mbrun

For legal Tx on GMRS and Rx for everything the KG-UV9G is currently the flag-ship of consumer GMRS + True-Dual Receive multi-band scanners. I own the KG-UV9P which is the identical radio without GMRS Tx capability and it performs quite well for its price in my semi-rural environment. At the same time, I dislike the fact that the screen is mostly unusable outdoors during daylight hours and it has features perhaps not relevant to most GMRS users. But we all end up buying what the manufacturers sell, even when it is less than what we ideally might want. There are surely going to be more radios that find themselves on the market as more and more individuals purchase product and the market of license users grows. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Good day DR. Power does play a factor, but it plays a minor factor in practice. Higher power can “burn” through the woods, but only if you put out enough power to “burn” through them. An increase from 5-50 watts is no where near enough to do that. While in outer space you could measure the increase in distance this extra 10dB would get you, on earth you have variable obstacles, terrain, curvature of the earth and variable RF noise conditions to contend with. All of these obstacles quickly chip away at what little power you have to give. This phenomena is truly why want you antenna a high as practically possible when long-range local communications is desired. The higher it is, the less obstacles the signal has to go through or around, thus the stronger the resulting signal will be at a given distance. Case in point. I can achieve achieve .6 miles reliable communication HT to HT in my heavily wooded area (level terrain) and unreliable communication out to 1.4 miles. Yet, using the same HT with same power I can open repeater 50 miles away when I stand in my front yard. What’s the difference? 1) The repeater antenna is perhaps 500-1000 foot higher in elevation than me. 2) There are no hills between me and the repeater to block my signal from reaching it. 3) There are no trees of consequence for the first 1-1/2 miles from my house in the exact direction of the repeater and 4) The performance of the repeater receiver is first rate. Hope this helps answer your question a bit. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I own the KG-1000G, but I use it as a base within my home. I use HT’s in the car along with external antenna and speaker mic. If I were going to do an official install in the car, I would currently go with another 1000G. It is IMO the mobile equivalent of the UV9G. It does not do commercial FM like the 9G does, but that IMO is not needed since nearly every car on the road already has that. While the 9G does have multi-band Rx capably, my 1000G is programmed exclusively for GMRS, and it handles it quite well in my environment. I do not use it to scan anything except GMRS, but admit on occasion I tune in NOAA, or enter a specific local amateur frequency I want to monitor. I agree with WyoJoe, best is subjective. What is best for you may not be best for me and vice versa. IMO Midland radios may be best when it comes to operational simplicity for GMRS. The 1000G may be best in terms of programability options. Commercial radios may be best from an RF performance and reliability standpoint. Food for thought. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Coming from the perspective of a radio listener, I think 1 min is a good value as well as a serves as a reminder to keep one’s transmissions short and keep the dialog moving. However, as the talker, I admit I have personally settled on 2 min. One just proved to be to short and restrictive in way to many cases. While the TOT is a great way aid in keeping the duty cycle down, I like the security it provides knowing that if the PTT gets stuck unknowingly and accidentally that the radio will stop transmitting automatically after the TOT time has expired. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

There are some commercial products available that I have seen but have no links for you. I opted not to spend money for one since my current shack location is temporary, instead I made one. Here is what I am using currently. I have a treated 2x4 cut to fit into the same track used by the inner panel of my double hung window. I drilled a hole large enough for cable and connector to pass through. I applied weather seal foam to all edges of the 2x4 so that when I press it into the track and lower the inner window panel down I compress the foam to seal against air leaks. I cut two vertical pieces of 1x wood stock wood (not shown) to wedge the bottom pain down and top panel up so that so that the window cannot be opened from outside. The gap between the coax and wood panel is filled with a piece of foam pipe insulation I pressed into place. I am sealed now as good or better than the window was originally. All of this was non destructively to the window and can easily be removed from the inside. I will also be adding more holes for additional feed-lines to additional antennas soon. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Yep, standard power cord. I have dozens of them in box. If you lived near by I would give you several. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I am highly skeptical that water is your issue. Skeptical because water, unless jam packed with minerals, will not manifest as a dead DC short. Since you have been reporting that you see a short when using a multimeter, that suggests to me that a physical metal-to-metal continuity exists. My initial guess is a strand of braid or perhaps even a sliver of the shield foil is making contact with the pin within the connector case, or your antenna. I would remove the coax from the antenna and put the ohm meter directly across antenna’s connector (case to pin) to confirm if you have a DC short there. Some antennas (like a J-pole for example) have both poles of the antenna reference the same DC potential as an integral part of their design. The design of your antenna could similar. If the antenna shows a DC short, the only way to know for certain if there is an issue with the antenna is to check its impedance. That will require a VNA or other form of antenna analyzer hooked directly to the antenna. As far as your cable is concerned. Once the cable is disconnected from the antenna and open at both ends I would check for shorts. After confirming that a short really exists there, I would pick a suspect connector, cut if off, and immediately check again. If the short disappears, your instinct on the suspect end was correct, so replace the connector. If the short still exists, cut off the other end and once again immediately check for shorts. If you still have a short in the cable without connectors on, then there is an issue with the cable. If you had an antenna analyzer, you could confirm whether you had an issue at all without having to take the antenna down. Oh, the wonder of modern electronics. As a point of reference, when I measure the DC resistance of two different roll-up J-poles I have and use regularly, both measure .3 to .4 ohms DCR. When I measure the DC resistance of my Comet CA-712EFC it is Infinity. Hope this helps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Do you already have your ground rod in somewhere that just cannot be seen in the pictures, or is that still to come? Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Good Day Jronco. No can do. Wouxun software does not permit cell copy paste in any software of theirs I have tried. Their software is bare-bones bottom of the line unsupported software. There is however one copy&paste function that does work. You can copy and paste a row. On the other hand, RTSystems (https://www.rtsystemsinc.com/KG-1000G_c_2086.html ) does sell a programming kit that does allow this. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Agreed. KG-905G does not have Dual PTT. The KG-UV9G however does have TDR with dual PTT. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

