marcspaz

This question has been coming up a lot lately... "My 50w Radio Doesn't Make 50w. Why?" I figured I would post quick highlights of the more common items that lead to low power. This is just a list of a few items. If anyone would like a bit more detail, just ask and myself or one of our seasoned operators will be happy to help with further explanation. One of the most common issues that will prevent you from reaching a full 50 watts is the manufacturer. They have to have their device certified by the FCC in order to be sold in the US. The radio needs to be sold in the configuration as tested and certified. If the radio or any subsequent builds tested exceed 50w, even if it's not intentional due to something like component tolerances, the manufacturer will either not get or lose their certification. To avoid risk of losing certification, when the radios are designed, they are designed to operate at much less power. I know for a fact that many popular brands target 46w, so they can round-up to 50w for advertising. However, manufacturing tolerances allow for +/- 4w. So, a properly running new radio under the absolute best conditions could make as much as 50w or as little as 42w. Again, only under perfect conditions. Those perfect conditions are typically 13.8vdc "at the radio" (not at the power source), almost unmeasurable losses due to test gear insertion, a proper dummy load, and being on the channel/frequency that the manufacturer centered up the transmit power to. The following issues are just a few that will lead to less than ideal conditions. - Not testing on the channel/frequency that the manufacturer tuned for max performance. - The power source is too low. - Power cables are too long, lending to too much voltage loss at the radio. - The power cables are too thin for the current draw and length of the power cables, lending to too much voltage loss at the radio. - Power cables have connections that are crimped instead of soldered. - Corrosion at the battery connectors or other connectors in the power lines. - Improper grounding of the radio. - Improper grounding of the antenna. - A bad or poor performing antenna. - Bad or poor performing antenna cables. - RF interference from something in the vehicle that is close to the radio, causing improper performance. There can be more than this, but in my decades of experience, these are the top problems I have seen. Below is a video showing the difference between my amateur radio on my bench vs installed in my Jeep. Even mine isn't perfect because I wanted to use the factory auxiliary switches, as well as Power Pole connectors for easy removal, and I don't mind losing a few watts compared to the convenience.

While OffRoaderX is giving you good advice, I personally found that most 50w radios will only output about 48w-50w on the bench with a dummy load and proper power supply. Comparatively, 35 to 37 watts once installed in a car is fairly normal for non-technical owners doing the installation at home. There are a lot of variables that impact the final output in a vehicle. Also, you would have to jump to 70+ watts before you see a very small, but usable improvement over 35 watts.

Martin has new 43's for sale for about $650... including the PEP module. Another $450 for the elements and you have a rock star meter for life.

Sounds like a 'match' made in heaven.

Speaking of how smart someone is... A neutron walks into a bar and says "Bartender... I'll have a beer." The bartender says "Sure" and slides him a beer. The neutron said "Thanks! What do I owe you?", and the bartender replied "For you? No charge!"

Hahahaha

They both have good audio fidelity, but the KG-1000 has a better class of receiver. It has a better ability to discriminate between noise and weak signals, making it a better receiver.

Yeah, we have chatted about this a bit here. Just my personal opinion, the KG-1000 is a great mobile radio if you are a radio geek and really enjoy bell's and whistles AND you are a technically inclined person. The MXT500 is great if you want a full power, full bandwidth, repeater ready radio... no frills, works out of the box and not confusing to operate. There are many good radios available when you look at new market specific gear, as well as legacy LMR equipment... but those two just seem to be my top favorites.

Dang... that's hot. I'll have to show you guys what mine is doing when I'm back in VA. I don't have any of my gear right now, but Monday or Tuesday I'll shoot some video.

No... it's 2.6:1 on the 467mhz channel. I don't see a 1.6 on any frequency with that antenna. I think the best I get is on 2m, it's 1.7. The advertised range stops at 465mhz and it's used in very limited circumstances. So, I'm not too worried about it. The UHF and the NMO are mounted in very different locations, but have near identical performance. I also mo Ed them to a few different vehicles with the mag mount and there was very similar performance. As I mentioned, it's it's compromise to use it, but I don't worry about SWR until it's at 3:1. Then I consider tuning are replacing the antenna.

