tweiss3

I came across the Normal/Tight settings for my Connect Systems radio. The actual squelch levels were tucked away in the radio settings where you put the radio identity in. Might be similar in Moto CPS, though for Digital its not used, on in analog channels. You and I have two different uses and surrounding areas. I'm not really bad mouthing Moto, though their acquiring of Vertex Standard and killing the line all together does seem to leave a bad taste, as I liked that lineup. That may be because I'm partial to Yaesu. Based on my intended operational area, VHF low band and/or 6m is and will continue to be part of the plan. I also won't ever give up 2m or 70cm ham, thus the 3 RF decks. Sure, I could put multiple heads/radios, but that only further expands the power problem. Again, I don't have a commercial license (yet) so our uses remain very different. I also never intend on putting up a full time repeater. But for receiver performance, in digital modes, the signal is there or it isn't, and a proper antenna in my experience is more important than the minor differences across the commercial options. I've thought of getting Moto gear numerous times, but the thing stopping me is getting support, documentation and software.

If I can stand Sunday (I'm putting in new LVL headers and roof section on my in-laws garage myself tomorrow) I have grass to mow at two houses and I think my wife tacked on a screen door install. I unfortunately won't be making Findlay.

The mobiles do all 3 at once, the HTs are a pick 2 digital modes. Power isn't an issue with a 2-3 deck single head unit because only one is active and the others are standby. It does sound like you should have looked into vehicle repeaters, there are tons of great solutions that the police use, and probably doesn't cost much more than your setups. I just looked at the APX8500, and its P25 only. To buy a moto without DMR (what they are really good at) seems silly to me. Yes, the NX-5000 mobiles are mono band decks, but you can pair up to 3 RF decks with a single head, or do 3 decks with 2 control heads.

See, that's kind of a deal breaker. If, you could put together a Kenwood NX tri-deck with VHF Lo (110W), VHF Hi (110W) and UHF, all with P25, DMR, NXDN and Analog on a single head.

Is there a good place to find information on Moto products? Kenwood will at least let you see all the models and options you can get, Moto seems to only want you to make a decision based on whatever your dealer tells you, true or not. I'd like to know if there is a dual RF deck, single head option.

Yea, the SDS in the car does a wonderful job of picking up all the needed traffic, including CB19

The NX-5000 are capable of all three digital modes, but can only do two at a time.

I'm not sure why, but I have a soft spot for 6 meters. Then again, we do pretty decent activity here, including multiple repeaters. I bought my 817 for more 6 meter usage, then I converted it to a backpack kit (2m,6m,70cm hiking), and so I don't pull it out for normal usage anymore.

I take it that nobody has purchased the 6 meter version of this radio yet. Not as important, I came across a VX-7R (2m, 70cm, 1.25m and 6m) anyways for the price of this Wouxun. I was really hoping someone would be able to provide a real evaluation though.

But isn't that now a moot point with CB going gaining FM (plus being allowed 4W and more chances for skip)?

Does anyone have any experience with the 6 meter version? I know some people are happy with their Woxun, but I'd like to hear from someone that has one and hear about its operation on 6 meters. I really want a Yaesu VX-7R or VX-8R, but they are hard to come by, leading me to do some searching.

I have to recommend Lido as well, I use one for my SDS100, the cup holder version.

2 & 3) check the PiStar website, it lists active P25 talk groups and how to get an ID ( I thin you use your DMR id)

That's the crazy thing, it was extremely wide spread. It covered 20 miles east-west on I90, the same 20 miles east-west on I480, at at least 10 miles north-south on I71. It was also over 1 hour 15 minutes at a minimum of an opening.

I figured I'd share this here for anyone wondering. If you have been around radio for any time at all, I'm sure you have heard of "E" skip or tropospheric propagation that happens in the summer time with 2 meters (144 mHz) and below. The question has always been, well, does it ever happen to UHF. The answer is yes, but a little differently, which I didn't quite understand until yesterday. Now, this was on the 70cm ham band, but could apply equally to GMRS being not that far off in frequency. Yesterday I woke up and had a good drive to a meeting. It was extremely foggy (important) and the 2m repeater I usually listen to was down. I started scanning with my radio, and ended up picking up a pretty good conversation, so I listened for quite a while. Never jumped in, but after my meeting, I figured I'd throw my call out. Luckily I got a response. Had a great 20 minute qso, and figured I was coming through a repeater in the middle of the state (wow). When I had more time, I looked up the repeater, my location and ran a line of site. Now I was in my truck (6' AGL 50W) and the repeater was on a tower (230' AGL 80W). Attached is the line of site calculation. No way in heck to make that 97 miles on a normal day on UHF. So how did that happen? I started reading a bit more, and similar to right before a large storm mass when 2m/6m & 10m propagation picks up, a massive temperature inversion (remember the fog) can provide great bending/bouncing capabilities for UHF. I'm sure I read about it before studying for my ham licenses, but never had the pleasure of expeiencing. How did I confirm it was the repeater I thought it was? I was using Yaesu System Fusion, and it gave me the repeater ID, and checked based on the frequency. The repeater owner, with whom my qso was with, also confirmed on the controller it was an RF connection. Keep an ear out, you may experience something just as crazy. I've had voice contacts overseas with only 5 watts on HF, but UHF at that distance just boggles my mind.

