SkylinesSuck

Just a little input for the new site look: - There is no way to click on a thread that you've already viewed to skip to the latest post. I'm used to seeing a link to the last list by whoever I can click on instead of having to start at the beginning of the thread and navigating to the end. - I get a notification pop-up at the bottom of my screen for new content, and click on it to view the content. After I view it though, the notification bell is still visible until I click it and view the notification. Would be nice if this disappeared when I looked at the thread the first time. That or remove the notification pop-up. Just small nitpicks. The site is great and I really appreciate the hard work keeping it running!!!

Got a link to the CL add? What's his location?

Yeah, that would have been helpful. Manually inputting everything sucked. Also, I'm unsure what some of the features do and they aren't in the instruction manual. I heard back from B2WRs on the CB freqs. They said the radio was original intended to "do CB" but couldn't get the FCC to approve it.

You have to select the "outdated listings" option. Not sure what the criteria are for that, but most of my local repeaters don't show up without ticking that.

I think I noticed another mistake I'm the user's manual. It mentions a "the color selectable backlight" which I also heard was an option on the base KG-UV980 but doesn't look available on the KG1000. Too bad, that would be nice for me. We'll see what B2WRs says about the possibility of adding CB receive, but I doubt they will care.

I couldn't help myself. Brought my laptop to work and tried the CB freq through the software. No dice. Seeing as how is very likely the radio is capable but just neutered via firmware, it's at least worth asking B2WRs if they could get it enabled. It would be pretty handy for me.

That is for when somebody steals your gear, right?

Not crazy! Gonna play more tomorrow evening and see if I can get to it through the software.

Interesting. I just downloaded the pdf of the instruction booklet and it did indeed say 50mhz is as low as it goes. I did notice the CB freqs while having a beer last night so maybe I read it wrong, but I don't think so? Will report back when I get home tonight.

Also just remembered CB is AM (just like ATC freqs) so maybe you have to enable AM first? I think I had problems trying to manually tune ATC before but with the software it was no problem.

Well, maybe I spoke too soon then. I haven't actually had a chance to try it yet. I just saw in the instruction manual the range of frequencies covered included 26-30mhz. Maybe you can get to it through the software? I won't have a chance to try until tomorrow evening. I'm basically either working or sleeping between now and then.

Not much of a trick and it may seem obvious to others, but I just noticed that this radio can monitor CB freqs. Gonna get it programmed up this weekend. I have a CB in my Jeep, but never use it or even turn it on really. I like the idea of tucking the CB away in the center console and being able to monitor CB freqs just in case. Then I can dig out the CB if I need.

Yep! That's the one. Couldn't remember the numbers at the time. I've only read one bad thing about it somewhere saying the dbi they used to measure gain was different than normal dbi or something like that. Everybody else seems happy with it.

I very much agree with the surecomm part. The only thing I even know to check for is swr and and if they are accurate for that, they suit my needs. His comment about them not being accurate pertains to the conversation obviously, but mine was, at least when compared to the vna. He gave me some things to try and some explanations of how things work, but nothing really helped. I am going to trouble shoot a bit more, but I wanted to get my vna before I got back to him to confirm results. Now that I have and the readings are the same with the vna, I'll give him a call next week. I also ordered the big comet antenna in the meantime because I just couldn't help myself ?

I talked to Ed Fong on the phone the other day trying to trouble shoot an antenna issue. He commented he didn't like any of the Surecom meters and said he really liked the Nano VNA. He says the vna tested very accurate against his $10k test equipment. I bought one because of that. It matches my Surecomm 33 meter pretty closely so far.

*This was not in a 905g I should say.

I have not noticed a difference in real world performance on either the 771, 701, or 701G. I did throw my new Nano VNA on all of the above last night and was surprised to see SWR's of 3+ on all of the Nagoyas. Factory antenna was 1.2.

Starlink's coverage area is pretty limited at the moment from what I've heard. I would at least look at military surplus camouflage poles. I'm happy with mine in a permanent setup, but I could see it being pretty easy to set up and take down for 20' or less. Very easy to store in 4' sections too.

https://www.buytwowayradios.com/wouxun-mmo-004bt.html

Do antennas attract more lightening than normal? I understand the physics and technicals of it, but from practical experience, does it happen a lot? I properly ground everything, but I am very inclined to leave everything plugged in and not worry about it. I have a lot more expensive equipment than my GMRS radios plugged in and I have never decided it was worth it to go unplug everything before a potential lightning storm. I'm more worried about safety than anything else. I wonder if home owners insurance covers lightning strikes.

I swapped out my Midland 5/8 for a Larsen 1/2. Haven't done much testing, but the was no "Oh my gosh what a huge difference!" moment for me. Physical the Midland seemed a little more rugged.

I'm curious, in what ways do you like it better? Better performance? Sound quality? Build quality? Ease of use?

Just an update; I pulled the Ed Fong and N terminated lmr400 cable down and put back up my old copper pipe J-pole and UHF lmr400 cable inside the same new metal pipe mast I had on the Ed Fong setup. SWR's are back down to 1.2'ish. That would seem to narrow it down to the antenna or the cable. I took my HT and connected it to the Ed Fong antenna with a short jumper cable and some adapters. 2.6 swr standing inside my living room. Then I connected a spare tiny 1/4 wave mag antenna that came with my mxt275 using the N terminated lmr400 and got 1.06. Looks like the antenna, right? I still haven't been able to replicate the 4.3 swr I had when it was mounted on the treehouse though.

I've heard that repeated but never heard the reasoning behind it.

I have no idea how to even begin to mess with that. Any info to get me pointed in the right direction?