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...

So I got to thinking... I've got a gas generator but in an emergency, I'm not going to want it running 24/7. What are you guys doing for battery backup to power your base station (I'm guessing repeater backups are much more complicated)? APC UPS? Something else? I'm not so concerned that the radio stays on if the power goes down as much as a means of running the radio for a time, perhaps recharging the batteries with the generator or hooking it up to a solar panel.

Thank you sir.

Thanks Drake... somewhat related, I was lazy and just pushed the power wires into the back of the box. I've read about coiling extra antenna wire having the potential to cause problems but can coiled DC power cables also be a problem? I can cut them... after building a box, I probably shouldn't be so lazy to skimp on this but figured I'd ask out of curiosity.

I don't know how many will care about this but I built a box and thought I'd post it. For the woodworkers here, please ignore the joints. I used the miter corner "tape trick" instead of clamping and the thing blew up on me during glue up and I had to scramble for clamps. Didn't get my usual, clean corners. I was also too lazy to route the edges.

Thanks for the link and I’ll absolutely ensure I can’t transmit on those freqs, appreciate the reminder. hmmmm, need to look at what Talkaround is, not sure I understand the feature. Thanks again!

This is an interesting approach. TA = tone assignment? I've got a bit to learn about this radio not just about functions and capabilities but just general "radio stuff." I initially bought some Midland hand helds and the MXT115 for SHTF but this is getting very interesting. I go back and forth regretting the MXT115 because for the same price I got the 8360HK which is clearly, far superior, but then I convince myself that the MXT115 is actually a nice "portable" because I can just plug in to any cigarette lighter type plug in a vehicle and use it (probably need a better antenna). But now I'm struggling with whether I should buy another Kenwood and do a permanent install in my car. I hear this is the normal progression.

It's great to hear I'm on the right track. Thank you very much for sharing the approach and also the info about the ID number. You touched on something else that I'm curious about, which is the ability to configure the radio to listen in on other channels outside of GMRS since it's configurable. How did you figure out the FD/EMS frequencies? I haven't spent a ton of time on it but have looked to see what other frequencies in the range this radio can be configured for are dedicated to but either I don't understand the information (I've found lists but don't understand what they're telling me) or I haven't actually found the right thing.

Have a question about the radio too... some transmissions show an "ID ####" (ex. ID 0370) on the Kenwood display. What is that, an ID being transmitted from their radio?

Hi all, So I've got my base station all setup (Kenwood 8360HK), the software is very intuitive and I'm doing a good amount of listening and making changes to how I have the radio configured. What I'm curious about is how you're all using the configurable zones in your radios? I've got zone 1 setup with all the basic GMRS channels, no tones configured. The second zone I've got setup for use with the Midland handhelds and the 15 watt mobile for direct communications with my family and have a channel with the travel tone configuration. The third I've setup solely for repeaters, but of course I don't have access to or use any repeaters yet, but there are a couple locally here so I do hear some conversations. So what's your general approach to programming your radios?

Thank you. Would you recommend this same approach if I were to mount in the attic?