Sbsyncro

It looks like there might be a cause to this.  However I am still testing and investigating, as it doesn't adequately address the "dropout" problem.  I just looked at my saved codeplug and PRICH-SW is OFF but on the radio it was ON. I also see that PRI-CH is set to 001 (which is GMRS-01 on my radio). What must be happening is that I inadvertently turned on priority scan and that by default it was set to memory slot 001 so any time a signal was received on 001 (GMRS-1) it would break through my normal channel. However, there only seems to be one PRICH-SW setting (not separate for the A & B sides), yet I was only having this issue on the A side of the radio and not the B side.  Maybe it only works on the A side?
 

Thanks.  I generally don't scan frequencies unless I'm cruising the highway and bored and want to listen to field workers, warehouse forklift operators, and kids on walkie talkies.  I had no intention of having PRICH-SW on (in fact I'd programmed it off) but I must have fat-fingered the keypad at some point and changed the setting over the weekend. 
Additional testing seems to indicate that this was the source of both issues, so chalk this one up to "User Error"...

Thanks.  I generally don't scan frequencies unless I'm cruising the highway and bored and want to listen to field workers, warehouse forklift operators, and kids on walkie talkies.  I had no intention of having PRICH-SW on (in fact I'd programmed it off) but I must have fat-fingered the keypad at some point and changed the setting over the weekend. 
Additional testing seems to indicate that this was the source of both issues, so chalk this one up to "User Error"...

It looks like there might be a cause to this.  However I am still testing and investigating, as it doesn't adequately address the "dropout" problem.  I just looked at my saved codeplug and PRICH-SW is OFF but on the radio it was ON. I also see that PRI-CH is set to 001 (which is GMRS-01 on my radio). What must be happening is that I inadvertently turned on priority scan and that by default it was set to memory slot 001 so any time a signal was received on 001 (GMRS-1) it would break through my normal channel. However, there only seems to be one PRICH-SW setting (not separate for the A & B sides), yet I was only having this issue on the A side of the radio and not the B side.  Maybe it only works on the A side?
 

If these radios are "disposable" after 3 years, I'd probably rather spend $150 versus $400 and go with a Radioddity or Btech.   In my usage the benefits of this radio are outweighed by the issues I've had with it (and its high cost).  Honestly I have used the Radioddity DB20 ($90 radio) as my "base camp" radio for a couple of years (along with a 30' mast).  It gets battered and is exposed to the elements while camped (I mag-mount it to the rear "galley" of my camp trailer exterior while camped) and it has never let me down and always works, never exhibiting the weird glitches the KG1000 seems to exhibit.  It just "works"...
 
 

If these radios are "disposable" after 3 years, I'd probably rather spend $150 versus $400 and go with a Radioddity or Btech.   In my usage the benefits of this radio are outweighed by the issues I've had with it (and its high cost).  Honestly I have used the Radioddity DB20 ($90 radio) as my "base camp" radio for a couple of years (along with a 30' mast).  It gets battered and is exposed to the elements while camped (I mag-mount it to the rear "galley" of my camp trailer exterior while camped) and it has never let me down and always works, never exhibiting the weird glitches the KG1000 seems to exhibit.  It just "works"...
 
 

If these radios are "disposable" after 3 years, I'd probably rather spend $150 versus $400 and go with a Radioddity or Btech.   In my usage the benefits of this radio are outweighed by the issues I've had with it (and its high cost).  Honestly I have used the Radioddity DB20 ($90 radio) as my "base camp" radio for a couple of years (along with a 30' mast).  It gets battered and is exposed to the elements while camped (I mag-mount it to the rear "galley" of my camp trailer exterior while camped) and it has never let me down and always works, never exhibiting the weird glitches the KG1000 seems to exhibit.  It just "works"...
 
