STTScott
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Posts posted by STTScott
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Newbie here. I've been scanning FRS (462.526-462.712) and GMRS 462.550-462.712. Total crickets. I uneerstand that because I am on a US territory island. But still, it would be nice to contact somebody. I am working with a good 8' U/V antenna, and hearing nothing other than crickets or major static. Does anybody have any ideas one way or another?
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Most people seem to have enough money to keep doing things wrong many times over, but never enough to just do things right, once.
It is well known that I am all in for Motorola, as I've found them to be the best price/performance for used gear, but there are other very decent brands out there that will offer excellent performance too, like ICOM, Kenwood, Harris, to name a few... etc.
If you buy a used XPR6550 in good condition you can always sell it for the same you got it for, provided you didn't trash the radio, that is, in the even that radios don't cut it for you. I yet have to find a CCR that you can sell for the same you bought it for... and I've sold a bunch already... people want cheap... that is the sad state of reality...
G.
Metal detecting is my other geeky-dad hobby, and the longstanding advice especially for beginners is to buy the best equipment you can afford at the time. I'm a Motorola/Kenwood fan, but right now, I was interested in a U/V unit (both handheld and mobile), and the XPR6550 is certainly affordable, but it's UHF-only. This is great if you're in an area with a lot of GMRS users, but if you're not, you're going to be listening to a lot of radio silence. Hence, I think, the popularity of U/V CCRs both handheld and mobile. Yes, CCRs probably deserve the derision they get, but if even tossing a CCR in the dumpster because you find out amateur radio isn't your thing and nobody wantsto buy your CCR, you won't take a massive hit inasfar as what big boy toys can cost. But if your starting point furthers your interest, you can then invest in better stuff and gain some respect among your peers
But if a CCR is all you're willing to afford for now that gets the job done, at least get a well-built one with really good customer support. -
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For goodness sake, IF you're going to amplify a hand-held, you should do it with something that isn't putting out spurious birdies on 3 different frequency bands. That would be a service to the GMRS (and surrounding) spectral communities.
Amplifiers are broadband noise generators. They're going to amplify whatever you put into them, including spurious signals that your $39 CCR is generating. Cheap amplifiers hooked up to a cheap portable are a recipe for disaster. Even a good amplifier hooked up to a CCR is going to be problematic.
As others have mentioned - just use a 25 watt mobile with a decent antenna if you want to put out more power. You will spend less in the end, and have a MUCH better solution.
Well, first of all, my dual band CCR didn't cost $39. Second, I have a dual band mobile antenna that isn't the stock rubber duck. Plus really nice base antennas that cover the U/V and U bands. So, is there anything else you'd like to "goodness sake" me about?
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Just pick up a small mobile unit. A 25W unit should be able to use the cigarette lighter socket.
I've ordered one of those to use as a base unit. But I have an 8w handheld that I intend to use as a mobile unit in the car and the wattage boost from a linear unit would be welcome, so hence my post.
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I'm dating myself, but I first got involved in amateur radio back when the CB craze was going on (late 1970s), except our household branched off into SSB. We in our club had monster kickers, monster moonraker antennas, and connecting with far-flung peopke in very distant places was always a major kick. A lot of us even exchanged postcards.
Anyways, another aspect of this was the log book, which we would fill out meticulously and at club meetings, we'd see who went the furthest, got the most contacts, etcetcetc. That was fun, and it's good to see it's still alive.
So ... Are log books still a thing? Where might they be available for order?
huge -
I was noticing something in the Members area: Unless I've missed something, we have no idea where/what area our members are from. If we're traveling, it would be nice if we knew which of our fellow members might be nearby to CQ.
Or -- and using my own situation, I live in the US Virgin Islands, so if someone's visiting down here, they might like a connection, as well as what frequency I monitor quite often. Dunno how much of a PITA this might be to do this (and allow us to see who's in particular individual states), but there ya go.
Regards,
Scott
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I have a Baofeng F8-HP V/U handheld that I'll be using as a mobile (vehicle use only, not as a base) with an external V/U antenna. Does anyone know of a recommendable place to order a 25w V/U linear for car use? Yes, I know there are 50w V/U linears, but I don't want to go thru the rigamarole of wiring the thing to my car battery or fuse box (and I live on a Caribbean island, so it's not like we have installers here like on the USA mainland); OTOH, 25w linears commonly have cigarette lighter plug-ins, and I'd be happy just fine with that.
The problem I've encountered is a good deal of the 25w linears are either U or V, and a site or two that does have U/Vs have a minumum order of 2 units. So if anyone can point me in a good direction for a quality dual band linear, it would be bigly appreciated.
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Thank you all for the enlightening answers. For now, I'm using a Baofeng handheld until my mobile (using it as a base) comes in, at which point I'll use the handheld for mobile. I basically asked my question to cut down on things becoming a small antenna field since I'm a renter -- even tho the 2 antennas would't be used at the same time. I kinda figured things would get sketchy mounting 2 antennas on the same mast, but didn't know for sure. Again, thanks for the added knowledge.
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I'm waiting for my 50-X2 to arrive, except I have a question for you: Instead of using the X1 as a mobile, why not use it as a base station and instead get yourself a good handheld coupled with a quality mobile antenna to be your mobile unit? Granted, a good handheld (I have a Baofeng F8HP handheld with a Nagoya UT-79 magnet mount antenna) might get you 8w as opposed to the 50w of the X1, but that also depends whether you intend to use the X1 for local use (where 5-8w will do ya just fine), or more distant stations at 50w (and end up sitting in your car for that rather than the comfort of your radio nook inside the house). And using your X1 as a base, you'll eliminate the problem of car batteries, grounding, etcetc by getting yourself an indoor power supply unit. Anyway, it was a thought that ocurred to me, since it was one of my considerations. You might want to try something like this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L2M2Y5O/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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. Wonder when/if they will go after the manufacturers BaoFeng and others.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
I'm new to this, so I'll ask: What seems to be the issue with Baofeng as it relates to this topic?
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If you go to the Frequency Table, refer to the GMRS Power column. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Mobile_Radio_Service#:~:text=They%20are%20divided%20into%2016%20main%20channels%20and,conjunction%20with%20the%20462%20MHz%20channels%20as%20outputs.
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Given your physical location and your apparent need, general contact with other users and no immediate personal communications needs, you should seriously consider concentrating on ham radio. There are a universe of options available to you and several are likely to work well. You might even find there are ham repeaters near you. Just search online for ham repeater listings.
Here is one such list https://www.repeaterbook.com/repeaters/Display_SS.php?state_id=78&loc=%&call=%&use=%
I am in the process of studying for my Technician license test. But I figured GMRS was a good bridge in the meantime. And there is a Ham club on thos island that I've gotten involved with. I learned the value of amateur radio back in the 1970s, Little steps, my friend. Little steps.
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This was from an old post. Disregard it.
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Total right-brained noob here I live on a Caribbean island. No local traffic either UHF or VHF whatsoever whatsoever..There's a repeter f.
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CCR = Cheap Chinese Radio.
in short, there's a lot of inconsistency in quality, a lot of counterfeits and fake certifications, a few decent ones, a lot of complete garbage, and sometimes no easy way to tell which a product is before you buy.
one member (gman1971) has done some direct testing that showed just how bad some of them can be. suffice to say, like many others you've found, he isn't a fan of them (prefers motorola). if you take a look in his past posts, he's gone into some detail on his testing..Thabks
Thanks for that clarification. And I get it. I'll just ask y'all a question tho: What, technical-wise and actual-userwise makes Cinese radios totally suck? Or is it a matter of Worth The Affordable Money Chinese vs. really suck CCR?
Case in point: I was looking last weekend for a decent 50w mobile to serve as a base station. Something that I could plug straight into power pack ... like plugging into a cigaette lighter. I looked at a few non-Chinese brands, but the problem was all the wires coming out the back were just wires. As if I knew what to do with that..
But my Chinese mobile -- which I bought brand new for a good bit way under $400-450 -+ had a clue. It seems to me the Chinese company actually asked people like me WTF, what would make a noob like me buy your radio and not get screwed, on price or performance?
So I jumped in and ordered a BTech 59-UV 50X2. So there ya go. So ... how totally stupid was I from a technical point/s ONLY? And if I really got hornswaggled by the Beofeng Corp., how do I fix it across the band?
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I'm building my base station using a BTech 50w mobile unit. (For the time beiing, I'm currently using an 8w Baofeng F8HP with a Nagoya UT-72 mobile anenna, magnetic mount, until all my equipment gets delivered.) So here's a techy question: I have 2 Ed Fong anrennas that i'll be using -- one UHF built especially for GMRS frequencies and one VHF built especially for Han Frequencies.
So -- would there be a technocal/performance problem if I lashed both antennas to the same mast -- AND/BUT I'm not using them both at the same time? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to at if you have 2 antennas (one UHF and one VHF) and you're using one as active and the other inactive/no use/no TX or RX/basically dead), it seems to me that the 2 antenna/1 mast will work out OK.
OTOH, it wouldn't surprise me if an engineer person out there would advise against UHF'ing using a dead tree limb as some sort of redneck jerry-rig. But the again, I dunno. That's why I'm here.
