gortex2

A true non profit can get a part 90 license pretty easy and depending on the organization pay no fees to the FCC. The issue in the end is people dont want to put in the work. CB, HAM, FRS, and MURs is more than most really need to be honest. CERT can easiliy be a non profit or work under a county umbrella to get licesenced. I guess it really depends on the organizational needs but the other simple mode is VOIP apps. Zello or other apps are jsut as good as radio comms 95% of the time. Using a combination of FRS and voip for an application can work well.

Power issue. Yo udont have enough current for the radio to stay on. What kind of battey are you using and is it a good battery ?

What you show in the screen is correct.

Just as reference the Laird and the Hustler are not identical. The Laird is a 5db antenna and the Huslter is listed as 6db. Granted 1db should not be the deciding factor but coupld possibly be enough. Feedline could also change the antenna performance. Granted your in CA where everyone talks way more miles than you will on the east coast but I use the antenna for contorl points and never had an issue hitting our repeaters or simplex. I also use the Laird unity gain for control stations as well but those are intended to talk to the repeater mostly. As for the PVC part of the rebuild. I know the Ed Fong antenna lists a certain PVC thats supposed to be better for antenna than the standard PVC thicker material. I've only use a single Ed fong antenna and promply tossed it in a can after so dont know what each PVC pipe difference is other than thickness. I have fixed fiberglass radomes on antennas in the past if they are structurally OK. Not sure how bad the one on your huster was but may be worth trying. Most anything fiberglass does take a beating from the sun. I have 30 year old station masters in use still. A few I have taken down to move and they were all fiberglass hairs and no gell coat left. I wrapped them all in a thin layer of fiberglass matt with resin and put back up after drying. None changed SWR or any other sweep data. Personally I prefere folded dipoles for durability but the fiberglass stick is a good option some areas.

Encryption normally only is done on the subscriber end, or console not the repeater in the P25 world. I would assumei ts the same for DMR but I dont play with it nor have any radios that work on DMR.

uh...what kinda spliter ? A RF switch ? If ypou just used a T you will damage the other radio. Please explain what you were doing. Also I dont recall seeing what cabl you are using and how long it is.

If you have Quantars you just need a SAM Module (Station Access Module). It requires software and will allow you to create a user list of approed users. Works well. Hard to find but they pop up online now and then.

Using MDC equiped equipment a user will not hear the MDC if setup properly. Yes others with non MDC capable radios would hear that. I never hear MDC on my repeater or console, just see the ID on my screen.

Larsen is the best commercial antenna now. Since ASP dropped the line thats our go to antenna for those applications.

MDC isn't forbidden on Amateur Radio or GMRS. I use it on both. Done properly a user wouldn't even know its being used. And its great to keep CCRS off my sites.

Even in commercial LMR you wont find a 12db antenna in UHF. I think the best you will find is 10. And that will cost you in the ballpark of $5000 just for the antenna. And even more for the mount. A hobby antenna as Steve pointed out in 6-7 db range is about all you will find for cheap. This is an antenna I just used on a project....its 10db but also weighs 80#'s. Mount cost about $1500.

The RT97 and Midland MXR10 are ideal applications for this. Short piece of feedline and the antenna on the tower. Small wind load. The issue you will have is dependingo n tower size and box size is windload.

BTW...The midland 20% off code for off road is - OFFROAD20

Let us know. I'll be in Uwharrie a few times this coming year. I have the annual pass on our jeeps. Need to get a 2025 one for the new jeep when they come up. For Jeep Jamborees we booked, Tennesee Mtns (Windrock) for spring, Coal Mountain in the summer and Cumberland and Uhwarrie for the fall. Most likely will do Greenbriar as well but thats 3 weekends in a row of trips. We also plan to do the SFWD events in the sping (Coalmont TN) and fall (Windrock). Be a fun summer. I know most on this forum despise midland but I just grabbed another 275 for the new jeep. With the "offroad promo code" it was $132. That made more sense than ripping the old one out of the other JK. Plus I'd like to keep the old JK anyway. Only other radio planned will be a FTM400 which I already have in a box. I had picked it up used for the other JK and never got to it. No APX in this JK...at least yet. I normally just grab my APX Next anyway now so no need for a mobile.

Nice we looked at a nice LJ that was actually automatic, but with my time on the road didn't think I'd have time to get everything done before April so a 3/4 done jeep was what we got. Luckily one we found was a one owner 100% mall crawler (whinch doesnt even have power cables to it). We plan to remove all the mall stuff and put some real stuff on it. Just ordered new BFG MT last night for all the way around. Going to miss the old school MT...

Well I guess when I told wife we need to do multiple repairs on the JK she decided a new one was better...so picking up a 2018 Rubicon later this week. So instead of axles, lockers, its just radios and wrap...My kinda work for winter months !

I use a multicoupler on soime but the basic ones just use a T. If you have really good signal that works ok. The ones with marginal coverage go thru the splitters.

Looks like lots more jeeping next year on my horizon. Wife just signed up for 4 JJUSA events. So on top of other events we do we will be doing more of the JJUSA stuff. Guess I got alot of work to do on the rig this winter.

The bronco has the same issues us with jeeps have fought for years. Do some searching for jeep mounts and you will find ideas. While I run the 1/4 wave or smaller antennas for my use many on hear say the Midland MXTA26 to be a good comprimise for distance on a mount near the hood or spare tire. I dont have a use for distance as I either use my repeater or am talking to the jeep in front or behind me.

All the laird antenna's I use are wrapped to the base. Dont go around the antenna.

So first thing you need to do is get it on a antenna outside of your test room. Hook it up to an outside antenna. Your most likely desensing not only the radio but the repeater as well. Subscriber aka portable radio.

All my users on those repeaters use older Midland gear. Works very well for their useage. Even my APX stuff has both narrow and wideband to accomidate when needed. One of the repeaters has been like that for almost 15 years.

I just change as needed on my midlands. I find its a waste of time to preprogram stuff that may or may not even be there. KISS method for me.

How do you know its not transmitting ? What antenna system are you using ? What is your test procedure and what subscriber are you uising ?

In the LMR world we use 1/2" LDF for jumpers at the antenna regardless of size of feedline. Then from polyphaser to repeater/combiner/duplexer 1/2" superflex or 1/2 LDF depending on the PIM rating needed. My 7/8" feedline terminates with 7/8 din, then 1/2" LDF to the DB408 on one of my towers. Most antenna jumpers are 6' long but that all depends on the side arm needed on the tower. My DB408 is on top of tower so I use a 3' jumper.