tweiss3

Looking at your county (https://repeaterbook.com/repeaters/Display_SS.php?state_id=12&band=4&loc=%&call=%&use=%) you have only two digital modes available, DMR & D-Star. DMR is available on used commercial equipment and plenty of ham options (Anytone, ConnectSystems, etc.). D-Star is Icom & Kenwood radios YSF (Yaesu System Fusion) is Yaesu only. If you want digital, you want to get equipment that is backed by your local repeaters. Personally, I'd look into DMR, only because its wide availability across the nation. When the hurricane hits, how far do you travel? If just inland FL, there are plenty of DMR repeaters around: https://repeaterbook.com/repeaters/feature_search.php?state_id=12&type=DMR including a linked DMR system in Tampa https://www.radioreference.com/apps/db/?sid=8844 . If you are going further north, there is a very large linked system. I run DMR radios in my cars, Connect Systems CS800D, and use them mostly for analog, but DMR is nice when its late and nobody is on the analog repeaters. It's also a Part 90 commercial radio, for what its worth to you. I would look at reputable radio shops like Universal Radio (RIP, but site is still in tact), DX Engineering, R&L Radio, Ham Radio Outlet. I would take a look reading reviews of the available radios online. I understand the challenges of not drilling, but you could certainly get a full power mobile rig in your car without drilling. The antenna could be mag mounted, or even trunk/hatch lip mounted a Comptenna, which I hear works well on the corner of a car/trunk. Then you could get 50W of power, but the radio will be suck to that car. If you are concerned about keeping GMRS, keep in mind ham radios will not transmit on GMRS frequencies (or MURS). They are all locked out. Part 90 radios would be the closest you would get to compliance, without buying a really expensive dual deck mobile and expensive programming equipment to get Part 90/95 radios. If you are still insistent on a portable radio, don't sleep on the Yaesu FT818. It is a portable base-like radio that will do 6W of power on all modes (FM, SSB, CW & Packet Digital) on 70cm, 2m, 6m and all of HF (10m-160m). As a technician, you have access to all of 6m and a portion of 10m SSB. One of the best features, with just the rubber ducky that comes in the box, you can use it on 2m, 70cm and 6m. Don't sleep on 6m. There are a number of things to think about: 1) How much radio stuff are you going to take with you (either mounted in the car, or go bag of portables). 2) Power when on the go, batteries will wear out, how will you charge on the go. 3) Where do you usually evacuate, and what systems are in place there and on the way. 4) How much are you willing to spend? 5) How do you intend to keep GMRS in operation? 6) Do you plan on going beyond Tech to General or Extra? I hope I didn't give you too much to think about, but I do hope I helped. I'd be happy to answer any of your additional questions too.

A few days late to this thread, but I would put money on the HT being the radiator. The HD is designed to be the counterpoise/ground plane for the rubber ducky, and therefore would probably radiate more so than the dummy load. I would be interested to see this test done with a mobile unit, where it's designed with shielding to direct all RF to the coax.

Most antennas are pretty wide band on 70cm. I have used a 460MHz quarter wave whip, a Larsen 150/450/758 tri-band and a Larsen 2/7sh with good results. From someone on radioreference, he swept a Larsen 2/70sh drilled in a new silverado 16" from the back of the cab: http://i.imgur.com/fOoyGjk.jpg?1 As you can see, it is more than adequate for 70cm ham and GMRS use. I noticed the same for the Larsen 150/450/758, and my VNA sweep on the 1/4 wave whip was under 1.6 across (410-490) with the lowest centered on 450ish.

My TK8150 let me. The software yelled at me, but it still programmed and the radio operated just fine. I would expect yours will do the same.

Icom and Yaesu will never make a DMR radio, because they have their own digital mode. Icom developed DStar and Yaesu developed C4M (Yaesu System Fusion). Personally, I think Kenwoods decision to go DStar was the right one, and it's hardware and programming is much better for it. The only reason I bought my D74 is to join 220, but the hardware is far superior to Anytone, and it's wide range receive is only a pipe dream for the cheap DMR radios. I'm going to do some traveling this summer, and the one place I am going, there is a Motorola based DMR linked system for 5 hours of my drive. That is the real benefit of DMR, where TG2 is the full time link to the system, TG1 is dynamic, and can be used for local only, a call channel, an echo channel or 1 of 3 tac channels.

I'd also like to add that scanning on digital is a waste of efforts. DMR put on the radio in promiscuous mode. D-Star, you are stuck with the current reflector, u mess you change it, no scanning required. No point in jumping around repeaters, they all are on the same base TG, or the one you key up (for 10 minutes).

Eh, haven't been on DMR in a while, jumped on 3100 yesterday on the way home and got nothing but crickets after announcing myself.

You are better off exporting to excel, adding what you want then import the excel file, instead of using the software to type out every channel.

