Sshannon
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Posts posted by Sshannon
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I don’t know what’s necessary for a masthead antenna, but there are dual band commercial antennas like this Laird that target the right frequencies better than antennas for 2meter/70cm:
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23 minutes ago, WRWB683 said:
No matter WHAT I DO I cannot choose the correct frequency pair of my club's GMRS repeater in Dallas.
Out of curiosity, what frequency pair do they use?
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48 minutes ago, WRJZ939 said:
There are a lot of folks who shake down radios with test equipment, and for that I am intrigued and grateful.
But when it comes to purchasing equipment, all I own is an SWR and power meter and I'd be willing to bet a lot of people don't own that much test equipment.
So I really have to take it on faith that the manufacturer testing and FCC certifications have to cover my buying decisions.
I don't in any way shape or form want to use a dirty radio and spew spurious emissions all over the place but I really don't know if I'm doing it or not. I suppose I could semi-test with an RTL-SDR or something.
The day someone walks up to me and says "when you key up, my TV goes bonkers" is the day I'll stop using that particular radio.
I know there are strong opinions on non-compliant radios but if I buy a radio and the FCC ID data says it is complaint and certified that is all I have to work with (mostly). Not trying to stir up hate and discontent but just my opinion on the matter.
Yes. That’s true. GMRS is intended to be a service using retail products that comply to part 95e. It’s not a service designed to encourage experimentation or require tuning before use.
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5 hours ago, WSCH851 said:
Budget? (up to $1,200.00-$1,500.00)
Do you only want a newly manufactured radio? (Would rather purchase new but if a deal came along and I knew the person)(sad to do business with people in today's world).
Do you want sideband? (be able to tune HF hams, military, and utility) Yes mostly Hams (would get honest reporting I would think) but not really concerned about Utility. Military is a added plus (forgot to add it on my OPost).
Do you need it to be a tabletop or is a portable form factor ok? Either or but I do think table top might be best.
Thank you very much,
I have to agree that the Yaesu FT710 Field would be a good choice given your budget. It tunes from 30 kHz to 75 MHz and has a great set of features that enable picking signals out of the noise. It’s $200 off right now ($900 at the major radio dealers)
Here’s a link to the Sherwood report which attempts to rank radios by receiver quality. Not everyone thinks it’s perfect but it really does a pretty good job of documenting measurements.
It doesn’t discuss features or transmission power or anything else but receiver measurements.
Based on this report I would also recommend the FT710. It’s number 4 on the chart. It’s nearly indistinguishable from the FTDX10 which is ranked third. I have the FTDX10 and it is an outstanding receiver.Of course the antenna is possibly the most important part. Fortunately you don’t have to spend a lot of money to build an antenna. I built a 40-10 meter end fed half wave which could be lengthened to 80 meters easily. Even though the antenna isn’t expensive it seems to be very good at receiving.
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25 minutes ago, WRXB215 said:
@WRXP381 I agree with most of what you are saying and it can be frustrating sometimes to explain the same thing over and over again but we need to remember that there are still many people who don't have much experience with technology or with research.
There are both young and old getting into the hobby. Some can figure it out for themselves and some need some help.
Let's be patient and welcome them in.
Definitely a nicer response than mine.
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43 minutes ago, WRXP381 said:
Sometimes you just have to do things for your self. Radio takes a bit of work. I bit of research. I know we are all used to everything being handed to us but it was just 1/2 a life time ago the internet didn’t exist and this would have been 100xs harder to gather this info. Now it can be done in 10min of searching and that’s still not fast enough or easy enough for you.
What is wrong with you? People should be able to ask questions without you being a jerk.
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13 hours ago, WSBV579 said:
First off, I'm still learning about radios and such.
Basically all the repeaters in my area are south of me. I can hit one kinda reliably at over 30 miles, but I noticed the other day that I was hearing another that about 45 miles away that I can't normally hear...I assume the weather conditions were good that day.
Anyway, if I tilt my Tram 1477 antenna slightly south, rather than straight vertical, will that help my reach?
I'm adding an extension onto my mast next week, so I could force a tilt then if it makes a difference. If it won't make a difference, than I won't bother trying to tilt it.
This article explores your question. The difference is very slight:
https://www.hamradio.me/antennas/when-antenna-tilt-matters.html
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5 hours ago, WSAR436 said:
Does anybody know where I can find a pre configured file for chip to program my baofeng 5rm with all basic ham, emergency and gmrs frequencies the radio is capable of?
