wayoverthere

Factory software, in this case, is functional but a pain too...little things like copy and paste not working, tab not working in an expected pattern through the form... There's definitely a balance of cost vs convenience, though I know how that balances is a little different for everyone. Definitely considering it, since chirp seem to have stalled on these.

along with those of use that are just straight up using it as an inexpensive ham radio

I fight the urge with the Vertex stuff...there was one I had my eye on, but apparently software and cables for that are NLA, along with a p25 mobile that only seems to be available in 450-512, not 400-470... (Edit: it was the vxd-720, which looks to be a near twin to the moto xpr6xxx series) i did give in on a Midland P25 handheld, though. something new to futz with. Have it in hand and it's a nice solid little device. Haven't had a chance to dive into programming yet.

Good luck...currently waiting for my 935h to ship I was debating between that and the Q10H for want of more 220 gear, but the price difference and the fact that I already have a 6m (vx7r) handheld left me giving the 935 the nod. Truth be told, I have another 220 handheld (uv7d), but it's vhf (1.25 and 2m) only...current plan is to throw that in the truck with an amp.

It gets to Fresno easy, they say as far up as Modesto and i don't doubt it. On the south end, I agree that coverage to some point in the grapevine (I-5) is pretty likely, as I know one of the ham repeaters lower down (on Bear Mountain) is usable to partway up the Grapevine. You do probably have the bigger ranges over there in AZ, as I think you have a bit less obstructions around your peaks, where Cali has that little "kink" in the valley, and the wall of the Coast Range blocking the coastal cities from LOS to the Sierras

Park Ridge 675 is probably the widest coverage machine I know.

Good to know...I have RT for my 2730, and I've been eyeing the id50/52 (not that I really need more radios, but the near repeater thing would be nice)

I was happy with the sbb-1 on the roof as well; it easily cleared the work parking garage 7' clearance, supposedly) on my old compact truck mag mounted on the roof. I ended up going to a fender mount to be able to run an antenna with some gain, and switched to the sbb-5, which still cleared everything. On the new truck (full size 4x4), even the sbb-1 wasn't short enough on the roof, so I'm running another fender mount. Sbb-5 didn't like that location on this truck, but the ca-2x4sr is happy, so that's what I'm running for now. It does scrape slightly in the parking garage, but nothing major.

The only ones I'm aware of that's similar, dual band, and good quality, are the CompacTenna Laird does make single band phantom antennas, but not dual band, as far as I know.

I was thinking the same...back to the ground plane and no mount, and see if the swr goes back to the high 3's. if so, it would seem like the mount is the issue, in some way. if not, that would point to something is awry with the meter.

If you have a multimeter, disconnect from the radio and antenna/mount and check continuity on the outer connectors end to end, the center pin end to end, and do the center to outer. First 2 should have continuity, 3rd should not. Same story connected to the mount...center pin on the mount to center on the cable, outer threaded to connector on cable. I tried one of those Nagoya ground planes and didn't see good results, but that 19.99 is saying a broken connection or short to me too

(i'll note i wrote most of this on sunday, but somehow forgot to hit "Post"...i think it mostly still works...) Thanks for the screenshots. Given the success with your Ch 10, the radio is working, and i went through most of the listings for the repeaters listed (except that last one), and it looks like your programming is pretty spot on with the listings. Under normal usage, as @SteveShannon mentioned, you won't normally be listening on the 467.xxx to hear if you have something coming back from the repeater. It IS a good way to at least confirm with another radio that your transmitting radio is indeed transmitting. To rule out a tone issue, i'd probably switch all of them from tonesql to tone, and use transmit tones only, unless you're SURE there's another repeater in range that you'll want to filter out, then test again. From there, the other main possibility I can see is range. I do see the bit of variance between the reported ranges of those repeaters, so i do wonder how accurate they all are...I know the mapping just draws a circle based on the range estimate entered, but real world sometimes varies. @WRKC935 is quite active on here, and could likely say better than any of us what the actual range and pattern are like for that one. This map is an example from one of the ham systems here in CA, mapping signal strength through the region (in fairness, i'm not sure if this is modeled or on the ground tested), and note how signal strength varies based on obstructions. there'll likely be a bit less variance in pattern in flatter regions of the country, but not usually a 100% circle.

The two I know with wide enough ranges are the aforementioned comet 2x4sr (which has worked well for me as well, and is currently on my truck) and the tram 1181 (some have had good results, not so great for me). Both can be a little picky about having a good ground plane.

