marcspaz

That looks like it could be fun! But, yes... anywhere there is enough stray energy to light a bulb, its probably best to spend as little time as possible. The sad part is, so many people are soaking in it every day and don't even know it. BTW, if you still like going offroad, Rausch Creek is about 2.5 north of there and is an amazing park to play in.

Look at part C. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/47/95.1761

Everything is underground in my neighborhood, but when I get in areas with major above ground power lines, the low end of VHF and the high side of HF are all but worthless. Sometimes as much as 20 S-units.

Yes. I tried a different mount, coax and antenna. The cables I tried are RG8u and RG58 with studded whips on a direct chassis mount, and RG316 that is built into the K400s mount. I might move the whole setup to my car, instead of the truck, to see if it is vehicle specific or if its the radio.

I have an FT-8900R with a new Diamond K400s mount and a Diamond CR8900A antenna. The radio is acting like I have a ground loop issue, but I can't rectify it. On 10m and 6m, AM mode, I get very bad alternator hum and when my climate control fan or engine cooling fans are running, they also cause a hum. All of the noise goes away when the antenna is disconnected. With the radio manually placed in AM mode, the problem does not exist on 2m or 70cm while the antenna is connected. It only happens on 10m and 6m. I moved the antenna and transceiver from the back of the vehicle, to the front. I bolted the antenna mount to the front fender, just inches away from the battery, and then grounded both the fender and the mount to the negative battery post with a 1 inch wide ground strap that was only 7 inches long. I connected the transceiver power lines directly to the battery, with both the negative and positive leads under 18 inches in length. The issue still exists. I thought it may be a bad alternator, but my son is an auto tech, bench tested the alternator as well as load testing it in the vehicle. He said everything looks fine and there is only a 0.02v AC ripple; well withing normal tolerances. I tested the ripple voltage myself and found the same results. Also, a bad alternator would not explain the two electric motors also causing a hum. As a side note, neither of my other two HF AM radios (Ham and CB) experience this issue. Also, if I hook up a proper 1/4 wave whip, it gets worse, including testing with a different mount... implying the antenna and mount are not the issue. Any advice on further testing and possible remedies would be greatly appreciated.

I see even the cheap $29 MFJ duplexers are advertised as a splitter/combiner. Seems reasonable that a high quality duplexer would, too.

Sounds like a kid I once heard say he put 7.5" pistons in his 6 cylinder Mustang engine to get higher compression for his supercharger... and now it runs 9 seconds in the quarter. I never laughed so hard in my life.

QFT

Some of these companies do some tricky advertising. Hopefully Kenwood isn't one of them. I am aware of a major brand who advertised their radio as 50 watts, but I only measured 42. When I called and asked about it, they said the 50 watts was on a FSM with one of their "high-gain" antennas. For most companies, it's based on a perfect line and a perfect dummy load. Real world is a different story.

LOL Too funny. 3 leg through-hole. Actually, all of the cold joints were on through-hole connections. Guess the wave pan wasn't hot enough or the board flexed to much when it was heated and cooled.

If there were actual springs or spring steel, I could see that. This was a solid pin sticking up from the board and someone or something clearly tinned both parts... they just didn't drop the last bead to make the connection. If it wasn't for the fact that they were touching by coincidence, the radio would have smoked.

Today, the audio circuit in my MXT400 took a dump. Turned out to be a free fix. A bias resistor on the audio amp transistor base had a cold solder joint. I looked around the board and found 4 more, so I touched them up too. Worst thing I have ever seen... the center lead of the so239 was NOT soldered to the RF output circuit. The connector was just screwed to the chassis and the tip was simply pushing against a pin that was sticking up from the main board. No solder... just spring pressure. Needless to say, I fixed that, too. Not too happy I spent 2+ hours fixing a brand new $250 radio due to poor workmanship. At least none of the parts fried, which is a plus. I am becoming less and less of a fan.

Hey Howie, welcome. Unfortunately, we don't publish specific repeater information in the public forums, to prevent unlicensed users from abusing the service. I can tell you that between the "Maps" feature and the directory, it looks like there are potentially several that serve your area. If you haven't created an account on www.mygmrs.com, you will need to in order to access the directory. It is a separate login from the forums. Once,you are logged in, look at the "Maps" and search the directory, include the whole state and sort by city. You should be able to see the same repeaters that I do.

EMP FTW!

Hey Chris, You have to be sure that TSQL or DCS have been previously enabled/activated as a separate configuration process, first. If the DPL type you want to scan through is not enabled prior to following the guidance on pages 38 and 39 of the owners manual, it will not work.

LOL I was thinking I was the only one who thinks like this. I have a Midland MXT400 and 2 BTech handhelds that I use for spotting while offroad and other outdoor activities with an extremely high risk of falling in mud, getting full of dust, dropped, etc. They only need to work for 100 yards, max, and for less than a minute at a time. I'm not interested in getting a $800-$1000 worth of quality mobile gear full of coal dust.

You can create a login account at https://www.mygmrs.com. Once your license is verified and account is activated, you can search the database and get the information you would like. The owner is in the process of weeding out old data and updating the database and website. To prevent unlicensed users from abusing the service, this information is not shared in the public forums.

LOL!

Sounds like a gap waiting to be filled by a motivated and talented individual.

Wow! I only tested at 5 feet/meters. It didn't dawn on me to see just how far I could get. I'm really shocked... but I shouldn't be. LOL

My guess/opinion is that someone cherry-picked a "special" radio to be tested or the results are fraudulent. Again, just my opinion.

If I were to do it... it would be for the fun of trying. There are enough CCR's on the market that it doesn't have a practical purpose.

If the Midland and the Luiton truly have the exact same board, that means firmware is the only thing stopping the MXT400 from being wide-band capable. Makes me wonder if I should try flashing one of my 400's with a LT-590 image?

When I was a pro drag racer, my registered business was Street Jam Racing, but DBA Five Guys Racing. 100% of all business was done as Five Guys Racing. I always assumed BOND Telecom was DBA Luiton... one and the same. Never looking into actual registration info, though. Didn't really seem important. LOL