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Savage

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Posts posted by Savage

  1. How many amps is your power supply? do you have enough amperage for your 45watts TK8360.

     

    PSU is 12 or 13 amps.

     

    If you are trying to run a 45 Watt radio on a cigarette lighter plug, then there's your first problem.

     

     

    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.

  2. 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

  3. Glad you figured it out, I was about to mention the off hook decode/scan. Basically with off hook decode is disabled, if the mic is in the hanger it'll require the correct DCS code to break the squelch however with it off the hanger it'll open up for everything. This is meant for companies running 2 or 3 user groups on the same frequency so you know the channel is clear before you transmit. I don't know of too many other applications its used for.

     

    Thanks for that explanation, makes sense!

  4. 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

  5. Yeah they are for my fridge/freezer and some led lights that came with the kit. I use a cheap 10ah battery on a charger for my gmrs mobile base radio. I also have a 12v power supply which runs my cb currently but I can just tie that in to the battery if the power goes out.

     

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

  6. I have 2 deep cycle batteries on a 100watt HF solar panel kit. I may expand it to the full 400w it's capable of but I think the 100w panel should keep me on the air no problem.

     

    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. 

  7. Dude! I'd like to know how you got the cool blue coloration... and where did you get the whole pirate looking sea trunk corner protectors and handles?

     

    I like it!

     

    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

  8. Ya'll got me thinking..  I have 400w solar, 4 6v RV batteries and a 2000w pure sine wave inverter in my 5th wheel camp trailer parked near the house.  I've left the batteries in going on 5 winters and just let the quality charge controller handle the maintenance.  I do check water twice per year but so far have been able to leave them through the winter with no issues.

    What I do not have is a base, mobile, or repeater installed in the 5'er but I was already considering installing one in the place where the AM/FM Stereo is from the factory, or I can find another spot easy enough.

    I had not thought of that for any kind of emergency use but more for our couple months per year camping.  However, with 2 repeaters within HT range from the house (and one of them that hit me with ID from 50 miles while hunting at altitude) I guess it could be a decent base station if I want to play with it.  From what I'm reading I already have everything needed except the mobile and antenna.  ??

     

    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.

  9. That looks great if you ask me. I can show you a butcher job that I did building a 19” rack cabinet on wheels that holds a primary and backup repeater. It might not be pretty but it does the job and other than the wheels, I had everything else and decided to just use what I already had. It beats the price of a professionally built cabinet and I’m the only one that ever sees it. Now, if I end up having to relocate the repeater to a location other than my house, I’ll suck it up and spend the money on a real cabinet or ask you to build it lol. There’s no way I would want anyone to see my sad attempt at building one.

    Yours on the other hand, I’d be proud to show off, exactly as it is. Nice job !

     

    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!

  10. I have a pair of 6-Volt Trojan golf cart batteries sitting in a large plastic tote just outside of the house.  The batteries are hooked in series with a 100 Amp Maxi Fuse for short-circuit protection.  I have #2 copper welding cables running inside the house to a ground bar, and a 12 Volt distribution block with 12 ATO type fuses.  (look for 'marine fuse block') Everything in my ham shack, including my GMRS repeater, runs from that.  I have a regulated power supply hooked up to it to float-charge the batteries.

     

    The power rarely goes out here, but if it ever did, I have a portable 5KW Generac Niagara mounted to a steel wagon siting in my garage, ready to wheel out and plug into the changeover panel on the back of the house.

     

    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.

  11. Thanks all for the responses!

     

    My main base repeater is connected to a large LiPo battery bank, mated to a 100W solar panel on the roof. Without the solar panel the pack is large enough to run the repeater idle for ~3 weeks, 24/7, that is assuming the sun doesn't go dark... otherwise that solar panel gives it unlimited runtime.

     

    G.

     

    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...

  12. 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.

     

     

  13. I'm sure there is someone more "qualified" to answer that question but I'd be more than happy to share my insight. I've also heard the same thing. In my experience I've had no issues. I heard on lower frequencies such a HF/VHF it can cause issues but nothing around UHF. That being said, for my car install I have a couple feet of coax coiled up under seat and a longer than need be power cable from the radio to the battery. No noticeable issues, I've even tried shorter cables to compare it and nothing is different.

     

    I don't think it's a bad idea to go ahead and keep the cables short to keep it nice and neat but if nobody will see the extra cables I think you're fine.

     

    Thank you sir.

  14. Looks awesome! Nice work.

     

    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.

  15. This varies by radio. Some radios will only cover 450-480, others cover 440-520 and more cover 400-520 and even the VHF band. As long as a dept uses a frequency your radio can pick up, you could add it to your radio. PLEASE IF YOU DO THIS, ENSURE TRANSMIT IS DISABLED FOR THOSE CHANNELS AS CONVICTION FOR INTERFERING ON PUBLIC SAFETY FREQUENCIES CAN RESULT IN MASSIVE FINES AND EVEN JAIL TIME!!!!!!

     

    Other than that, if your curious, look at your area on Radioreference.com. This will tell you most of the frequencies that are used by your local depts.

     

    Also, TA=Talkaround. It by-passes repeaters to allow two mobile and/or portable stations to talk directly rather than through a repeater.

    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!

  16. I use Kenwood radios also. What I do as far as zones is that I’ll dedicate a zone to each repeater output, e.g., a zone for 550, 575, 600, 625, 650, 675, 700, and 725. I have travel tone in all of them and any other repeaters are categorized according to output frequency. I don’t program a corresponding TA with them because I assign a key for the TA feature. Then I assign a zone for any specific simplex frequency/tone combinations I want to store.

     

    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.  :)

  17. Zones are for, as you have done, sorting channels into groups. I have set Zone 1 as local repeaters, Zone 2 as all repeater channels, Zone 3 for conventional GMRS channels and Zone 4 I added local FD/EMS.

     

    as for ID number, many kenwood radios have two ID modes. Fleetsync and MDC1200. If configured the ID number will be send on each transmit, and if you configure your radio correctly, it will display a name when the code is received. These modes will also allow you to page particular users, and even send messages.

     

    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.

  18. 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?

  19. Get a real lightening polyphaser: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/ppr-is-50ux-c0 or similar ($7 isn't going to provide adequate protection)

    Mount it to a grounded utility enclosure: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-ue-2p (can be mounted high on the house near the entry)

    Use something like 2GA grounding wire from the box to your ground rod IMMEDIATELY underneath the box: https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/gcl-5021-tin-025 (keep it straight as possible, any bends shall be very gradual

     

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

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