I hadn't really looked at it before, but its kind of interesting. Check this document out: https://kenwoodcommunications.co.uk/files/file/comms/uk/pmr446/PMR446-White-Paper-V6_18AUG2016_JT_KB.pdf So they have 18 analog channels in FMN (12.5kHz), DMR T1 on those same 18 channels, or the dPMR which is 6.25kHz within the same bandwith, which is like the ultranarrow FM that is available on all new commercial Part 90 that came out of the T-Band narrowband/rebrand mandates. They don't have repeater usage available, and they are cut at the knees at 0.5W power. It would be a novelty to buy a few of the radios and play with, but unless you can get them for less than $50/each, I would think its too costly to play with. If I was interested, I'd spend a few more bucks and get something you can use no matter what. Look at a NX5300 Type 2, covers ham, GMRS and will do P25, NXDN, DMR and Analog all in 1 radio, plus 5W power. Then you could put the dPMR and DMR frequencies in there.

Yea, I had to install way in the back. Its setup so I can hotswap between the CS800D and the 400XDR. I did the firmware update, and haven't had any APRS issues. Still fine tuning the settings, I have ambiguity set to 2 places, going to bump it down to 1 and see how it goes. I thought you grabbed general already. My bad, you can still play 10m USB with your tech. I liked the tarheel because it does 6m through 80m, and mobile I will never exceed 100w. Its not cheap, but its not that expensive when compared to others and the performance is supposedly great. I've been troubleshooting the power issue, both on Radio Reference and Groups.IO. I may be calling Yaesu support if the new cable doesn't fix it.

Do you use the stock remote head cable, or aftermarket? After almost 2 weeks on the bench, I got it installed. I used an aftermarket cable because I needed a microphone extension, and the factory cable got a slice in it. I'm now having a random intermittent power issue where it shuts off. I've ordered a new stock cable from DX to pickup today. Hopefully that's the problem. Also, I've come across this recommendation for a screwdriver antenna: Little Tarheel II. Its got great reviews for a screwdriver antenna, and the price is very reasonable. Size isn't too bad either. Figured you might be interested as well.

Did you end up getting this handled? Even with that, I still had to make a bracket to attach the head bracket to the car.

I think there are a few older Kenwood repeaters that have Part 95 acceptance, but I don't remember model number or FCC ID. Other than that, you are right. The only current type accepted repeater available is the Revitis, but the power is extremely low. EDIT: TKR-820 FCCID:ALH9TKTKR-820-1

I'd like to interject, Bridgecom covers the discussion about type acceptance (in this case Part 90) of the 578, 878 & 876 DMR radios here: https://www.bridgecomsystems.com/blogs/bridgecom-tx-rx-blog/how-to-program-an-anytone-in-amateur-or-professional-mode While the radio does have a type acceptance for part 90, and modes can be changed by the software, only 1 mode has the part 90 acceptance, any mode outside of that does not have type acceptance. This is the same for Part 97 GMRS/MURS and even Part 80 Marine. It's also why when in the true part 90 mode, you can't use front panel programming. Also, more recently, the Anytones have been shipping in more restrictive modes and they have made it harder to change the mode. Again, If you can sleep at night, then that's fine, but it is not in compliance with the law.

I was just coming to post this. Here is the actual document. FCC-21-90A1.pdf

No, you are ok. The above power procedure where you press buttons is a form of unlocking the firmware, which is where it breaks the certification. There are a large number of Kenwood and Moto gear that were granted both Part 90 and Part 95 certifications, and using it on commercial, GMRS and ham licenses is not a violation of the FCC grant. As far as I know, the FCC stopped granting dual certifications (90/95), however, the existing dual grants stand.

Any change to operation mode invalidates its type acceptance. Same goes for part 90 radios. Doesn't keep people from doing it.

That's not quite limited to Icom. Yaesu, Connect Systems, even Anytone are all the same way. FTM400 has a head bracket that is useless, connect systems has a method to detach, but you have to configure the remote bracket yourself. In the end, there isn't possibly a way to put a single bracket in the box that would work for even 30% of the users, so they don't.