kidphc

2x24sr definitely is a very big compromise antenna. I think At mid GMRS Band around 465, it was about 2.1 SWR. The Laird 5/8 over 5/8 hasn't been cut, but by the factory cut chart 472 is right around 1.75 in its stock form. Still waiting on adapters, will take measurements later. The Laird completely kills the Comet in everything from weight, construction, and rigidity. If you have held a 2x24 you know it is heavy antenna that feels unbalanced(like it is a sword or something) when in the hand, the Laird feels about 3x heavier. I might get rid of the 2x24sr, because good grief the antenna is so stiff the mount is always shimmying. Yes the Laird 5/8 is 2x-3x the cost of the Tram or its competitors. I feel it is justified. Plus the famous Laird center contact pin, no more bending tabs. Even the center pin on the Laird makes the Comet push center pin, feel like a chintzy toy out of a gumball machine.

So some reporting to do from real world, only about a week or so. Repeater is on top a water tower (about 100' up) at about 427 feet in elevation for the base of the watertower. Comet 2x24sr (hood shoulder mount) Using the FTM400XDR The Comet 2x24sr I received a lot of reports of breaking up, barely getting through the noise floor (40 watts), in/out with receptions. and a lot of dead spots when connected to a very good repeater. Dead spots, lots of static Was able to test with a repeater in Glenmount MD, to Frederick, MD. Got about 30.36 miles (48.4 km) of rolling hills, elevation changes sometimes up to 100 feet. Spotty, but was making it in with 15watts hashing getting bad. 1/4 Laird Unity antenna: (on roof 18" in front of rear hatch lip) Using a CDM1250 Decent, very small, tip barely clears the roof rack. Much better reception and transmission when compared to a shoulder/hood mounted Comet 2x24SR antenna. reports of a lot of scratchiness and but legible. Laird B4505CNS 5/8 over 5/8 No Ground Plane. (on roof 18" in front of rear hatch lip) Using a CDM1250 So far my favorite. Until i start clipping garages and such. Best reports (Sound like you are sitting next to me.) Little to no scratchiness even at low power Area I call the Mormon Temple Curse, is a dip and snakes around the Temple. It is a bad dead spot for this repeater. The highway dips there and gets curve. I call it the curse, since it is where the highway snakes with high angle banks, sun peers through 3/4 of the year with the visual attraction of the temple. It is the only antenna, that makes reliable contact transmission/reception with a little scratchiness on receive and transmission. (a lot of it is the antenna location on the truck) Now i get occasional squelch breaks, and transmission from other repeaters (Towson and Ellicot city) that between 18-26 miles away depending on my local topography. T

I agree with your synopsis. Nice setup btw. I can only think of like 1 or 2 instance where this would even be useful. Even in those instance I would say a director of some sort or yagi beam antenna would perform better. Most repeater owners don't want the expense of a repeater to have a concentrated area of reception, again most. I would think most want the largest foot print around the antenna, really comes down to the purpose. I have always kinda wondered about the wagging of my antennas on my truck and it's effect on transmission and reception. But haven't noted any really doppler or picket fencing. Biggest changes always came down to my ground plane on my truck. Mount it on the fender, meh... up on the roof of the truck and it started competing with some base stations.

More notably the drivers for the LEDs. You could try some RF clip on chokes. You will need to figure out if the noise is coming in through the power leads or the coax. Wrap the cable a couple of times through the choke and clamp it. If it is coming through the power leads, hopefully the radio is connected to the battery. It could be a grounding issue or ground loop being caused.

I was using an anytone at6666 10m unlocked so I could listen onto 11m ssb. Frankly, if I remeber I was experiencing the same thing sitting still. So can't tell if it was people just off frequency. But it was a lot of playing with the clarifier to get it to sound natural or atleast the way it was suppose to be. Not like that unit has the best clarifier. Hell even find neutral on it was spin all the one way then other and try to find the middle. Kinda wish it had a center detent. Crap I wish all of the controls gain, power and squelch are all had detents. Far cry from the Ft991a at home. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Ok. Don't think I have heard that. Or did I on 10m/11m i am messing with the clarifier a lot so could be the sideband shifting.

Here is one of the best way to start. Start asking away.

Mag mounts can work really well. I hate the rust spot it left on my Suburban after 2 months of use. Not to mention the pinched coax. Personally, I say drill the hole. If in doubt, drill from the inside. It is harder to get accurate measurements, so it might no be centered properly but atleast you won't have my problem. I got lazy and paid for it. If it works for you and you are ok with the compromises. Then you do you and blank out the nay sayers.

