Riktar

Thanks for the info! This forum (and the members of it) are great!!

One other question then: Other people have stated the DB404 antenna is the pinnacle of performance for a base setup. I have not seen and listing for one with a SO-239 connector. How would a person handle the difference between the 2 types of connector in that scenario?

Thank you for the replay and the info! I will try and digest that and use it going forward. While I said I wan't going to try any more PL-259 installs on the LMR400 I decided ti do one more this morning. My reflective power is now down to 0.42 and the SWR is holding at 1.37 so I am going to leave well enough alone. As to your explanation (and again, thank you) about the impedence mismatch between the N connector and the PL-259: Since my Kenwood does use the SO-239 and the antenna has the N, would it be better to just use an n to 259 adapter/connector? From the information I have gotten from others about minimizing the amount of added items between the antenna and the radio I figured that replacing the N connector with a PL-259 would eliminate the need for an extra connector. Or in the case of having 2 different types of connecters, it doesn't make enough difference adding an adapter in vs changing one adapter for another? And for future purchases and/or installs: Avoid getting an antenna with an N connector and sticjk with SO239?

The crimping too (and included PL-259 ends came from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E6804LQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It does a reasonable job: The stripping/prep cutter I am still waiting on: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HDPIG4C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 And while I am waiting (and upon reflecting how "cheap" this stripping/prep too) I am pondering ordering this: https://www.amazon.com/Times-Microwave-Combination-LMR400-Cables/dp/B007JSCV12/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3LMA7BQMYQC2E&dchild=1&keywords=lmr400+stripper&qid=1586031073&sprefix=LMR4%2Caps%2C182&sr=8-1 Now if this was the only time I would be doing this than I would not consider this. But after wrestling with the LMR400 last night and considering my brother and my daughter want to get a home base setup similar to what I am putting together. Maybe I would be well served to buy this. Buy quality and you only cry once sort of thing.

Just tried another crimp. Pretinned the end of the conducter before putting the crimp/solder on this time. MUCH better results. I am comparing my 35 foot "practice" piece to a 90 foot premade MPD Digital LMR400 with PL-259 connectors that is also a bit long for what I need but anyway.... Now my reflected power is more in line. The premade piece is showing 0.53 with and SWR reading of 1.45 and my practice piece is showing 0.48 and SWR is at 1.40 Maybe the tinning helped? Maybe the 2nd time I had practice? In any event I am going to leave well enough alone since trying to wotk with LMR 400 is REALLY fricking hard without the proper stripping/prep tool. At least for someone with my experience level. Thank you all for the replies and info!

The solder/crimp terminals (and the crimp tool) I have are for LMR400. And, well, nuts on pooching the lifetime warranty. Then again, I mis-measured terribly and 100 feet was way more than I needed so I figured I would cut off the excess and experimaent with the shorter 35 foot long piece. Once I get the stripping/prep cutter tool I will give this another go on the "short" section. Hey, at the end of the day there will be a value (to me anyway) in learning about this process. For now my big concern is the increase in reflected power. Could a reading as high as mine cause damage to the radio?

Sorry for all the edits to the above post.

In a manner of speaking. I suppose I should elaborate: Both of the commercially made cables are MPD Digital cables that have PL-259 connectors on both ends. The cable I am modifying is a 100 foot LMR400 cable with male N connectors on both ends. Aside from shortening the cable to 35 feet for a better fit, I wanted to install the PL-259 connector to avoid having to use an adapter on my Kenwood 8180 which utilizes the PL-259 connector for cable attachment. The antenna I wanted to try and use has a female N connector so I thought adding the PL-259 connector on the LMR400 would allow me to avoid having to use adapters to connect the antenna to the radio.

Both of my "commercial" premade antenna cables (LMR400 - 90ft and 15ft) show a reflected power reading of 0.23 and 0.05 respectively on my Nissei RS-50 meter. The forward power is 24 watts and the swr is 1.15 between the 2. I tried my hand at crimping a PL-259 connector on another cable to make a "custom" length. And since I am still waiting on the stripping tool for this I went online and used the example(s) of a box knife to prep the cable. What a pain that is. I hope the stripping tool gets here soon! Anyway, after doing this and hooking up the meter I am show a minor deviation on the forward power but the reflected power has jumped to 1.68. My SWR has also increased to 1.56. While connector installation looks proper on the cable I am wondering why the increase in reflected power? Could I have done a poor job on soldering the tip of the connector to finalize the connection to the center conductor?

