PACNWComms

When I started in RF communications several decades ago in the military, Bird/Thruline watt meters were only inserted during installation, and for yearly tests, to ensure the coax and antennas system was still serviceable. It was common to not leave a meter inline with the radio equipment. However, working with HF radio, it was common to ensure that a HF wattmeter was kept inline, as the radio gear was more expensive, the antenna being more critical, and the need to know the SWRmore important, meters were left inline. Fast forward to a few years ago, and I find myself making UHF Radio over Internet Protocol (RoIP) kits for connection of remote sites to a central hub station, and the Surecom SW102 is purchased to be a cheap inline meter. I begin to leave them inline for all of these kits. The people at the sites are not radio people, and travel is limited, so maintenance is only when something is completely broken. The cheap Surecom meter has a display, I can ask someone at each site to tell me what that meter says when the radio is keyed up. It shows SWR, frequency, and power, even providing a percentage. I now have them take a picture and send it to me. I now know what is going on coax, antenna and output power/SWR wise. I will continue to leave Surecom SW102 meters in UHF kits across the country. Their insertion loss is minimal, and they benefit me in a very positive way, as being a cheap check on the radio system in use at each site. Attached is a picture of a 25 watt UHF radio under test with a Surecom SW102, and even with many adapters in use,loss and SWR is minimal. For actual installations, I made cables with the appropriate ends,to minimize loss even more, but this is an example of my own use of Surecom SW102 meters in use, in line with UHF radios.

While responding to hurricane Katrina in 2005, then Rita, and Wilma that hit afterward, one issue with providing emergency communications services for first response personnel was the need to drive in all the fuel and generators, as there was no power to pump fuel at gas stations. This was the case from Louisiana to Mississippi, as power outages hit so hard, and cell phone towers failed once they flooded or their batteries and/or generator fuel was expended. Even sites that had propane suffered from expending their fuel, gas leaks, or physical damage. Convoys of mobile communications suites, generators, and thousands of gallons of diesel fuel made their way around the area. It has not changed too much for that part of the country. However, technology has changed a lot. Battery packs, solar panels, and generators have become cheaper, more reliable, and capable. Now, I see many people rely on their cell phones so much that they have the battery packs, chargers, and adapters for AC and vehicle charging. What they also seem to have, is broken screens, and a lack of knowledge of the limitations of cell phone use in an emergency. Text messaging uses less bandwidth and is more likely to get through in a widespread incident. This has changed in some areas, as text to 911 is becoming more common and some applications have stressed the need to preserve cell phone capacity for emergency use. My own personal preparation involves HF to SHF radio, cell phones, and everything from generator, solar panel, and battery packs, but also getting involved with local community efforts, such as CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), and public/private sector partnerships.....some of which may give you Wireless Priority Service (WPS) and GETS Government Emergency Telecommunications Service priority access. There are also methods to get priority restorative service from communications providers for certain industries. If you have a business that caters to incident/emergency response, that may prove helpful. Glad to see people preparing.

This is so very true, and not just with Motorola. (I have co-workers that swear this is only Motorola, as some of them used to work for Icom, and I used to work for the JVC/Kenwood Group, then Harris, but mostly on Motorola Solutions Inc. systems. I know they are full of it as all vendors force planned obsolescence, just like cars). But, older GR series repeaters are great if you can handle the light duty cycle. I currently use a VHF GR1225 for amateur use,as well as a GR300 that started life with two dual channel Motorola mobiles installed, but now contains two XPR4550 Trbo (analog/DMR)mobiles. Both came from oil industry use, and were cast off as surplus when narrow banding took place in 2013. However robust these older units are, it is hard to find parts, even well used spare parts, let alone "new old stock" from a reputable dealer. I have a six repeater system in one city in Texas that is ran entirely off Radius series radios and repeaters, the oldest Motorola system in the corporation, and is is no longer supported by any local vendor, with no parts available when it does finally go down. The current replacement recommendation from Motorola is a SLR5700 series repeater (50 watts) or a SLR8000 (100 watts). Model numbers approximate pricing,so about $6k for the SLR5700 and $8-10k for the SLR8000 when installed.

When I first read this thread, I thought it was about a radio vendor that pings on me often, to purchase RCA radios that appears like Motorola XPR7550e knockoffs. They sometimes send this link to showcase their rugged radios. However, it is Discount Two-Way Radios that sends this to me. As for Bridgecom Systems, I look elsewhere as they blow up my email often as well trying to alert me to my 4% completion in the Bridgecom University training series.....even after stating that I administer many DMR radio networks tied together across the nation. Always good to give some credit to those vendors that do a good job. Often the good ones get lost in the weeds and forest of the bad ones.

I can confirm that this works on the Radioddity version as well. I still use that version for the DB20-G as it helps me keep software separate for my many and growing list of Chinese radios. (I have to do the same thing with Motorola CPS as well at times, as the icons were used on several series of Motorola gear over the years as well.) Having Chirp, Radioddity and Anytone software with different icons helps me at times. Thank you for posting, this helps everyone.

That is the "as shipped" configuration that is locked down. Like many Chinese imported radios, the FCC has locked down a bit on what configuration they can be imported with. However, there are many tutorials online that show how to "change" the base configuration, then you read a copy and modify that version to open up other bands and frequency options. A common problem with these radios is people try to read that "as shipped" configuration codeplug and then try to modify that version, getting an error when they try to write it back to the radio. This is so the manufacturer, importer, seller have some plausible deniability, as amateur users are legal in "modifying" their equipment as long as it meats legal regulation otherwise. Sort of like building your own radio, but using a pre-made kit a few decades ago, you start with a basic radio and modify it for amateur/multi-band/extended frequency use.

I do not plan to do this, as I have functional microphones for both my Kenwood radios and DB20-G mobile. The pinout for each is very different, but probably easy for someone that wants to do it themselves, making a small interface box or adapter for the RJ45 connector. Many threads seem to start with the need for information, but lack the reasoning or need for a specific use case. I am not even sure what the original poster is trying to do with their "interface" to their DB20-G radio.

This is like asking if it is alright to "freeband" a radio for someone not knowing their: legal status, licenses held, or even country they plan to operate the radio within, after asking about FCC interaction and being a "law abiding citizen".....there will always be a few that ask a lot of questions about regulation. I know city and county-wide Auxiliary Communications Service (ACS) entities that dodge this question as well, but still let you look at their radio where you can confirm they are programmed or modified to be "wide open" which is to be expected for emergency use. As MichaelLAX states above, you will find it hard to get the green light from anyone that is credible or has a huge interest in the industry. It is not worth the risk to someone that actually has to make a living or administer a radio network where lives and large sums of money are involved.

As for power supplies for your base station radio, I always try to minimize my use of switching power supplies. While they may be smaller and cheaper, they never work as well for as long as something with a large transformer inside. I have some Duracomm switching power supplies for lower amperage mobile radios, but prefer to stick with Astron when budget allows. Astron has been an excellent manufacturer of power supplies used in the radio industry for decades, and I have yet to find one that could not be repaired when it eventually failed. In fact, the main 50 amp power supply I use for testing radios at work, is an Astron some co-workers threw in the surplus dumpster. This is an Astron RS-50M (has two meters where the RS-50A does not) which goes for about $400 new versus about $300 for the version lacking meters RS-50A. This power supply was having problems as its capacitor board had come loose inside, and was touching the metal case. Using thread locker and tightening this board dow returned the power supply to service. It now powers two Kenwood TK-X180 series radios, a really old Motorola Maxtrac, a CDM1250 UHF (25W) mobile and a Cobra 29 LTD Classic CB radio. No matter which radio you end up getting,spending a bit more on a good power supply will result in longer service life, and possibly less noise into your radio system than a cheaper switched power supply.

+1 on the protection of cellular providers. Much of my current interaction with the FCC involves the use of Bi-Directional Amplifiers (BDA) and Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) that allow public safety radio coverage in large commercial buildings, to ensure that they are not impacting cell phone operation and location capabilities for 911 Public Safety Answering Points. Regulation of cellular phone amplifiers is also an issue, as older Wilson amplifiers did not discriminate between cellular phones and 800-956 MHz portable radios. Some amplifiers have been burned up when they get their front end burned by an in-band 5 watt handheld radio.

Looks like mystery solved then. It could still be used if you wish to monitor 800MHz public safety radio. I still keep and use some old cellular band antennas for that purpose, but now often using a USB stick receiver, or one of my Realistic Pro-2004/5/6 scanners. However, I also tend to use a lot of NMO antennas, as they get thrown out often at work, once a forklift driver bends one too far, or parts get corroded. It has been deemed too expensive to repair (hourly rate of technician pay vs. replacement), and replaced with a new antenna more often than I like. Glad you found out what it went to.

