kidphc

One of my fireman buddies has about 4 nmos in the camper top on his super duty. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Good to know. A lot of stuff just barely works for gmrs and the other frequencies. I will have to check again. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I tested (in the amateur section of the forum) it optimized for 70cm/ gmrs. Wasn't messing with the vhf side. It worked but for gmrs/70cm it's a 3/4 wave design, so it was just a shade above 1/4 as far as transmission and reception. I would NOT recommend it for gmrs if that is the primary service. Might be good for vhf, as well almost look like a factory antenna. My recommendations doe antennas. 1/4 gmrs/uhf for repeaters. 5/8 over 5/8 for fringe repeater and simplex. B4505 series. 5/8 b4503 series for mixed simplex/repeaters for those with clearance issues. Slim jim roll up ( toss it as high up a tree as you can) for base camping simplex/repeater work. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

A diplexer will not work real well, 70cm and gmrs are too close. With the right diplexer (most stop at 450MHz, the ones that go up to 500MHz can get expensive and sometimes difficult to find). You could use a bcn4503 (5/8th) or similar tune it to 450mhz, get most of 70cm band and all of gmrs on one antenna. Then install a separate vhf antenna. Generally, for dual service 70cm/gmrs the 1/4 waves work really well. They are for the most part, pretty wide banded. Watch out for some of the ghost types, because of the matching network they might not be widebanded enough. Any particular reason you are keep going with 1/2 vhf antennas? Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

You didn't mention if the vhf/uhf bands were for amateur or lmr services. So I will assume for this post you are talking about amateur vhf/uhf. To be honest not really many options and you have one of them. Gmrs is skewed to lmr/commercial frequencies. Amateur bands are just far enough from those bands, as you saw you end up with more comprimises. Part of the comprimises on he 2x4sr (not a terrible antenna) are it doesn't get the best swr for gmrs. It's a thick not forgiving antenna, this is to try and stretch the bandwidth. I had one mounted, where you plan on mounting. Mine was mounted to a ditch mount. The weight of the antenna shook the mount violently over any bump. So much so I went back to the 2/70b. Both the 2/70b and 2xsr, where better on the roof, on the fender mount expect about 65%-75% on the fringes of what you had on the roof. With some skewing of signals due to a pillar. Marc had mentioned the diamond version did better with the swr. We have a thread in the amateur section. Btw, current setup is a 5/8 wave on the back of the roof and the 2/70b on the fender. I am currently tossing up the idea (cheaper route) of putting up a vhf/uhf/7-800 antenna or a triplexer ($200+ for triplexer alone) with each band tuned. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Least amount of loss, aircore hard line. Like heliax. Usually, used on repeaters. Avg $2-7 a foot. Most commonly used for 100ft. Probably lmr400. Acceptable cost and acceptable losses. Avg $1-4 a foot. You could also look at lmr600, but it gets to aircore levels of stiffness, which can make routing difficult. Keep in mind the connectors also come into play. Really high quality "n" connectors can average $25 each. So it's best to set the budget. Your expectations and meet in the middle or what you are comfortable with. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Our numbers have been dwindling. Mostly to our Elmer's no longer being with us. We we were always a small number what is it 1% of the global population. But there are certainly a lot of new hams. Always 2-3 new technicians on one local weekly club net. Food for thought. This snapshot was 40m. For those unaware, each vertical line is a transmission. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

We have those types. Like I say aholes and jerks in every group. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Well. The are things that are essential to the technician test that really are relevant. It is a real easy test (depending on skill and background) most people test with in a month of studying the material. Crap some do it in little less then 2 weeks. Gmrs/frs like cbs are compartimilized/channeled. Lmr/commercial radios the license is set to the entity and not the user. Hence, why front panel programming is really limited if even avaible. Non radio people mucking with a radio isn't a good idea. Most ham radios we can spin the dial (vfo) to whatever frequency in or out of band as we want to a point. Depends on the radio, we get limited also to prevent inadvertant interference. Still happens on band edges. We don't just do what ever, because of interference to adjacent frequencies and band plans as well as etiquite. Don't be that guy. Believe or not gmrs/frs frequencies are actually stitched between lmr/commercial frequencies. Could you imagine the chaos/interference if the service wasn't channelized. Really about 75%-80% of the questions on this forum could almost be answered by just studying the technician material. It covers quite a bit of information. From rf exposure, what antenna style does what the best and its negatives. Different modes of operations as well as light legal information. I for one, do not want to have it go away. It's an easy test, fast and cheap. Gives some rudimentary information on a broad spectrum of radio topics. People miss understand amateur radio a bit. It is amazing the different things you can do. Think about this for a second. We technicians can blast away at legal limit 1500watts. Do we? Nope for the most part no. Several reasons why, but to the average person whom had no knowledge (unfortunately most license by device or no skill test) first thing they would do would be to price the cheapest ht, highest gain antenna and the cheapest most powerful amplifier to out reach and out talk everyone else. Crap if you are close by (30 minutes or so), I will hand you old material, help you study. If you needed the support hold your hand as you walk in to take the test. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

2 Different services. Most of the quality ham gear starts in price, where the most expensive chinacom (not all are bad) gear ends in price. Even the beloved KG100G is a ham radio with new firmware to lock it down for GMRS. Is it a bad radio? NO, its a great to even fantastic radio. Even then there were compromises made to get it into a price point. But the target audience was different. So you always kinda get what you pay for, more features and better components etc. My fengs have always gotten the under driven, under modulated, you are readable but scratchy comments. Wonder if the mics are garbage, actually I know the answer, they are. So not completely shocked about the comments about the UV5R. Wooxun to me has been a good company like Allinco and Anytone, for the most part. Crap a lot of radios now a days, seem just to be retags/reboxed/relabelled of the same 4-5 manufacturer's radios. So generally, you get similar performance across that radio style regardless of it being a bs19999ht 100 watt ht or myass200000ht. I get what the OP is saying. I have been spoiled by ham and lmr gear. I guess I shouldn't say spoiled but kinda had my bar of expectations high. I think some of the Harris radios the receive audio I wish was more like a Motorola. Damn, Motorola radios receive beautifully and most of the speakers have left me with no desire for improvement. Which for me says a huge amount.