When someone refers to the height of an antenna, is that referencing the height of the mounting pole or is that adding the length of the antenna to the measurement?

Thanks for that info! I will look into that!

That probably would be best. There is a Kenwood dealer about 45 minutes from me. They are open for business but most of the staff is "working from home" for the time being. I will call tomorrow and see about dropping off the radio to have it checked.

UPDATE: Just for grins and giggles, I setup the "Non-repeater" channel 17 with the same 141.3 code on the TK-880 and did the same thing to my MXT400 and got the same results. The Midland never "heard" the Kenwood. So then I changed over the codes on both radios to the other end of list (250.3) and boom! both radios were talking to each other. Could this be something along the lines of the Kenwood being "out of adjustment" on the 141.3 setting? Is this something that could be fixed? Adjusted through the KPG-49D software?

I have been reading some other posts on this forum about attic mounting the antenna instead of going the outside route. In my case if I mounted the antenna in the attic (and I do have enough clearance to mount the antenna without touching the rafters or the joists) I would gain about 8 - 10 feet in height. Right now my antenna is on a 16 foot pole so the top/tip of the antenna is about 20 feet off the ground. So while the attic wouldn't get me to 40 feet, it would elevate the top of the antenna to about 28 feet. Would the height increase offset having to push through the osb sheets and the asphault shingles? I would not have to sweat lightning strikes in the attic and I could reduce my cable length to less than 40 feet compared to the 90 foot length I currently have. Along the lines of cable length: I understand that I am benefitting from having LMR400 cable instead of the RG8X I was using but would it syill make much of a difference if I reduced the overall length of the cable by 50 feet? It's not so much about being cheap, it is about ease of snaking the cable down through the walls. I live in a 1890 farm house that utilized ballon construction so it's a straight shot down the outside wall from attic to first floor. And that LMR400 cable is pretty darn stiff compared to the RG8x stuff. Hey, what if I could reduce the cable length to 15 feet? The reason I ask is I could just take over the spare bedroom on the second floor and have a really short run from the attic. And it was also isolate me from the wife who will not have to remind me to turn down the radio while she is watching tv. Anyway, just had the thought. I did do a quick toss of a spare Browning mobile antenna on a magnetic base (Dont tell the wife about her copper cookware... SHHHH) on a 16 inch pan and ran the cord through the attic access hatch to one of the mobiles. And surprise, surprise, I can still hit the repeater 30 miles away. And well, it just got me thinking.... Then again, I would have to lean out from my roof to get the antenna off that 16 foot pole. Geez I hate heights. And yes, 16 feet seems like a bit of a height at my age.

Fair enough. I can connect with the Midland with ease. As a matter of fact, when I connect with the Midland I can hear the call if I have the Kenwood set to the repeater. But that is where is ends. I can key the Mic until I am blue in the thumb and nothing comes out. NUTS! I still find it weird that all 3 Kenwoods (A couple of TK880's and a 880H) have the exact same issue. That is why I was sure I was just setting something up wrong. I also sent an inquiry to the Oconomowoc675 website but they are closed today. I will wait for a response from them. I will look into getting a meter and dummy load for this. I do want to get involved deaper with this since as frustrating as some of it is, I find myself enjoying the challenge. Thanks again for all the help! I will follow up once this gets all sorted out.....

Forgive my "noobish" question but where do I look to check what the Kenwood's PL tone is set at? and by PL codes are refering to the privacy codes? Can that be read in the KP49 software? For what it's worth, I have the car parked outside my office with the volume turned up. I can clearly hear both radios. As a matter of fact I checked with my brother and we have both our radios set to the same privacy codes on Channel 17 and we can talk to each other just fine. If it helps, I am showing a screen capture of how I have the Kenwood setup. I blanked out the codes for Armored 1 since that is an invitation repeater and I didn't think the owner would appreciate me publishing the privacy codes for his repeater. Let me know if there are any other screen shots I could provide.

I am hitting the armored one repeater no problem. That repeater is another story about how do I get into this repeater stuff. In a nutshell I missed the back letter on the 2nd code. I was driving myself nuts with that until I changed to the correct code.... I am not sure what tone codes you are refering to for the Oconomowoc675 repeater. I thought all I da to do was set the encode and decode settings in the KPG-49D software to 141.3 and I would be good to go. I looked at the page again for the Oconomowoc675 repeater and I don't see any mention of PL tones. Than again, this is all new to me so I am probably overlooking something..... And thanks for all the replies to my questions. Hopefully I can reciprocate all the help I am getting today in the future to somebody else.

I am trying to hit one of the repeaters in my area with my Kenwood TK-880 without any luck. I have no problem when I use my Midland MXT400 but when I try with the Kenwood all I can do is hear traffic on the repeater. My radio is not getting picked up. I have the same code for QT/DQT Dec (141.3) and QT/DQT Enc (141.3) and double checked the frequency settings to make sure they are correct: 462.67500 RX and 467.67500 TX Is there some other setting I am missing?

My 90 feet of LMR400 arrived earlier today. My swr is about the same but my power output (40w capable) has jumped from 24 to almost 37 according to the meter. I can now hit pretty much all the repeaters in the area and I now can cover the better part of 15 miles, terrain changes and elevation notwithstanding. This is great since not only can the Mrs. get ahold of me anywhere on the property but running into town is now covered as well! Thanks everybody for all the suggestions and info!

Thanks for the additional info on cabling. Once the LMR400 gets here I will look at how much added height I can get without the having to engineer additional bracing. And I will do the measurement from the tip of the antenna to see just how high I can go. There is an installer who advertises as doing satelite installs as well as tower installs for TV, etc. I think I am going to give him a call and see what he wants to scale my roof and move the antenna up there.

Thanks for all the info! I ordered the LMR400 cable. Should be here later this week. I will order enough to get the antenna a touch higher. Getting enough to put it on the silo is another thing. Looking over what would be involved, it's not just a matter of me working up the nerve to climb and mount it. It's trying to figure out how to get it trenched under 25 feet of asphalt that is between the silo and my house. But I definitely do need to get it higher. I can clearly hear other stations broadcasting but they can't hear me at all. And the closest repeater is (roughly) 11 miles away so my 6-7 mile range is not going to cut it. Especially with all the hills and valleys between myself and the repeater..

Thanks for the reply and the explanation! That is so wild that you mention 40+ feet. There is a 40 foot silo in back of my house! It would require over 100 feet of cable to get from the top down to the ground back and into my house. So far I am satisfied with what I have: The wife can reach me anywhere I go on the property with the walkies and we have about a 7 mile range between the house/base and the mobile. And that is with the included antenna for the MXT115. I am hopeful that upgrading that will get me out another mile or 2. So if I understand correctly, I am ok with my setup but try and get as much elevation on the base antenna for extended range. If I work up the nerve to scale the rung ladder on the silo I will shimmey the antenna up there and report back on how much farther I can get out. Thanks again! EDIT: Just thought up another question: I need to add another 35ish feet to my setup to get the base radio out of the kitchen and into my computer room/office. Better to do it with a single run of cable or could I just add to the existing RG-8X cable by way of adding another length (screwed together by way of a PL259 Jack to Jack Coupler) of RG-8X?

So I bought a Midland MXT400 and some Midland talkies for the property I manage. It makes the wife feel better about being able to reach me when I am wotking on the property since the cell service out here is horrendous. Anywho, on to my setup: Midland GXT1000VP4 twin pack of walkie talkies from the local Walmart. They do a reasonable job of providing total coverage to the house on the 225 acre property I manage. Midland GXT115 mobile. Bought a couple of these. One for my car and one for a base unit at the house. I am still using the included antenna for the car but will be upgrading that soon. The one I am using for the house is where I have the question(s). I picked up a Harvest BC200 450-470Mhz UHF 6.5dBi 200W Pre-Tuned GMRS Base Antenna and have it mounted on a 15 foot (approximate) pole next to the house which is a 2 story. The pole was already there with nothing else on it and the thought of scaling my EXTREMELY steep pitched roof to get the antenna on the top of it was more than I wanted to consider. so the antenna is on this pole right next to the house for now. Also, I had some RG-8x cable (about 50 feet approx) which I used to make a quick connection to the base unit and proceded to measure the SWR with a Nissei RS-50 digital meter I borrowed from my brother. I was VERY dissappointed to find my "pretuned" antenna was reading 1:4 for SWR. So finally, here come my questions: Can I make adjustments to the cable length to affect the Swr? And speaking of cable: The ultimate length I am going to need is somewhere around 85 - 90 feet. Being that long is it of measureable benefit to get LMR400? How "bendable" is LMR400? Part of the run will be MUCH easier if I can make a couple 90 degree turns that would be kinda sharp. Thanks for any advice!