With the exception of 146.52, the 2 meter simplex calling frequency, there are no “basic ham frequencies”. Repeaters in one area are programmed differently than others. But by learning to use repeaterbook, you can discover the frequencies in use local to you.
Similarly, emergency frequencies differ from place to place.
The GMRS frequencies, bandwidth, and power level are fixed by regulations, but from place to place different repeaters use different channels with different tones.
So, unless you find someone in your area who has already done it, you’ll need to build your own.
Fortunately, I think Chirp has the ability to import settings for local repeaters, emergency frequencies, and even GMRS frequencies. I don’t remember which menu heading it’s under, but Notarubicon probably has a video that covers it.
Yup, the menu is Radio-Query Data Source. He explains it well at about 11:55 in the video.
The video is here:
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3 hours ago, WSBV579 said:
Going to 470 MHz, the swr got even better. So I assume I would need to lengthen to make my ch19 better. I'm taking the antenna down on Monday to add a 10ft extension, I'll look and see if lengthening is an option.
As it sits, is 2.18 on ch19 and 1.50 on repeater channels acceptable? If so, I may not even bother tuning any further.
2.18:1 is acceptable, but not great; I’ve used worse.
1.50:1 is just fine. I probably would not do much.
If 470 MHz is even better SWR then the element is slightly too short. -
1 minute ago, WSBV579 said:
Second question concerns my base antenna. I've got a Tram 1477, pre-tuned dual band. I checked the swr on ch19 and it's at 2.18. and repeater channels are around 1.50. Are those acceptable ranges, or should I try to figure out how to tune it...and if so, do I trim or lengthen?
Trimming would make the 462 MHz channels higher SWR because it’s already higher SWR than the higher frequencies.
Without sweeping it using an antenna analyzer it’s difficult to know which way to go for the repeater channels: is the bottom of the dip left or right of the repeater channel you looked at?. -
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5 minutes ago, crash3x said:
Would you know? I'm using TD-H-3's and TD-H8's. I'll do my research as well, still in my learning curve.
If I may also ask, If I enter the Rx and Tx tones/codes, what's the advantage? Less traffic on my radio to radio communication? Or?
Thank you! Any and all info is appreciated!
The advantage of RX tones is simply that your radio will not break squelch for any radios transmitting with no tone or a different tone. Because the simplex channels receive the same frequencies as the repeater channels that might reduce the amount of traffic.
Im sorry, I don’t know how those radios work as far as allowing you to program additional channels.
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1 minute ago, crash3x said:
Hi, still learning so please have patients... So on my hand held I found my local GMRS repeaters, entered the in & out Rx and Tx tone/code and I hit them/opened them up.
1) Do I need both Rx and Tx in & out programed to take full advantage of the repeater or can I just enter the Tx out and leave the Rx off so I can listen to all traffic? With Tx out only programed will I still be able to use/open the repeater? OR do I need both Rx and Tx programed for the repeater to work properly?
2) Can I enter a repeater on any channel I want? Say channel 50, as long as I set the offset +5 and the proper tones/codes?
Thank you much!!
1. You only need the TX tone.
2. Yes, if your radio allows it, but not all do.- crash3x, OffRoaderX and WSCH851
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4 minutes ago, WSCF738 said:
Hi ya'll I've searched the mygmrs database and YouTube but could not find a solution to my problem.
We've received permission to use a local repeater, Rept18, so I've programmed the tones to the correct frequency per the owners information.
My wife and I were both in town, we both have the Btech GMRS Pro, and were tuned to REPT18. We were about 100 feet apart and I tried to contact her.
According to the coverage area on the mygmrs web site we were well inside it's coverage area. I know we can't receive it from out house because because I'm out of the coverage area. But that is a different issue I'm working on, get a base station or install my own repeater.
I've done other tests and could not hear the "Kerchunk" from the repeater.
I've sent an email to the owner to see if I did anything wrong. I have received a reply yet.
So the only thing I think I might be doing wrong is trying to communicate being on REPT18. Do I need to be on GMRS18 to use the repeater? That wasn't clear on any of the YouTube videos. I still consider myself new to GMRS/Repeaters so if anybody can help I'd appreciate it.
Thanks
No, you’re correct in using one of the repeater channels instead of the simplex channels. 15-22 are simplex. REPT15 - REPT22 are dedicated to repeaters.
Could either of you hear any repeater traffic?
At first it’s a good idea to leave the receive tone empty so you can hear everything on the frequency but you must have the correct transmit tone.
Also, if you and your wife were too close to each other it’s possible that the receiving radio was desensitized. Normally I would not expect that if you were 100 feet apart but it depends on the radio.
Welcome!
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1 hour ago, JoCoBrian said:
Martin Jue is 80 years old...and wants to spend what he has left of his life, enjoying his family.
I'd prefer to see some outfit, like Vibroplex, buy the company and keep it going somehow. I was amazed they still did manufacturing in Mississippi....figured it was all outsourced.
Best of luck to them....in 30 + years I have spent thousands with MFJ.
The other rumor was that DX Engineering might be interested.
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Just now, WRXP381 said:
Why do the 1/2as’d “easiest” way when one could do it right from the beginning and not have to learn bad habits. This is one simple issue that as soon as it gets learned it won’t be an issue ever again.
You’re making the assumption that it’s a “bad habit.” That’s a value judgement on your part that’s simply not true. If it was true the other choices would not exist. Teaching the OP about them is not wrong, just because you wouldn’t do it.
Some people want to hear all transmissions on a particular frequency, especially when traveling. Programming a squelch tone prevents that.
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16 hours ago, TacticalTodd said:
Doing some summer traveling and programming in some repeaters for the states we will be traveling thru.
I have noticed that some repeaters will have a different INPUT tone and a different OUTPUT tone.
Did the Google and YouTube thing, only to confuse myself even more.
While in CHIRP, how do I program these different input and output tones?
Thank you all so much.
Todd
The easiest thing to do is choose Tone for squelch type instead of TSQL. That’s the same as having no tone for your receiver.
Then it doesn’t matter what the output tone is, your radio will reproduce it. You still have to match your transmitter tone to the repeater input tone or the repeater will ignore you. -
1 hour ago, WROA496 said:
I think that's why I started with a UV-5R. Learn to use chirp, how to set tones, experiment with antennas, program in repeaters, local emergency channels, local school channels, etc. If I mess up and the thing explodes, I'm out $19.
Now I'm working on my Ham license... not that I'm concerned about the "license" part.... I'm in it for the education part. Just to follow this thread, I have to google at least 4 things a day to understand what people are saying.
That’s actually a very good path, starting with a UV5R and learning the basics. As you learn you will be able to make more informed decisions about what you want going forward.
I commend you for using ham radio studying as a way to learn more about the science and terminology of radio. I used HamStudy to do that and found it very helpful because it allows a person to follow any topic as far as possible. -
44 minutes ago, srvenable said:
I found this thread through a Google search, as I heard something a few times that I didn't know was possible.
Complete beginner here, so what do I know?
It sounded like a group of people having a conversation simultaneously on Channels 14 through 22.
I heard it this morning on the 5 through LA/Commerce. And last night on the 605 through Pico Rivera/Whittier/South El Monte.
I didn't check the lower channels, but they were on all the 50w channels.
Am I imagining things? Or have others heard that?One way in which it’s possible is that there were several linked repeaters covering all those channels. 15-22 are the same frequencies as repeater transmit channels 23-30. (Repeaters receive about 5 MHz higher.)
Another possibility is that you were monitoring two channels simultaneously and changing one channel while hearing the other.
Welcome to the hobby and this forum! -
14 minutes ago, WRXP381 said:
That really depends on the Motorola doesn’t it. An xts3000 Motorola has almost no features. No face programming, no noaa, no am/fm broadcast radio, no vhf,uhf monitoring. So again it’s about what features the user wants and what budget they have. In a shtf scenario one would still need a CCr that does more than a Motorola
He already stated that the used Motorola he would buy rather than a CCR has quality, longevity, and features.
But in a real SHTF scenario (rather than a Red Dawn style farce) having the durability and especially the receiver quality of the Motorola far outweighs the inclusion of “face programming, no noaa, no am/fm broadcast radio, no vhf,uhf monitoring”.
Wouxan KG-1000g plus faceplate data cable
in Technical Discussion
Posted
It seems that everyone is assuming that Ethernet level digital signals are being carried between the head unit and the radio body. Do you know that is true?