Yup. Kinda weary of the used or older ones for that reason. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Most definitely. If you ever need Mouser will let you search for a relay that might work. SurplusSales can have stuff that might work as well.

There are spdt and dpdt switches. But then you would have to do everything. They are also very expensive as you get up to shf frequencies. Guess because they are often marketed to cell providers. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

The 2m/70cm yagi were for ssb with the ft991a. The x200 was for ht/repeater/ fm work again with the ft991a. The gmrs yagi is set for vertical polarization with either a xtl5000 or one of the cdm1250s I have laying around. Sorry for any confusion. Got word back from Mfj, not going to work around 500MHz. The ebay seller said around 450 MHz it is a vswr of 1.5 and climbs fast. So I guess I am running another lmr400 run. Then saving up for a 2-4 port remote switch for the other yagis, vertical and fan dipole. Thanks to all for entertaining this thread. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Sent an e-mail to MFJ about the Ameritron 8v. I asked if they had any documentation on specs post 250MHz up to 500 MHz. I did find this information in the manual VSWR at all frequencies up to 250 MHz. Only a slight compromise in VSWR occurs at 450 MHz. Power rating is four kilo...

Thanks I guess. lol... If the Ameritron 8v was rated to more the 250 Mhz. This thread would not exist. Might contact Ameritron to see what the VSWR is like 250 MHZ up from the rated 250 and 1.2. Might be the turn key reasonable priced option I was looking for.

Kinda a big worry. I contacted an Ebay seller of ip addressed wifi remote switches. I asked to see if he had anything spec'ed for DC- 800Mhz or so. Keeping fingers crossed. I guess I was hoping for a diy kit I could modify with different relays so the losses and the cost wouldn't be obnoxious. Either case starting to lean to surplus 12vdc radial (nominal 10vdc-14vdc) coaxial switches. Then i can simply it power it from the power supply of the radio. Should be an costly learning affair.

Biggest problem with some of the used gear is finding diagrams to help with pin outs.

No clue what the difference is between that and a transfer switch. Hell not 100% positive on what they mean when an ad says its a transfer switch. Just kinda figured it was a mechanical latching style switch. Might just be overthinking it. To the point, I also noted most almost all the transfer switch default to port one.

Yeah that is what I figure. They seem to be straight forward. Staring at more that have a db9 or that style connector. Since it will be much easier to source and rig a serial connector to cat6e with a straight patch or simple soldering. With some of these connectors it might be a complete pain to locate. Been Eye balling this one Another one I have been looking at. It looks even easier to wire up. Please feel free to pick up anything you locate. I am still deep in research stage, with a while to go before I even start experimenting.

I have been looking at surplus switches on ebay. I would need to figure out the controller as well It is one of the more viable options. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I would. But drilling through 3 floors (2 being hardwood flooring) might make the xyl more upset then the coax. Lol Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I have a Diamond X200a in my attic for 2m/70cm fm operation. Was given a 7 element DIY GMRS Yagi. Which will have to go in the attic also, because of the HOA. i was investigating remote coax switches to limit the runs of wires going up the side of the house. Don't want the HOA to have a reason to poke around my house and see my bird stoop random wire antenna. I was planning on mounting a horizontal polarised 3 element 70cm yagi, a 3 element horizontal 2m yagi as well as the GMRS yagi. With a possibility of a fan dipole for hf. However, on investigation there aren't many if at all off the shelf remote coax switches that support vhf/uhf/gmrs frequencies. Most are HF or SUHF (silly expensive). Gonna be hard to explain why I have up to 4-7 runs of coax and control wires etc. Going up the side of the house. It's ugly already the way it is with one run of LMR400. Diplexers are kinda out due to the fact that i would need so many of them adding to the cost. I thought about buying a DIY switch kit on ebay, modifying it to use CX-140D (silly expensive, cost about $300 aprox $70 each just to cover the uhf/vhf ). Really not sure if I have the skills or thought process to do this. I should mention that the current coax line is DC Blocked at the lightning arrestor. So using coax as a control channel will not work. Any ideas or suggestions on economical ways to do this?

Nanovnas are awesome. Especially, when building antennas. But overtly complicated for most. They do have some what of a steep but fast learning curve to them. Most just buy a surecom, really more then enough. Fairly fast and not complicated. If really serious, you start looking at rigexperts and up. But they are $$$. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Part of the reason i love the Harris 100p. 2 check boxes and it won't affiliate or transmit on, said said trunked sets. Unlike some Motorola radios that will try to affiliate if you don't do it right. Then the radio will get zapped, to get it working again the system admin will have to unlock it. But good luck on explaining that and not ending up with hefty fines, the middle finger or some potential jail time. Better to get a scanner for the cost they are awesome. With a GMRS radio you are set. Sure you gotta carry 2 radios, but for simplicity,cost and legality wise it is going to be simpler. Really, wish there was ham gear that could do p25, trunked work. But it would be low volume. To be fair how many repeaters would even ever be set up for trunking? Yep, that is the answer I came up with.