tweiss3

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.

Panadapter is available for the 991a: https://wr9r.com/pan-adapter-for-ft-991a/. It is possible to add a panadapter to the IC7100, but it is much more difficult to install.

I'd go 991a, and this is from a guy that has a 7300/9700 set. The 7100 is a great radio, but it's a few steps short of the 7300 in features, and even the D-Star is half baked (compared to my 705 and 9700). Both are great radios, but if I had to have only 1 radio, and it had to be all band all mode, it would be the 991a. Yaesu also has a bit better physically filtering and is less prone to strong signal interference. Don't get me wrong, the Icom SDR filters work amazing, but in our field day setup, the 7300s had more interference from the adjacent stations than the Yaesu radios ever did. Also, the 7100 interfacing is there, but not as smooth or feature filled. Lacking the tuner, but adding the 2m/70cm, the 7100 still falls short of the same bang per buck the 7300 provides. Also, with the 991a, you can do 10m C4FM that some guys are expiramenting with. I would also note the internal tuner on the 991a is a nice feature. I use resonant antennas, but it's nice when the edge of band creeps a bit past 2:1 and you can use the tuner to keep the finals much happier. Just my 2 cents. All that being said, I've worked through a few radios, and ended up with the 7300/9700 pair, and they are worth any penny. I have zero intentions of changing again anytime soon, unless someone donates a 7610 to me, then that's an obvious yes.

Pay attention to your surroundings. Could be a video sign at a business, or it could be a Jeep/Dodge truck passing by (they are terrible on RFI). I've seen certain places are bad enough they even pop squelch on my Motorola XPR radio.

This would be a good one https://theantennafarm.com/shop-by-categories/shop-all/mobile-antennas/300-512-mhz-uhf/no-ground-plane-antennas/3230-laird-connectivity-bb4502n-detail

I agree with @marcspaz, you need a half wave antenna if you don't have a direct RF ground.

At 35db, your 50W transmission would be reduced down to 0.016W, so it shouldn't fry anything in your tv, but your signal/picture will likely drop as you are keyed up, and return immediately after you unkey.

I just ran the numbers again for 462 MHz. Vertically, 10' provides 55db, 13' provides 60db and 15' provides 62db isolation. This is just about the minimum isolation a duplexer must provide to be effective. You may get minor desense at that level, but in general, you won't notice on anything with decent front end filtering. Horizontally, 40' provides 35db, 50' provides 37 db. This is enough to probably not fry a front end of a radio at 50w transmit power, but you will experience desense and interference. If you could achieve 250' of separation horizontally, you would get up to 52db of isolation. You can check yourself with the Comscope online calculators: Vertical Isolation Horizontal Isolation