mbrun

I have not had any first hand experience with any of the DC-DC switch-mode power supplies, but that is where I would go if I were in your shoes. Here is a link to one that I would consider under your conditions. https://www.amazon.com/Samlex-America-SDC-23-Amp-Converter/dp/B0002D6KO0 I do use a high-power AC-DC switching power supply from Alinco for the 12v radio equipment I operate in my home. I do not experience any discernable noise from it on UHF so I would anticipate similar acceptable results from a high-quality DC-DC version in a mobile situation. You could easily purchase a unit, test it, and you if you have negative results, return it for refund. If you do use the inverter, make sure it does not present any parasitic load to your vehicle battery when vehicle is not running otherwise you will experience dead-battery syndrome. I would choose a unit that is rated with 50% or more than I need. Gives headroom additional loads in future and often times products perform their best at less than maximum capacity. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. I feel for you. Yes, I would lean towards replacement of the cable also. The high-voltage arching that would likely have occurred inside the cable would have damaged the internal dielectric and altered the performance of the feed-line. A funny/memorable experience from years past. A nearby lighting strike occurred at a former residence. Many electronics toast, including phone, garage door opener and many more. I thought it was cool when I opened up some of the electronics to see if I could repair them when I observed several chips (ICs) that where literally blown out right in their centers. It was like a little explosive charge had been set off right in the middle. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

You and your grand daughter are going to do great. Looking forward to hearing your good news soon. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I use a HD pushup fiberglass mast for semi-permanent use. Capable of 46’ AGL. Purchased from DX Engineering. It is available in shorter lengths with smaller vertical sections so it will collapse to shorter length. Here is a picture of mine un-guyed at max height (with antenna) located in my backyard during testing (56’ to tip). Amazing how plumb it stayed, of course it was not side loaded as would be the case with a Yagi. Anchoring in this picture consisted of (4) 18” long screw-in earth anchors plus 4 adjustable straps from Harbor Freight. I would have no problems taking this or a shorter one camping. Would take about 10-15 minutes to assemble, anchor and raise with antenna and coax once you know your system down and all parts on are hand. This one was put up solo. It has gone up and down about a dozen times thus far. It now sits next to the house. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Welcome to myGMRS. Loads of information and lots of friendly people here. Enjoy your stay. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

You are correct. There were forum issues originally when GMRSdude posted his question and I could not respond here, so I sent a private message answer instead. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I have spent some time today investigating the pinouts and behavior of the RJ45 connections on the radio for the purpose of integrating with other things. I have also messaged BTWR to ask for the official information. I will post the results here in the near future. One think I discovered today is what I consider to be an error in the manual. The pin numbers used in the manual for the RJ45 (8P8C) connector are backwards from the standard. So if you make you own cable and reverse the conductors based on the standard pin numbers, the cable will be incorrect. If using the standard pin numbers, Pins 5 and 7 need to be reversed end to end, not 2 and 4 as indicated in the manual. However, if you follow the graphic in the manual you will be fine. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Edit: Here are the current pinout findings.

[mention]Admin [/mention] I can read but cannot no longer reply to posts in the Guest Forum. I cannot do so from either the web client or TapaTalk. I have logged off and back on with no change. Could this be a permissions thing that has occurred since the software migration? Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Mine was received 15 hours after passing the test. I tested on a Wednesday evening and completed exam by 8. After testing was completed, the VEs hung-around the club house and submitted everything to the FCC electronically. I received an email from FCC around 10:30AM the following day. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

My understanding is no, generally speaking. Your antenna is no more likely to take a direct hit than you, a tree or some other structure in your vicinity. Your antenna becomes just another of millions of potential other targets in the area. Perhaps if you were mounting it substantially above (say 5 times and more) above the average elevation of other structures in your area you might find a statistically greater chance of a direct hit. This past year I watched a science episode where they spent time on this subject. Super tall structures (think spire on top of a tall downtown tower, or a 1000’ tall broadcast TV antenna tower) reportedly do have a statistically significant increase in likelihood of a direct strike. My recollection of the research reported is that in areas that are already prone to lighting strikes, the area including and immediately around the area of highest average elevation (manmade or natural) was more prone to get hit than the lower average area 2 miles or more away. For example, the area including and immediately surrounding a mountain will take more direct hits than the flat area 2 miles or more a way from the mountain, and similarly with metro areas with loads of skyscrapers. I have heard (but have not researched to confirm) that some insurance companies do not cover damage to electronics any longer unless the house is properly grounded per the code and either has a whole-house surge suppressor or the individual products damaged where connected to local surge suppressors at the time of incident. I also understand that where an antenna is involved, the antenna also needs to have been property grounded per code also. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Congratulations on passing your test. You should be proud of yourself for both your effort and your accomplishment. I thank you for taking it seriously. Welcome to the amateur community! 73 Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Edit: Grammar

