SUPERG900

This ought to be fun... How about a citation indicating that there *is* liability? [Getting my bag of chips]

That's (power goes out) exactly when the party starts. Can't let good beer go to waste. I have plans within plans.... ?

I truly believe that we must be prepared for whatever may unexpected happen. That's why my beer fridge stays 100% stocked at all times....

The Chinese do make some great stuff, but they just don't have the brand visibility that western companies do. Also, they're not going to invest much in operating western based import divisions due to the politicization of market access by those countries. Many have heard of the difficulties that Western companies have in operating in China - this is because western nations use commerce as a cudgel to force other countries to follow their policies. The Chinese know this. However, they aren't adverse to selling to local importers based in the countries they are exporting to. This maintains an arms-length distance between Chinese companies and western political jurisdiction. Who can blame them? We read in the news about Chinese companies under sanction for doing the exact same thing western nations have done for decades - but the irony of it seems to be lost on many. As to the quality of imported Chinese goods - that's simply producing products at the price points western importers are willing to pay. After all, in countries like the US, the average working stiff has been losing his purchasing power since the 70's and he really can't afford the good stuff, and the importer likes his over the top markups. And that's another story.....

Heh. With a pi-star, you get: One Hotspot To Rule Them All! BM,DMR-MARC,DMR+,TGIF,YSF,XLX... but you can't play unless you join the priesthood of DMRGateway freaks.

DMR-MARC and BrandMeister are two completely separate DMR networks. DMR-MARC is the older of the two and is generally based on MOTOTRBO equipment. BrandMeister is a newer and a bit more open network. In general, DMR-MARC repeaters are more locked down and don't permit private calls. BrandMeister repeaters don't usually restrict private calls, they allow SMS messages and also support digital APRS. Their are only a few talkgroups that are shared between these networks. Most folks program their codeplugs for one network or the other - BrandMeister being the most popular. TGIF is an interesting network. There's not a lot of repeaters on that network - but many program TGIF into their personal hotspots.

I'm really happy with my Anytone 878 for DMR and everyday FM. It's been said that the configuration of 878 is a bit "hairy" - but then the configuration options are endless. I'm a bit of a technology freak - so wrapping my head around DMR and the Anytone was seen as a challenge. I'm glad, though, this radio fits me like a glove.

Sharp eye. The Retevis RB17 it is - and at a much more agreeable price too. Looks like Bridgecom is going to milk it at the price they're selling at.

Hmm - just ran across this thread. I wouldn't say that bulkhead connectors won't work with 70cm..... especially considering that the majority of mobile amateur radios doing UHF and used in the home are dual UHF/VHF with an internal diplexer and a SO-239 antenna connector.... If using a bulkhead has any major effect on vswr at all, it's either defective or there's something funny going on in your wall... I'm basically using two 6" so-239 bulkhead connectors attached to two stainless steel outlet covers as a through-the-wall bulkhead. You can buy these covers at any hardware store. One connection is is for a dual-band VHF/UHF antenna, and the other is for an HF antenna. Properly made these bulkhead should be grounded at exterior of the house to a grounding rod. Also, lightening surge suppressors should be installed for the coax and grounded to the rods as well. This is a VSWR scan of a Diamond X50A over the amateur 70cm band through the 10" SO-239 bulkhead I've installed. . It's pretty typical, nothing to write home about, but note it is covering a 30Mhz bandwidth (huge) and certainly not 5:1 VSWR at the edges! A 70cm antenna for GMRS is only going to need to cover a little more than 5Mhz and should have very a very low vswr profile.

"In the old days, we used to..." <insert your cb revenge story here>.

The Anytone's have always had the capability to change the talk group of a digital channel on the fly - and I use that functionality occasionally. Mostly though, I like to create individual digital channels for each of the talkgroups I commonly use on a particular repeater. This way, I can simply simply use the channel knob of the radio for selecting my most-used talkgroups on the current repeater - and I use 'zones' button to select different digital repeaters. I usually reserve one channel on each digital repeater as a scratch-pad for on-the fly talkgroups that I'm not worried about maintaining. For analog repeaters - I create a zone for each analog network, and a channel in that zone for each individual repeater.

"Officer, arrest that man for reckless redneckitude!"

The new TGIF DMR network is fully operational. You now need to create a password for any hotspots or repeaters you manage - no more "default" password allowed. The site is accessed at http://tgif.network. The old beta address of http://prime.tgif.network points to the same destination.

Hmm... my NanoVNA died after about two weeks of use. The build quality on my particular example left something to be desired. I've replaced it with a Mini1300, which is larger and somewhat easier to use. It'll work as a simple SWR meter, swept SWR, VNA, and will display resistive and reactive components. Very nice. Since the micro flash card it came with was dead, I had to buy a replacement card, and then perform a HW cal, which required opening the unit up and soldering a jumper. Other than that, it's worked fine. More expensive than a NanoVNA, cheaper than a rigexpert.

I agree. If you're under 2:1 - you're in the right neighborhood. If you can get it down to 1.5:1 without much work - you're good. You can go lower than 1.5:1 with VSWR, but it's only worth the effort if it's really no effort at all as it's not worth investing a lot of time into.