marcspaz

@OffRoaderX, I think TNRonin needs a link in order to fully understand... LOL

Man... that drives me nuts. Mandate what they like and ban what they don't. People need to learn that diversity of thought is critical and their opinions really don't matter. That why I say down with DMR. Long live P25!

Me personally, I won't publicly condone rule violations. That's just stupid, for an unfathomable amount of reasons. Also, if someone asks about the rules, I'll genuinely try to provide a good/correct answer. Beyond that... I really don't care who does what. I just like to argue on the interwebz when I'm bored.

Yes. Correct. If Tone is selected, it will automatically select the correct column and put a value in it. Simply change it to the correct tone for the repeater you wish to access.

From top to bottom... - Open the repeater, but hear everyone. Doesn't matter if the repeater is running splits/etc., you will still hear it and everyone else. - To open the repeater and only hear the repeater or simplex stations with the transmit tone set. - Running "Splits" to open the repeater with one tone and only hear the repeater output or simplex stations running a different tone than the input tone. (*not all radio models and firmware versions support this mode.)

So, the Rugged mount is trash. It mounts the antenna in a bad spot. I highly recommend this mount... https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-006551 Put the mount on the lip of the hood, at least 8 inches forward of the windshield / A-pillar. The MXTA26 is a excellent antenna. However, terrain and RFI is going to dictate your range. From a mountain top to a valley, you may get well over 100 miles, but in an area where there are hills between you and the other station, you may not get a mile. An example is, I live in a natural depression and between the terrain and the noise from all the other homes and I can't talk 2,300 feet. If I leave my neighborhood, I can get 5 to 8 miles. Up in the mountains, at about 4,400 feet, I can easily talk 160 miles to a station on another mountain top. Install example from my 2016 JK. I have the same setup on my 20 JL, too.

That looks like a slick little radio. Hope the project works out. Looking forward to hearing about how it goes.

There are a few repeaters in Broward... but they all have very limited range. 4 or 5 miles... tops. I can reach just as far mobile-to-mobile. Unless you happen to be on a handheld radio within 2.5-3 miles of the repeater and wanting to talk to someone that close to the repeater, it's not even worth trying. If I retire down there, I will put up a wide coverage area repeater (30+ miles), but for now I don't spend enough time there to justify it.

The only way to know for sure is if there is a transmit tail after they stop talking. Not all repeaters have a tail and some repeaters are designed to disable the tail if the radio it is repeating for issues a command to not transmit the tail after its transmission. So, it gets kind of tough. If you have a radio that allows you to listen to the repeater input (instead of the repeater output as normal) and if you are close enough to any of the other people, you may hear them transmitting on the repeater input frequency, if they are using the repeater. Also, some people talk simplex with CTCSS or DCS tones and may not hear you anyway... which makes it even tougher to tell. Honestly, there is a near 100% certainty that if you hear them on simplex and you can also work the repeater, they are close enough to hear the repeater, too. So, I usually start my replies on the repeater frequency and ask them if they are on the repeater. If they aren't and I am hearing them direct, then I move to simplex, accordingly.

I think there may be some misconceptions about UHF connectors (and M-type) vs N-type connectors when it comes to the bottom end of UHF. You can buy garbage UHF connectors that won't work well, 100%, but that holds true for N-type, too. N-type connectors were created in the 40's, when there were no real standards for UHF connectors, not that there is much of a standard now. The DOD needed consistent performance, so Bell Labs created a standard to be met and created N-type connectors. If you buy a quality silver/teflon UHF connector manufactured by a company like Lands Precision or Larsen (about $8 per connector, $16 per set to make a cable) you will not see any difference in insertion loss or any performance degradation when compared to a comparable price and quality N-type connector in GMRS systems. I personally have done tests using LMR400. I made 2 patch cables that had UHF connectors and 2 patch cables that had N connectors. I tested them with my analyzer between 440 MHz and 500 MHz and there was exactly zero difference between 3 of the 4 cables. One of the cables with UHF connectors had an increase in insertion loss 0.01 dB... which I am assuming had something to do with me and the way I made the patch cable or possibly the section of cable itself introduced the difference and it had nothing to do with the connectors. Bottom line, we are not running enough power, moving enough data, or have high enough duty cycle that would require an N-type connector. Our only real benefit would be for outdoor connections and utilizing the native weatherproofing instead of having to add additional weatherproofing to a UHF connection.

https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchAdvanced.jsp

I am missing something. If you want to talk direct simplex, the channel would be setup like this for both radios.... On the repeater, both would be configured like this.... And if you want to user the repeater and only hear the repeater output when someone is talking, both would be configured like this.... Of course, adjust your channel names and power levels as desired.

@axorlov. That link makes me want to toss my SRH77CA in the trash. I am going to try to replicate that test with an FT-65 and an FT3DR to see what my results are like. I'll start another thread after it's done. I need a few days. Great link. Thanks for sharing.

No doubt, but there is an awful lot of discussion on the subject and it gets old having users tell engineers how wrong they are.

I can't believe we're talking about testing HT antenna SWR again. SMH

None, unfortunately. It's a UHF only antenna. You would need the plain Ole 771, not a G model, if you want VHF.

Great Poll. Hard to pick just one, as you really hit all of the major factors.

Me thinks thisem' sarcasm in these posts. Not sure. Just in case, I'll use my power supply as an example. When any of my 50w radios run full tilt on the bench, to create 50w out of the final PA, it uses about 95 watts of DC power. However, for my power supply to be capable of creating that 95w DC, it burns about 165 watts of AC power. At about 60%-65%, those are about average efficiencies for this type of good personal use power supplies. And private use radio efficiencies just kinda suck, too.

@KAF6045 I am not sure where about you live, but Garret and I are in the same general area. With an HT, person to person, less than a mile is pretty normal range around here, depending on where both stations are. In my immediate neighborhood, my max range with a handheld to a mobile is only about 2,000 feet. HT to HT is even less. Once I leave the neighborhood, it opens up to about 2 miles.

Nah... I am sending you a PM in just a minute to help out, but worst case, we are close enough that we can just meetup and we can go over it in-person.

You must be talking about Mike's repeater on Bull Run Mountain on channel pair 19 (x.650). That repeater is a rock star. It is intentionally unpublished. Any licensed operator is welcome to use it, as long as you are by the rules. Mike wants locals using a specific tone so we don't cause interference with the Ellicott City repeater. If that is the repeater you're talking about and Mike hasn't given you the tone already, shoot me a PM and I'll give it to you.

Actually, you cannot both measure time and know exactly where you are in time. In fact, the more precise your measurement of time is, the more unlikely you are to know exactly what time it is. You can either know what time it was... or experience time in the moment... but you can't do both.

You can also talk to users whom are using FRS radios... usually referred to as Bubble Pack radios, commonly available at Wal-Mart, Target and hundreds of other stores that sell recreational outdoors type of stuff

You have way too many fields populated. Make it look like this... you should have better results. Obviously, set your power to whatever is needed.

Thank you, both! It's very much appreciated!.