gman1971

I tune for the lowest return loss at 50 Ohms. Which is never the same point where the lowest return loss actually is. G.

I would test simplex, portable-to-portable, ground to ground, anything else tested with repeaters is doomed to succeed. From my house, I can hit every GMRS repeaters within 25 miles with my BF-888s the same way I can with my XPR7550e, which would make the 888s an amazing radio... but when actually doing simplex, I am lucky if I get more than 1/3rd of a mile with the 888s in suburban terrain. Yes, the S24 is a nice little radio, but again, testing anything with repeaters is doomed to succeed. I would use the 6550 RSSI meter to measure actual signal strength. The 6550 can be used to calculate site noise threshold as well. For the XPR Gen2s you can easily remove the rear cover and put a Hirose to SMA adapter in there, that is how I run ISO-tee tests on those radios. G.

So, how is the test?

Two Rodinia variants, EVX-S24 (Rodinia Lite) and XPR7550 (Rodinia 2.1) both direct sampling receivers... the EVX-534 and XPR6550 are dual conversion superheterodyne receivers, with a 5 varactor tuned front end. Both EVX-534 use the same receiver the 6550 does... IIRC. As for the VX-261, that one I have no idea about it. G.

Good, ICOM... good good!! a good warp drive jump away from the CCR landfill... G.

Congrats on the Kenwood!! I see several new members are going with Kendwood radios!! Good!! Good!!

If you really like the radios, I also recommend getting the factory cable from a dealer, that way it supports the manufacturer so they keep making better than CCR radios. G.

TLDR... LOL... yeah... nice thread!! YMMV was the one I could never figure out... glad someone saved me the search query!! G.

That sucks. I think you'll like the moto better, plus it looks really cool on the radio. G.

Ideally, you want to tune the antenna to 50 Ohm impedance, not lowest SWR.

For the EVX-53x portables (and 5x00 mobiles) , you might need to align the squelch in the radio alignment menu. I set mine on all my EVX radios to open at -129 dBm, and its night and day. Stock is set to open at -116 which might not be ideal for weak signal work. Most earlier Motorolas (non TRBO) can be also aligned with Tuner to get the squelch to open at about noise threshold... the TRBO radios you need to run tone squelch, otherwise they won't open as low as my "aligned" EVX-5xxxx radios. The Moto 6550 and 7550 without tone squelch will only open at around -122 dBm, with tone squelch they will open all the way down at around the same as the EVXs with the squelch set. G.

Get a Kenwood LMR radio, and I would just keep the UV82, its inexpensive enough and you have a spare radio. G.

You're right, 50w max, my mistake. 50 and 65 won't make much of a difference The max allowed power for MURS is 2W, not 5W. G.

Well, not sure about the VX-4207, but the cheap cable won't work for EVX radios. I've already tried. You'll need the FIF-12 G,.

The 5400 is a very nice radio. Which cable did you order? the FIF-12? G.

MURS allows for digital data only afaik, no digital voice is allowed. So you can do things like remote control via digital using MURS. Repeater operation in MURS is not allowed, regardless of repeater configuration. Even the suggestion of using an 65 Watt AT-578 on MURS with encryption is not something I would be posting about in a public GMRS forum I own one of those and I think its a part 90 radio. G.

I would say NanoVNA v2, it does everything you'll need. G.

There are good antennas made by Diamond, certainly in my experience better than the smiley ones. I can hit a repeater 25 miles away from inside my room on 1W using my XPR6550 equipped with the PMAE4048A. Not sure if this is good enough. G.

Exactly what happened to me... I spent a ton of money and things didn't perform to my expectations... and 2 mobiles and velcro.. yep,. that sounds like a good plan to me! don't forget the cable! G.

We are in agreement here, I would love for all Motorola radios to be made here, in the USA, and if I had to pay a bit more, so be it! I am already paying for every XPR7550e I get, so a few extra dollars aren't probably going to break the bank. I think the APX radios are made in the USA... but yes. I am in agreement. I own a Chevy, a Ford and a Chrysler... the first two were made in the USA, and while FCA is not American, I was alive when Chrysler still was American. So yes, I am rather conscious about that, but I've owned imports before as well, so it depends on what I need to get out of it. I would love for everything made in the USA to satisfy all my needs, but sometimes you have to accept the fact that other countries can also produce pretty decent stuff as well. Except both Ford and Chevy usually perform just about the same, in overall specs, within vehicles of the same class. SUV made by Chevy perform about the same as SUV made by ford, one might have a bit of an edge here, there, etc. CCRS? not so. I have zero allegiance to Motorola, or Kenwood, or ICOM, or anything man made, for that matter. If ChungFu Radios Co. LTD, started producing 50 dollar APX8000 killers, with more bands than you can count using your fingers, performance so darn good that I could hear FRS radio chatter in Mars, on any modulation,... then you betcha I'll be getting those... unfortunately, they won't ever produce such radio b/c they don't know how (the cheap manufacturers), and if it ever existed it won't be 50 bucks, regardless of where it was made. If they could steal Motorola direct conversion Rodinia architecture and stick it in a 39 dollar CCR you bet they would... these manufacturers overseas only understand one thing: $$$$. G.

Ohio is too far for driving down from Madison WI, if I was closer you betcha I would be there in an instant! G.

return loss was -6dBm, impedance was 86 Ohms... not what I would expect for a "tuned antenna" The PMAE4048A is tuned perfect for the GMRS band. G.

I still think spending money on anything beyond a Baofeng BF-888s is a waste of money for a beginner. The 888s one-chip wonder and the Wouxuns superhets I've tried had similar crap performance... as in, I couldn't get simplex radio-to-radio (no repeaters) worth crap. So, if you need a cheap starter radio then look no further than the BF-888s. Its a 9 dollar radio, if you hate CCRs you can smash one with a hammer on a daily basis and still be cheaper than buying the overpriced Wouxun CCRs... and once you get the gist of it, (or if you don't like GMRS/Ham you can smash it, shoot it, burn it, or throw it from a 20 story building....), but if you really want some decent family comms, then I am afraid you'll need to skip the toys and go for what real professionals use to communicate over long distances. I've tried simplex with every possible combination of CCRs, and none worked. What do you mean by "all we want in a radio"? I only want one thing in a radio: Range, anything else I can live without just fine. Not sure what you're looking for in a radio, but if range isn't at the top of your priorities then anything goes, just make sure next time you upgrade your phone you the cheap one that only has coverage in ~3% of the CONUS. It will be the same thing. Well, If these radios offered real ranges for simplex the I would've been set a long while ago... unfortunately, you won't get the same kind of ranges you get from two XPR7550e radios simplex, on foot, suburban terrain, no matter what antenna you stick on those. In fact, my XPR7550e have more range without the antenna than some of those things on a 5/8 over 5/8 base collinear... If they stop making them I don't think it will be something I miss at this point. I feel its quite a scam, TBH, its basically taking advantage of beginners just to sell radios that were developed (or I.P. stolen somewhere) 6+ years ago, for a price where you can get an excellent condition used Motorola XPR7550e or something like that. LMR radios can do both, narrow and wide. My EVX radios can even do 12.5, 20 and 25kHz without any entitlements. Motorola XPR radios require taking a free class to get the entitlement for 25kHz... after that you're good to go. I am sure the Kenwoods and ICOMS are on the same boat. G.

Totally, 320 is the price of a used XPR5550e on the fleaBay, which I know for a fact it will destroy the Wouxuns. G.

That is the reason why most PDs have gone P25 AES encrypted, so they can't be eavesdropped. But still, even with AES, there are people who will jam the police using their radios, etc... G.