If you are savvy with electronics, the referenced SR1 in conjunction with some custom circuity could be adapted to fit your needs. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

There is a module available that is designed for use with repeaters that can generate morse code. ArgentData ADS-SR1. It has no controls on it as it’s behavior is automatic once programmed. It requires two radios to configure and at least one has to have a DTMF keypad. It has no speaker and no button to trigger the ID. It is designed to be connected to a device with an audio (e.g. radio transceiver). It can also playback a pre-recorded voice version of your call-sign. You have me curious, what is your intent? How are you leveraging Voice Memos today? Are you using a text to speech translator now and looking for a way to add CW to the end of your messages? Are you wanting you radio to self ID as an alternative to giving your call sign verbally? Are you building a DIY repeater and want to have it ID? Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

A basic GMRS antenna can easily be disguised as something other than an antenna. If you use an antenna without ground plane radials it will be nothing more than stick. Imagine an outdoor planter with an antenna in it and surrounded by real or artificial plant material. Or imagine a bird feeder pole with bird feeder and an non-ground plane antenna on top painted the same color as the bird-feeder pole. An Ed Fong rollup antenna or one of his versions that goes in PVC pipe are options also. Both easy to disguise. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

§ 95.1731.a. Does clarify that GMRS may be used for emergency communications. Getting on the air and personally reporting that a tornado is coming and advising listeners to take cover seems a perfectly legitimate use of the airwaves. § 95.333.b Prohibits broadcasting material from television and radio broadcasts. Re-broadcasting content originating from a public broadcast service, which the national weather service is, would seem to fall into this category. Personally, I would take no offense to someone stepping in and making an emergency announcement, and recommending folks tune into NOAA or another information source, but I would not want the two-way frequency monopolized to the point where its primary purpose is lost. I can quickly imagine cases where families that include two-way comms in their emergency plans suddenly find themselves unable to communicate amongst themselves because their two-way frequency is suddenly tied up rebroadcasting something they already have available via other means. 50% of my radios have NOAA capability. I also have multiple dedicated NOAA radios around the house. If I were to hear that something was imminent, I would do what I always do, tune in NOAA. Where appropriate I would then continue monitoring whatever other frequency(s) I had been on. Hope this helps. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Edit: Spelling & grammar

Ed warrants his antennas, so perhaps it is worth a call to him. Before you do, check it one more time outdoors away from the building. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Agreed, but my understanding is that GMRS version is only 5. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

In all my years of using GMRS and FRS radios and reading forums, I have not concluded there is any de-facto conventional channel for use when on the road for GMRS. Yes, you might hear an opinion, but nothing clear cut in practice. Perhaps when you in a city that has high profile repeater that reaches the whole city, that repeater might be the go-to channel for that city. Personally I do not assume nor expect GMRS communications with the general public when I am traveling except with the folks that might be traveling with, or perhaps with radio friends I have made via repeaters in other cities I frequent. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

