kidphc

Lol... he said smart... jk... This is one of the more helpful sites. Regardless, of the topic. Being in the radio world you kinda get the whole know one understands you and this again look often. Sometimes I think I need to choose my hobbies better. The otherside of the coin. I have met some incredible life long friends that I wouldn't have if I didn't choose some of the hobbies I have. Now you have us.. be as radio weird as you want to, we all understand to an extent. As I stare at my scrap brake line 1/2 wave antenna outside the shop. You should be able to reach, Ellicott city, Towson maybe Cumberland as well. Mt. Holly relatively close to you is a strong repeater as well as the ones up in Winchester. Get that antenna up high and start scanning.

So another update. Di-electric grease and fixing the center conductor on the coax/pl259 connection. Drastically improved the scratchiness. Signal reports are slightly better then 1/4 wave. Still get you are scratchy, barely above noise floor but readable in the low spots where the 1/4 was unreadable. Think at this point it maybe a keeper. Due to the survivability outweighing the advantages of the 5/8th over 5/8th for my normal usage. Slightly better then 1/4 slightly worse then 5/8th over 5/8ths. Might be a different story when the xtl5k is finally installed with 70cm repeaters. The gmrs repeater is in Wheaton, md and just an absolutely incredible repeater. That puts 80% of ham repeaters to shame. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Going to play with it a bit more. Dielectric grease and wire wheeled the paint off the antenna where the second set screw is located. Already knew a 3/4 was not the way to go. Also found on the coax. Center conductor strands were bent. So, soldered it back up and cleaned up. Hopefully, signal reports get better. If not any better I am looking at a 5/8 or 1/2 laird nmo where I will replace the whip. Past experience with tuning with a coil and a different whip was not a good experience for me or the outcome. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Yeah. When I look at pictures or around the nmo it looks like I already have some roof damage to the sheet metal. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Need more testing step forward in clearance. Step forward in survivability. Step backwards in reception and transmit. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

***Initial signal reports. Usual route i take home. So a fair comparisons, since I know where the holes are for spotty or weak coverage. With the Signal Stalk, most reports were scratchy and having background noise on transmit. I was also getting hashing on receive. The dip around the Morman temple was reported as really really bad copy. As a comparision,the usual reports when using the Laird B4505 CNS were like sitting in the room next to me, clean as a base station. The dip around the Morman temple usually reported with this antenna as scratchy with sometimes a drop out.

I thought the sti flexi was more flexible. Well I thought by some of the pictures. Is it about the same? Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Yeah mine had a glow in the dark tip. But 3d printed base. Nice to know they are making changes. Especially, with the warranty if something happens you get a replacement. Lifetime warranty doesn't apply to the stalk antenna. But he sells replacement parts. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Agreed. Been happy with mine. Part of the reason I was willing to try a signal stalk. Of course, little things like signal stick (3d printed antenna connection) not being finished (layer lines from 3d printing) let you know it is a small operation. On the signal stalk the ferrule to the nmo doesn't match the colors of the nmo base. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Well minus the price. For $40 vs the usual 80-100 Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Unfortunately, at work. So I"ll just do the signal test as I use it normally. Thanks though

No. Signal reports as of today, just got it installed. Btw. Don't run out and buy one just yet. It is a 2m 1/4 wave and 3/4 wave 70cm antenna. 3/4 have a weird radiation pattern and a take off angle of about 60‐70 degrees. So who knows, how this will work in the real world. I should of have taken 2m sweeps but failed to. I really wanted an antenna taller than the 1/4 for 70cm p25 and gmrs, i was also hitting the 1/4 wave in some garages. 2m was not a consideration, so I didn't even bother. Because of the garage/tree thing I started searching for nintinol antennas. 2 came up signal stalk and sti flexi ( about 2x the price). The sti was ruled out for the first round due to the cost and the cut chart would of had it back at 1/4 wave for gmrs/70cm. Might still try it in the future. Going to look at my buddy Seth's sti antenna to see if it is more flexible. ** the signal stalk is flexible. But no where near a signal stick. You will not be able to loop a signal stalk like a signal stick. I think you can loop the Sti (will check when I get the chance). *** DO NOT try to trim with cutters. I recommend a bolt cutter or cut off wheel. Even my pneumatic cutting off wheel at the shop took some time to cut through it. On the order of 5-10 seconds. Usually, it will go through a steel whip in 2 seconds. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Cut off a hair more than an inch (1") whip measurement 19".. 446 Mhz (national 70cm calling Swr was at 1:1.4 swr. 472.7250 Mhz ch22 repeater input the Swr was at 1:1.49 swr. 450 Mhz swr (target mid band) was at 1.08 Swr. Note: weird curly q in the Smith chart. Never seen that before. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Initial swep of the uncut signal stalk measures 20". About 2.5 swr at 467.725 Mhz. 1.75 swr down at 440Mhz. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Sadly hidden and blened in with the telephone pole. Retaking the photo.

