labreja

This is great info! I learn so much here. Thanks!

I built my own for portable use. It has 2, 20ah Lifepo4 batteries. I can charged by using a regular lifepo4 charger, or by solar. It has Powerpole connectors as well a fast charge usb ports and lastly a cigarette lighter port. I use the cigarette lighter port to run a 300 watt pure sine wave inverter. Cool project. Works really well. I also have a battery bank in the garage by the shack which are connected to a 2000 watt inverter to be able to run the shack for a while if needed. Still saving for a Generac.

Merry Christmas!

I am a big fan of Kenwood. I use a Kenwood TK-880-1 version2 in our truck (2015 F150) and we run the same radio in my wife's car (2015 Ford Fusion). Both radios are connected to Midland MXTA26 antennas. This setup works really well for us.

Try using the "Repeaters" tab. Then, under advanced search, just to the right to the Frequency tab, hit the down arrow. Scroll down and select Ohio. This should bring up a list of all the repeaters in Ohio. One more thing to try is, selecting on the "Map" tab. This takes a minute to load, so be patient. Then zoom on any location you wish. These are the 2 things I used to find repeaters in my area, or any area I may be traveling to. I hope this helps. Good luck

I believe the correct software is KPG-49D. I can verify tonight when I get home. I am unsure about the 70cm, as I have not attempted that. https://hamfiles.co.uk/index.php?page=downloads&type=entry&id=radio-programming%2Fkenwood-programming%2Fkpg-49d-v3-x Hope this helps. Good luck.

Maybe a little late to the party, but I hope this helps new General license holders. I am a pretty new ham who, for now, just uses voice, and I too have the 11x17 band plan chart on my wall. I found this somewhat difficult to read at a distance, so I made a spreadsheet, voice only frequency chart, that I printed and laminated. I made a little stand for it that I keep right next to my radio to help me stay within the General license Voice portion of the bands. To the amateur operators that are more experienced than I, please let me know if I have made a mistake in my chart. I hope this is of some use. James WROD278 / K8JCL Amateur Radio Voice Privileges for General Class Hams.xlsx

Hi Marc. Nice job. I watched it on YouTube. I appreciated how you would move the screens in for the viewers. Very nicely done. Thanks for sharing. James

I am a Kenwood fan. We have 3 Kenwood TK-880-1 ver2 radios. One for each vehicle and one as a base. Check Ebay. Maybe an option for the HOA is an attic antenna. Good luck.

WRXW945 The one on the left, I made. The one on the right is a Breedlove mount. The Breedlove mount is much better than my home made one. They are well worth the money.

I run a Kenwood TK-880-1 ver2. with a Midland MXTA26. Because the truck is aluminum, I attached a magnet behind the third brake light. That is how I got the mag mount to stay. Non of the radios or the mic holders are screwed in. They are all mounted using double face tape.

Being relatively new to GMRS and ham radio, the most important things that I have learned is, in my opinion is, use the best coax you can afford. Use that coax to feed the best antenna you can afford. I use LMR400 coax with good results. Here are a couple of links to some antennas I use. The Ed Fong is what I currently use for a base antenna. The n9taxlabs antenna I use when camping. https://www.kbcubed.com/DBJ-UHF-5dB-GMRS-Antenna-by-Ed-Fong-p379488596DBJ-UHF-5dB-GMRS-Antenna-by-Ed-Fong-p379488596DBJ-UHF-5dB-GMRS-Antenna-by-Ed-Fong-p379488596DBJ-UHF-5dB-GMRS-Antenna-by-Ed-Fong-p379488596DBJ-UHF-5dB-GMRS-Antenna-by-Ed-Fong-p379488596DBJ-UHF-5dB-GMRS-Antenna-by-Ed-Fong-p379488596 https://n9taxlabs.com/shop/ols/products/dual-band-murs-gmrs-slim-jim-with-10-or-16-foot-cable Lastly, I run Kenwood TK-880-1 ver2 radios. One in my wife's car, one in the truck and one as a base. They are pretty inexpensive, easy to program and built like tanks. I hope this helps.

That's really great! My wife and I use the Kenwood TK-880s for our base and both our vehicles. I find them reasonably priced, easy to program, and overall, just a great radio. Good luck with it and have fun!

I picked up 2 Signal Stick antennas for some Yaesu HTs. I also got an ADS-B receiver. Now I just need to find a Raspberry Pi.

Viajero73, I'm kind of new to the radio world, but I don't know of any radio that can be programmed via Bluetooth. It may help if we knew what kind of radio. All the people here are happy to assist you, but some more details would help.

I agree with Lscott about getting you ham license. If I can do it, anyone can. We have a Ford Fusion and I use a lip mount for the antenna mount on the trunk. The antenna is a Midland MXTA26. It is attached to a Kenwood TK-880-1 ver2. This has been a great set up for the wife. On our F150 I use a mag mount for the same antenna. Stake pocket mounts for the other antennas. I am running the same radio in the truck as well. FYI, from the stake pocket mounts, I ran the coax inside the rubber door seal from the back of the cab to the front of the front door. It looks really clean that way. Good luck!

marcspaz, That's really cool! What tripods are you using? Thanks James

I'm not sure if this is the manual for your specific ICOM, but it may help, I hope. https://www.icomjapan.com/support/manual/2756/

Ok. Thank you for your time and information. J

@WRUU653 First, thanks for the quick reply. So, I just use 462.675 with a PL of 141.3? Is this correct? If so, I will set up the repeater channels like you mentioned above, (great idea), a memory of 462.675, pl 141.3. Same recommendation for channel 19? Say 462.65 pl 141.3? What are your thoughts? I don't know how to to the @ thing correctly. I'm kind of new to this as well.

I know the travel channel has been discussed at length, however, I have not been able to find an answer to my question, therefore, any help would be greatly appreciated. Do I use 462.675, channel 20s frequency, with a PL 141.3, or do I set it up like a repeater, using 462.675/ 467.675 with a PL 141.3? Thanks in advance for everyone's help. J

Sorry, Thanks for educating me. That won't happen again.

https://mygmrs.com/repeater/2309 If you scroll down past the map, there are some instructions on how to set up zello on that repeater. Hope this helps.

Have you tried moving around your house or taking it outside and moving around to see if the signal strength changes or goes away?

DX Engineering has a video on Youtube which shows how to weatherproof connectors. I have also attached their PDF. I used both of these resources which really helped me. weatherproofingcoax-techtip.pdf