Extreme
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Posts posted by Extreme
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Ditto.
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Beating the dead horse. My latest long shot. Going for 70 miles as soon as the snow melts and we get access.
46.8 miles. 30w/1/4 wave NMO - gonna pull an SWR on it tomorrow just for snicks.. seems to be working just fine.
Edit: Just got info on the repeater gear (approx 6500' elevation):
"Hytera 40 watt commercial machine, fed into a low mounted (7 ft from the ground) 3db 4 foot fiberglass pole antenna, pondering at moving it to the high gain antenna mounted at 22 feet."
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Had my first issue with 805G. PF1 (Scan) stopped working. Manually set to Scan, looked for it in software but nothing made it work. Contacted BTWR, where I bought it and since it's within the 1 year warranty, they sent me an RMA and off it went for replacement. Great service and much appreciated.
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Just for kicks here's another one. The repeater ID'd on my Kenwood last hunting season but my TX was fried so couldn't play. Will make a concerted effort to try 2-way from home to the far end this year.
Repeater @ 5941'
Mobile @ 8182'
Distance: 68mi/110km
P.S. The portable repeater I've been pondering would be placed near the 8180' spot, considerably higher however (to conceal). Can see forever and I expect I might hit Boise area repeaters from there. Did hear some hams on that same night, but on listen only for now.. and my TX was shot..lol.
Made a 50mi LOS hit on our local repeater from the Jeep. Not 100% it was LOS (still have to visit the repeater site to know) but either way quite a shot with 30w Kenwood 8180. Could barely see the mountaintop and the repeater is not on top. FWIW.
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Hi everyone, just wanted to introduce myself. I'm a GMRS newbie, callsign-WRKZ306, i use my comms for offroading, camping, hiking, and hunting.......SO A BIG HELLO TO YOU ALL!!!!
'zackly what I use it for as well.
Welcome.
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Same with TK-880 & 8180 mobiles
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Begs the question: will GMRS reduced fees take affect on April 19? Someone on here will hopefully take a shot at it on the 19th and report here.
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Sooooo-o-o, according to the Table 2 to Paragraph C the new license is $35. And schedule is effective April 19. Do I read it right?
Page 85-86 show the fee schedule but I'm not finding a date it goes into effect. (or Table 2 Paragraph C). Not doubting anyone's word, and I'm not due til '27, but I'll have to show it to folks when I'm encouraging they get licensed.
Fed docs are the best, eh?
EDIT: Found it in the Fed Register. Release date March 19, effective April 19, 2021. Page 1
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1/4-20 nutserts/rivnuts, 1" bolts to attach bracket to bracket.
Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
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Whew. Done deal. Works as advertised. Programmed for area repeaters and simplex 'wheelin' channels + ham repeaters scan.- 3 zones. Clears the seat slide & I don't ford rivers so should be good. Kenwood TK-8180 with remote kit.
Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
- SkylinesSuck and Mikeam
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24 in DFW area. Check the MyGMRS Map and be sure to select "Show Outdated Listings". Often Outdated are still active.
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I'm using 8 x 8" square of 1/4" aluminum for a ground plane on my SxS, grounded to the frame. Works great.
Something like this might work. Should be stout enough for your needs, easy to drill and/or bend if needed.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HRHB3A0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Wahoo! And such enthusiasm.. Congrats.
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I've got several commercial Kenwood radios with provisions for operator selectable tones in a list.
The list only has room for 16 tones for the radios I'm interested in at the moment. The question is what are the most popular tones used for repeater access?
Operator selectable? Via programming or front panel?
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List of the 7 active repeaters programmed into my Kenwoods. There are 2 other generic repeaters in my radios but have no name since they're not 'assigned'.
Locations range from NW Montana, NE Idaho (I-15 corridor), one in Utah, including a few in my local area and 1 in Quartzsite, AZ.
141.3 appears to be most common. None of these listed have split tone and only one has one tone and not the other.
A couple of these will overlap with other repeaters if/when I travel to other areas.
Unfortunately, there is no selection for "Show Outdated Repeaters" on the MyGMRS Map via mobile app. And that is where I found 2 of my local 'open' repeaters. So, cruising the country, one could drive right past repeaters while never knowing. Plan ahead is what I've done on the standard map. Guess I could build more Groups in the radios and name the distant repeaters.
Probably my only issue with the Kenwoods in lack of FPP to change PL on the run. I know there's a way to make FPP available but I'm not keen on breaking into and modifying a perfectly good unit. Again, more Groups would solve it I suppose.
