marcspaz

@WRKC935 true story about many new Ham and the ARRL. But the new Hams need guidance, which is where we come in as elmers. While it's all anecdotal, my experience is a little different than yours on the EmComm side. I am an engineer by trade and work for several government agencies as a consultant. I have been around long enough to notice cycles in the EmComm world. What I have seen is, some major "thing" happens and only Hams and DOD are talking to anyone. They incorporate Ham volunteers into the response plans. Nothing crazy happens for a decade while everyone tries to figure out how to replace the old, overweight or disabled Amateur volunteers (because young people just aren't stepping up). They build their new technology on the same single point of failure instead of learning from the Hams. Another "thing" happens and then they are activating RACES again because none of their stuff is working. The whole thing is pretty funny. We actually did a drill last year involving a Code Black, including internet outage. The higher ups wanted to see how we could move data from one location to another (several states apart). They were calling on digital radio trying to get my team to do stuff and we flat out ignored them. Our EC called and said "why aren't you answering the calls on the radio?" Of which he promptly got a reply of "What calls? The internet is down, remember?"

Not trying to derail the topic too much, but this is a huge pain point for me. Amateur radio is not a "hobby". There are hobby aspects to it, 100%, just like there are hobby aspects of GMRS and FRS. However, its really intended for non-commercial exchange of messages, experimentation, private recreation and emergency communication. It has origins dating back to the 1800's and the birth of radio as we know it. There are huge amounts of technology that exist due to amateur radio, such as microphones and even cell phones. In fact, the antenna type used in every smartphone in the world was invented by an amateur radio operator that is still very active in Ham radio. Just a little something to think about.

Honestly, I'm not surprised. An HT inside a car is a low performance radio (generally speaking) inside a big metal RF trap filled with RFI generating electronics. Even if you had an external antenna, unless there are some repeaters in your path with good elevation, I would expect your range to be less than a mile. If you were driving alone, I know how boring it can get. Unfortunately the radio choice in this case wasn't the best option if you were looking for company. When I travel alone, I usually use 20m and 40m. You can find operators day or night.

Along with the power issues Micheal mentioned (causing damage by have the two antennas close), there is a chance you are building a two element vertical UHF beam and don't even realize it. A full wave length of a GMRS signal is about 2 feet (61cm). If the antennas are 2 feet apart or any correct segment of wave pattern within a couple of wavelengths, the passive vertical will act like a reflector and the slim jim will act like a driver... essentially creating a focused beam that hears better for a pattern 40 to 60 degrees forward and creates nulls (where you can't hear as well if at all) of about 40 to 60 degrees behind it. So yeah, combine the possibility that you are fringe of the repeater making placement critical and you may have accidentally built a beam making it so it can't hear in the direction of the repeater, the terrain may be an issue and you are looking at almost 10 dB of line loss per hundred feet with both the LMR195 and the RG58, I'd say you need to make some changes. Find a sweet spot on the roof using an HT (as mentioned above), ditch the PVC for fiberglass or wood, get 1 piece of LMR400 or better hooked up... you may make it work.

@MichaelLAX the weather, specifically lightning, is extremely predictable in the Mid-Atlantic. We don't get random storms and NOAA/NWS does such a good job that they are typically correct within 30 minutes as to when the weather is going to start. Even during the peak of the season, we go weeks without rain/lightning. So it's pretty easy to disconnect when a storm is forecast. If I am going out of town, like to Florida or New England, I disconnect before I go. I don't have any base station equipment in Florida. 23 years in this house and never lost a radio or amplifier. I did lose 2 antennas to lightning strikes, but even with proper grounds and lightning suppression, the antenna is getting taken out on a hit.

Unfortunately, grounding an antenna system is a lot more technically involved than many think. If you don't do it correctly and ace the proper protections in the right location(s), the only thing you accomplish is increase your odds of a direct or indirect lightning strike. I do EmComm for the local government as a volunteer and my home is a radio relay station. None of my antenna systems are grounded. If we are experiencing lightning, my antenna cables are disconnected outside the house and if I need to act as a radio relay during lightning, I switch to mobile/portable operations, which has a significantly lower risk. My recommendation would be to use a professional grounding guide or one from ARRL and follow it to a T... hire a professional antenna installer and electrician to do it for you, or disconnect the coax and toss the cable on the ground until the weather passes.

The Comet antenna should be good to 470 MHz. Have you tried using the Comet? Also, as mentioned above, some more info can help us help you. What cable type and connectors are you using? How long is the cable run and is it all one piece? How many watts of output are at the radio? Did you test the antenna before you put it on the roof? Depending on how long the cable is, you can get a false SWR reading at the radio... have you tested the SWR of the antenna? Two issues I see right off the bat, those two antennas are too close to one another for a few reasons. Also, PVC acts like a dielectric insulation, so we don't use PVC to hang antennas because it can change the frequency response of the antenna. The PVC at the top and bottom of the antenna, as well as along the side may be causing issues. I would recommend fiberglass rods, wood, or use an antenna analyzer to verify and set the antenna length to account for the capacitance created in the loop, introduced by the PVC. I would be least likely to do the last option I listed because you will still be susceptible to drastic SWR changes with wet weather.

