MacJack
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Posts posted by MacJack
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I have not tried the https://www.buytwowayradios.com/nagoya-na-701g.html which is a 6.1 inch antenna... I have been using the Authentic Nagoya NA-771G Handheld GMRS Antenna (15.3 Inch) https://www.buytwowayradios.com/nagoya-na-771g.html on 3 of my GMRS radios and it like having a 20-30 watt radio in my Jeep with a KG-805G HT radio.. I get 30 miles to the repeater...
Try it and test it and if you do not like it return it...
Jack
Is that because it's compact? I have a 771G and it definitely outperform the stock Wouxan but dang, it's unwieldy.
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drabina, let me weight in... I'm a newbie and my first two HT was the 805G with reviews I read from mbrun and others, it is the great radio... BUT then I got a data cable and use CHIRP on my Mac and the world of making life easier to setup radio was so helpful. I added several personal channels on the end of the radio channel list as well as for several repeaters and channel our family uses to most to be able to use with older FRS Cobras etc around the house or campground with the kids and G kids.
So that was back in Nov/Dec and reading this forum, asking questions in post as well as PM to my mentors and coaches. Well I got a KG-905G from BTWR https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-kg-905g.html with a 15.5 antenna and it great distance... I'm still formulating and writing a reviews. So far the feature I like the most is it is more beefer, great battery life, more water resistant as I have a Jeep top off from Spring-Summer-Fall. But the best feature is channel scanning by groups... I have made up so many groups like my repeater group with favorite channels, FRS channels, Just GMRS repeater channels to hear or monitor the repeaters that I do not have the PL code.
So what I'm saying is I was like you, KISS at first but after getting involved in GMRS and where I'm at now, I would purchased a KG-905G over the 805G... no regrets as the 805G works for the family, light weight and easy to use but for me where I'm at the 905G is the answers. My cost justification is I can still use my 6 FRS with the G Kids without a license and teaching them to do radio correctly.
Have fun, you will get what is best for you and family, so let us know what you pick and why. O I should say since I'm a fellow newbie I offer help to you, just PM me and will help if you pick and get the data cable with software or other accessories... (This offer goes out to all newbie with a 805G or 905G as well.) I found the secret sauce which will make sense and you will be up and running quickly.
Jack
- Radioboy1962, brasda91, WRKC550 and 1 other
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Just remember that GMRS license are based on family not government... Currently $70 for one license for family/farmer not for others.
Jack
Doing a bit more research, I found these are VHF radios. They are operating in the 150ish range, I think. We've installed a few of these units in our local road crew trucks, and I have just wired one up to use as a base unit for when we need communications with field personnel.
There are a few maintained repeaters that are used in our county for these radios apparently. I was mostly just curious of the technology behind it, as it seems similar to GMRS, other than it's VHF vs UHF.
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I know we have talked about this before... but I have evolved in my understanding of the rules... So I have a private family repeater, have my VRX-7000 send out my call sign in morse code as first time key up the repeater. I understand it is an approved form of sending out the first time key the mic. At the end of conversation or every 10 minutes close with verbal call sign. Is that ok or am I missing an issue with the way you read the rules. I accept your answers with any or all your declaimers and will not call you as a witness at my FCC hearing.
Jack
No. You will need additional electronics for that.
Your repeater does not however need to identify if you and your family are the only ones that use it, and your family members self identify per the rules. Since that is often too limiting, since you are likely to also converse with non-family members, you might need to look into a third party controller or announcer to suit your needs.
I just recently purchased, but not received yet, a product that you can add to nearly any radio to self identify (ArgentData ADS-SR1). I will be adapting it to work with my base radio to assist with the various range testing I am doing. It can do a lot of things. In my case one of those things will be to transmit my call sign and a message on a schedule while I do my tests. Take a look and see if it may work for you.
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM -
I could not get it to work on the jlwanglerforum site... is that the one it worked for you?
Jack
Tapatalk did it, thanks man! I just tested it in the Jeep thread.
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Thanks for the endorsement for TapaTalk... I wish I had enough to contribute that requires uploading photos... You do as you are our "go to guys" as you supply photos were called for... e.g. your antenna test. Keep it up and will paypal you a few dollars for TapaTalk.. joking.
Jack
MacJacK and Skyline,
I use the TapaTalk app on my iPad and iPhone for this forum. Photo’s can be embedded easily with the app. Click Image, select Images, click done. The app makes working this an many others I belong to super friendly. IMHO it is worth the .99 cents a month fee.
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM -
That is a nice looking radio... I'm looking forward to your review... My new main issue in a radio is group scanning of my select channels... and want to go deeper so look forward to what you find.
Jack
Radioditty sent me a GM-30 to review. I’m going to review ur thoroughly, but here are some of the quick highlights. It’s a cheap CCR GMRS, designed to complete against the BTech GMRS-V1 and, must say, it does that quite wells. While not a superheterodyne receiver, it still receives quite well and I was able yo receive my GMRS node on a linked network a few miles away from home. Audio sounds fine Abe it received good audio reports both on my node and through a regular repeater. Doing a parrot so I could here the simplex audio for myself sounded decent. Of course, it also receive VHF (2m amateur, NWS, etc). One of the big pluses is that it has USB-C recharging built right into the batteries, which recharge quickly turn last a good amount of time. I’m very happy with this GM-30, which should be granted Part 95 soon as it was just submitted recently.
FCCID : 2AJGM-GM30
As my main GMRS HT is a Motorola XTS5000, I’m looking forward to using this much lighter age smaller GMRS HT often. -
I have better luck in posting photos in jlwranglerforum then in myGMRS. I have not installed theTapatalk.
I'll be happy to post up pics. That's what I was hoping to do in the Jeeps and Radios thread. Are you saying I can use that forum to host pics I can embed on here?
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Photos please on completed installation by putting link to your post in jlwranglerforum, thanks. Jack
Just in case anybody was wondering, a standard CAT5 network cable extension works just fine to extend the cable from the faceplate to the mic. As if the remote faceplate wasn't easy enough to mount lol. I had called B2WRs and asked if it would work but they didn't know, so I chanced a few bucks to find out myself. I'm planning to mount the faceplate inside my center console in the Jeep and have the mic hanging from the usual TJ spot to the right of the steering column.
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Sound like you want a radio that has group scan where you put the channels into a group you want to scan or scan some other group even all... The two radios I know who can do group scan is KG-1000g mobile or base config or HT KG-905G which I have and works so well.
If anyone knows of other radios that allows you to do grouping to add channels into a group to scan, I would like to know for knowledge.
Jack
Sorry for the delayed response. I have several repeaters in my area and a simplex channel the family uses that I like to monitor. Rather than scan through all the channels I wanted to only scan CH 18, and the 3 or 4 repeater channels. That way I could leave my radio in scan mode and not have it stop on other channels I have no interest in monitoring.
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I'm in the same boat and have not installed my Midland as did not know what to do with the extra cable... One person said do not coil it up...
We are standing by for a good and correct answer...
Jack and for Kevin as well.
Along this line, the feed line that came with the mag mount [NMO] is six meters long - enough to practically wrap around the car. I only needed about 3 meters to reach where I needed to go, so the remainder is coiled up on the car floor in the back where the MTX 275 resides.
Would I be wise to cut down the feed line to the needed length and solder on a new connector? OR - does the excess feed line make any real difference?
First GMRS radio - obviously - I have both the 6db and 3 db NMO antennas from Midland.
Any feedback is appreciated.
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Thanks n4gix, I did forget about that... it has been over 10 years since I left PC products.
What I found was after installing the software, I needed to launch software and go to setting and select any number of USB comm ports one at time to see if it worked. It was so simple... I suggested to BTWR to add some simple instructions so as not to frustrate users...
I will keep your answer as I will need it in the future.
Jack
I open "Device Manager" and look at what COM port(s) are assigned to which program:
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I got it... the key is in the 905G software you have to pick one by one any of the USB comm ports in setup of the software NOT in Windows... in my case it was the last USB comm port on the list... working well.
Jack
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I have been using CHIRP on my Mac and loving it... But I want to use the Wouxun USB Programming Cable (PCO-001) with software for the 905G but can not load all the drivers in my WinXP as I get a Error Opening Serial Port.
So anyone can walk me through how to fix this on a WinXP and this driver issue?
Thanks in advance.
Jack
P.S. If you PM me with your email address will send screen shots of all that I did and info.
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OK Hudson1 did you get your radio? What did you get? I have not heard back from you sine your Jan 28 contact with me.... I'm following up to make sure you are doing well.
The best way is to ask questions on forum and if you want a private conversation do Personal Message between two parties.
Keep in touch.
Jack
P.S. I will be installing my family repeater thiis weekend...
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Would a DB-404 be an antenna for a repeater?
Jack
There's nothing wrong about a J-Pole. They work, and work well but there are better options with other antennas that offer gain which a J-Pole doesn't.
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OK that is a port issue for your USB... I'm not a current MS Windows guy, but in the pass you have to see if your USB port is active... I also notice that my new download of CHIRP has to be where near or in same directory as app and config files where the USB port setting files are.
Jack
Edit... I notice my updated CHIRPS goes to download and not in the directory I use for the app.
Download from radio does nothing. I can open a file but no selections for Port, etc. and get no activity.
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My CHIRP new release on a Mac working... It is empty screen on first startup. You have you go to FILE open a config or go to Radio and download from radio after connecting radio to computer. You will see it is working. The screen only shows what you are asking the software to do. So empty screen waiting for your request.
Jack
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Welcome DRoberts, I live in Fort Myers on the 17th floor but no repeater. I'm currently in Western NC with a repeater access and it great as we have mountains. I'm sure you looked at this... https://mygmrs.com/browse?name=&location=&state=FL&frequency=&output_tone=&input_tone=&type=&ori=&travel=&sort=Location&start=0&step=50
But not all repeaters are listed. If I was a guessing man, half are not listed as they are family and or friends privately owned. I suggest you monitor the repeater channels RPT 15-22 to see if you hear traffic.
Did you sign up as a member since you have your call sign... Welcome to the forum.
Jack
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Good answer Michael, I had to ask... BUT did you restore back to factory settings then change your PL codes on the radio only. That my point which I may not been that clear in my post...
Good even Jack. Thanks for the suggestions. I do believe the radio is configured just fine. Also, for clarity, the only software that has been used with this radio is the factory software. No third party software is involved. Chirp will not be used with such an expensive radio until there is official support for it.
Thanks again,
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM -
Michael aka "mbrun", I know you have heard me say this before.... put the KG-1000 back to factory settings and then make changes again, not by importing config file. You see that what happen to me... I got a RMA number to send my KG-805G back and then my second 805G came in and I copied the new untouched factory config file and sent to my bad radio and it fixed it. A second thing I learned from MozartMan that we deleted a channel spot that said error, which was our down fall.
Give it a try and let me know.
Jack
EDIT: I should say check your PL code on R-tx or or do not put a PL code on you R-tx side.
I recently purchased one of these radios for use in my home. It is hooked up to an excellent external antenna at good elevation and with excellent feed-line. With my current system I have verified I can can get into 6 higher-profile repeaters within 50 miles of my home at or near full quieting.
From my earliest use of the radio I started to notice something unexpected. I fairly regularly have multiple radios on when I in the mode of ‘just playing radio’. What I observed was that my HTs regularly showed greater S-meter readings than the 1000G when lower level signals were encountered. This was not remotely what I was expecting given one radio is using an external high-gain antenna while the others are indoors using low-gain antennas. Nonetheless I mostly discounted this, at least initially.
While I do use repeaters, I like to focus more on what I can do simplex. Recently I set out get a feel for what I could achieve simplex between my new base radio and the HT in the mobile using my external mobile antenna. For this test, both my neighbor and my wife were on our respective base stations. Again, to my surprise, my neighbor was able to hear me at a range about 50-75% further than my wife could on the 1000G. Again, I discounted this difference, chalking it up to his extra 10’ of antenna height.
At the opening of my post I reported that I could get into 6 higher-profile repeaters in my area. True, but at first I did not realize that. One night I was confirming my repeater access on each repeater in the city. I would announce my callsign, sometimes indicate where I was at, and that I was just testing. I took note of which repeaters I received a squelch tail back from, noted the S-meter reading, hailed again to confirm, and sometimes asked for a radio check. If I heard no squelch tail from the repeater after multiple attempts I moved on.
Later that night, while in a conversation with another GMRSr on a repeater I can work well, I had some folks jump in to say they heard me on two different repeaters quite well earlier (ones that I had not previously gotten a squelch tail back from). Each one told me that they had tried to reach out to me but received not response back from me. I was shocked. Learning this talked and then switched over to those repeaters to try again as a group. Yep, they could hear me great, yet I could not hear them back. I checked my radio settings, all was good. It was late but we decided to try one more thing before we called it a night. I hooked up my KG-805G in place of the 1000G (exact feed-line and antenna). Low and behold the KG-805G got into the repeater fine at just 5 watts (although a bit noisy), but the KG-805G was able to hear the other parties. OK, now I know something is going on.
Yesterday I enlisted the help of a seasoned local GMRSr and amateur radio operator so I could perform some receive comparisons between three different radio models I have. For a period of time I had them transmit and talk while I hooked each model of radio to the exact same antenna and feed-line one after another. I took note of whether the squelch opened up, what the S-meter reading was, and what the audio quality was. In the end, the 1000G was the clear looser by a unexpected margin, while the 805G was the hands-down winner. Many times the squelch on the 1000G would not open up at all, and when it did, the S-meter was low and the audio very noisy. Conversely the HT radios always opened up, always produced usable audio and exhibited S-meter readings consistently 2-5 bars higher than the 1000G under the test scenario.
These results are not at all expected in light of the fact the radios have published sensitivity ratings that differ by only 2dB.
I have started a dialog with BTWR about this issue in hopes their customer service comes through. I would like to think that I received a dud and the issue can be resolved by swapping out the radio. Time will tell.
I writing this for the benefit of all of you that have already purchased this radio, or that are considering it. Your signal might very well be reaching a lot farther than you know, merely because your receive is not on par with your transmit. Not usually a good combination.
I will report back how custom service handles this situation, if and how the receive issue gets resolved.
Michael
WRHS965
KE8PLM -
Welcome to common sense... I'm in the software world and have to ask myself and customers what is the common sense as to what you really want. I will confess I have asked the programers for this or that and they come down to common sense.
Jack
I think you have the right idea as other have suggested.... "DON'T worry about it due to the small draw on the battery".
I appreciate all the thoughts on the issue.
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Well MozartMan that answered my question, thanks. So it looks like it is not the same program with different relational database/tables on your screen.. So what Windows does the 905G software say it needs. I may have to go to the flea market for a PC.
Jack
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Yes that sounds like a nice setup... the only other thing I did not say was purchased a Mic/Speaker that I lay over the back of the mirror.
Jack
In my case eliminator is just laying down on the front passenger seat plugged into 12V cigarette lighter and stays in the car all the time. And it is very easy to unclip it and put battery back on when going back home. Sweet indeed.
I also have Tram antenna with mag mount that I put on top of the trunk when I drive (it sits in the trunk when I don't drive) and mag mount cable runs into the trunk and then through small door in the back passenger seats to the front passenger seat. And it only takes 20 seconds to remove rubber duck antenna and screw cable connector to the radio. With this setup I don't have to drill any wholes in my car.
Just passed the exams!
in General Discussion
Posted
WRKS279, Your post is an encouragement... you see I was happy just in GMRS, but good meaning Hams asked me if I would go for it... I took the practice Technical test and fell short of one questions with just my years of knowledge and a few guess answers.
So Grand Daughter has been walking with me in GMRS, did the Space Museum in Huntsville, AL and we planted the see of joining Space Force... So we made a pack as she is 12 yo and it would be good to be a Ham and we will do it together this summers as she does homeschool all year around. So G Mom said ok for this summer learning...
Again your witness of what it was like for you and what tools you used is an inspiration to us. So let us also congratulate you on passing and telling us about what was going on. FYI, I reached out the the local Ham Club asking for a mentor/coach and got two, the private owner of local repeater who allow us on and been very supported to GD and family, and new guy who has a heart for Ham. So my first question is what should I use to start studying....
We are happy for you and look forward to seeing your Ham call sign on your profile.
Jack