marcspaz

I don't understand what all the commotion is about. Talking to people is way overrated. Most of the time I can't stand talking to people I love. Never mind strangers on the radio. You guys are weird.

I am pretty sure they don't not have any.

Email is fine and all, but why would you want to limit yourself to a single person? The information and guidance you are looking for is here in this forum. No one person knows everything. However, the shared knowledge and experience of the group is limitless. There are several engineers, technicians and and self-taught operators on here that really know their stuff. And trust me.. we will call each other out and sort through it, if there is bad information put out there. OffRoaderX gave you a great answer. Take his advice and confirm you don't have receive tones set. Also, if you are in or near a home or building or in a vehicle, you may just be seeing random radio noise (called RF Interference or RFI), tricking you into thinking there is activity. This is especially common near charging bricks/wall warts, computers and 9v cell phones.

@Sbsyncro It is not possible to enable and initially program the MXT500 "unused channels" 8 though 14 via FPP. Those channels can only be initially enabled and setup via the programing software (Windows compatible and free from Midland). Once the channel is enabled and programmed, only very basic things can be programmed via FPP, such as the tone configuration, bandwidth, power, talk-around, etc. So, programming on the fly is not possible. However, since you know in advance that you are using 15 and 17 as "Club1" and "Club2", there is no reason why you can't accomplish your goal using the programing software to set it up in advance.

Not that I am aware of. GMRS Repeaters are not coordinated by anyone. The FCC doesn't even manage Amateur Radio Repeaters. I'm not sure why someone would say that they are not allowing any new repeaters, when the FCC never processed approvals in the first place.

Looks like a great, non-invasive install. I hope you have a good time with it!

Ah, yeah, all that makes sense. A third hole seems like the best option. I have used screwdriver antennas on lip mounts while stationary, but I would not drive with it on one. A solid body mount is really needed. I have used a Little Tarheel 2 and a Diamond SD330 HF screwdriver. They both work great. I wanted to try the Baby Tarheel, but they are out of stock everywhere. I can't even find another Diamond.

This is just my personal opinion. Unless you have a mobile high gain / beam antenna setup and plan on working world-wide FT8 while mobile, I wouldn't waste 10 cents on a 6m mobile. In the 20+ years I have been in radio, I have made exactly 1 voice contact on 6M that was past LOS. If I count FM repeaters, there were 2 contacts in 20 years. And even with 100w, my LOS is legit about 2.5-3.5 miles around my home. If you really want to talk while noodling around... get a 20m or 40m mobile. 20m is fantastic as far as users and mobile antenna efficiency, but fades faster after sunset than 40m. I personally have the ability to run everything from 160m through to GMRS in my Jeep, with only 2 radios and 2 antennas, swapping mono-band HF antennas depending on what band I want to work. If you really want to do it anyway, I would use 2 radios and antennas. Put the 6m antenna in spot 2,using a UHF mount and a Diamond HF6FX Monoband Mobile Antenna. Out of all the mobile antennas I have used, this is the one that I had the best luck with. Its the only antenna I made a long distance voice contact with, and on FT8 I worked 40 countries when the conditions were good. Also, unless you are going to keep power around 5w, you're probably going to have to keep whatever radio you are not using, off while talking on the other. If you want to do it all with 1 radio and 1 antenna, get a Yaesu 8900 (discontinued radio) or a clone of it, and a Diamond CR8900A antenna. It is pretuned to give best bandwidth and VSWR over the FM portions of 10m, 6m, 2m, and 70cm. It's not really usable for the Data/SSB portions of the 6m band without a tuner.

@HCCFCA This looks like a great source and advertiser/supporter of the site, too. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/tram-1126-b.html @wayoverthere no doubt. 410MHz-490MHz is outstanding.

Tram 1126-B works fantastic and is very low profile. I have been using it for years and love it.

All 3 pictures look like a much better situation. If the back window positions the antenna higher than your head, that would be the better location for both health and radio performance.

Horrible idea. The minimum safe distance for a 50% duty cycle at 20w @ 467MHz is 3.4 feet. Even 10w is 2.5 feet. You need to stick to an HT or get the antenna outside.

I have a analog Swan power meter that I use for measuring peak AM/SSB power, upto 3,000w. It has a capacitive circuit that holds the peak and slowly drains off. That is the only meter I use for tuning my radios or amps. I use the Bird for legit engineering, bench testing and repairs. I only use my Diamond and Surecom meters for monitoring low power FM power and SWR for day-to-day use. I'll make you laugh... I almost never use the Surecom unless I am looking for a "Wow!" factor for people who are new or know almost nothing about radio. People love stuff that lights up! LOL

Wow... That 4391 is $2,300 and the 4421 is $4,600. I get upset when I spend $500-$600. LOL Those are pretty nice meters and I am not shocked I haven't seen them.

To the best of my (very limited) knowledge, Bird does not make any watt meters with a digital display.