I use the Comet 2x4SR. I have one in UHF and one in NMO. It works great in 2M, MURS, 70CM, and it has a 2.6:1 SWR or better on all GMRS channels, including the repeater inputs. It has about 4dB of 'real' gain on the GMRS channels. It is a compromise across the board to have it all on one antenna. UHF https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-001424 NMO https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-011146 I also have a Comet M-24m that I use when clearance is an issue. It woks better on GMRS than the Ham bands. But, as I mentioned, there is going to be compromise.

I am not sure about everywhere in the US, but in VA and FL, SKYWARN is phone, internet (email/text) and Amateur Radio. ARES does integrate FRS/GMRS into its responses, but it's very limited and we don't train for it on the regular bases. It's use in training (where I am) is very rare because we usually put them in the hands of SAR/USAR staff, VIP and command staff, etc., during actual emergencies when Ham radio folks are short staffed and we need an unlicensed service for them to use, that keeps them in touch with Hams to move traffic to where it needs to go. Not to sound mean, but if you are too busy to study for the test, chances are you won't have time to drill/practice or actually help when/where needed. And that is okay, BTW. To give you some incentive, my wife got her license when she was 12... and had to learn/demonstrate Morse Code. The grandchild of a friend of mine got their license this year at just age 7. I was super intimidated by it, but just took the online practice exams until I passed with a 100%, and then went and took the actual test. It was a lot easier than I thought and had myself freaked out for nothing. I highly recommend spending a little bit of time on it and getting your Tech license. BTW, I recently bought a VHF/UHF handheld Ham radio (which is all you need to get started) for $35. It can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be. That is really the intent of GMRS. The service restrictions don't really lend to doing much more. Repeaters greatly expand range, but they are few in some places and none in others, they are privately owned in most cases and have restrictions on power, modulation and information types that make it so its not practical for many cases. That said, I know there are whole communities that are prone to wild fires, earthquakes, etc., that implemented GMRS networks to help the whole community and to empower the community to help themselves. You can always reach out to your local volunteer groups and see if there is anything like that around you.

@SargeDiesel sounds good. yeah,, the standard duty mounts tend to have shorter and thinner screws since it's not intended to hold as much weight. Stores like ACE Hardware should have longer screws. I haven't checked the big stores, like Lowe's or Home Depot, but they may, too.

I went through and looked at my posts. I didn't see anywhere I said I sanded anything. If I mentioned that in another thread or said something that made you think I did, I apologize. I didn't sand down anything. The antenna mount comes with one of two bare aluminum plates that you can put between the set screws and the hood, so the screws don't puncture the hood/paint. I did not use those clamping plates, but rather let the screws puncture the paint and clamp to the aluminum. If you notice in my picture below, I just ran the screws through the seem seal to make the contact.

I suspect you're a tad younger that me, because when I say "in the old days", GMRS didn't exist. I have a frequency allocation chart I bought in 1986 that doesn't have GMRS or FRS on it.

Definitely need to know the make and model of the radio to be the most amount of help. Also, is the radio new or used? The names for the repeater channels look custom. As it stands right now, I am inclined to agree with @wrci350, assuming the software imported all 22 channels twice, plus the repeater channels.

The meter is what some of us refer to as 'close enough' for what we do. Keep in mind, the meter is user adjustable. It likely is calibrated fairly close from the factory. You want to keep your SWR under 3:1 for best performance. I wouldn't touch it.

Yes.

