SteveShannon

Here’s a link to the manual. This radio has an adjustable offset that you’ll need to correctly set. CTCSS tones are covered: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/890652/Puxing-Px-888.html?page=13#manual

Do you have instructions for it?

That is true, but doesn’t matter. The “effective” radiated power (ERP) is the product of the power input to the antenna, times the gain relative to a half-wave dipole.

They’re certainty still around, but they were designed around serial communications standards, not analog signals. I don’t know if that’s compatible with the microphone and IDer. I’ll see if I can find a source. It used to be Black Box. Edit: I see you found one.

There are DB-9 switch boxes that accept two different cables and allow you to select which one to connect. I’ve used them for serial devices (20 years ago!)

Just talk through the repeater with a handheld while the IDer is connected.

I disagree. In any serious military action, satellite communications would probably be targeted very early like most infrastructure. They’re one of the most vulnerable assets because they can be taken out either physically (an orbital EMP, directed energy weapon, or simply a missile) or virtually by hacking. I suspect the routines to do the latter are loaded and ready to be used. Military satellites would be more protected of course.

Every station is required to ID once every 15 minutes and at the end of the conversation whether you’re on a repeater or simplex. You are not required to identify as different units when the call sign is shared amongst family members, but you might want to. In reality very few people follow the identification rules and nobody has died as a result.

Welcome! and 73 de AI7KS.

Welcome! Look for YouTube videos on the Notarubicon channel. His channel has presented more GMRS information than any other that I know of. Hopefully, some members from your area will comment also.

Here’s a link to the video:

It really depends on what is meant by SHTF. In my opinion if the shit truly has hit the fan, no infrastructure will be available. The billing department will be the least of your worries. If infrastructure is still available, shit hasn’t truly hit the fan.

Then the other thing to try is to connect a handheld to the antenna cable and see how the antenna works without the repeater and duplexer. I would just keep eliminating things until you eliminate the problem. Is the antenna even with the heavy part of the tree canopy? Maybe it’s just being blocked. Try putting your antenna lower again. Vegetation will definitely block UHF.

Thanks. My mistake. I read poorly.

1. Yes the mount will work. 2. My mistake. I read the question incorrectly. I don’t know.

I doubt that the duplexer has slipped, but that is confusing. It should be easy enough to check the duplexer. Bypass it and have your wife transmit from the HT. How does it work on receiving with the duplexer bypassed? If you don’t want to fiddle around with the connections to the duplexer I understand. Try hooking a handheld to your MA-09 to see if the antenna works any better.

It’s definitely not a j-pole, but it might have some coils and capacitors that could look like a DC short. Or you might just have a loose fitting that’s giving you problems with the wind.

First, see if that piece of cable acts the same way when you hook up to it with your meter. If it doesn’t, then yes, you’re going to have to take down your antenna so you can diagnose the problem. Right now you don’t know if the problem is with your antenna or the feed line. Or decide it’s not enough to worry about and leave it alone.

Do you have a different piece of coax to try?

Yes, measuring resistance should indicate open with no antenna, but I assume you’re using a multimeter which only measures DC resistance. With an antenna like a j-pole you would see a dead short at DC. The problems you’re experiencing are with ultra high frequency AC. A multimeter is useful to detect an electrical short, but really won’t tell you much about problems that appear at UHF. For that you need an antenna analyzer or VNA.

CB is HF and much, much, much less affected by atmospheric moisture than UHF. The tube at the bottom of your antenna that surrounds the connection should have provided a measure of protection. PL-259 connectors are not waterproof so rain can get into your coax cable dielectric. Once it does, the only thing you can do is cut off the end of the cable to get rid of the portion of cable that moisture has infiltrated. The cables used “in the CB days” were a completely different type and perhaps didn’t allow moisture to enter the dielectric or the lower frequencies weren’t affected as much by moisture. The radials on your antenna serve as the ground plane. Having the mast grounded should have no effect on RF, but is helpful to reduce interference and protect against static electricity.

I have a similar sense of being lost whenever I work on my wife’s Mac.

Device Manager.

Check squelch and tones. If you have tone squelch set when there isn’t one being transmitted you’ll never hear the transmission. If you have no tone set, but your squelch is set too high, you’ll never hear anything that’s not strong signal.