Frdbronco8
-
Posts
9 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Classifieds
Posts posted by Frdbronco8
-
-
Well I went and ordered one. Getting it outside on the roof is going to be a bigger project than I expected so I threw it in the attic for now. Will see if it makes a difference compared to my little 2.5db antenna I had. Swr is 1.75. Dropped to 1.4ish when I held it down in the house below the attic so I'm guessing being so close to the roofing is raising the swr a little but not enough to be too worried about. Funny thing is my Ed fong antenna was a 1.05 but didn't seem to work any better (or maybe a little worde) than the cheapo amazon antenna I was running.
-
2 hours ago, GrouserPad said:
I too was looking for base station roof mounted antennas and had your exact question. Ultimately I went with the Retevis ma09 462to467 Omni. It is really broad banded across the gmrs frequency range and has an excellent swr on repeaters and simplex channels. But and this is a big but, I don’t feel it receives distant signals very well and am going to pull it down give it to my mom and put up something better for me. I’m 12’ above my roofline to the coax connection. Ranch. Need to find the best Omni. My search is on. Currently talking an average of 3 to 5 miles home base (4watt tdh3) to my 50watt ocean kg1000 mobile and mag mount mxta26.
I was eyeballing that one too but there were just enough questionable reviews to make me pause. This Comet is about the same price and a nice size but I don't want to keep buying antennas with little to no improvement.
-
I see this for about $100 and 42 inches long but I can't find much info about it online. Perhaps it's newish? Everyone seems to really like the Comet 712efc but its 10ft tall. I was wondering how this would compare as I would like something that doesn't stick up quiet so high. Also a few bucks cheaper.
I'm running a 25watt mobile and currently have a small antenna in the attic. Figure if I'm going to go through the trouble of mounting something on the roof I'd like to upgrade the antenna at the same time.
Thanks!
Andy
-
On 8/5/2024 at 11:39 AM, WRVG829 said:
I purchased a Retevis RA-86 recently and have come to the conclusion that the receive side of the radio is defective. Strong signals that will come through just fine on a handheld are broken up and sometimes completely wiped out by static on the RA-86, both in simplex and repeater mode. I've upgraded the antenna that came with the unit with a Nagoya UT-72G with no change in reception. I've also added a ferrite choke to the power cable; no observable change. I've run a QYT KT-8900 in this vehicle for years without reception issues with a different (2M/70CM combo) antenna; I don't think the source of the noise is the vehicle's electrical system.
So here's what I want to know: is the RA-86 just an inherently poor quality radio? Is the BTECH GMRS-20V2 any better with regard to RX/TX? Because of the layout of the dash in my truck and my desire to keep the radio movable from one vehicle to another, I'm favoring the 'one hander' style radios with all of the controls and channel display in the microphone. I need to be able to use this on both simplex and repeaters. Is the Midland MXT-275 of better quality? I've heard such negative things about Midland radios from the Queen, I'm not sure I want to even try one.
Anyone got a clear view on the relative merits of these?
Curious what you ended up doing. I was just programing one for a friend and noticed the same thing. I did a radio check on a somewhat distant repeater and recieved a reply that I could hear on my nearby handheld. The reply said I sounded very clear on the ra86 but I couldn't hear the response on the ra86, only occasional static.
-
On 10/13/2023 at 2:10 AM, WRYS709 said:
If you are in GMRS Mode, you cannot change the Power setting with either the front panel buttons or the microphone buttons; they are locked down. You must use the Programming software.
If you "open" the Radioddity DB20-G (or Anytone AT-779UV) to MODE: (136-174)(400-470)...
You can change many of these settings on the fly, so that you would not be required to remove the radio from your truck and bring home to keep programming.
I have attached the "GMRS generic" code plug that will work with this MODE for GMRS and you can build it out to your localized repeaters, etc. from there, if that would be helpful to you.
Although it is named "Anytone" it works with either the Anytone version 2.01 or Radioddity version 2.02 CPS software.
Let me know if you have any questions.
NOTE: Even though this Codeplug is programmed to be consistent with Part 95E rules for GMRS, some people believe that its use on GMRS in the “open mode” is inconsistent with the radios Part 95E certification and hence, use at your own risk.
Anytone AT-779UV GMRS 202310130140.dat 13.95 kB · 37 downloads
Thank you! I've been trying to program GMRS and some others after the "unlock" but it wasn't working. This made it so I was finally able to. I really like this radio (mines the DB20g) for the size and price and even for the controls on it but the programming via computer was driving me nuts.
-
Thanks for the thorough review. I would love to see someone with your knowledge and equipment compare this $25 amazon antenna to the Ed Fong as well. I put up an Ed Fong (GMRS) and was having some issues so I ordered one of these to help trouble shoot. My problem ended up being a connection not related to the antenna but I did back to back comparisons from a mobile unit at my house (antenna in the attic) between the two antennas and the Amazon antenna seemed to work better on simplex talking to a HT a few miles away. Both work fine on my local repeater. Might be due to the lower gain in my hilly tree filled area? Curious if anyone else had tried it.
-
2 hours ago, amaff said:
There's a few different frequency range options it has available. The most wide open one will allow transmit on GMRS, yes. It's been a while since I've looked at the options but I believe the GMRS and the 'full' unlock are the only ones that allow it.
EDIT:
Modes:
GMRS
Europe (EU Amateur bands, I'd imagine, but I haven't investigated it at all)
136-174, 400-470 <==widest open
144-148,I tried this and it wouldnt let me write a new program to the radio with gmrs channels. Aaid something about outside of frequency. Also showed these two channels when i read from radio. I was able to manual dial in a gmrs freq and transmit on it. Would love to have my gmrs programmed and have the ability to TX on a vfo frequency in an emergency if needed.
-
For clarification, if you "unlock" this can you still TX on the GMRS channels or do you have to change it back to GMRS?
Comet CA-GMRS antenna anyone?
in Technical Discussion
Posted
Listening to some simplex traffic (TX frequency of local repeater with nearby people) and it's hard to say if it recieves any differently. Maybe only a touch better than my HT that I'm holding (hoped it would be way better than my ht). Did a quick test with a ht in the car and it seemed to TX a little stronger to a couple spots I have tried before but not a big difference. Will have to try with a couple people later on that I know we're just out of my reach. I wonder if the 712 would be much different?