If your radio has tone scan capability, you can easily use it to determine the code they are using so you can in-turn enter it in your radio and use it to converse back with them. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Hello Michael and welcome to myGMRS. You most certainly can use the KG-905G in a car. In fact any HT that supports use of an external antenna can be used in a vehicle. You can use it with its internal battery or you can use it with the available battery eliminator (https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-elo-005.html). I use a Midland MXTA-26 antenna and MXT-12 mag mount in my vehicle and it works excellent for my needs. I also use an SMO-02 speaker mic, which makes for safer use of the radio safer while driving. For my convenience, I have added a BNC connector to the radio, a 90-degree BNC adapter plus a short adapter cable for connecting the radio to the end of the midland antenna cable. All items are readily available from your radio vendor. Hope this helps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

A completely ‘black’ radio is most commonly an indicator of no power to the radio electronics. This could mean power at the source, a blown fuse somewhere in the circuit between power source and the radio, a blown fuse inside the radio or perhaps even a physically open connection within the radio. Be aware if you are using a cigarette lighter plug, there may be a fuse hidden inside the plug that you do not see. If you have a volt meter I would recommend you confirm the presence of power at source and at the radio itself. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Good Day Paul. Thanks for sharing your story. We are sorry to learn of your diagnosis, but glad that the community has been able to provide you comfort as you progress through your treatments. Glad to hear also that you got yourself a base radio to get connected with folks in your area. Staying connected with the outside world can be a great comfort. I wish you peace and comfort with your new hobby, and the best outcome from your treatments. Take care and stay in touch here on the forum. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Honestly, the numbers you have received (1.03 and 1.5) are quite good that you have nothing to worry about. At 50 watt output power, your reflected power is a mere 2 watts. Some quality pre-tuned antennas are advertise to only be 1.7 or below and here you are down at 1.5. If the antenna could be adjusted non-destructively (meaning no clipping) I would surely play with it as a learning exercise just to learn how I could squeeze more out of it. But if adjustments are destructive, I would probably stop when when numbers fell into the range you have unless I was prepared to purchase replacement should I accidentally go to far. If it was a collinear design, I would not mess with it at all because they are too complicated for DIY field adjustments.

You know, fixing that issue will require congressional approval. [emoji1787] Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

[emoji23] Now tell me, are you going to do video that one Randy? I see one in your future! Kenwood vs Motorola vs Wouxun vs BTech. Just who will win the STUN Wars. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

No, you are not crazy. But then we have this: Makes me wonder if the dedicated NOAA feature they added to the radio necessitated the removal of one of the VFO bands and the 10-11m lost out. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

The radio it is based on (KG-UV980) does appear to have that capability, and the radio does have auto AM detect for use with the band. No SSB that I am aware of. It would not surprise me that some remnants of that radio manual found its way into the 1000G manual. If you discover a way to activate that band I am sure others will have interest in knowing how you did it. Here on the R&L website is where I read that the base radio is capable of it. http://www.randl.com/shop/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=330&products_id=75118&osCsid=ft9op7vddelsatknupf0pupcp5 Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

How did you find out about the CB receive support and what did you do to activate it? The lowest I can tune using the VFO is 50MHz. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Did you order the CA-712EFC or something else? Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

The SureCom still has its place though. It can used to confirm frequency, radio power output, and if you want it, real-time online SWR which can be great thing to have to confirm nothing has changed with your antenna system. Admittedly I hardly use mine now that I have a VNA. BTW, glad to here you talked with Ed. Was he able to help with your issue? Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I will leave the Kenwood/Vertex programming questions for RadioGuy as he is the expert on that. Me personally, I want the capability to change the programming of my radios myself, even though the learning curve may be more than I wish. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Ideally you would tie your mast to the ground rod. Install your lighting arrestor immediately outside your home and connect it to the ground rod. And I second the recommendation that the ground rod for your antenna system be bonded to the main electrical ground rod. This helps to ensure that the electrical potential of the coaxial shield remains consistent with the potential of the electrical grounding conductors in the home during a nearby strike occurs. As I recall, NEC requires that the bonding conductors between ground rods be least equal to the size required between the electrical panel and ground rod. So if #6 copper is required panel to rod at your place, then anything #6 copper or larger for bonding is acceptable. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Good Day Ken. I have all three antennas and extensive practical simplex and repeater experience with them. My conclusion is that if you are at the absolute fringe of being able to make out a transmission from another party, the 771 might make the difference between whether you will barely understand or not understand them at all. If you are not on the fringe it will make no practical difference. I have previously reported I believe I receive perhaps 5% more range with the 771. I used to use the 771 daily, but ultimately took if off because the inconvenience of the extra long antenna outweighed my limited need to squeeze out that extra few feet of distance. I am back to using the more convenient length stock antenna. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM