Savage

PSU is 12 or 13 amps. It's hard wired. I removed the fuses that came with the wires I got with the radio, rewired it using a different type of inline fuse holder and it seems to be working fine now.

So I finally figured out why my base station was dropping power (after having a defective power cable/fuse connection). Apparently there's a good amount of voltage being lost between my power supply and the Kenwood TK-8360 and when transmitting, it will eventually just shut it off. Maybe it's the inline glass fuses, the connections, not sure I've narrowed it down to loss in these cables after trying different cables. I'm going to make new cables and use different/better inline fuse holders so the question is, do I need one on both red and black wires or can I put one just on the red side? I ask because that's all that's on the female 12volt cigarette lighter style cable I have so figure it might only be needed on the one wire. Thanks

Thanks for that explanation, makes sense!

Think I figured it out... Off Hook Decode. Seems the 8160 software defaults are "better" than the 880. Both off hook scan and off hook decode are disabled by default. Probably a good reason for it but this newb didn't know what the were for.

So my TK8360 seems to be working fine but I've got a group of channels setup for my family to use and the TK-880 seems to be ignoring the codes. When I go to scan on the group that has the codes set, it's still picking up transmissions that I'm certain aren't using the same digital code, since one of the channels is a local tile store and I've changed the code just to make sure and both them and others on different channels are still coming through. I'm assuming there's an option I haven't checked in the programming software (KPG-49D). Anybody know what it is I've missed? Edit: Just learned something new. I was on ch1 with the code programmed, using the 8360 and when I pressed the monitor button, I could hear the store. So, apparently squelch has an impact (I recall reading that codes are a "type of squelch") so with that said, perhaps the "logic signal" section holds the key? My settings there are: Squelch Logic Type: Active Low Squelch Logic Signal: COR Access Logic Type: Active Low Access Logic Signal: Continous Horn Alert Logic Signal: Continous I'll take a look at the help file for the software I use for the 8360. The help file for some reason returns an error for the KPG-49D software. Bob

Not much to it - all I did was add a shelf since there was no good place to put it. Here's the final setup.

LOL - Now that's funny!

How much life does the 10ah battery give your base? I keep getting drawn into thinking I need 100ah or more.

Do you have a basic, bare bones setup and if so, out of curiosity what are you using? As always, I start down a path and next thing I know I'm $1,500 (or more) into what I thought was going to be a simple setup. I'll eventually do this for emergency power but have been spending more than usual on shtf things so am holding off on this for now. At one point I was going to drop a greenhouse in the backyard and use solar for hydroponic pumps, lighting, etc. and this exercise reminded me of why I held off on that project too.

I stained the wood with water based dye stain. This particular stain comes in a powder (made by Lockwood) and you mix it to preference. I finished it with Watco finishing oil (natural). The wood is European Birch, is very dense wood and really held the stain. I've used this stain with curly Maple to bring out the figuring and it didn't hold the rich color like this Birch did. The corners are these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQRG3C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 If you like the antique drawer pulls on the side (they're handing for picking up the box) there's a wide variety of them out there. I just searched ebay and really like the ones in the link below but there's a nice variety out there. https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Antique-vtg-Style-Victorian-Brass-Apothecary-Bin-Pulls-Handles-3-7-16-w-A5/201807071002?hash=item2efca3871a:g:VQEAAOSwGPNcMUoG

Thinking about how to pitch a 5th wheel trailer (and a truck to pull it) to the wife, you know, since these are necessary for a legit base station.

Thank you for the kind words. I've been a musician all my life (well, I wasn't born one, but...) so have been around 19" racked gear for decades and it blows my mind the price companies get for these. Road cases, I get it, they serve a purpose beyond just a place to mount gear, but non-road worthy boxes with a couple metal channels, come on!

Thanks all! Going to digest this and see where it goes.

I like the simplicity of this. Thinking along these lines, any idea how a 100 watt solar panel hooked to a solar distribution controller to a 12 volt deep cycle battery (similar to your Trojan setup) would do? I'm in So Cal so the one good thing we do have is sun.

Thanks all for the responses! I was looking at a solar panel with deep cycle batteries to setup a small greenhouse with a pump system but it's been a while since I looked into that. Maybe I should look at that again...