mbrun

The thing about companders is that they intended to be used on all radios that are part of your communications circle. You don’t receive the full benefit except when your other party’s radios have the same feature and it is enabled their radios also.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Configuring scan groups is a function of the factory software. You have 10 scan groups available. Each group can have a single contiguous range of memories associated with it (e.g Channels 1-20, 20-100, 5-20, etc.). Each group has a group number. From the radio you can pick which group you want to scan. That is what the scan group menu allows you to do, select which of those groups you want to scan. You also have the ‘All’ option, which allows you to scan all channels programmed into the radio.

Note that you can designate each channel memory to be scan-able or not scan-able. That setting you can change on the radio.

The manual for the KG-1000G is light years above every other Wouxun manual, but it still falls short of the ideal. In fact, the distributor had to write it themselves since the manufacturer is not qualified to write an english manual for one of their products.

Hope that helps.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Menu Item 43 (SC-GROUP). The radios scans whatever scan group you have active in this setting.
 
 
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

I suggest that your issue is that your two radio are too close together and you are experience desense. The frequency one radio is sending out to the repeater is adversely affecting the ability of the other radio to successful capture the repeaters output frequency because of the level difference between the two. Separate your two radios by about 100 feet and more and then try again. This is a common issue. If affects all RF receivers to various degrees. The better the radios receiver design, the lesser this issue becomes.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

The thing about companders is that they intended to be used on all radios that are part of your communications circle. You don’t receive the full benefit except when your other party’s radios have the same feature and it is enabled their radios also.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

I suggest that your issue is that your two radio are too close together and you are experience desense. The frequency one radio is sending out to the repeater is adversely affecting the ability of the other radio to successful capture the repeaters output frequency because of the level difference between the two. Separate your two radios by about 100 feet and more and then try again. This is a common issue. If affects all RF receivers to various degrees. The better the radios receiver design, the lesser this issue becomes.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

I was out for one of my daily walks. My wife tried to reach me off and one for about 15 minutes. Hearing no response she gave up and went looking for me. She found me safe and sound with radio in hand still walking but asked why I did not respond. I apologized but informed her that I did not hear the calls over the radio. Despite the base radio being set correctly when I got home, no dice, no Tx. Turned out I was at fault. I had disconnected the antenna from the radio the night before doing some testing and apparently I had forgotten to reattach. At 50w the radio survived the periodic calls.

Sure is a good thing I did not do that on the day I had her read the whole US constitution over the air while I checked coverage in our area for about an hour.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

The bubble wrap FRS are always narrow band per FCC requirements. Perhaps with a few rare exceptions, GMRS bubble wrap radios are exclusively narrow band as well. If your primary communications is with these radios, narrow is the way to go.

It seems that most GMRS repeater owners choose wide-band as do users of current crop of programmable GMRS HTs where improved audio performance is desired.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Yes I have tested the output power on the radio previously and found power levels to be acceptable. For the sake of this post, I just hooked it up to my dummy load, confirmed input voltage was 13.8vdc and achieved 49.0 watts on 462.6500 and 47.3 watts on 467.6500, 16 watts +/- on the upper mid power setting, 8 watts +/- on the lower mid power setting and 4 watts +/- on lower setting on both of the above frequencies.

BTW, do make sure that 13.8v is what the radio is seeing while transmitting, not just when idle.

Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Thanks!

