tcp2525

Generally a poor connection or impurities in the "copper". A poor connection increases resistant, which generates heat.

All that sounds like what I heard as well. The 75 supposedly is slightly better on batteries, but... Sadly I gave up on Kenwood just for that reason. I went with two Anytone AT-D878UVII HTs and haven't looked back. My last HT from the big three was the Yaesu FT2, which was a disappointment due to substandard recieve audio. That's why I always said Yaesu should reverse engineer a UV82, they would learn a lot. I can't say enough good about the 878.

How do you feel the battery life on the 74 is, especially if you transmit? The 75's battery life is said to be slightly better.

Nor will they. Instead of moaning about it on a forum, it's easier to send the radio back to Amazon for replacement or cut it off and hook it up like it supposed to be in the first place.

Love the old spark gap transmitter.

Well, do you think Marconi, Edison or Tesla would have used one? Hell know, they would have used the traditional Western Union splice and call it a day.

If it works that is great. I've seen some of the "heavy duty" ones heat up and melt, yes melt. I even melted one myself. No arguing they are very convenient, which makes them a great choice for that reason alone, just don't be surprised when you melt one.

Looks like you have an HT fetish, which is good. I lean more towards mobiles myself.

Looks like you are off to a good start. Gotta say, it does look like a nice collection, but there still is some open space on them shelves.

Definitely a really nice adapter, but why adapt something I didn't want in the first place to something useful? Easier to just cut it off and put whatever I want on the end of the cables. I would have preferred that the wires came pre-tinned and ready to go. That's the way they did it the last 150 years, no sense in changing now.

I always was a "Kenwood guy" for decades, but sadly they dropped the ball in the amateur sector by discontinuing the famous V71a after 20 years of production. I'm glad I have four of them. I was always tempted to explore their commercial radios but never got around to it. Did you really say you have too many radios? Really? Is that even possible? As for digital, I have D-Star, DMR and C4FM covered. In all honesty, I really dislike the sound of digital and much prefer the natural sound of good old analog. I found that C4FM is the better sounding of all digital formats and D-Star the worst. I hope the FCC never allows digital on GMRS.

Believe it or not, there are actually people that have spent hundreds of dollars on a Midland GMRS radio. And I was actually stupid enough to buy that much loved Midland mobile antenna. In our moment of weakness we simple let ourselves get sucked in by the hype. As for the DB20, I have to bash it for having that stupid cigarette lighter plug on it. Just cut the damn thing off. Other than that, the DB20 will satisfy the needs of 98% of all GMRS'ers that hook it up to a good antenna.

Absolutely not. This is actually a dual band radio that can be opened up. Why would you want to pay more for a radio other than bragging rights? If you feel the need to impress others, just get the label maker out and type in "Midland".

Yep, this is probably the best less than $100 mobile rig on the market. It's very well built and virtually indestructible. The PA protection circuitry will throttle output power down as radio heats up or SWR is not ideal. You'll never find a DB20 with fried finals.

What you are experiencing is the way different antennas are resonating. If you look at this using a VNA you will see even though the SWR is showing 1.1:1 for a given frequency, or relatively close to it, you will see the resistance can vary anywhere between 40-60 ohms. The other main consideration is American watts versus Chinese watts. This is why I always use the famous Bird watt meter that accurately displays American watts and has the capability to covert Chinese watts to American watts with a high degree of accuracy. Most Chinese SWR/Watt meters simply can't handle the conversion properly.

I think that was his seal of approval. He did note that I had a good grounding system, but need some soil conditioning to improve the grounding characteristics.

I just had one of my towers inspected today and I'm happy to say it passed.

My New Year resolution is to use a short run of LMR400, a very short run.

Now that is pretty cool and looks like a fun project to experiment with. This is something I definitely want to build out of aluminum plate and see how well it performs on mobile GMRS. Thanks for posting.

Nice! I knew you would like it.

Nope, this is strictly a task for RG-8x.

I definitely agree! The ghost antenna is perfect for off-roading and can withstand the force of relatively small low hanging branches. Now, if you're a serious off-roader like me you really need to step up your game and get a higher quality ghost antenna. This is why I use this heavy duty model manufactured by Bird. It's rated at 50 watts and delivers the perfect antenna radiating performance, about equal to the Midland. The best part is the durability, with its DIN connector that adds extra holding power to the vehicle so it can withstand branch strikes up to 6" in diameter. On a more serious note for the OP. If you're traversing through terrain where you're going to be grazing a lot of tree branches you might want to consider the famous and much loved 1/4 wave whip. It's perfect for rough service, just bend it back to shape after a fun day on the trail. It breaks, replacements are cheap. And you'll get better range than the ghost antenna you're using now.

Very true! Not only do you have a really nice space heater when transmitting into that crappy feedline, you have the very best set of ear plugs. The loss for receiving is one of the most important aspects most people never consider.

Good suggestion. He might want to try a homemade 1/4 wave groundplane feed with high quality feedline prior to buying any antenna. Keep in mind he did say the antenna price range is $200.

It's really nice to see someone paying great detail to their environment and taking the needed time consider all aspects of deploying a GMRS system that will perform. In my opinion, since you seem to be budget oriented, which is great, I will make a suggestion of buying it right the first time and doing it right. For the money, you are not going to beat the price and performance of the Comet CA-712EFC. Next is your feedline, keep it as short as possible and buy the best as possible within your budget. Unfortunately, this is where most people skimp. I always lean towards 1/2" Heliax or LMR-600 as a minimum for short runs on UHF, but others will chime in and give you good advice for your requirements. As for all the technical mumbo-jumbo, it's great for a learning experience, but you're most likely not going to gain anything more than a headache. Keep it simple by using gear that has built a good reputation. https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/cma-ca-712efc Another choice if shorter length is a requirement is the Tram 1418, but that will need tuning. If you don't want to go through the tuning procedure, get the Comet CA-712EFC. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/tram-1486.html