Kind of a chicken and the egg...less use because of less equipment, but less equipment because of the double whammy of less traffic and NA being the only market for 220. Edit: this gave me the nudge to go ahead and email BTWR about future availability of that UV920p. Maybe if we can show some interest we'll get another run? Edit#2:heard back from BTWR, indicating the 220 version is discontinued the remote head would be a big win. Too bad the uv980 can't trade 10m for 1.25

I'm a little curious what the end result is of the manual programming in the big picture. It looks like the tone is only being applied on the receive side, though maybe the firmware carries it over to transmit by default. It it wasn't an issue of desense, it has me thinking the manual programming only set a transmit tone (between now working and the missing "c"), and the repeater isnt actually using an output tone as listed.

You're on the right track with repeaters, for the most part. With linking declared "not allowed", you and the other station would both need to be in range of the same repeater. Previously, it was allowed to connect repeaters to each other across the internet; if you were in Maine in range of a repeater that was connected to another repeater in PA, you could talk to someone in range of the PA repeater and vice versa. On your tones, you'll want to set the tone mode for that repeater to 'tone' rather than 'tone sql'. That way you send the tone on transmit, but the radio isn't expecting to receive one back (opening the squelch). Think of tones as a filter. Tone squelch only lets through signals with the right tone, be that hearing your buddy across the field, or that other station over the hill via the repeater. If the sender doesn't use the tone the receiving radio is expecting, it doesn't get past the filter. In the same vein, even for the reoeaters that do have an output tone, you can choose to run without a receive tone (known as "carrier squelch). You'll hear all signals on the frequency above whatever threshold your squelch is set to, since you effectively have no filter in place. If there's no other traffic on that frequency, no issue, but it can be nice to sell which signals are simplex traffic and which are from the repeater, since the repeater output frequencies are also simplex channel frequencies. (Sorry that turned out longer than intended, hope it helps.)

If you're using the preprogrammed repeater channels, they *should* already be using the correct offset (worth checking in the software though). The other piece of the puzzle is the transmit tone; many of the cheaper Chinese radios call it t-ctcss or t-dcs, some repeater listings call it PL. (if there's a decimal, it's likely ctcss/PL, if it's straight 3 digits, maybe with an N or I, that's dcs/DPL). Needs to be set to the appropriate tone for the repeater to hear you. The final consideration is range...are you close enough for the repeater to hear you? The limits here will depend on the repeater's antenna, and surrounding terrain.

That's one of the big things that kept me from getting a triband mobile. I have a couple handhelds that do, the wouxun is 5 watts, 2m/1.25m, and the yaesu vx7r does 300mW, iirc (220 was unadvertised for that reason, from what I read...it also has the standard 2m/70cm, and 6m. I kick myself for not grabbing a uv920p (wouxun) when they were available, as there was a 2m/1.25 variant with 50 watts each. But for the amount of activity, it was hard to justify the cost of that or the Alinco, plus an antenna. The less expensive route I went was one of the Btech amps, to kick the power out of the handheld to 30 or so watts.

Noted...I'll add that to my other post. I think if I were going this route, it'd probably be the rugged for the ability to use a no ground antenna.

There is a Nagoya version out there with sma connectors: https://www.ebay.com/itm/124178030161 (not recommended per @Lscott 's experience with this type) Rugged Radios ses one with a nmo base, but will likely need a no ground plane antenna: https://www.ruggedradios.com/products/suction-cup-antenna-mount American radio supply has a couple others too: https://www.americanradiosupply.com/window-glass-mounts/

IT deficiencies in a gov agency? Unpossible!

Generally, it's within a day or two of showing up on ULS that it will hit this site's database to allow registration. Occasionally there will be a bit of bad data in the "feed" coming from FCC that requires admin intervention, which can take a little longer.

I want to say the word I've seen is using the "enterprise" workaround to keep it supporting the current version is good through next summer.

Good to know on the lookup. On the address, thing I notice the first one (that redirected) has a typo in it (mygRmrs dot come)...is that the address you entered that redirected? I have seen a number of pages that play off of misspellings of popular sites that will funnel into those scam/popups/malware type pages, but a little worrying that edge doesn't pick up on that where chrome does.

This will be the key ^^^ If it requires being logged in to use the search, drop your callsign in the thread, OP, and one of us can look for you. Can't remember your callsign either? FCC search to the rescue! https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/searchLicense.jsp