 

Well it's the difference between a 1/4 wave long antenna verses a 1/2 wave long antenna. The minimum length antenna to radiate RF is a 1/2 wave length long by theory. Since a 1/4 wave length antenna is "missing" the other part, the absent 1/4 wave length, it has to be made up for some how. That's where the ground plane comes in, it doubles the antenna length so it looks like it's a 1/2 wave length long to the transmitter.
To make the idea simple to understand place your finger against a mirror so it's perpendicular to it. You'll see immediately the reflection of your finger touching the end of your real one. That's basically what the ground plane does for a 1/4 antenna, it "mirrors" the other half of the antenna so it looks like it's really a 1/2 wave length long.
With a 1/2 wave length antenna you have a choice where to attach the coax cable, in the middle or at one of the two ends.
If the coax is attached in the middle the impedance is around 70 to 75 ohms more or less. That's a reasonably good match to a 50 ohm coax resulting in an SWR of about 1.5:1, which all most all radios will have no issues with it.
For a vertical antenna the most convenient place is on the end. For some complicated reasons the impedance is far higher than the 50 ohm coax cable. For those antennas a matching section in built into the base. An example is the common "J-Pole" antenna. It's really a 1/2 wave length antenna with a 1/4 wave parallel transmission line matching section on the end. The feed point is selected such that the ratio between the voltage and current is 50, which is the required value for the 50 ohm coax. If the coax feed point was exactly on the shorted end the voltage would be zero, resistance = voltage/current, so the impedance would be zero. At the other end the current is nearly zero, the un-terminated end of the one element, thus the impedance is extremely high. Thus the match point must lie someplace between those two points.
This is about as simple of an explanation without getting deeper into the theory.

starting to sound like CB...

Midland radios may be common but I do not see them as any kind of standard for the industry at least as far as programming goes. They seem to be solid radios but I don't understand why they don't up their game in programming features.

I am currently at my "opened" Anytone AT-779UV in the house, programmed for GMRS (but with more options), with Firmware 2.26 (my Radioddity DB20-G programmed for "locked" GMRS with firmware 2.30 is in the car right now), so my comments are based upon my playing with this Anytone.
1) Holding down the FUN key for a few seconds will LOCK the keypad/mic buttons (one beep).  Let me know when you figure out how to UNLOCK it!?! hahaha. Of course, holding down the FUN key again for a few seconds toggles this feature (two beeps).
You can also toggle this same "locking" feature by holding down the A button on the mic/keypad.
2) I believe you are referring to Menu 19: DSPSUB, which has these 3 choices of settings. You can get to this without the software by pushing the FUN button once and then scrolling through the Menu with the V/M (Up) and MAIN (Down) buttons.  You then change the settings using the Up (Arrow) and Down (Arrow) buttons and when you are happy with your settings, push FUN again to exit this mode.
3) I am not sure what you are asking here, because I probably don't have any experience here.  But I want to learn, so please educate me.  Is this in the software?
4) By "Busy Channel Lockout" I believe you mean a setting which will prevent the radio from transmitting while it detects someone else using the same frequency. I am looking into this for you.
UPDATE: Look at the manual's description of Menu Item !!: RPLOCK, below and see if this does what you want; again using the FUN button will get you into Menu Mode:
 

The best mobile/base radio will not work well with subpar coax and/or subpar antenna. It's hard to beat LMR400 or equivalent coax for VHF/UHF frequencies. 

LMR 400 for 35' feet. 
 
RG58 - Loss per 100 - 10.6db
LMR400 - Loss per 100 - 2.7
So at 35' of RG58 you are loosing almost 4db which is over 50% of signal loss and power. 

You need the radials. Id swap out the coax for a better cable. I did very similar on our campers for years and do the same for SAR on VHF every summer. A fiberglass painters pole works so much better and is lighter. We have a 30' aluminum mast for our SAR repeater but most of the check points use the fiberglass poles. They go up about 15' (ones we have) and work excellent for the antenna. I'd go to lowes or home depot and check out the poles they have. For our motorhome we had a 25' fiberglass flag pole that went in a mount. I tried our GMRS antenna (FG4600) once on it and while it worked it din't gain me any range so went back to the ladder mount. The ladder put it at 12' high already and in the environment the loss in cable didn't help with the height I gained. 
 

I have a Radioddity DB20-G base station setup I use with my off-road camp trailer.  Typically I will put up a 25' mast that I top with an extra Midland MXTA26 antenna.  (yea, I know it is intended as a mobile antenna, but I have an extra, so why spend more money...?).  To mount it I use a Tram NMO-UHF antenna mount with radials.  The mast is a Milsurp sectional aluminum mast.  The aluminum mast is usually clamped to the tongue of my trailer and centered over a spike (sharpened rebar) that I drive into the ground.   I do not do anything specific for grounding.   I'm doing this based on casual (and perhaps inaccurate) knowledge gleaned over the years from sources like this forum.  I'd like to optimize what I have (and not reinvent the entire setup).
Questions:
Are the radials necessary/beneficial?  (they are a hassle to install and are easily lost!)  Should I be taking specific steps to actually ground the mast other than just having contact with the earth?  (does it matter) Is there anything inherently wrong with using the 6bd MXTA26 antenna?  I'm sure there are $400 base station antennas that would be "better" but is there anything inherent;y *wrong* with using this one? Would swapping to a low gain (2db) 1/4 wave or "ghost" antenna be useful when in hilly terrain?  (I carry several NMO antenna with me when on trips so I can swap the rooftop antenna on the Jeep if there is a lot of overhead obstacles). Thanks!

Thanks for the info.  The use case for me is to have a "base camp" setup for coordinating with multiple groups of hikers and/or off-roaders in my club, not for hitting a fixed station, so a beam antenna would not be optimal. The mast will always be affixed to my small camp trailer, but needs to be omni-directional. Often I am in desert areas with no trees, so tossing a wire into a tree isn't normally an option.   I'm currently using a very heavy duty milsurp aluminum section mast (I linked to it in my original post) (6 x 4' sections) but its a PITA to set up solo, so I am also considering a telescoping pole like the one you describe, which would lighter weight and easier to extend to its full height).

I can relate... about dropping Parallel and BootCamp.  I'm a Mac/iPad only these days.  I did keep an old XP and disconnected from internet and use USB flash drive to pass files to it to install PC software.  

Hmm..  just to be a contrarian, I will posit that the whole appeal of FRS/GMRS is its simplicity and "open the box and get started" ease of use.   Thus, having designated channel numbers helps the vast majority of FRS/GMRS users.   I'll bet that if you polled 1,000 frequent users of FRS/GMRS radios what frequency their favorite channel was on, 950 of them wouldn't have a clue.  The other 50 are participating in this forum.  ? 

That one yes
save your GMRS default codeplug first
i will boot up the software later and research deleting information 

Yes.. 
"N" means "Normal", "i" means inverted.
99.8% of GMRS repeaters use a "Normal" DCS/DPL/DTC tone.

So most people with Jeeps and trucks are not installing their NMO antennae in a "through the roof" mount and are instead using external brackets.  NMO mounts such as the "Midland 6 Meter Antenna Cable with NMO Connector" are obviously designed to be water proof (with an o-ring seal) when installed on a flat panel where the underside is protected from weather by the panel that it is mounted to and the o-ring on the top side of the panel.
In a bracket type mount, the underside of the NMO mount is completely exposed to the elements.  Is this a problem?  Should one somehow protect it from the elements?   Most installations I see just leave it exposed, so I wonder if the o-ring is merely to seal the roof panel from leaking and not to necessarily protect the back side of the antenna mount.

