kidphc
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Posts posted by kidphc
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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.
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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.
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Initial swep of the uncut signal stalk measures 20".
About 2.5 swr at 467.725 Mhz. 1.75 swr down at 440Mhz.
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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.
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13 minutes ago, gortex2 said:
I run 1/4 wave on both my UHF and VHF on my truck. I also run the LArsen Tri Band on my truck (4 of them) but I find the 1/4 wave does the bulk of my work and does it well.
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.
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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.Oh! If you want one antenna that does it all, get the Diamond NR7900a. It is high gain. VHF/UHF power rated 250w/300w respectively, and covers everything we need to do on amateur and GMRS. Probably the best mobile antenna I ever owned.
https://www.diamondantenna.net/nr7900a.html
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When I get the vhf unit I will be installing another signal stalk if it works well after trimming.Ahh...yeah, I think I missed you were trying to have 2m on the same antenna.
The signal stalk is great on flexibility and durability, and does great signal wise on 2m and 70cm... haven't tried it for gmrs. The tram 1181 is a hair shorter, and on my truck was the difference between hitting all the beams in the parking garage at work, and just hitting an occasional one...it isn't as flexible as the signal stalk though. I think your truck is taller, too.
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?
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I'll have to talk to Marc next time there is a meet. Or if I catch him on bullrun.I think [mention=2213]marcspaz[/mention]has used a tram 1/4 wave that had a nice wide bandwidth in UHF...I don't remember the model number,.or how is measured out across the range though.
On the larger side, I know the Browning br1713bs has a nice wide bandwidth (410-490 rated) and showed low swr everywhere I tested in 70cm and gmrs (1.2 or less)
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.
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12 minutes ago, zzz said:
I have seen some discussion about private repeaters that folks have put up, that they do not want the masses to have access to. So they keep the tones private, unless someone is in their group or sometimes they charge money for access. I understand the moral implications to my question, but I am curious from a strictly technical point of view...
If I find a repeater that's access tones are private, why cant I just scan for the codes, assuming I know when someone is transmitting, and eventually gain access to that repeater?
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).
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On 2/22/2023 at 10:49 AM, gortex2 said:
To do Dual Brick on the XTL you need the W3 head, SP Firmware and a SP cable that's pretty hard to find. It will not work with the O5 head. Your best bet is a second O5 head if your going to add VHF into the mix. Your right VHF decks are not cheap these days. For a while they were pretty reasonable but everything went up in the last couple years. I've seen some APX decks for the cost of the XTL.
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.
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On 2/23/2023 at 11:32 AM, tweiss3 said:
Yea, I don't understand how the VHF stuff is so expensive all of a sudden. I just picked up an XTVA with the HHCH for an absolute song to play with, since I have a XTS5000 in UHF, and wanted to see if I could get a VHF and about choked at the prices.
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.)
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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.
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No firmware crack is available that I know of.
The sister amateur radio I know people have been able to unlock, not a gigantic amount of information out there on how.
The firmware is the main difference between the two radios.
There is really no point to open tx the radio. Since the kg1000g has the ability to listen to ham bands it is tx locked on those frequencies. -
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Only currently on gmrs repeaters.
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You don't need to mars/cap to listen. The radio just needs to be wide receive capable.Thank you all. I looked at the anytone 878uv as an option. Part of me hoped the 50 watt kg-1000g could be unlocked but that's from my old habits of thinking more wattage is better.
I like to monitor marine bands but not talk since I'm not licensed and this radio wouldn't be in a boat.
I will likely get my ham license one day but plan to monitor for now to see if it's something I want to get into.
I like the idea of the Kenwood and Motorola mobiles but programming sounds tricky and even getting the programming software seems challenging.
I'll have to look more into the Mars/Cap thing since this is all new to me but I'm hoping to monitor more frequencies and transmit on GMRS.
Thanks for the help!
Maybe a $20 sdr from Amazon and a long wire might be something to look at for receive.
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13 hours ago, marcspaz said:
Mike W. told me one if the troublemakers around here is mobile and just drives around DC metro and messes with people on the repeaters.
Part of me thinks "don't feed the monkeys and the will go away" and another part of me feels like we should do a fox hunt.
Yes, it is clear this is user is a radio guy.