More updates. GMRS related this time. I was about to pull the trigger on a Wooxun 1000g. When a buddy said "Nope, how many radios you need". I was promptly n 24 hours handed 4x Motorola CDM1250 pre-configured for GMRS, new brackets, new hand mics, new power lines, new NMO with Motorola 162-174 1/4 wave antenna and a link to the CPS v12.05. Which began a hunt for the remote kit, remote head wiring and programming cable, thank you flea bay for 2 of 3. He turned me onto a retired fireman buddy (Thank you Mr. Keuchler). Whom had 2x original remote head kits at a great price. 2 days later they were in hand. Then began the procrastination and got side tracked looking for a EDC hand held. Welp back to the truck. Radio brick is mounted to a molle panel on the back window. Wires being routed and tucked behind as much stuff as possible. The radio head I chose to mount below the AC controls. Looks tight but I have a clear view when the truck is in drive. Originally, I had planned for the head to be above the FTM400XDR, but due to the chunkiness of the head and associated bracket I nixed the idea. The magnet mic was removed from the AT6666 (which I still need to install) new holes were drilled into the molle panel and the FTM400XDR mic moved to the new location. Not sure if I am a fan of this Motorola mic, its a bit big for my hands. I will have to look for a replacement. Other then that I might end up fabricating an L mount (again connected to the molle) to get the radio higher and more solidly mounted. Onto the fun part... F was it fun, no it wasn't. A 30 minute job turned into 2.5 hours of OMG WTF. After measuring 6x times from the edge of the sunroof to the end of the hatch. Moving the cross bar on the roof rack to a location I marked the pilot hole Took a deep breath, and started. Why all the measuring I was trying to avoid a cross beam roof support. Well as you tell by the long winded story, FAILURE. It went from smiles to cursing in seconds, as the drill slow down, with a lack of patience I got the pilot hole through the edge of the cross beam support, YES!!!!. NOPE.... Right through the dome light, which is held on to the liner and roof with sheet metal though a different support. OH MY F GOD, you idiot. I hadn't removed the headliner, due to that being a 3 hour affair by itself, can we say Toyota overbuilt this truck in all aspects. I had to grab a 90 Degree pneumatic drill and bore the hole out from underneath, then clip away some of the support mount to get a flush clean contacting with the NMO. Little did I know the back half of the roof has slope towards the rear, so the antenna when mounted looks crooked (antenna is bent a little so doesn't help) in combination with the forward cant of the 11m antenna looks terrible. No photos of the install, just too embarrassed and not my proudest nmo install. On the way to replace the Larsen 2/70sh. Are 2 antennas, Laird Technologies 450-470 1/4 wave and Laird Technologies 5/8 over 5/8 B4505CNS. I may consider a Laird Technologies B4502NS 1/2 wave, since the 1/2 is about 10" and the 1/4 is about 6" vs the 31 odd inches of the 5/8.

I have always wondered if the swr on the Comet 2×24sr was better then the 2/70b because of the fact the engineers took the antenna bending at speed into account. So a static swr test would show a better swr on the 2x24 then that where the 2/70 would perform better (compared to itself) with a dynamic load. I have seen people claim that with a flexible antenna you can experience doppler effect from the antenna wagging in the wind. Personally, never experienced and fading in and out not even on a 7ft long mobile antenna. But who knows. 2/70sh is not cutting it in certain areas. I think it may be a signal shadowing more the multipathing issue. New properly pre-tuned antennas should be here today. The repeater in question is in Wheaton, Md over 100' off the ground, is on a water tower. It has performance the rivals or exceeds several 2m ham repeaters in the area and is down on power even comparatively, due to power caps in their respective services. Not the repeater or ita gear (old commercial repeater hardware, it was built the way it should have been.) I know the Mormon Temple, corresponding dip by it on the highway poses an intresting rf issue. Since point a (repeater) to point b the Temple sits between the two in almost a straight line, closer to point b (the highway). Recieve can be spotty but obviously transmit goes from scratchy to garbage to nada, as expected. So the question was posted for more of a study of reality vs theory, in this case internet hearsay vs reality When I get the proper 5/8th and 1/4 wave gmrs antenna I will report back. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

So a longer antenna should experience less. Trying to figure out if I want to use a 1/4 wave or a 5/8 over 5/8 on the roof. Put side of the 9" vs 31" lengths. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Any answer is more insight then no answer. Started wondering if picket fencing wouls be higher on the longer antenna due to it whipping around more and adding to the mulipath issue. Or even if the higher gain can cause issues with the ability to capture more signal, due to the surface area. But your response would say that neither really would be a differential that contributes. Thank you for your response. Curios what other operators have experienced. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I read something that said that 6db antenna for 450-470 at about 31" picket fences more then a ¹/4 wave which is shorter and flops around less. Therefore exhibits less picket fencing. Anybody have input or real life experiences? Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Originally couldn't find it. Then edited the post to reflect that I had found it and where. Unfortunately, the edit tab doesn't have the option to change font like a normal full reply. I'll change the original post again with strike through font. EDITTED: THIS STATEMENT IS NOT TRUE AND FOUND THE SETTING: Under Optional settings "work mode" tab in CPS v2.05

Nope didn't want to publish something that is everywhere if you look hard enough. Anytone has been making changes to keep the FCC happy. I believe this is one of the things.