Sidetone refers to the ability of the transmitting radio to reproduce DTMF tones via its local speaker. If turned off, none of the DTMF tones transmitted by your radio will be heard locally. The other choices refer to whether you hear the DTMF tones sent out from key-presses, whether you hear the DTMF tone sent out as your ANI ID, or both.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Sidetone refers to the ability of the transmitting radio to reproduce DTMF tones via its local speaker. If turned off, none of the DTMF tones transmitted by your radio will be heard locally. The other choices refer to whether you hear the DTMF tones sent out from key-presses, whether you hear the DTMF tone sent out as your ANI ID, or both.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

I believe it is safe to say that the market is too small for manufacturers to make hardware that is 100% specific to the GMRS. Instead what they do is make hardware that can be used for a variety of different services, but mainly for Public Service, Commercial and Amateur radio. Then they adapter it for GMRS. I think they leave some commercial and amateur radio features in the radios to lure folks into buying them because they have “extra” features, even though said features may have no practical use in the GMRS. Quite honestly some of these radios are unnecessarily complex for what the GMRS user really needs or wants.

Yes I was referring (in part) to PTT-ID. There is nothing to say that it could not be used in GMRS, just that is currently has limited or no practical use in the GMRS for the masses, whereas in a commercial or public service application it has had lots of practical use according to some folks I have discussed it with.

If you do have radios that can both transmit a PTT-ID as well as decode and display it, that could potentially be a benefit to you. If you had a family business and perhaps your own repeater that could leverage it in some manner then again it could be beneficial.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Good Day Don.

When the radio is configured to send out its ANI-ID (a.k.a. its PTT Identifier) the radio can be also be configured so this very ID is heard locally by the operator via the speaker. The benefit of hearing it locally is that the person transmitting knows when the ID is being sent out so they do not talk over it.
Given the length of the DTMF sequence sent out, if silent locally, it would be easily for a user to inadvertently talk over it if.

I think you are on the right track with regards to how the ANI-ID may be used in some cases (e.g. repeater access). The way I understand it currently however is that it has has little or practical use in GMRS and probably has no use being on nor being marketed as a “feature” of an GMRS radio. However, when present on a radio used in the commercial or public service space it does have its place. Here is my current understanding:

- Some commercial radio services may require the radio to send out a certain code, perhaps in addition to a PL, to gain access to the repeater.
- Such commercial services, particular third party leased services that share a frequency amongst many different companies may use the codes as a means of metered usage of a repeater. Perhaps the greater the number of times a given ANI-ID is used during a month, the greater the bill for usage.
- When used in a dispatch environment, the received code can be translated to a specific user name so the dispatcher automatically knows who they are talking to without the remote operator having to identify themselves each time.

Hopefully this little nugget of additional insight is useful.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Radio waves coming from the antenna are just like the light coming from a flashlight. If you light it up atop of a lighthouse, someone will be able to see your light from tens of miles away, now, if you light up the same flashlight at ground level, it won't be seen from very far away at all.
Repeaters are like lighthouses, they are placed high above the ground.
G.

All very fair statements that I currently do not take exceptions to.

I believe I felt compelled based a mixture of things. Here are some:

- Initial reports of power deficiencies.
- Continued apparent programming limitations, now continued on a flag-ship radio, that unnecesarily limits the number and order of usable memory configurations for repeaters, and even seemingly simplex channel usage.
- Apparent continued exclusive use of integral values to describe DCS codes rather that making them available to be viewed and selected directly. As a power user, I want to see the codes without a lookup table.
- Apparent inability to monitor and display dual frequencies at once while their lesser expensive competitors do.
- Apparent use of ROC. It plays in because of the generally accepted knowledge that they are less performant. This can be clearly be overcome if the implementation can be proven superior.
- Hope for a radio for dual modes. One that continued to be Midland simple so my wife could be more comfortable using; while having another with more advanced features and flexibility that would entice the power user group.

I take no exceptions to a GMRS radio not being able to listen on amateur and public service frequencies, it is a GMRS radio after all. But what I would truly like to learn is that because it is a flagship GMRS radio that it outperforms all its crossover competitors. Wouldn’t it even be cool if passed the @gman1971 real-world effective sensitivity and selectivity tests?

Clearly I don’t have one in my possession and am not hearing anything compelling for me to spend more to get less than what I have now. Perhaps new knowledge will change my tune. But for now let’s just say I am disappointed.

