Hasaf

I live about five miles from a large trailer transfer yard for a meat packing plant. I frequently hear yard related conversations on Channel 20.

I recently installed an AT-778 in my FJ Cruiser, as you can see, it has all of the controls on the mic.

For those who don't know where to search, the page is here.

No, it was an antenna. I wrote to Midland about it and they responded with, what amounted to, "the antenna is working fine." Mostly my post is because this radio didn't seem to be mentioned here, so I was trying to give potential users some idea of what it was and how well it performed. As I understand, Midland is coming out with a full power unit, with the controls on the microphone, soon. I will probably go that route when they do.

A "convoy friendly" feature that could easily be incorporated, even without maps, is a simple "distance away" display. Conversations of the "how far are you from me?" nature would be a lot easier with such a number on the display. No, it doesn't seem a high-end showcase of GPS and location tracking capabilities, but it would be useful, and requires no map. However, internal map features would be nice to get anything but crows flight distances.

I think a good part of the issue, at least for me, is that there are no APRS facilities near me. As such, I can only see if I got it working when I go on a long drive.

Frankly, I can see it stalling. Loud users of other services will undoubtedly see it as, "letting other people play with one of their toys."

Oh God, no. I have spent the last couple of days trying to get APRS working on my AnyTone D878UV +. I spent time on it last year, and the year before. It still doesn't work.

Sorry it has taken me so long to finish this. The frequencies were programmed from this chart. I have not confirmed the Frequency counter. However, I have not adjusted it either. If it is to be trusted, this radio is transmitting a bit off frequency on Channel 20. The Channel 5&12 frequencies may be a rounding error. According to the manual, both the receiver and the transmitter are capable of both narrow and wide band. However, I do not have the means of testing this. More troublesome is the low power output. The specifications claim 25W at full power. the test showed 17.77W. At low power the specifications claim 5W and the meter showed 4.28W. Ignore the SWR, I am using a Midland MXTA26 and it is ~1:1 on channel 12, but falls off, pretty quickly, on both sides. On Channel 20 On Channel 5

In your opening statement you summarized why I have little interest in Digital (pretty much anything) for ham radio. There are too many incompatible standards, and there isn't anyone using any of them, near me, anyways. I think my Anytone AT-D878UV supports something, but I have no idea what. I am sort of interested in getting an APRS vehicle tracker working, but I have little interest beyond that. I teach computers and robotics, I think it is something I could get interested in. But with no local activity it just doesn't draw me in.

Here are the antennas. GMRS in the centre rear, VHF/UHF in the centre front, CB (11M) in the left rear by the hinges.

Agreed, most placed I have read say that ch20 is the calling channel, just like 146.52 on 2M. Those seem to be the channels that it makes sense to monitor while driving. The whole cb19 is a different thing. When I was driving truck I was in California, mostly the central valley, most communication was on 17.

FCC ID T4KAT778U I have today off, so I spent a couple of hours pulling the headliner and installing a couple NMO connectors, then running the coax behind stuff until they get to the radios. Probably the only smart thing I did was to label the coax "front" and "rear" so I can remember which piece goes to which mount.

I also posted these pictures in the review sub-forum. This is the AnyTone that I just mounted in my FJ Cruiser. it is under the passenger seat next to my 2m/440. There is a rectangular recess in the centre console that is a perfect size for the microphone.

It is a switch. That is what I have done, both it and the 2m/440 are wired to a relay after the accessory circuit. As such, they turn on and off with the car. As for the switch on the radio, I just leave it on.