100 Hz
141.3 Hz
141.3 Hz
141.3 Hz
114.8 Hz
123.0 Hz
192.8 Hz
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Yeah, the Laird I'm eye-balling has a spring which is a must have on the Jeep. But since it's narrower BW might not have to tune. I have an SWR meter coming tomorrow so I'll check it out when installed.
Yes, I forgot to mention, the BR-178-S ("S" is for spring at the base, there is a version without the spring too) has a cut table, and you are supposed to cut the whip according to the frequency to fine tune the antenna. I cut according to the table and have SWR 1.7, which I find acceptable. Perfect is the enemy of good. So, in the end, the antenna will have much narrower useful bandwidth than 380-520.
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I use Browning BR-178-S. Works well. I did not compare it with 1/4 wave, but I did compare it with Browning BR-170-S, which is 5/8+1/2. The 170 (longer) is marginally better in flat lands. Both 178 and 170 require ground plane, but I see you have XJ, so you're good.
The Laird Technologies BB4503R I'm looking at is 450 - 470 Mhz & 15", 3db gain, whereas the Browning is 380 - 520Mhz & 11", 2.4db gain. Is the narrower band of the Laird going to have a 'finer tune' for GMRS? I know 0.6db is negligible.
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Running Kenwood 25w mobile in my rigs. I've run 1/4 wave antennas exclusively and they seem just fine. Terrain is mountainous with constant elevation changes, repeaters are often not much higher (1000' or so) than where we wheel. I'm thinking of spending a few bucks on a 5/8 antenna just to test and out of curiosity, for both repeater and simplex operation (90%), truck - truck.
There are lots of choices but I want one with an integral spring. Overhead clearance can occasionally be an issue but the antenna is easy enough to remove when needed. Nearly all are 3db gain up to 3.5db and from $20 to $50+ and from 12 - 15". These will be installed on NMO mounts with roof ground plane.
I've read what I could about 1/4 vs 5/8 and it can turn into quite a topic of contention; i just wanna try it on my own.
Recommendations, experience on 5/8? I'm looking at Larsen and PCTEL mostly, at the Antenna Farm. Have my Cart ready to go there, just waiting to add the 5/8.
Of course, the one I'm leaning toward is on the high end of pricing. Black antenna for black XJ.
https://www.theantennafarm.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=6537
P.S. Now I'm finding 1/2 wave 5db spring base antennas at 31". Overthinking again.
Thanks.
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I let 2 Birds fly away from my old job. They simple RNA/DNA/RIF.. shit-canned them and I let it happen. Also a dozen Motorola 462 UHF repeaters from our mtn top microwave sites, and HTs. I guess it would have been 'theft' but I know they went in a pile. Lots of test gear went away when we moved to fiber.
I agree. I'm looking to spend part of my stimulus check on a good Bird Model 43 meter myself. I want something I can trust mainly for RF power measurements. The forward and reverse power can be used to calculate SWR if necessary. The Diawa CN-103 I purchased new years ago gives me readings I just don't believe or trust.
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If you are going to use repeaters you will want to change the display so the chan Freq is displayed rather than just channel #.
This is pretty easy. Menu item 19 takes care of it.
Vince
FWIW:
I just select display as Name, name the repeaters with abbreviated location + last 3 of frequency (550, 625, etc.) then populate the name slot of the other channels with "CH 16, 17" etc. Or you might get the frequencies in the Name slot. So, when I scroll the channels via knob or keys it runs CH 1 - 7, CH 15 - 23, and then ELK 625, SPRK 675 for the repeaters programmed. Not an intimidating radio once you play with it. Instructions come with and if you are patient it will become intuitive with practice. I much prefer the simplicity of the 805G over nearly any others I've played with: Baofeng, Retivis, etc.
And as an aside, I posted 25 mi. LOS simplex conversation from the 805 to Kenwood 3170 HTs.
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A dummy load is required when you want to get accurate power measurements from your power meter. A dummy load can help confirm your SWR meter is (at least partially) calibrated. A good dummy load connected to the output of the SWR meter (in place of the antenna) should cause the SWR meter to always read 1:1. If it does not, you either have a defect meter or a defective dummy load.
No question is a dumb question if you don’t know the answer to it.
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM
Any preferences?
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Stirring up the stinky pot:
Is a dummy load recommended for checking SWR on HT? I love dummy questions.
Next: Anyone care to share a list of recommended tools to build/modify cable? Looks like I'll be doing a few installs of my own plus some other folks rigs.
Thanks.
kenwood mobile reccomendation question
in Guest Forum
Posted
When programming an 880 V1 after I'd previously programmed a V2 last year, the software picked up on the version difference, gave me a note V1 will not support all the features as V2", to which I simply said OK and carried on. The rest of it went smoothly and no glitches.