Flameout
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Posts posted by Flameout
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I was curious about a couple of mobile mag mount antennas. I recently purchased a Kenwood TK880 from ebay and it came with an antenna. I just figured it was a junk antenna, but it was this one https://www.mobilemark.com/product/a1845-series/
The actual antenna, that goes into the mount has a sticker 450-470 but testing SWR it is well over 3.5:1. I've had luck in the past using brazing rods, so I tried it and SWR dropped way down, to about 1.7:1. Testing with a continuity tester, there is continuity between the center pin of the PL-259 and the outer screw on part. If I take off the antenna, there is no continuity, so I assume the base is good. When I check the actual antenna though (photo attached) there is continuity between the center pin and the screw on part. Is that normal? I know my Midland MXTA26 isn't like that
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1 hour ago, axorlov said:
It will work. The most important pins are in the center: ground, ptt, mic ground, mic signal
Sounds good, thanks
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I just picked up another Kenwood TK-880 that came with a microphone. The only problem is the 880's have a 8 pin RJ-45 and the microphone I received has 6 pins. My other 880 has an 8 pin mic. Does that matter as long as it works? It is a Kenwood mic, with no model number or anything. Just says Dynamic Microphone - Impedance 600 ohms - Made in Japan
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I have given up experimenting and have come crawling to the forums for help. What do I need to set in the software in order to get the keypad on the microphone to work?
I somehow have the * key displaying MEMORY RCL and # key MEMORY STO. None of the other keys do anything
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8 hours ago, tweiss3 said:
look up the FCC ID, it will show what the frequency range for that ID/transmitter is.
What he said. For example, ALH24593110 brings up this: https://fccid.io/ALH24593110
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On 3/15/2022 at 3:03 PM, WRPS326 said:
Hello, has anyone successfully figured out how to add station ID to the Retevis RT97? I have heard of people using the ‘ID-O-Matic’ and ComSpec ID-8 on other systems, but have yet to find anyone who has added it to the RT97. Does anyone have any guides on how to add station ID through these devices or similar? Thank you in advance.
What I did was set up a cw wav file of callsign and then set up task manager in my computer to play it every hour (or whatever time frame you choose) and the headphone out from computer goes to mic input on a cheap baofeng on low pwr, VOX turned on and set to repeater rx frequency. For me was 467.550 pl 136.5. Seems to be working just fine
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I received my programing cable 2 days early and it works great. The programming software is a bit complicated though. Using the CS-F3020/F5010/F5020 I was able to read the radio. Sure are lots of setting for an 8 channel radio. I imagine some of those setting are for other radios too, with more channels and LCD screens
Took a bit, but I was able to write all 8 channels with GMRS repeater info and all working. Radio puts out 4.6w/26w/44w. I still can't figure out how to set up scan all 8 channels (A and B ) with 1 button, if it's even possible. There seems to be lots this radio can do, but with no LCD screen, you'd need to carry a notepad/cheetsheet to remember everything. I've already written to the radio about a dozen times, experimenting
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I did order a cable from bluemax49 on Ebay (will be here next Wed) but thought I'd take a shot at making a cable. I see there are lots of cheaper ones out there (that I guess don't use that chip) and see they are hit or miss as to them working. I figured the worst that would happen is that it doesn't work
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If I we're to attempt to make a programing cable, does anyone know which wires would go to which pins on the RJ45, based on these diagrams?
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11 hours ago, KAF6045 said:
Just a comment about your channel naming.
I was just kind of experimenting with the different frequencies, to make sure I was doing thing correctly. The only thing I really want to use the radio for is GMRS repeater. I did enter a 70cm local repeater into it and it does work fine in the 443 MHz range
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2 hours ago, axorlov said:
So, the scan function works, but the SCN button does not? Assign Monitoring to SCN and Scanning to MON to verify.
I ended up getting Scan to work. I just needed to put a check in "Off Hook Scan"
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I was given an Icom F6011 because it kept blowing fuses. turned out that someone had mickey moused the power cable. I fixed it and now it powers up nice an putting out about 42 watts. The problem is, I have no idea how to program it (It certainly isn't as simple as my Icom 2730a)
Is this radio worth the trouble of a good programming cable? The guy on ebay (Mark) has this: FTDI USB Programming Cable Icom IC-F6011 IC-F6021 IC-F6022 + CS Cloning OPC-1122 but isn't that software really complicated to use?
It is the 400-470 MHz, 8 channel, so I imagine it would be good for GMRS. It does accept PL tones, right? I just want to find out as much as I can before buying another programing cable.
I downloaded cs-f3020_f5010_f5020_v3.4 but I see this cable comes with OPC-1122. Is that the software I could use to program?
