15,000-$20,000 when you include the mast and antenna system. On the high-end I have a friend who spent over $1.8m to get a 300' tower built to install his repeater system. Even on the low side, if you have access to free tower space, you're going to spend $5,000-$7,000. If there is another option available and someone can help me find a better or alternative solution that doesn't cost me a fortune, I would want the feedback. If someone just wants to understand "why", I wouldn't be mad that they asked.

Much better response. After reading the question again, I'm thinking you are right. To use literal examples, a repeater can be configured to operate if it receives a 141.3 tone or a 127.3 tone (just random tones I picked for the examples).