Couldn't change mine without the utility. "out of band" when I tried to upload. May have been a firmware change.

Yeah, the CPS will show it, but it will not physically change it on the radio. You need the AT option exe to make the physical change on the radio. The model information in CPS only lets you change the CPS to program it for that mode.

As far as receivers.. The THD74 beats out the Anytone. I am not shocked though.

I think if the firmware is the same there is really no difference between the 878uvii and 878uvii +. It is interesting to note they bother to get it recertified. So what ever it was there was a change beyond the memory I think. With mode 14, I had no interest in 220. Even on the 878 series the power output at max for that band is reduced to Medium. It was more to unlock the radio for out of amateur band transmit as well as not to have the radio locked down to professional mode. Most of the commercial modes allowed up to 480Mhz. EDITTED: THIS STATEMENT IS NOT TRUE AND FOUND THE SETTING: Under Optional settings "work mode" tab in CPS v2.05 "There is no professional/amatuer mode selection in the CPS any longer. So the only choice is to choose a mode that is already preconfigured to amateur mode or lose the Front Panel Programming.""

878 god page gobs of info. Quick link to fix the "out of band" error ****cough *** Cough*** Fixes the problem you have with in the first part of your message. PM for the password if you can't find it. **hint Model number only with #, at least for the 878 Verified compatible with CPS v2.05 from anytone and RT systems 5.00.67 for the 878. Yes, I have both. No RT system will not do all the free CPS will do, so don't uninstall it. Just found it easier for channel changes then the original CPS.

Some minor changes i believe like contact list/dmr list size increase and APRS capability increase (receive/decode and TX instead of TX only. Wonder if there were any other hardware changes.

Weird since it seams to work fine with the standard rubber duck it came with. The nagoya 771 and signal stuff antenna showed marginal improvement. It is sitting under a desk in a concrete/cinder block/ steel building 40 feet from the window and it is receiving GMRS repeater about 10 miles away and a 2m repeater 18 miles away no problem. Haven't really tried simplex. Of course I can't get cleanly to either repeater unless I am outside and about 60 feet away from the building which is 2 stories high with a commercial steel flat roof. You have an 878uvii+ or one of the other model?

The 74a is worlds better then the 878 series. With that being said new it was also twice the cost. Bridgecomm said it best if it was in the class of a thd74a with a full tnc it would cost almost as much. Which I agree with. Can't say anything about reception on digital. Still learning the wonderful world of dmr. With pi prices the way they are I am just saving up for an open spot 4 pro. Wanna trade? J/k. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

So I ended up with an ANYTONE 878uvii +. It is built more like a commercial radio then like an amateur radio. It does show this most apparently, in the programming and some feature sets. Don't mistake it for an APX, XTS, Unity or anything in those class of radios. By amateur ht standards she is a heavy radio. Nice little radio. Minus the two following features that I don't agree with. 1. Not a true dual VFO. It is more like a since VFO radio with a dual watch feature. The dual watch being the sub-channel. I think this is where a GD-88 wins out. 2. The APRS... OMG the APRS is fustrating. - After contacting Bridgecom, you need to have an "APRS receive channel". Confirmed it will only hear packets when the sub-channel is set to the APRS RX channel. However, if that channel is in say the sub channel (fake VFO 2), guess what it won't auto TX packets. It will however, TX a beacon whenever manually. -- Only found this out after hours of testing and contacting Bridgecomm. The bluetooth rocks... Now I want all my radios to have a true bluetooth option, not with dongles and crap that don't work with half of the headsets out there. Only con here is that when pairing, it doesn't show friendly device names but rather the mac id/serial id. Compared to the BF8HP its world above it in reception, clarity and Front Panel Programming. I swear by the butts of pants meter, it hears better and gets out better. If you pick one up for an all around use radio, I believe like me you will be happy. Unlocking, the radio to use out of band, well was easy once I actually figured it out. Hint, you need a separate piece of software to do it. Also, do not start programming till you unlock, the CPS wipes everything out to start out new. If you don't you may get the "out of band" error message when trying to upload. When compared to the options available, it hit the marks as far as cost and features. Would of loved a mars/capped THd74a, but now a days they are fetching close to 3x the price of this radio for a used clean example. Which is right with a little luck is around the price of the Harris Unity, and still 1/2 of an APX7000. I was gifted a XTS1500, starting to play with that so it will be interesting to see the differences between a near 8 year old commercial radio and a new ham/business radio. If there are any questions please feel free to ask. I will try my best to answer them. Thank you to all that contributed to the thread.

1.0 is what you are shooting for. Anything below 1.5 hell 1.7 is acceptable. Just a tad more power loss on transmit. Will you notice difference? NAH. Normally, if I can get an antenna system to get around 1.2 I close my eyes and forget it all happened. No need to be OCD about it.