So what say y'all?
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I've seen some talk regarding CCR, which I haven't the foggiest notion what CCR is, what CCR is an acronym for, and why CCR may or may not be important to someone.
I Bing'd "CCR+broadcast radio," but I didn't have the ti e to wade thru 994,862 results. But I did discover there are very many peopke out there who think Fogerty is singing "there's a bathroom on the right" instead of "there's a bad moon on the rise."
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I would definitely go with a GMRS (rather than an FRS -- aka walkie talkie) handheld -- as opposed to a mobile unit --:coupled with a good mobile antenna thru the manufacturer of your unit. Here's why: #1 -- On FRS frequencies, you are limited to 2 watts output. On GMRS channels, you can use a handheld with 8 watts of output. If your working area is flatland, 8 watts will get you a lot farther since UHF frequencies are line of sight. A handheld putting out 1 or 2 watts might do OK for your purposes if it's flat land, but you never know when those extra 6 or 7 watts might come in handy. Like if you ever travel past the homestead. #2: Going with handhelds rather than sticking a mobile unit in every vehicle makes you a bit nore versatile. Every modern, quality handheld comes with a screw-on "rubber duck" antenna, ansort of rubbery stubby 6" antenna. Hooked up to a 12-16" mobile antenna, you've got a mobile with wider range than the rubber duck. But if you need to get out of the truck/tractor and communicate,myou can unscrew from the mobile antenna, screw in the rubber duck, and you're good to walk and talk around the back 40. #3: The main downside is that you need a GMRS license to broadcast on GMRS frequencies. A GMRS license costs $70, and it's good for 10 years. Just apply for one with the FCC online, pay your $70 and within a day or two, you get your call sign and liceinse (both emailed and a paper copy). Now the main upside: You don't need separate licenses for family relatives, offspring, etcetc. -- you all are covered under the same license. (I dunno about employees. You'll have to look into that.) Anyway, GMRS was made for short-range communications but youre able to use handhelds with a lot more power than ordinary walkie-talkie thingamajigs. Hope this was helpful.
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This has been an intresting tecnical conversation about things this right-brained guy will never understand. Anyway, I found out today that the reason for the crickets is because, as someone pointed out earlier, this Caribbean island is a GMRS ghost town -- and not because there's an antenna issue. Forum member Terry WRJU327 was vacationing on one of the nearby island and we were able to connnect. Granted, the other island is roughly 7 miles away with a mountain between here and there, but I'm only running a Baofeng 8w handheld in my apartment with a 16" Nagoya UT-72 mobile antenna outside the door until a few more pieces of equipment come in to have an actual base setup with my Ed Fong UHF and VHF antennas lash to a 6' PVC-pipe mast (when you're a renter there's only so much you can get away with. Landlords get twitchy once you get near the 15' level, even tho the setup isn't nailed down to anything). Anyway, my Fong UHF antenna at around 12' should do me a bit better, and the 50w mobile that I ordered should do me even alot better.
Still you guys put on angood conversation that makes my eyes glaze over
Scott
WJX210
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I've always known that when getting a new radio and antenna setup, a good SWR meter is crucial (you could fry your radio, for one). I'm a bit partial to the simple old-school needle meters, so what might be a decent one in that realm? I get the sense that there might he a pitfall or two I'm not aware of by being a noob, and I live on an island where there's not many radio folks to just borrow one from. I'm going to be expanding/operating between GMRS and Ham, so having one of my own would be good.
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Way I understand it (along with antennas), you can get a radio than can receivet both GMRS and Ham stations, you can't transmit on both equally. So it's basically a choice you have to make to be active in and be able transmit: Either GMS/FMS or Ham (which egen with GMRS you'd need a separate license for that and Ham frequency transmissions)
Again, that's the way I understand it. Feel free to correct me.
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Thanks everybody for the good words. I contacted Ed Fong and he set me up quite nicely. Highly recommended!
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Few things of note,
1) This is a ham radio and is not part 95 accepted for either MURS or GMRS.
2) This radio is only VHF and will not work for GMRS at all.
As for power supply options, many are screw terminal connections. If you plan to move the radio between your vehicle and the house you may wish to look into purchasing a quick disconnect, either in the form of power poles or an AMP connector. This just makes the move back and forth quicker and easier, and also reduces the chance of crossing the power wires.
Thank you so much for that forwarning. I would really like something that'll work both Ham and GMRS. Any ideas for something close to the $150-200 price pount?
Crickets. Aaaaaggghhh!
in General Discussion
Posted
Thank you for that clarification, which I had not seen put exactly that way. It helps a good bit.