As I mentioned, I would replace the one you have. Not align it. I would never trust it because of how far off it is. To align the unit, there are a couple of different methods you can use. The first method, which is the fastest, but least accurate way, is to compare it to a known good/accurate digital meter and simply use the menu adjustments. The other is to use a generator and dummy load to calculate the value and dial it in. To use the second method, you are going to need a stable signal generator (+/- 2.5 ppm) that will operate at 0.5w, a VAO meter, and a dummy load and appropriate barrel connectors (don't use patch cables). You measure the resistive load to confirm it is indeed 50 ohms. If its not, make a note of whatever it is. Turn on the signal generator while connected to the VAO meter and dummy load, set the generator to 0.5w and measure the current and the voltage. Use E/I*R and P/E*I to confirm all of the measured values are correct and to calculate your wattage. Then, replace your meter with the SW-102 and turn the generator back on. Go into the SW-102 menu and adjust the frequency to read correctly. I can't get SureCom to tell me what wattage we are supposed to calibrate to, so I just used 50w and that seemed to be a good number. From there, increase your wattage to 50w and adjust the voltage controls (forward and reverse/reflected power) as needed. Be sure you have the USB cable connected as a power source while adjusting.

I would try exchanging it first. You definitely have a bad unit, but I think it's just bad luck. Also, the device is capable of being calibrated by the user. Once I calibrated mine, it's as accurate as my Bird 43, which is a benchmark product at more than 8x the cost of the SureCom SW102.

Okay… here are the numbers. I will list what the Midland test numbers are and what I got for results. My results – Max Output: 47.9w @ 462.550 MHz 12 dB SINAD Sensitivity: -122 dBm / 0.177mv Midland results – Max Output: 48.3w @ 462.550 MHz 12 dB SINAD Sensitivity: -124 dBm / 0.141mv Overall, I am very happy. My numbers are close enough to their numbers that I am questioning the accuracy of my TEK or coupler more than their results… probably needs a calibration since it’s been almost a decade.

Good points... Chasing great SWR is not needed in many cases. There is an aphorism I like... "The best is the enemy of the good." or the modern version "Perfect is the enemy of good." It is widely accepted that an SWR of 3:1 is the maximum safe SWR. Many radio's will alert or shutdown transmit at anything above 3:1; and still others will detune (pull back power) if the SWR is otherwise unsafe. At 3:1, if you start with 50w into the antenna, you will have 37.5w ERP (on a zero gain antenna). Not fantastic, but I wouldn't be tossing stuff in the trash either. A 2:1 will be about 44w ERP, which is pretty good. Depending on how performance is elsewhere, I may not even attempt to improve a 2:1 in a low power system. Especially when many antenna manufactures don't even guarantee better than 2:1 on their budget-friendly products.

Along with what is mentioned above, you should be tuning for 465.1375 MHz, the center of all of the channels. That will allow for maximum performance on all channels/frequencies.

I am really tired and hope I am typing this right. LOL There are two types of ohms readings we are dealing with when we talk about these different tests. There is a inductive load which uses magnetic fields to move energy. Then there is a non-inductive load, called a resistive load (aka dummy load). An antenna is an inductive load and the value of the load changes as the frequency changes and as the length and even diameter of the antenna changes. Meaning the Ohms value changes as you change just about anything. A resistive load is a fix value resistor (device that is the opposition to current flow). It's value is extremely stable across great expanses of radio spectrum, and are typically only going to become an invalid test device (not being 49 to 51 ohms) if the material gets too hot or the physical makeup of the resistor is not designed to perform in the specific frequency range you want to test. Even a near perfect antenna install is normally not a good test platform for true/scientific results due to so many variables that can impact the magnetic field as the energy travels from your radio, to and through your antenna. Based on that, typically the antenna systems are not used for testing. On occasion, however, for non-scientific purposes (general discussion) we may conduct a test involving an antenna if the antenna is the subject of the test or the "known to be inaccurate" results are "close enough" to illustrate a point. eh... not exactly, no. You are correct in that the further you get away from the frequency the antenna system is tuned for, the more things change. However, that "thing" is that the antenna system becomes unbalanced and you can start to get artificially low or high power readings. The value you see is the actual wattage. Watts is a mathematically calculated value, which is: Power = Voltage * Current. As we stated earlier, if the load (reactive or resistive) goes up (ohms increases) the current flow slows down. Assuming a perfect world, the voltage in the radio has not changed. There for the power goes down. If the load (reactive or resistive) goes down (ohms decreases) the current flow goes up. Again, the voltage in the radio is assumed to have not changed. Therefore the power goes up. Correct. But that is only part of the process. The load needs to be balanced (1:1 VSWR), but the voltage also needs to be correct, at 13.8vdc measured at the radio. Not at the power supply.

SWR shows balance. If you have a 25 ohm load or a 100 ohm load, it's still a 2:1 SWR. However, if you have a 100 ohm load, the current is lower, therefore the wattage is lower. If you have a 25 ohm load, the current increases, therefore the wattage increases.

My farthest 2m contact was with someone else's gear. I was on Flagpole Knob (about 4,000' ASL) with the Woodbridge Wireless radio club for Field Day about 20 years ago. Stacked beam array, 1500w on 144.2 MHz USB. Talked from Dayton, VA to just over 1,000 miles to an operator just south of Dallas TX. That was pretty awesome.

I wouldn't expect any miracles on 2m. LOS is LOS. Using power to overcome shadowing is a high-loss game. I'll be impressed if you pick-up an extra 0.5-1 miles. My own personal experience, watt for watt and all else equal, I don't get an extra block in my neighborhood, moving from GMRS or Amateur 440 to 2m.

That is what the monitor button is for; to confirm the channel is not or is in use and to see if it may be someone you want to talk to, who isn't using the same user squelch you are.