donniefitz2

Very nice. I'm definitely going to use this feature. If you do decide to handle transactions in the future, be warned, it's a lot of liability. I had a startup a few years back that was a two-sided marketplace for buying and selling camera gear. I handled the transactions via Stripe and ended up dishing out $5k to cover the damage done by fraudsters. Keeping the responsibility of transacting between the buyer and seller is much easier.

5 points for using what you've got. ???

I realize this thread is pretty old, but has anyone found a solution to this problem? Everyone I know with a KG-1000G has the same audio rollercoaster problem. It starts out loud, ramps down, then back up within seconds. It's really irritating and there seems to be no way to fix it in the settings (nor with multiple returns under warranty). For a radio priced like a Yaesu, this thing has been disappointing. Also, the fan sounds like a Vitamix full of ice. I could get past its other issues if my audio didn't have this ramp up, down, up problem.

I'm pretty sure using data on GMRS radios is mostly proprietary at the moment. Each manufacturer has their own implementation so there's no interoperability between them. And, I doubt there will be anytime soon. Without some kind of standard similar to APRS, it would be hard for that to exist.

Looks like BTWR released a new version of the KG-1000G. Looks to be mostly minor improvements but cool to see them improving it. https://www.buytwowayradios.com/blog/2022/10/announcing-the-wouxun-kg-1000g-plus-gmrs-mobile-radio.html?utm_source=E20221028-7&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=E20221028-7

My understanding is that these radios have a problem with the mic coming in really quiet for the first second or two, then back up to a normal volume. Every time I use my KG-1000G someone on the other end reminds me of this. I also hear it myself with the 2 other guys I know that have these radios. It's really annoying. Not sure if your issue is related to this but it is a thing with these (expensive) radios.

I'm a big fan of this radio. Even though I have better radios, I still come back to the little DB-20G. I have 2 of them. I did have one fail. The screen inverted and turned upside down. Weird. Radioddity replaced it with no issues (about 10 months after purchase). I did a review of the DB-20G on my podcast which can be found here if anyone's interested.

It's back up now. I'm hearing it as I type.

The power you're getting is the same as what both of mine read. The radio puts out 18 watts on 467 and 462. It puts out more at lower UHF frequencies (20 watts mostly) and 25 on most VHF frequencies.

Exactly. And to be even more specific. Make sure you use "+" and 5.000 as the value. Chirp is nice, but very quirky.

To back up even a bit further, are you transmitting 467.625 or 462.625? Just wanting to cover the basics here. You should be transmitting 467 and receiving on 462.

I have done that too. Works well.

I found that the AT-779UV puts out 18 watts UHF and it does 25 watts VHF.

As for number 2, it does not scan for tones automatically. But, you can manually scan for tones. If you have a RX signal and you go into the menu for RX CTS or DCS, you can manually click through and it will break squelch once you hit the tone. Not ideal, but it does work.

I really liked this Sirio CX455 antenna as a base. It's not big at all, works very well, SWR of 1.01 - 1.02 on GMRS and the build quality is top notch. I don't see it mentioned here ever. https://www.amazon.com/Sirio-CX455-455-470MHz-GMRS-Antenna/dp/B07FZHNBH6

Yep, that's why I was asking. Hard to say what's going on without knowing the state of the radio.

Is it unlocked in UHF/VHF mode? What frequency is channel 3 programmed to (assuming it's not default GMRS)? Is the radio actually transmitting?

Maybe it's just mine, but the fan is so loud, I can hear it in another room. I have it remote mounted. You're right on the solution, if it's going to be used as a base, just disconnect the factory fan and use something quieter. I just sold my 1000G. After getting my HAM license, the radio is just too restricted, and I tried to open up the frequency range to no avail.

I don't know. If we keep this up, this could become the longest forum thread on the site. That's something.

Yep. Everything adds up, that's for sure.