A few months ago, I made a trip to a friend's place in Montana, and equipped my new car with a magnet mount CB antenna/Cobra 75 WX ST, and a Radioddity DB20-G VHF/UHF radio. I knew that many long haul truckers still have Cobra 29 LTD Classic CB's in their tractor's, from the factory in many cases. These are still used, as they were in the 1970's a la "Convoy" to talk amongst themselves and others. As mentioned above CB is 5 watts, AM and 27MHz (-ish). GMRS is FM, higher power and UHF band, and with the cost of radios coming down, becoming much more popular. I used both as I knew that there is a different demographic using each, and spoke with both on my trip. The reason for my trip, to help install a Yaesu FT-991A HF/VHF/UHF radio base station, and appropriate antenna to allow for Wireless Message Terminal (WMT) software for email and instant messaging between sites in Idaho and Montana. Even now in 2022, there is a need for both, and more. One issue that did come up though was the term "citizen's band" as all of us were world travelers, and, outside of the United States, many countries use 27MHz/FM or (450-470MHz) UHF/FM for their citizen's band radio systems. At one point someone handed me a Uniden FRS radio when I said I would try to talk to them via CB, when I meant 27MHz AM Cobra CB, not Uniden FM/UHF CB.

Short answer, yes. Long answer, I used to work in the oil industry, providing emergency communications services through a sort of "insurance policy" funded by many oil industry corporations that pooled their budget for response efforts. During: larger oil spills, a few floods, and some hurricane aftermath response periods, the Federal Communications Commission would check licenses of: vessels, corporation repeaters and radio infrastructure, and personnel. On several occasions this impacted how things were done: no more portable repeaters on ships for example, no more portable repeaters placed on roofs of buildings (each site had to have its own license), and all personnel working on vessel comms needed to get GROL's (General RadioTelephone Operators Licences), as previously there was an "emergency exemption" granted. At the beginning of 2013, all licenses and some radios were checked for narrowband in the appropriate bands that now required 25kHz to be changed to 12.5kHz spacing. When Motorola Trbo series radios were becoming popular, licences were checked for correct emissions designators. However, it was most often the U.S. Coast Guard that checked radio licenses, personnel training records, and with some of the fleet being in Puget Sound, information was also given to Candian authorities, where many of us had to get Restricted RadioTelephone Operator Licenses, essentially the Canadian version of a GROL to take radios into Canadian waters, with all the issues with operating along the border and associated waterways. Besides those instances, I sometimes had airport TSA wonder why I had a better radio than they did when traveling for work across the nation, carrying a multi-band Harris Unity XG-100P handheld. Packed next to it was a copy of the NIFOG (National Interoperability Field Operations Guide) and I still had a military affiliation that kept them at bay, but you could tell they just wanted to jack me up to paw through my gear. It appears you may have some power tripping people in your area. But, as others have mentioned, the FCC lacks funding for enforcement, and seems to go after those that have money and hardware, and then only when something else regulatory is taking place, such as an oil spill or refinery incident. In that case, they may even rely upon other government entities to do the work, such as with the Coast Guard and commercial vessel inspections. In my current work,with many counties public safety radio systems tied into large corporate radio networks, the biggest inspection element comes from the cellular phone companies making sure we are not impacting cell phone infrastructure with public safety radio infrastructure, while merging the two under FirstNet (Band 14).

Thank you for sharing this. May come in handy should I want to connect to my own Radioddity DB20-G radio via the microphone connector. This was a recent purchase for me, as I prefer to re-use commercial radios for GMRs use, but bought a new car and the only thing that seemed to fit the dash storage space was a DB20-G dual band radio. Having used some other cheaper radios, I had programming cables for handheld radios like the GM-30 and Anytone AT-D878UV but not for the mobile. Luckily, mine shipped with a programming cable,but I always tend to tinker, so having this pinout, and knowing that it compares to the AT-779UV helps.

Have used RTL SDR USB sticks for years with SDR# (SDR Sharp) software for years, and recently had a co-worker show me a setup he bought for WSPR (Weak Signal Propagation Reporter) monitoring with an Internet connection. I then spent some time sniffing around online and found out how to add that to my own SDR# software. The dedicated WSPR receiver/reporter modules are frequency specific, where SDR# and an appropriate receiver are not. Which means there are "plug and play options" and ones that may work better for less money, if you are willing to play around and figure things out. Great point on using SDR as a possibility. Link I used to add in WSPR with SDR#. https://www.rtl-sdr.com/a-tutorial-on-receiving-wspr-with-an-rtl-sdr-v3/

All great examples given above, then you get the SignaLink interface for the specific radio and put it to work. While I have been partial to Yaesu FT-817ND for QRP and Yaesu FT-991A for QRM, a recent meeting with members of the Air Force Military Affiliate Radio Service AFMARS, they seem to prefer Icom radios, as they are easier to link with WinLink and other software created specific to Icom model radios. I may have to add an Icom HF to my list of radios to buy as a target of opportunity if they are found at a great price. In the maritime industry,I used older Icom HF and IC-M-602/608 models that worked well with software for Wireless Message Terminal (WMT) email and instant messaging. This is where Software Defined Radio (SDR) also comes in. There are many options, with some dependent on the specific radio you choose. That makes this hobby fun and interesting. With some of the proposed changes to GMRS and data, this may expand the options available over time.

You have many options from what you described. That Motorola Astro Spectra UHF could be used if you have software and cable to program it. I know many people currently buying the Yaesu FT-991A for about $1200.00, a solid VHF/UHF/HF rig that can do what you describe. Budget, software, other items you will need that you already have, what brands you prefer, and needs all come into play. I tend to keep separate radios for each band, and for GMRS, find that I use an old Motorola CDM1550 LS+ with an Astron power supply the most. For VHF there is a Vertex VX-3200 and Duracomm power supply. For HF there is a low power Yaesu FT-817ND. CB radio is covered by a Cobra 2000 GTL base station. Good luck on your search and whichever direction you go with this.

Very nice. It looks like the logical replacement for the Rino 120 is the Rino 700, and with that monochrome display, should still work with image intensification night vision, while still having the location sending option, adding in text messaging. I for one am glad that Garmin pushed for this back in 2003, that was very helpful in the past, and some of us still use this when out and about in the wilderness. Thank you for sharing the info. Expanding capabilities through the FCC would be a good thing for those that understand the limitations and capabilities. I may keep my eyes out for some being sold cheaper, by those that get frustrated when they only get a few miles range, expecting to get 14-22 miles on a 5 watt radio/GPS.

Yes, the legal issues with Rugged Radios was about licensing and commercial frequencies. Unfortunately, this is a problem that will continue to take a long time to modify many licenses to become legal, ceasing their use by a large corporation with hundreds of UTV's being equipped with their radio packages in the meantime. Although, on this same note, some smaller radio shops have a problem with loading programmable radios with frequencies that may be in use with other licensed users as well, or selling time on repeaters they do not own. Commercial radio can be a little crazy at times, and marketing is a huge influence. Seeing second generation Chinese GMRS handhelds being sold tells me that there is a market, and it does bring more people into the radio hobby.

While I have not been on here very long, only the front end looked different....so if it helps ease of maintenance, great. I am enjoying this website, and it has been fairly easy to navigate. Happy New Year.

That looks a lot like the many "cellular" style antennas, that often work well around 806-896MHz, or a harmonic of that 403-448MHz....however, measure that antenna and do the math, and use a wattmeter to check SWR before transmitting too long with it, you do not want to damage a radio by guessing and being off too much with high SWR. I have a box of those that came with many different emblems molded into the bottom, but none with that particular branding. Larsen and Laird look the closest though, you might be able to browse Tessco's website and find a match. They were a combination of UHF (450MHz) and cellular (800MHz) antennas or use with Wilson cellular amplifiers around 2005, before the regulations changed on cell phone amplifier usage. Be sure to update us if you find out for sure what that is.

I continue to use older Garmin Rino 120 and 530 radio/GPS's, as they work great for my needs. As for repeater support, my older versions (pre-2017 FCC change for FRS and GMRS) allow for tones to be set manually. The software was updated at least once on mine, as I also experienced Garmin locking down the number of hardware devices that could be updated on one $100 software license, while a few of us managed to update hundreds of Rino's and Nuvi's until that software change was made. While I only use the location function on occasion, it is nice to have. Many people say the radios are lacking in the Rino series, but I work in radio, and understand the limits of FRS/GMRS and terrain issues. As you mentioned the series is still being produced and sold, albeit at a much higher cost now. My Rino 120 cost about $265 when it came out in 2003, and many were issued to me and others in the military at the time, for use in Afghanistan, as a second check on Rockwell AN/PSN-11 GPS devices. That was a lot to spend on a small radio and GPS combo. But, considering the 120 and 530 still works today in 2021, I will continue to use them until they fail, to include the data transmission feature. Then, I may spend some money on the newer versions with camera, SD cards, and more memory. The topo maps might make me buy a newer version at some point as well. I am glad to see that the 755t has an antenna that appears to be molded around the case, the 530's had a huge problem with cracked antennas, or they would pull out from the casing. Mine has been repaired with black sealant and heat shrink tubing a few times now. Thank you for the response on the 755t, may have a look at one.

Just like any radio I own, it seems like the "go to" ones have the keypad on their face or in the mic. Menu's become a mess after a few levels in, and I get tired of remembering programming trees for so many different devices, to include actual radios. For my entire professional career, dealing with radio equipment, I tend to prefer those that have keypads over those that do not. For front panel re-programming, on the move programming, and quickly changing channels, frequencies or memories a keypad helps a lot. I also tend to prefer actual buttons over touchscreens, as they just show fingerprints, and tend to have more layers of menu's to them. Whichever way you go, enjoy your radios.