tweiss3

I'm going to say, this is possible in a very limited capacity, if you are to use a single SIMPLEX channel on each radio, and they cannot be the same, you could then possibly get a full 6 can duplexer to work. What you are really looking to do should be done with a single RF deck commercial radio, run dual heads, and enable dual watch/priority watch. On second though, I found what you are looking for, a T/R switch: https://mfjenterprises.com/products/mfj-1708b-sdr (this one doesn't work well in the UHF commercial band) You would have to choose which one to use to listen, and the other would be the receive & transmit radio. You CANNOT switch between the two without disconnecting and reconnecting coax.

Sounds like it might be fun, if I could ever get the hang of CW and truly learn it. I know quite a few people that do really well QRP CW.

There are supposedly a group of guys that are doing 10M YSF on the 991As, and I would love to try D-Star on on 10M, just haven't lined up the time with anyone yet. On the commercial side, there are a few VHF-Lo band repeaters, one based off Kenwood's NX5xxx lol band deck, supposedly will do P25 and NXDN. I'd love to put up a 10M digital voice repeater.

Like FM radio. A few weeks ago while listening to the 10m opening, I heard a guy loud and clear from Alaska who was supposedly running 50W. If you didn't know better, you wouldn't be able to tell it was 10M

Glad you figured it out. I was going to say, give the manufacturer a call. I know of one tower that was having issues, ended up needing a cable set made by the manufacturer as length was critical to the 1/32 of an inch, and it worked as designed then.

We had one DMR Repeater in the area that someone unlicensed put up. I gave them names, FRNs and addresses (they were hams using their ham DMR ids) and the FCC said thanks but we aren't going to touch it. I ended up talking about it with a few local hams, they knew which tower it was on, and the tower owner pulled the plug. I'd like digital to be approved, the coverage distance improvement is huge, but who knows.

It seems this question pops up on other websites about ever 6-10 weeks or so. This is what I have found, but have not tried it at all: EDIT: I'll pm you the instructions I found Historically, if you can find the files referenced above, you still have issues with current operating systems. Everyone who has tired it on their own lately has ended up utilizing option 4 and calling it a learning experience. I recommend you Give a few radio shops a call.

That antenna requires a ground plane, in GMRS's case, you need atleast 6" or ground plane in all directions. You could place a 12" diameter metal disk between the magmount and puck antenna, as long as the center pin still makes contact. Your crossbar isn't going to be enough to provide an adequate and effective ground plane. I've experienced issues with middle of the roof install of a magmount and a ground plane dependent antenna. When I went to a no-ground plane antenna, it helped significantly.

Can't you program it with CPS2.0? I've never gotten my hands on one, and I don't have a blank codeplug to take a look.

Unfortunately, there aren't many options. 1) call the department you bought them from and ask them if they can wipe them. 2) find a Motorola shop that has the tools around still, and they might be able to restore it to factory. Look on all the authorized radio shops for OhioMARCS and give the closest a call. Try Mobilcomm Inc. 1211 W. Sharon Rd., Cincinnati, OH 45240(513) 742-5555 3) you can try a firmware update, but I'm not 100% sure that it clears the ASK, and you need more than the programming hardware. 4) call them a loss and circular file them? Motorola calls them EOL and won't even sell you the CPS anymore. Their response is to try and sell you an APX radio.

CS800D does MDC, as do all my Kenwoods. This thread might me using MDC now. Are you guys using it pre, or pre+post?

Was it this one https://www.ebay.com/itm/143551531179?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=F9EITT2zT0i&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=mrNuF75_QlS&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY I have one in route to try with my 705.

Good deal. Glad it was simple.

Any reason to use this over the NMO2/7B? I'm guessing its for the foldover hinge?

I'm not sure how to fix that, could it be an issue with the foldover hinge not sealing?

Are you saying the water is coming down the center pin, or around the edge at the threads?

It's been a while. How did you fix your antenna bracket, and how has it been holding up? I did a thing, Tarheel + Autocontroller + IC-705 got added to the wife's vehicle for vacation and trips.

I'm not sure of speaker placement on the Ranger, but I've seen a few options on the F150 that might work for you: 1) If there is a center channel speaker in the dash above the infotainment system, disconnect it and use it as the speaker for your radio. Can be seen here: 2) Get a remote speaker and place it behind the infotainment system, within the dash. This can be seen here: http://i.imgur.com/ZiKiesy.jpg?1

Do you listen to FM broadcast radio, or do you use your phone for your music needs? You could use a mixer to mix radio and phone inputs, and put it directly to the car's aux in on the stereo. The nice thing about that, is when your phone is connected to the handsfree bluetooth, and you answer a phone call, it basically "mutes" your radio.

I'll chime in and say I agree with Spaz, I truly believe amateur radio is better overall in an emergency. That being said, it does completely depend on what level of emergency you are talking about. There are a few notes that are pretty darn important: 1) Create a plan, or multiple plans for different scenarios. On-the-fly planning well not be sufficient when something goes sideways. 2) Vet your equipment. Just like any other equipment, you have to know how to use it, and use it effectively. Practice makes perfect. 3) Be active in your choice of communications. That could mean the neighborhood watch on FRS/GMRS, ARES, or just even the local ham group. You can bet that there is a 3000% better chance of your distress call being answered if they recognize your name/call than some random person coming out of the woodwork. You will also then know what is monitored by others frequently and where the activity is. 4) It is ok to separate your family communications plan from your external aid communications plan. 5) Your equipment does you no good sitting on a shelf at home. You will likely be at work, or out somewhere away from home when it all falls apart. Then you will have to make due with what you have on you, in your car, or in a pack. Are you prepared for that? 6) Redundancy isn't necessary, but isn't a bad idea.

I have a XTS5000 III, and its an ok radio. The XTS are EOL now, and not supported by Motorola. The software was difficult to track down, and Motorola won't sell it to you. If you are looking for analog only, it is way too large and heavy to be a good choice. I bought mine for P25 use only, but analog it works well. As far as "upgrades", those that have extra upgrade flashes sitting around aren't willing to get rid of them, and like the software, MOL says EOL no sale.

I'm not making the 3 hour trip down, but the turnout for our hamfest this weekend was incredible, I'm sure Xenia is going to be a madhouse.

Well, I will say there are certain aspects I dislike about both Kenwood and Motorola current programs for getting programming software. I must say, never in my life have I ever had such a problem giving someone money as the time I tried to get setup with Motorola. On the other side, I got responses from two Kenwood dealers, and the second one got me wideband software in under an hour, (the first was nice, but wasn't sure how to obtain wideband software for me). Kenwood also had no problem selling certain entitlements without asking questions. The annoying part is the free entitlement for KPT-300LMC to apply the entitlements that is missing in some literature.

You are correct, the NX-5300 is not cheap, but it is a great radio. It also isn't the most expensive radio either. Multi-protocol is really nice as well. I'm enjoying testing out NXDN, even though it hasn't gotten the popularity. One thing nice about it is that there isn't cheap Chinese garbage put on the air by someone that barely understands what a talkgroup is, and didn't even program it themselves.

Don't forget, a duplexer also adds loss, anywhere from about 0.8db for a really good set of cavities, to about 1.6db on a "mobile" compact set of cavities.