The Tech license is really simple, and based on your comment, it won't take much to get you to pass it.

If you are close to Canada, north of line A (I happen to be 1000' north of line A) you cannot use frequencies 462.650, 467.650, 462.700 and 467.700 MHz as printed on your license. Those are channels 19 and 21, both simplex and repeaters. Your interference may be from Canada's commercial/governmental license pool and may be telemetry data. You must just accept it.

Could be a large multitude of things, from a new traffic signal to a cable box to an invisible fence. You best bet would be to get a 70cm yagi and do some foxhunting. See if you can find the offending item, within reason. If you get close but have issues pinpointing it, you can pickup a TinySA and try to locate it by frequency and db level.

146-174 should still put you in the HAM repeater inputs. Check that the channel is put on wide. Also, what antenna do you have? VHF antennas are pretty narrow, and you could be above 2.5:1 in the ham band if it's a tuned commerical antenna. Try your base radios antenna really quickly.

I have CS800D's in both cars, but I don't use DMR that much. Mostly I connect to the local multi-mode reflector (combines YSF, DMR & DStar), as well as the Ohio TGs (3139, 31391, 31390) and occasionally I will grab 3100 if its super late and I just need someone to talk to on the radio (like a month ago when I had to run to the pharmacy at 2AM to pick up a perscription).

I just stumbled across this thread on RR, maybe it is related: https://forums.radioreference.com/threads/tk-780-reception-squelch-issues.421410/

Yea, the most overlooked thing GMRS and HAM operators forget is power levels and RF exposure. Even if you are NOT required to maintain a RF exposure calculations, you must still maintain safe distances and power levels. IMO, stay away from Anytone, I have their 878 and it has some serious desensitize issues, even after being replaced under warranty. They claim part 90, but I'd avoid them.

Make sure in your programming that you have the bandwidth set to WIDE. Otherwise I would get it's hardware (feedline/antenna) or transceiver (needs tuned up by a shop with the proper equipment). Make sure your antenna is installed correctly and you have a good ground at the antenna and transceiver.

I was searching the ULS today, and its up in short spurts. Probably a huge system update they are working through.

It is finding my call signs, but it won't pull up the data when you click on it. I wonder if it's under maintenance. I just saw an active alert for the system: "The FCC is currently experiencing an issue with downloading authorizations using Google Chrome........ use Firefox at this time"

Are you having issues when scanning only? Or is it a problem parked on a channel as well? The Kenwoods are superior radios, but are not designed for scanning at all. He's, it does have a scan feature, but it's is slow, and not the primary use of the radio. Remember, they are professional LMR radios, and as such, the average patrol officer or EMS driver would remain parked on dispatch frequency, and likely not even have access to the scan feature. I bet the scan is just not fast enough to catch the little bit of traffic. I would still keep the Kenwood, it's a far superior radio with much better specs, including selectivity and sensitivity.

For antenna I have a Larsen NMO150/450/758 that does well on the ham bands and excellent on GMRS. It's a commerical antenna, so it is designed for commercial frequencies, but it is acceptable for HAM use. It also has a spring on it and survives parking deck hits and car washes. As for radios, keep in mind, by law you have to have a RF exposure evaluation if you exceed 50w in VHF. For reference, at 50W you need 3.5' distance for a controlled environment (ok as long as you aren't talking more than 50%) and 7.5' in uncontrolled. The two radios would work if you tossed in a diplexer. Part 90/95 UHF and a separate VHF. You will have problems with frying each other if you use two UHF radios, you can't get enough seperation to make it work unless you use an expensive high/low pass filter or commercial diplexer, even then it's not ideal. You could also look at Kenwood commerical stuff, you can run two RF decks on one head, but it's not cheap. There are also some quality Part 90 dual band radios that will work well, though they don't follow the letter of the law. I have a CS800D in my car, though I don't use GMRS in my truck, it's dead here.

The Moto DTR radios work pretty well and are license free. Great site radios, they use frequency hopping to stay private and interference free I. The 900MHz band.

From the pdf, its pretty hefty:

Please read this thread, pinned at the top of this section, first. I think it will answer many of your questions and more. https://forums.mygmrs.com/topic/1402-you-just-got-your-gmrs-license-now-you-want-your-own-repeater/

Rugged Radios gets hit hard, see the FCC document. https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-1395A1.pdf

The Surecom 102 comes with a plate: https://www.409shop.com/thumb/phpThumb.php?src=../uplimg/mb100556_4b6eced6b53f86636eddd2f77f010506_mainpic.img&w=350&h=350&bg=FFFFFF&fltr[]=usm|80|0.5|3 Its is attached on the antenna side: https://www.409shop.com/thumb/phpThumb.php?src=../uplimg/mb100556_5e8455bf70241d5788b5403472e8102c_addpic1.img&w=700&fltr[]=usm|80|0.5|3