If you are serious about this... I'm here to provide a bit of guidance. Just be ready to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars (if not more), 4 or 5 years of your life, and hire a lawyer. Those Change.Org petitions don't do a damn thing to convince the government to actually change laws, codes or regulations. Currently all frequencies between 9 kHz and 275 GHz have been allocated to some service. You are going to need to hire an attorney to help file a "Petition for Rulemaking" or a "Petition for Reconsideration" to suggest new rules or changes to existing rules (i.e. frequency/channel reallocation). A lawyer that has done this type of work will know what needs to be in the initial petition. As I mentioned, it's expensive and time consuming. Just to let you know how much it sucks... Cobra Electronics Corporation filed a Petition for Reconsideration on September 28, 2017, to just add FM to CB radios. With all the money, influence and resources they have, it took years of follow-up to finally get approval on July 15, 2021. FM CB radios just started coming to market this year. You're talking about restructuring some of the spectrum. I can't image that would be cheaper or faster than just asking to use FM along with AM and SSB.

The part in bold is QFT! That distro block looks decent. If it doesn't come with a cover, keep the connections greased so they stay clean and dry and you should be good to go.

With the exception of repeater inputs, all GMRS channels are FRS channels. Are they on a repeater? Also, unless you are standing in front of the person using the radio and are intimately familiar with that radio, you have no way of knowing if they are using an FRS radio or GMRS radio. You can't even make the assumption if you know they are 100 miles away from you (assuming they say their actual location) that they are on a GMRS radio, because elevation plays a bigger role in distance than power or radio type.

I didn't know about Roland being in the hospital. That stinks. I ha e to run out for a few hours, but I'll shoot you a PM when I get back.

I didn't realize how much coverage was around here either. I met David down in Warrenton, who introduced me to M.W., and M.W. introduced me to the other David in Ellicott City. Opened up a whole new world. One of the ones M.W. has, just northwest of Haymarket, covers from 95 to the mountains, Stafford/Fburg to Tyco/McLean and out to points north and west of Leesburg. There are a few folks up in Annapolis and Glen Burnie Maryland with awesome locations for their base stations that can get into it, too. Same here. Myself and some friends of mine were big time hooked on 2m repeaters prior to meeting M.W. His systems have tremendous coverage that are only rivaled in the 2m segment by Bluemont, Rockville and (maybe) Warrenton. On the Warrenton machine, where there is no shadow, I can work that repeater (and the GMRS machine outside of Haymarket) from parts of WV and Southern PA along the 81 corridor. However Warrenton is so far south, in a shadow, that it's tough for DC metro to reach it. Bluemont has its limits as you center up on DC, with the same performance restrictions as the Warrenton system, along the i81. And Rockville's links are regularly not working because of the voting system. All that made the GMRS repeaters the tool of choice for my family and friends. Between Haymarket, Tyco and a couple of others, we can all chat from just about anywhere around the area. I agree. I am not sure why the publishing is being withheld, but I am sure he has his reasons. He 100% wants to serve the communities with the hardware. Maybe he is trying to avoid saturation and turning into Ham Radio 2.0. That's my best guess anyway. One day, I may ask him. Good deal. I know the feeling. BTW, unrelated... were you the one I heard chime in about how hard it is to pick between Swirlies V. Five Guys? LOL I was talking to M.W. about that a few days ago. I have a friend who owns a 300' commercial repeater in Ashburn, VA. I am going to see if I can introduce the two of them to see if we can help get better coverage out past Fair Oaks, heading north and west. The site owner can be very hard to get along with. Especially when he provides free tower space to volunteer organizations. Hopefully he will be respectful to M.

Fuses/circuit breakers and the Ring connectors for the battery all get soldered. I put the fuses in line no more than 12 inches from the battery (usually less) and just use water proof fuse holders. On some vehicles, I've even added secondary fuse boxes for my radios/amps/etc. that use bolt-down terminals.

I always cut the T connector off and use power poles because that is my standardization. This allows me to move gear to any of my test benches or vehicles and have a standard connector, so it just plugs in. Also, as mentioned above, you can get them in specific amp rating for adding heavier wire. Also, unlike the T connector or weather packs, the power pole connectors are spring loaded, applying more force for less losses at the connector. They were designed to be crimped, but I both crimped and then solder.