Regards,


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

I know the SWR and watt meter may not agree with this statement, but I would try this anyway.
 
Hook-up the Comet, put the tip (center lead) of the connector in the radio, but don't let any of the ground connection or collar touch the back of the radio.  If it hears fine, you need to test your transmission line.  I have experienced your symptoms many times over the years and found that there is a problem with the cable.  Typically a full or partial short circuit in the connector during assembly, but also occasionally in the coax itself. 
 
If you have an ohm meter, look for a short between the coax center and ground both while connected to the antenna and on its own.  Also see if you can find someone with an antenna and coax analyzer.
 
That said, don't discount anything mbrun stated.  That is all good info.  I personally would start with testing the cable so you know you're not chasing a ghost while using his troubleshooting recommendations. 

I suggest that your issue is that your two radio are too close together and you are experience desense. The frequency one radio is sending out to the repeater is adversely affecting the ability of the other radio to successful capture the repeaters output frequency because of the level difference between the two. Separate your two radios by about 100 feet and more and then try again. This is a common issue. If affects all RF receivers to various degrees. The better the radios receiver design, the lesser this issue becomes.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

To me, you are clearly on the fringe of that repeater. Seemingly no RF budget to spare. This means minor things can make the difference between getting into and not getting into the repeater, receiving and not receiving the repeater. I remain curious how things work when you use an HT and when using the Nagoya up on roof.

Moving on. I see a wire running laterally overhead through your yard in the photo. What is that? If that line is emitting some form of RFI, its proximity to your roof antenna could be causing just enough desense on the radio using that antenna. It could also explain the difference between results with antennas located at two different distances away from it.

Even if that wire or any connected electronics are not a noise source, it does have me questioning the presence of other sources of RFI that could be in closer proximity to your outdoor antenna than your antenna in the garage.

If the issue existed at my house some of the things I would be doing would be using a VNA to do more investigation of the antenna system, using the same radio for comparison of different antennas, comparing different antennas at the same physical location using the exact same feed-line, and I would be pulling out the spectrum analyzer to investigate RF background noise conditions in and around the antennal locations that have different Rx characteristics.

Hope there is a little nugget of inspiration in there.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

My interpretation of the ‘licensed by rule’ rule is that you are licensed to operate in a LBR service only when you abide by the rules. If the rules for a service require the use of certified equipment and one does use such equipment then they are not licensed to use the service frequencies, thus not licensed.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

I suggest that your issue is that your two radio are too close together and you are experience desense. The frequency one radio is sending out to the repeater is adversely affecting the ability of the other radio to successful capture the repeaters output frequency because of the level difference between the two. Separate your two radios by about 100 feet and more and then try again. This is a common issue. If affects all RF receivers to various degrees. The better the radios receiver design, the lesser this issue becomes.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

Apologizes in advance if this is double posted here.





Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM

QFT!

Good info and thanks.

It just got to wondering how many KG-1000G owners are actually familiar with and use the Priority Channel feature on this radio. So this post is for you.

If you a KG-1000G owner, are you aware that you can set a priority channel? Are you aware that, unlike many other radios, even when you are tuned to different channel, and even when both of your receivers are tuned to different channels, that transmissions from your designated priority channel will still come through? Did you realize it will do this when you are not scanning?

It is a very cool and useful feature. Yes, it requires the software to preset the channel, but once the channel has been set you can enable and disable the feature from the radio. It makes it sort of like a poor mans “Three-Watch” (as contrasted with Dual-Watch) radio. Of course, poor is relative.

When the feature is enabled (function menu 23), the radio checks the priority channel in the background every few seconds. If a transmission is detected, the priority channel breaks through, no matter what channel(s) you may currently be tuned to.

Admittedly it has some weaknesses. Recently I submitted recommendations for improvement to make it more useful and convenient to set up.

Since this a tips and tricks thread, I thought I would pass this on.


Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM