SteveShannon
-
Posts
3891 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
284
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Classifieds
Posts posted by SteveShannon
-
-
3 hours ago, TRRP said:
Is that 141.3 on both sides of 462.675 and its offset? Just curious as I’m a newbie
If you leave the tone out of the receiver side you’ll hear everything transmitted on 462.675, regardless of the tone they use to transmit. For that reason I recommend leaving it out for new users. The downside (if it is one) is that you hear everything on the channel. That’s useful though if you’re just learning.
If the station you are transmitting to has programmed its receiver to require a tone you must transmit using the same tone.
-
-
2 hours ago, WSBB368 said:
So I bought this mount for the rack but could I just add a ground wire from the mount run it along the rail and ground it to the car somewhere
Antennas are funny things. I completely agree with @tweiss3 that what you're suggesting with running a ground wire wouldn't be the same as a ground plane. He's absolutely correct. But I'm not 100% certain that your bike rack wouldn't satisfy the need for a ground plane. There are many ways to satisfy the need, with a counterpoise, radials, or a sheet of RF conductive material. I would at least try it if you already have the parts. If you don't have the parts already then I would go with what's tried and true, which is what he suggested.
But understand that I am a ham and I like trying different things with antennas even if they waste many hours.
-
2 hours ago, WRWH978 said:
While technically not an accessory, RT-Systems programming software is always an extra "cha-ching" that makes life easier with a new radio.
Also, cig lighter car charger is another one I usually add to the kit.
Two weeks ago I discovered that my RTS software corrupts memory when using the features that RTS built into the software. I was editing a DMR codeplug and I used the built-in editing functions to edit the order of channels. To its credit, when the corruption cause the editor to throw an error it offered to send in the stack dump. The next day I received an email that basically said they could see what I did that caused the error: I used the functionality in the editor.
I truly appreciate the responsiveness of their customer support. I like their editors (I have six of them) when they work, but I lost a lot of confidence in using their editors for DMR.
-
-
13 hours ago, WRYG716 said:
Building a repeater for my local neighborhood just wondering if anybody has any recommendations for the best antenna! Distance wise we are in hill country lots of mountains and trees. Repeater site is on a mountain 1200 feet.
Is that 1200 feet above the users of the repeater? How close are they?
Commercial antennas are frequently phased arrays of folded dipoles. A coax feedline leads to a phasing harness. By manipulating the harness the pattern can be aimed downward to give better coverage.Our 2 meter and 70 centimeter repeaters have such antennas. They are attached to a tower that is erected at an old forest service lookout site on a mountain about 4400 feet (actual elevation 9700’ MSL) above our city, which is about 5300’ MSL. The downward tilt provided by phasing gets us great coverage.
-
8 hours ago, WSBQ643 said:
Tested it and got 2:1 for SWR.
It’s also really important to realize that 2:1 isn’t really terrible. The power still goes out the antenna. In fact you might not even be able to tell the difference between an antenna with 2:1 versus 1.0:1 SWR.
-
39 minutes ago, WSCV533 said:
I got a Nagoya NMO200c antenna I think it's called, for my car. Put it in my mobile, so far it's been impressing me. I've hit the Tampa 575 repeater from my driveway which is slightly out of the repeater's estimated range. It's pre tuned for gmrs (and MURS, never used it other than to test) swr on a mag mount was 1.01 . I'm starting my repeater project now. Thank you for your help, wish me luck!
Good luck!
-
42 minutes ago, kidphc said:
Trick question.
1. Yes, aluminum will work for a ground plane, like when using a drill through nmo. Many antennas are made with aluminum.
2. No, it will not work with a mag mount. Aluminum is non-ferrous, so a magnet will not stick to it or make capitance with it.
Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
It might not stick magnetically, but it certainly will capacitively couple. All that’s required for a capacitor is two conductors separated by a dielectric material and aluminum is a very good conductor.
Stick-on steel disks are available to attach magnetic mount antenna mounts to aluminum bodies.
-
-
5 minutes ago, WRQW589 said:
Correct. They would have to move the entire screw-in-rods section to below the bracket, and lower the height of the NMO threads so that the bracket's plate could become the backing plate against which the antenna's o-ring seats.
Who knows if they'll get it right. Doesn't seem like that hard of a concept but people manufacture what the blueprints say without asking questions, and the blueprints were probably drafted by someone who was just delivering what was asked for, but without fully understanding the problem being solved. Again, the purpose got lost in the several hops between good intentions and implementation.
All they really need to do is increase the diameter of the ground plane adapter to the same diameter as the antenna at its base.
-
-
5 minutes ago, Borage257 said:
If the elements are too short, you may be able to repair it by soldering 12 or 14ga wire on to lengthen the shortened sections
I don’t know what the elements are made from. If they’re stainless, soldering becomes more difficult, but StaBrite solder works well for stainless.
If they’re aluminum you won’t be able to solder them with normal techniques but you could crimp on an extension. I would scour the aluminum surfaces and apply penetrox to the surfaces. -
51 minutes ago, WSBQ643 said:
Well I can't say I didn't get what I expected to get for an answer. Sometime I just like to try new things. I thought like the comment that these must be two different antennas. I checked their site and they don't have a grms and a HAM. It's supposed to be generic for both. Guess I learned my lesson on this one. Just ordered a pre-tuned 10' comet. We will see how that works out.
Your investment isn’t a total waste. Although I haven’t tried that antenna I know of forum members who have and got decent results.