@gortex2 I have a meter that I spent about $700 for that measures line loss. It's been pretty good to me so far. LOL

This is a great video of physicist, Dr. Greg Latta, explaining what exactly SWR is and how it impacts your radio. At an hour, it is a little slow, but very much worth the watch if you want to learn exactly what is happening.

@wayoverthere I had the same problem with three BTECH radios back to back within 2 weeks, with the third one completely going Tango Uniform within the first 5 minutes. I gave up on all of their mobiles.

Yes, I tested on a Vectronics DL650. It's rated for 1 MHz to 650 MHz at 1,500 watts. Also, I tested "real-world" on my Diamond X300 repeater antenna. My analyzer shows it has a 1.1:1 SWR at 462.5 MHz and if you watch the Diamond cross needle meter in the video I shared, you will see that under a load in the 462 MHz range, the SWR needle doesn't budge. So, the systems ALC isn't pulling power. Good questions to ask, for sure. EDIT: I forgot to add, some people mentioned being interested in seeing the meter/etc. during testing, but I had already broken down everything in the office/shack and moved to my R&R desk in the basement. Since I didn't feel like going back upstairs, setting everything up again and breaking out the camcorder, I just hooked it up to my amateur repeater antenna and power supply and shot the video using my webcam on the PC. So the recorded test is on a live antenna and with the Diamond watt meter... but the better test with the good equipment was not recorded. There was a 1 watt difference on the 462 MHz frequencies and a 2 watt difference on the 467 MHz frequencies, between the dummy load and the antenna. I figure that is close enough to present the concerns.

The numbers were almost identical. It showed a little more power on the antenna (+ 2w), which doesn't surprise me. As the load varies slightly, you can expect measured forward power to move a bit.

Michael, that is fantastic and exactly what I would expect! Thank you so much for taking the time to perform this test. It is very much appreciated and helps confirm my data.

I highly doubt that is going to happen. I need a weather resistant radio for offroading with no roof and doors on my Jeep. I have been pulling my mobiles and using cheap HT's for my trips and its getting old.

Dude... Midland just completely punked out. They said the specs are 42-50 watts. They are trying to get out of it by saying it's close enough and my gear. @gortex2 The 12 feet is the total length of the antenna transmission path. I may have added too much information, causing some confusion with that statement. There is only 3 feet of patch cable between the radio and the watt meter and the meter shows a perfect 50 Ohm load, so the rest of the path, after the meter should not be relevant, no? My loss meter is showing 0.102dB on the patch cable. The watt meter is not reading at the end of the path, it’s the first item in the path (not including the cable). Even if we get really picky and add the typical 0.019 dB per UHF connector, we are assuming a total of 0.204 dB of loss, not 1 dB. That should be a total measured output power of 47.7 watts. Would you agree? I’m not trying to give anyone at Midland a hard time. I am a life-long Midland customer, purchasing CB’s, FRS and GMRS handhelds and GMRS mobile radios. I love the products. The main reason why I am even complaining is because my MXT400 (siting right next to me) is putting out the exact same power (measured) as the MXT500, which is supposed to be more powerful. So I hop people can understand my frustration.

I tested the radio using a 40 amp Astron adjustable power supply set to 13.8vdc for the power source. For a load, I first tested with a Diamond X300 Repeater antenna and a Diamond watt meter. When I did not get the expected results, I move to a Vectronics 50 Ohm resistive load, monitoring the output with a Tectronics oscilloscope and a Bird watt meter. I am using just 12 feet total of LMR400 patch cables and they all test fine. It's got a clean signal with minimal spurs. My SWR on the live antenna was 1.1:1 and the dummy load was a perfect 1:1. This radio is NOT putting out 50 watts.

That second paragraph doesn't make any sense to me. Why would you want to restrict everything, including Ham, to 12.5KHz?

I don't think the hardware exists inside the radio to support 2m transmission. Did the Anytone start life as a multiband radio with modified software/firmware for GMRS?

It's really simple.. Don't expect to be impressed unless you are looking to be impressed with the simplicity and ease of use.

@MichaelLAX I wouldn't hold my breathe. LOL I did open a ticket with Midland, today. We'll see how they goes.

@PACNWComms This is going in my Jeep for offroad use, replacing my MXT400. If I have any issues like that, I will let you know. I use my GMRS radio almost every day. I still have my MXT400 and the original mic. The radio and mic/cable are in fantastic shape. Anecdotally, every single CB, Ham or GMRS radio I have seen with a messed up mic cable, the installer put the radio too far away, leading to the user over-stretching the cables. Also, the user and installer were typically the same person. LOL

Here is a quick video of the measured wattage. Sorry I just tossed everything on the bench pretty quick...

I have a 40 amp adjustable power supply that I have set to 13.8v. I can shoot some video when I get home if you are interested. Looks like @gortex2 got you hooked up with the software link. On the Midland page, where it says MXT500 Programming, just click the setup link. The software includes the USB driver and the programming software.

Solar panels are noisy... but usually more so for HF stations that use sideband. I'm not sure you will have issues with UHF FM. Maybe a little desensing. I haven't had any issues at the house, with the base antenna next to my solar panels. Might be worth testing with a mag mount before buying something and running cables.

I edited the original post for clarification on the "two meter / 2m" confusion. I appreciate the feedback.