Well, after about 10 trips up to the roof and then back down to my office to check SWRs, I have the Diamond X50NA about as dialed in as I will ever get it. My SWR on 467 channels was the hardest part to get right. For whatever reason, that frequency is really finicky on this antenna (with a metal roof). I started by just re-mounting the antenna the way it should be, at the top of the mast with the ground radials. 70cm and 2m frequencies where fine. 467 was 3.9 SWR. I took the radials off and it dropped to 2.9. Better but not good. After re-positioning, moving it up and down and doing anything else I could think of, I finally found out what caused the high SWR. The mounting brackets for the antenna. I decided to move the upper mounting bracket down a few inches, away from where the antenna starts, and the SWR dropped to 1.8 on 467 and was still good on the other bands. I moved it down another inch and was able to get the SWR to 1.6. Still good on the other bands. That's when I tightened everything up, came down and tested the receive. It worked great. Not sure what was going on with the previous position I had it in, but it's all working great now. The metal roof does complicate things, but with enough determination, it works. Time to leave it alone.

Figuring things out is what makes this fun. I'll report back tonight. Hopefully I'll have made some kind of progress.

Yeah, mine is also the NA. The cool thing is, I get an SWR of 1.6 - 1.8 which I think is a great compromise since this is a dual band antenna. The issue is the low receive signal compared to my other (much smaller) antenna. I'm getting ready to get up on the roof today and try a few things.

@Sshannon Thanks for the suggestions. I'll have to read up on that article and understand ground planes better. As for your question about the SWR on 70cm and 2m before I removed the radials, I don't know where it was at. At the time, I didn't have my ham license and was only concerned with getting it working with GMRS. But, once I removed the radials, the antenna immediately improved and started getting the SWR that I was expecting. My guess is that if I could get it higher off of the roof, there will be a point where the metal roof wouldn't have as much of an effect on it. But, I really don't want to go higher with it because the mast I have wouldn't support much more length without some re-engineering and although I don't have a HOA, I also don't want to piss off the neighbors. I did some reading last night on a ham forum and some guys where suggesting grounding the antenna to the roof itself using copper straps in the case of a metal roof. I'm not sure if that would improve anything but I also don't think it would hurt anything to try either. I'm going to read that PDF and possibly experiment with roof grounding and see what happens. I wish I had an analyzer.

Hello, all. I have a unique situation for my base station setup and wondered if anyone could offer some advice. In the past I ran a Sirio CX 455 antenna. It works really well for GMRS and I believe it's based on a JPole design (not requiring a ground plane). But, it's limited to higher frequency UHF. Again, perfect for GMRS and the SWR is 1.01 on 467 and 1.02 on 462. I'm also running 35' of LMR 400 with N connectors and the antenna is about 19' high. Here's the interesting part: my roof is made of metal tiles. Coated, galvanized steal to be exact and they are not bonded or grounded. I know, weird, and this is what makes things a bit complicated. Since buying the Sirio antenna, I got my technicians license and wanted to upgrade to a dual band antenna. Many local radio nerds rave about the Diamond X50 so I purchased an X50NA at HRO. I understand it's not ideal for GMRS, but I think the SWR compromise is worth it. So, I mounted the X50 on my mast, which is metal and grounded, standing about 2' off the roof, almost at the peak of the roof. I climbed down the latter and went into my office to check the SWR. It was about 3.5 on the GMRS bands. I was expecting something like 1.6 or 1.8 which is typical of this antenna. Rechecked my connections, tested and re-tested. Still, the SWR was very high. That's when it dawned on me that the metal roof is probably causing my problem and acting as a ground plane. I went back on the roof, removed the ground radials from the X50 and checked the SWR. It was much better, about 2.1 for GMRS. So I moved the antenna down (closer to the roof) and the SWR dropped to 1.02 on GMRS. This made the 70cm SWR high though. Eventually I found the sweet spot where 70cm was where it should be and 467 was at 1.6 SWR. VHF SWR is near perfect BTW. The one thing I noticed and thought was strange: the X50 doesn't hear as well as the Sirio did. The X50 measures lower on the S meter for repeaters that would normally be higher (actually, all of them). All transmit reports are good. Is it possible that removing the ground radials effects the receive signal? Is there some way I could better use the metal roof as a counterpoise? is the reduced receive signal just a result of this antenna not being tuned specifically for 462/467? Below is a picture of the roof. The antenna in the picture is not the X50, but the Sirio.