Do you have an antenna analyzer so you can sweep it?And disregard negative comments from 381. For some reason that’s what he does more often than not.
-
1 hour ago, GreggInFL said:
For mobile, base or both?
Thanks, Steve.
Mobile, but it certainly could be used for base if you give it a mount with a ground plane. The MXTA26 comes without a base.
-
10 minutes ago, GreggInFL said:
What vendor(s) would you guys recommend for a pre tuned antenna?
Midland mxta26.
-
14 minutes ago, WSBQ643 said:
I recently purchased two Tram 1486 antenna's. Used the chart that came with it and cut it for 467 to use mainly to connect with repeaters. Tested it and got 2:1 for SWR. Not good. The I cut the next one for 462 using the chart that came with it. SWR's were perfect 1:0.
The charts attached are not the same and the one I cut for 467 did not have an option for 462 on the tuning sheet but the other one did. Can't quite get my head wrapped around why two different tuning sheet and why the 467 is high on SWR since I transmit on 467.
Need some help on this from the antenna smart guys out there.
Thanks
On the first one, did you check the SWR before you cut it? Was SWR higher or lower?
It looks like you have two different versions of the antenna.
-
3 minutes ago, WRWH978 said:
So are name brand (ex Yaesu/motorola/kenwood) accessories worth the price? Finding that I spend more on on extra batteries, antenna upgrade, headset, hand mic, rapid charger than the price of the actual radio new. I'd compare it to buying extras for a new rifle (optic/mags/ect) so you better have allocated funds budgeted.
Define “worth the price”. It’s truly a subjective question.
Good antennas can really make a difference, but most of the better manufacturers already include a pretty decent antenna.
I like having extra batteries but I don’t have headsets and hand mics for all of them. Having extra batteries makes a “rapid charger” less necessary.
Your comparison to firearms is a reasonable analogy.
-
1 hour ago, WSBP642 said:
I believe its a squelch problem. I am well aware of the controversy and hate I may receive because of this.
I don’t know anything about hate or controversy over squelch. Now, politics is a different matter.
But let’s just see if we can get you back to hearing repeaters first and then transmitting to them. I already posted with a suggestion to change squelch mode to Tone, rather than TSQL. In that mode your receiver will let everything through. I like to work methodically through different things to rule them out. Once you hear the traffic on the repeater just fine then we can tackle transmitting.
Now if you’re concerned about carrier squelch, that could also interrupt listening and there are some deeper settings in some software defined radios that affect carrier squelch.
But actually activating repeaters comes down to two things: transmitting on the correct frequency and transmitting the necessary code or tone so the repeater doesn’t disregard your call. Of course this assumes you’re within range.
-
6 hours ago, LeoG said:
I have the Retevis MA-09 antenna and so far the SWR has been 1.01 on both my HT and RT97S at both frequencies 462 and 467Mhz GMRS bands. Not exactly sure how they accomplish this but I've checked on many of my HT's and the repeater in several different antenna placements.
A long run of lossy coax will always result in lower SWR measured at the radio.
The choice of radio should have very little effect on the actual SWR.
Some SWR meters won’t detect reflected power well at low power levels.
Or maybe it’s just a well tuned antenna. -
42 minutes ago, WSBP642 said:
All of my radios seem to work just fine when simplexing or duplexing across. None of them will activate repeaters anymore. I can RX hams sometimes. I use chirp and manually input freqs but I can't use the orig software because its not Mac friendly. The radios will not save frequency direction or offset in channel mode. I believe its a squelch problem. I am well aware of the controversy and hate I may receive because of this. I dont need comments on baofeng use/rs or people asking me to check my pl tones because ive already checked them off. I need real technical assistance so I can get back on air. Thank You
uv5r
bff8hp
uv5xp
bfH7 ?
What changed? Or more to the point, what did you change?
Squelch settings on your radio will have no effect on activating repeaters, but could prevent you from hearing the repeater. So I would suggest changing squelch mode to Tone, and definitely not TSQL, first. That way you can hear the repeater as long as you are on the right frequency. Then just listen to verify that you hear the repeaters when others activate them.
-
39 minutes ago, LeoG said:
Well that was disappointing. I went over to the shop and put the antenna on a makeshift mast, a 16' board and raised it up on the same bollard and now I can't get reception from the repeater from the same areas near my home. I'm sure the metal building right next to the antenna has something to do with it LOL
The angle of the building does allow the signal to get to my house. Surprising it worked better nearly on the ground.
Coax should be coming tomorrow. Maybe I'll get it up on the mast.
Sometimes RF from an antenna lower to the ground doesn’t have to struggle to get through as much foliage as when the antenna is raised to the same level as the thickest leaves.
-
28 minutes ago, Ziggidy said:
Newbie here. I was wondering if it is possible to place a magnet mount antenna on a vehicle and connect to a handheld GMRS. Before I try, I want to know if it's possible and if it's even advisable.
Yes, it’s frequently done. You’ll need an adapter to go from the connector on the radio (SMA usually) to the cable for the antenna which will almost certainly be a PL-259 connector. SO-239 is the female connector that mates with a PL-259.
-
6 minutes ago, Borage257 said:
My mast is only 30’, made out of 3 sections of chainlink top rail.
Did you bolt them together somehow to reduce movement of the joints?
money. O
Can't hit repeaters at all
in Technical Discussion
Posted
I agree completely.