1.) Figuring out the tones to unpublished repeaters. Knows to keep transmissions short (less than 5- 10 seconds). Is constantly moving about, by being mobile, as well as being completely random. It makes it difficult to fox hunt, uch less get a directional bearing.
2.) Seams to live or travels in the Montgomery area.
a. really likes Wheaton repeater. Rarely hits 6xx 7 corners or the other repeater there. Only kinda heard him once on Bull Run, count your blessing.
This person is more intent on messing up transmissions more than anything else.
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Biggest issue with being non compliance (opened up) with this radio.Agreed. This is a case where non-compliance is harmless as long as the person using the radio is acting responsibly. But for people who worry about strict compliance with the letter of the regulations, having it spelled out may help.
Is fat fingering when programming the frequencies on gmrs. Well that can happen also with ham frequencies.
Just double check and triple check your code plug over 2 days before hitting the ptt, is my suggestion.
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Not even really necessary to have 2 unless compliance is sought after.This!!
Two of the Radioddity DB20G radios with one configured for GMRS and the other opened up to the ham bands and there’s not even a question about compliance.
Since opened up, you can have all 3 bands (in which case a single radio now would be out of compliance in the most strict sense)
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Funny enough. Starting, to hear sad gmrs users.Good point. Not too mention the sad hams complaining about your post. LOL they don't even see the irony.
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Whining about not having extra frequencies, more digital allocation bandwidth, digital (thx btech pro) on repeaters, among other things. Even encryption..lol..
No, they are not hams. I know some of them personally. Even tried to convince them to get tickets. More whining ensues.
The fact is our beloved service will go the way of cb. Where you can't turn it on around kids because of the behavior and language. Enter the jerk wad who is on local repeaters, broadcasting music, scratching the mic and ptt'ing when someone is talking to stamp/distort the transmission.
God, nowadays I wish I had the money to put up a business repeater.
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Actually, with my crappy antennas the sdr hears better then my ft991a. Plus displays more on the waterfall. Since atleast with the sdr (using adr console). I can zoom in faster and more then the radio.
You can hear on the sdr and transmit on the radio. Doesn't mean they will ever hear me, again crappy antennas.
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If you can get a dealer to give you ham friendly pricing. The kenwood for mixed amateur/gmrs usage works for a decent price. Then make sure to get what you want. Unfortunately, you aren't going to get ham friendly pricing from motorola. I perfer motorola and so does a good friend, whom sells, programs and modifies commercial gear.That is an option. Although, I must admit, I am very biased again all 5xxx series Kenwood radios. I used to be an engineer within the JVC/Kenwood Group.....and my current employer has NX53xx radios as part of a confined space radio project. I prefer Motorola (or in reality Harris military) radios over Kenwood/EFJohnson/Viking with only a few exceptions for several reasons.
Kenwood has tried to do too much via software in the 5xxx line of radios, and you must be very careful hardware/software wise, that you get what you want when you buy the radio. Many municipalities for example could not afford P25, but grant money only flows for P25 capable radios. So, Kenwood said they would offer P25 as an add on option at a later date. When that time came, the radios needed to be sent back for an additional hardware module, so they could then be software updated for P25 capability. Kenwood and other parts of the "Group" hired to many Microsoft software engineers that thought you could update everything like a laptop computer, and most lacked any radio, dispatch, telephony, or even amateur radio experience. Majke sure you get what you want on the "NX" path, or you may get burned, more so if you buy hundreds at a time. (Might apply or not, this is a GMRS forum after all, if you only get one or two used units at a huge discounted price).
It is definitely a bit outside the gmrs forum aspect.
But anyone like the op looking for a vhf rig capable of gmrs. Me included. Is in a bind. Act crappy ccr radios that can be unlocked, cap mod a ham rig or mod (using nod loosely here) commercial gear. Commercial gear kinda sucks because being able to tone select and fpp. Really is only an option on gear produced in the past 10-15 years.
I was looking at a dual rig xtl5000. Just decided it would be better to wait till an APX 8K series was more affordable. For now cdm1250 and ftm400 will do.
Btw. At home I am running an Anytone 779 which is the same radio( little cheaper) as the Radioddity db20g, upstairs for the wife (gmrs). Unlocked for ham vhf/uhf use in case. In the shack it's a cdm1250 and ft991a.
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Signal stalk tuning.
in Amateur Radio (Ham)
Posted
Unfortunately, at work. So I"ll just do the signal test as I use it normally. Thanks though