I would advocate that you conduct simplex testing first to confirm you can communicate between your intended sites before investing in repeater specific gear. The results of those tests will be incredibly beneficial. If you achieve exceptional results doing simplex, then there is reasonable chance of success with a repeater. I have considered hosting a repeater on my property, but have not yet chosen to do so. Even though my elevation is good (at or above everyone else for miles) I know from testing I would still need to get my antenna well above the trees (perhaps 100-120 feet or more AGL) to achieve reliable repeater coverage out to 8-9 miles and be suitable for reliable use with an HT. My range limitation is mostly foliage density (i.e. the trees are my enemy). The cost of the tower to achieve that elevation detracts me from moving forward. If you are considering the Retevis repeater, it is only 5 watts, so your simplex testing would need to yield exceptional results using only 5 watts of power. I say exceptional, because the Retivis will not work as well as a simplex radio solution. For my testing, I opted for a HD fiber glass pushup mast and high-gain collinear antenna on top. It was suitable for testing, and has found itself now semi-permanently installed next to the house. Here is an image taken when i was doing my simplex testing. Top of antenna in this picture is 56’ AGL. Bottom line, if you can’t simplex between the intended sites from your desired antenna elevations, using the intended amount of power, there is zero chance of repeater success. So, my advise is to keep your expectations realistic, do your testing first so that when you do decide to invest in a repeater your expectation bubble will not burst. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Good Day. There is nothing you can do to definitely discover a repeater just by scanning. A repeater transmits on the same frequencies that both GMRS and FRS radios use for simplex operation. So you will hear the exact same signal on RPT-22 as you do on simplex 22, since the only difference between the two is which frequency is used when you press the PTT button on your radio. You will have truly discovered one if you find that you can open it up by transmitting on its corresponding input frequency (using the tone/code it requires to open it up) and you hear either the squelch tail (hang time) of the repeater when you let off the PTT button, or you hear yourself being received on a second radio in real time that is tuned to the same frequency the repeater is transmitting on. If you hear morse code on the channel +/- 15 minutes from when a conversation occurred on the frequency, you may have heard a repeater. If you hear a pre-recorded announcement giving a call sign +/- 15 minutes from when a conversation occurred on the frequency, you may have heard a repeater. If you hear the exact same ‘booop’ or ‘beep’ at the end of every transmission on a frequency, regardless of who was talking last you have likely found a repeater. Repeaters are private property and there is no requirement that they be listed anywhere. Chances are there are far more repeaters out there that we don’t know about then there are ones we do know about. Since repeaters are private property, you need the permission of the repeater owner to use their equipment. Hope this helps a little. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

Yep, wrong is relative. Even though I posted some information regarding the issues of LMR400, LMR400 is what I currently use for simplex, and it is what I would use (at least initially) if I did install a repeater at my residence. The reason being, I need/want the flexibility to raise and lower my antenna, this requires flexibility. Further, as RadioGuy mentioned, not everyone will experience the issue. Some issues may not occur for many, many years, if at all. In many years I am likely to have changed setups, antennas or towers anyway so the existing stuff is probable to be obsolete or inappropriate for reuse anyway. Further, if I ran into an issue initially, I would merely repurpose my existing LMR400 for other simplex usages around the home and then spend the money for the HL. So I choose to defer the expense until it has been determined to provide material benefit. Lastly, If I were doing an installation on a commercial tower site there is no doubt I would spend the extra money from the get-go. The insurance it would provide against costly third-party rework at the site is a no brainer IMO. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

This is the cable I use with all my current models of Wouxun HTs: https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-pco-001.html This includes a KG-UV9P which the 9G is based on, KG-805G, KG-905G, and KG-UV8H. I speculate that the 001 and 009 cables are identical, just one part number used by BSR and one by BTWR. Software is freely downloadable. The 9D software is fully compatible with the 9P, and my understanding is the 9G is similarly compatible. I see also that BSR has model-specific software available to freely download as well. You should be able to download and play with it before even ordering a cable. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Edit: It just occurred to me. If the software & cable combination is actually RTS Systems software, you will need the RTS Systems cable. My current understanding is RTS software will only work with the radio when using an RTS Systems cable. However, if it is Wouxun software then Wouxun cable is fine.

The reason I have read on multiple occasions has to do with use of dissimilar metals being used in the various shield layers of the coax. When the exterior layer of the shield is exposed to certain conditions it can can cause intermittent negative effect on low-level signals traveling within the cable. Pages 2-5 of the following white paper talk about the phenomenon within the context of static/lightning protection. I would image there is similar technical explanation that talks about this purely within the context of repeater operation. https://www.polyphaser.com/News/DownloadFile?downloadGuid=52f23510-c294-40d8-889b-b63f1c6fdcb5 Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM Edit: Here also is a thread on motorola related forum that is discussing the topic as well. https://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?t=24173

Thanks for sharing your journey on this project. Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM

That is how experienced folks build more brain connections. Change, change, change. [emoji38] Michael WRHS965 KE8PLM