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It is scanning now. Under Edit-Scan Information I had to check Off Hook Scan
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Maybe I just have a bad scan button? But if I assign something other that 'Scan' to it, it works. I tried those steps and the scan button does nothing. On the display, it is showing which channels are selected to be scanned and I can turn that on or off with the A button. I only have 1 group, using the name GMRS and the number 1. I bet I've written to this radio 50 times today lol. I'm sure I'm probably missing something simple
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1 hour ago, Lscott said:
Change this setting.
I just realized my screens were different and I wasn't showing the same setting. I figured out I need to open as Conventional and not Trunking. I really appreciate everyones help. Only thing I need to get working now is scan. I have it selected/assigned to Scan key, but it does nothing (Even though the channels that I added were included in the scan
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I somehow got it working, but no idea what setting I changed but now rather than a channel name showing up,like it was, it is just numbers. There sure are lots of different settings in the program! I probably should have been saving the file after each change. Now I have no idea how to get it back into showing the channel name. Is it capable of showing the channel and name and channel number?
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I just picked up a TK-880, programing cable and KPG-49D (4.21) software. I'm able to read and write to the radio, but none of the PL tones I enter into the software are writing to the radio and I get this message when writing (first photo)
I'm just doing some test files for now, until I can figure this out. The second photo is the few frequencies I have written to the radio. The two GMRS channels work just fine, but the 462.5500 Repeater is not working (not opening up the repeater) (second photo)
Is there a way to factory reset these radios? It was a trunked system with 2 users programed in. I just deleted them, set No.1 under System Information as "Conventional" then went to SYSTEM EDIT in the bottom left of that page. I think the firmware is [OEC8]
I really thought I'd be able to find more videos on programing the 880
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3 hours ago, neosmith20 said:
So i took my repeater down today and hooked one of my handheld radios to the feedline and I'm thinking that there is a problem with the feedline. The antenna is new, so it has to be the feedline. When i transmitted out on simplex others could hear me, but when they transmitted back to me, i heard nothing.
I'm still going to check over the duplexer and repeater, but i think the problem has been found.
I will post with any updates i have.
I'm pretty new at all of this and I am probably way off here, but I was not hearing any audio on my HT even though the power bar was showing I was receiving a strong signal. It ended up being that I had somehow had Rx-DCS on. Turned it off and all was good again
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I received my RT97 today (ordered last Thursday -4 days from China to PA)
For anyone that need to know, pin 2 is + and pin 1 is -
When I first powered it up it wasn't working on 462.550/467.550 so I was kind of upset, to put it mildly. Especially when the display screen came with no protective film and was very scratched up. Maybe a used unit?
Testing the other channels it works just fine, so no clue what is with channel 1. It is showing that it is picking up the HT signal and the 2nd HT is receiving it but there is no audio.
The power output was a little better than I was expecting and that was using the supplied power supply, which was 12.87v. Maybe more power in would be more power out?
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I ordered a Retevis RT97 repeater last week and I should hopefully have it by the end of the week. In the meantime, I wanted to make a couple of power cords. The RT97 uses a 4 pin aviation plug but I can not find anywhere which pins are which. I thought that pinout would be easy to find online. I was wrong
Does anyone that owns the RT97 know which 2 of the 4 pins are used?
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13 hours ago, axorlov said:
After giving it some thought (but without doing any research into Icom mics), this 8V 10mA on pin 1 is a strong hint that Icom mic is a condenser type. So, it will not be possible to just connect pings 4,5, and 6 and expect the mic will work. More complex solution is needed. Or more simple: Kenwood mic from ebay.
Definitely don't want to ruin a radio so I just bought a Kenwood compatable mic off of ebay. Better safe than sorry. Thanks
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Ok, thanks. I was just hoping to test out this 880 to make sure it is functioning properly. Didn't want to have to put more money out for a mic if the radio isn't up to par
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I was wondering if I could use the microphone from an Icom 2730a in the Kenwood TK-880
I haven't had much luck finding the pinout for the 880, but found this on the forums. The second photo is the Icom pinout
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I always seem to find these things out just a little too late. I was researching the RT95 the past few days, but shipping from Retevis was crazy expensive. They had some "farm tractor bundle" for around $360ish but shipping was almost $200. After some back and forth emails, I was able to get the package for a total of $400 and then I found the Retevissolutions website, which for some reason I didn't even find uttil today, about 12 hours after ordering direct from the child labor camps in china. Not only could I have saved about $50 or so, but now I'll probably be waiting a month for delivery as opposed to a week
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Continuity of antennas
in Technical Discussion
Posted
I took out the antenna part from the base and inserted brazing rod. I cut it down till SWR is good. Checking SWR using a Comet CCA-500 set at around 465.000. I did that with a Nagoya UT72 (I think that's the model) and found that a piece of rod cut to about 4" has best SWR. All testing was done with antenna in center of car roof