Uncut Laird b4505cns. Swr sweep. Always impressed with this antenna. It was mounted in the same place the signal stalk was located. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Found there wasn't much info on the signal stalk. So might as well put it up for people to see. First off, the signal stalk installed.

Good to know. Kinda spoiled with all the mobile units. Almost don't want to go back to the ht with an external antenna days. Ocassionaly, have to throw it in high power, I often find myself on fringe of some of the repeaters. XTVA with the xts5k is redundant with the XTL5k. So the XTVA sits in the garage with all the hardware. Who knows maybe I'll get permission to throw it in the JKU or the wife's van one day. Now talking about a $2.5k APX.... i'd probably go your route, but throw the amp in just because.

Probably will separate the antennas. Plus if a 1/4 is wracking crap in parking garages the diamond well it will become scrap metal fast. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

When I get the vhf unit I will be installing another signal stalk if it works well after trimming. I would rather punch another hole in the roof then run a diplexer if I can. I love the fact the pre-amp on the vhf models are a flashcode and not an add on board. Marc, Any reason you went with a high power vhf? Are you going to run dual heads or run a w3? Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I'll have to talk to Marc next time there is a meet. Or if I catch him on bullrun. I ordered a signal stalk. 1/4 2m, 3/4 wave 70cm. Mostly because it's nintinol and more then 1/2 the price of a sti flexible antenna. 1/4 wave, unfortunately is play the antenna song in parking garages. So want max flexibility. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Because unlike Ham repeaters. GMRS repeaters are usually privately owned, thus private party. Even ham repeaters don't need to be published or shared (most are, and are owned by clubs). A local repeater to me is not published but open to GMRS users. We do have problems with unauthorized (non-license) and people whom are purposely/willingfully interfering with the repeaters. Yes, we have a semi active group hunting for this person. It so bad, so much so that the repeater owner is pulling tones. Requiring several dozen users to have to reprogram radios. He has even discussed the idea of completely pulling the repeater off the air or switching frequencies. Its better to be a contributor then one of the nuisances. You of course could spend the tens of thousands of dollars to properly setup a repeater, if you have a location (that doesn't cost you $2k a month, like a commercial site).

That is what I was reading. They are on ebay for about $500. I read somewhere that some SS (special services) had motorola configure a dual brick with the 05s. Not sure but my buddy whom I bought the radio it is an S split,using modded cps to get it in the "q" split without the "out of band" message. Said not to stress about it, that he's help me when it comes time... Sooo cryptic. Long story short. Told me to run an extra power cable and canbus cable as he handed me the new cables. So we shall see. Good news is I found an antenna that might work well with GMRS and 70cm UHF p25. This too is a we shall see. Since the spread is about 38+- mhz. From one end of the band to the other end of the band. Which is huge to cover short of using a 1/4 wave with high swr on the edges.

Yup, unfortunately most of the XTVA I was looking at were also missing the amp. I could find the amps for uhf, but they were damn near the cost of the XTS. Friend suggested just looking for a mobile Telewave amp since the Moto one was a Telewave to begin with (take with a grain of salt, I might have been having another stroke during the conversation.)

It begins. Replacing the CDM1250 for this beauty of a XTL5k... Gotta get it installed.. Now to figure if I really want a VHF brick to dual brick it or run a second O5 head in the rear of the truck with a hangup set to get cool points. Just too bad even mid power VHF bricks, and the DTMF mic (standard doesn't fit well in my hands) are silly priced right now.