Hmm..  just to be a contrarian, I will posit that the whole appeal of FRS/GMRS is its simplicity and "open the box and get started" ease of use.   Thus, having designated channel numbers helps the vast majority of FRS/GMRS users.   I'll bet that if you polled 1,000 frequent users of FRS/GMRS radios what frequency their favorite channel was on, 950 of them wouldn't have a clue.  The other 50 are participating in this forum.  ? 

OK I'm jumping in on this bandwagon.   I tend to go overboard when I learn new stuff, so technical aspects don't worry me.  What does worry me, however are things like:
 
1. Requires a windows PC to function properly (I'm a Mac guy).  PITA drivers to install, com ports to configure with USB emulators with poorly written drivers, etc.
2. Requires 10 hours of study to accomplish a task I will perform once or twice a year, and thus I will have to repeat that 10 hours of study every year because I can't remember the details from the last time.
3. Expensive recurring costs of ownership like annual subscriptions or costly maintenance updates.
4. Spending more than I needed to because of some whiz-bang feature I'll rarely or never actually use
5. Requires babying and constant "re-tuning" or calibration before using (spend as much or more time tweaking as using)
 
(and yes, I regularly do all of these things, but I try now to avoid them!)
 
I had just ordered a Surecom SW-33 Mark II and then came across this thread, so I cancelled the order while I ruminate a bit.  I like information, and love data.  I love to optimize stuff.  But I don't see myself getting to the point where I'm going to have a bench with a bunch of oscilloscopes and soldering irons. (that was my Dad, who built Heathkit radios and TV sets when I was a kid back in the 70's)
 
Given all that, I feel like spending $50 on the Surecom SW-102  or $60-$70 NanoVNA seems like a reasonable step up in price from the $45 Sw-33 given the extra functionality.  Though looking at the video tutorials for the NanoVNA, it seems like overkill for me (violates rules 1, 2, 4, & 5 for me)
 
​I guess the real question is which of those options is most compliant for what I need (which I think is similar to the OP's original question).  "Which one is "good enough" in terms of accuracy, usability, and features?  There definitely seem to be some strong opinions, and if you spend time on forums, this sort of thing isn't uncommon (nor is it anything but well-meaning usually).  It's sorta like the following exchange:
 
 
​OP:  "Whats the best way to get from LA to NYC on a budget?"
 
Reply 1:  "Citation X  - it's faster than a Gulfstream G-650 and less than half the cost"
 
​Then a debate rages about the differences between the Gulfstream and the Citation, with the inevitable person saying "Hey, you guys don't know what you're talking about.  The Falcon 7x is a much better aircraft..  blah blah blah"
 
Then the original poster comes back and says
 
"I was wondering if Greyhound was cheaper and faster than taking the train..."
 
Its all about relative perspective...  :-)
 
Oh, PS - after some thought and a bit more reading, I went ahead and purchased one of the Surecom 120 units.  I'll bet it will do everything I'm likely to need for the couple of VHF/UHF radios I have. 

As long as you state your call sign first.


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OK, I just had my second mic fail on the KG-1000G unit that I've had for about 1 year now, and I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue since I believe it is a "thing".    I use this radio a lot - it is mounted in my Jeep and it is used all day long for a couple of days every third weekend or so.  My first mic failed after about three months of such use.   My replacement mic just failed this past weekend (incredibly frustrating when on a group trip and I lose primary comms!).  Luckily I had a couple of backup HTs, but I digress....]
The "failure" seems to manifest itself in the PTT button losing its tactile feedback (it becomes difficult to tell whether it is being "pushed" just by feel, if that makes any sense).  This physical failure is accompanied by a deeply attenuated transmission - where people report that my voice has suddenly become "washed out" or "drowned out" by static.  This is exactly what happened the first time, and after checking everything about my install (including replacing antenna and cable) I verified it was the mic.   A replacement mic fixed the problem.
I am going to reach out to Buytwowayradios today to hopefully discuss this issue, but since I have had it happen to me twice, I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue?  I LOVE this radio, but this mic problem needs a permanent fix!
Brent