donniefitz2

I think the 1000G is a solid radio for sure. My original intention was to use it as a base station, but I found that it's much better suited as a mobile radio. As a base, the fan is very loud in an otherwise quiet environment (office/shack). I even tried remote mounting the main radio on a shelf a few feet away, but that fan is just annoyingly loud. Also, not sure if it's just mine, but the volume variability from 0-1 is too loud for the same type of quiet environment. But, in my Discovery, it's great. The main radio unit is under the seat so the fan can't really be heard and the volume level is just fine coming through the mic.

As a software developer, many hire me as the "expert". But, I always run into this very scenario where the guy at the top knows better. It's like hiring a lawyer, then questioning the entire process and ending up in jail. In our case, it's not jail, just other people's money wasted.

I can do it with my DB20G (ever heard of it ) and various other radios I've tried from my base setup. I can hit it around town mobile, but I need high wattage then. The 1000G can do it in my truck. Yeah, that 9,000ft is the reason, but it still blows my mind.

I don't think this is unheard of. I can talk on the Tucson 650 from where I'm located (N. Scottsdale). That's about 110 miles away and lot's of stuff in between. Although, I'm guessing that antenna is quite high.

I'm a mobile developer and I asked about API access a few weeks ago and was told they don't have a public API, but there is an iOS app in the works. I was hoping to maybe build an app on my own. Haven't seen or heard anything else though.

I have tried out many radios as a base station. Of course, they're all mobile radios. As mentioned, the DB20-G is a solid base station, although not a 50watt radio. It's a great radio though and as long as you don't need a lot of power, it's a solid choice. Currently, I'm playing around with the Anytone AT-778UV, which is a ham radio with a bit more power than the DB20-G but not by much. I do not recommend the Wouxun KG-1000G as a base. The volume variability is terrible and the fan is obnoxiously loud in a base setting. The best base radios for GMRS are the commercial mobile radios IMHO. A Kenwood TK-880H or a Motorola CDM1250 are pretty awesome and have the power you're looking for. Couple one of those with a USB fan nearby for long conversations, and you'll be happy. After trying out several radios as base stations, I'm settling on a CDM1250 myself.

LOL. I'm totally using this.

My conclusion is, these radios are not very good as a base. For two reasons: 1) the fan is really loud if you're sitting in an office (shack?). 2) The variability in the volume from 0 to 1 is ridiculously high. It's either silent or loud, no in between. Neither of these are big issues in a mobile install where the radio is remotely mounted.

Discovery 1 or 2?

On another note, I am quite pleased with the install in the Discovery 2. Mounted the face to an otherwise useless area on the dash and put the main radio under the drivers seat.

That's what my UPS store charged me to insure and ship it back. The policy appears to be, you pay shipping. I had it set to where the voltage sat right at 13.8 on transmit for my tests.

I'm interested to hear your experience. I re-tested with the SW-102 (newly purchased) and a 50ohm dummy load and got 40-45 watts. That was with 14.1 volts (23 amp power unit).

Good question. I would have expected some type of acknowledgement of the ticket that I originally submitted (not even a confirmation email). Maybe some acknowledgement that they received the item and most of all, an explanation of the results of their tests. They provided no explanation and had I not called to ask, I would have just blindly received my radio back and been like, WTF? Nothing was provided in the box but the original radio. Not trying to be harsh, but, I keep hearing people say that these guys have great customer service and I was expecting something more I guess.

Oh, yes. Forgot to update this. I went to all the trouble to send it back, costing me $35 for return shipping. The return process with BTWR was quite disappointing. Zero communication from them about the situation. One day, I just got UPS notification saying I had a package coming from them. Wondering what happened, I called and a guy there explained that my radio was fine. The power output was where it's supposed to be. Once I received it back, I tested it the same way I did before and got a max output of 25 watts. Figuring that they (BTWR) were right and my equipment is probably at fault, I added a small jumper wire to my meter (previously I used adapters to connect it directly to the radio and dummy load). Adding this wire completely changed the output reading and it showed 45-47 watts. So, my little meter (SW-33) was at fault all along. I bought the bigger one (SW-102) and it reads 40-45 watts, which is about what I expected. I will say this, people here have gone on about how great the service is at BTWR. That was not my experience. Like I said, absolutely no communication during the whole process. But, in the end, the radio seems to be working the way it should.

LOL. Well, I guess I missed that. Credit where credit is due.

I have 2 of these, the Radioddity version. I noticed that my vehicle powers this thing at about 14.3 volts so that's what I run on my base power unit as well. At 14.3ish volts, it puts out 16.5 - 17 watts on the 467 repeater input frequencies and 17-18 watts on simplex. Both radios consistently put out that power. That's pretty decent as far as I'm concerned. Also, using the 136-174 and 400-470 mode is nice because you can freely enter your frequencies with no defaults added. Here's something I really appreciate about this radio that nobody mentions: when it receives a signal that it does not have the tone for, the little s-meter lights up, but instead of green, it lights up gray. This is a nice touch because you know there's a signal being received, but you're not hearing it because it's filtered out by tone. Most other radios just show the s-meter light up normally, but you don't hear anything.

I think I have may have talked to you about this on the southwest network. Yeah, I'm hoping something happens there soon, but I haven't heard anything lately.

Yep. Hoping to hear back from the vendor soon. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll follow up when I find out more.

I hooked up the power meter and tested again. It's holding between 13.7 and 13.9 volts while transmitting on high power. It's also drawing 10.1 amps on high power transmit. Still seeing a max of 35-37 watts out. My guess is that this unit just isn't tuned properly. I'm guessing these radios have a tuning menu hidden behind a magic key combination. It would be nice to get access to that so I don't have to send it back in.

Good point. I'll hook the power meter up and see where the voltage is when transmitting. I do have another power source I could try as well.

LOL. Yeah he's a big fan, I hear. I think he did test it and from what I remember, he got something like 49 watts, which is awesome. But, Ham Radio 2.0 sort of tested one too. He didn't say much about the power output, but you can see on his meter it looked like it read 35 watts on 467. I could be wrong though.

It really is. But, I think I'll hold off on judgement until the vendor gets back to me. There is a lot of good about this radio too. I'm hoping I just happened to get a poorly tuned unit.

Well, because I was using a dummy load, SWR was 1.01. My antenna is also 1.01 on the 467 frequencies and 1.2 on simplex.

I decided to spend the money on the KG-1000G and it recently arrived. One of the main selling points for me is the advertised 50 watts of power. In most cases, I don't need that much wattage, but I like knowing I have it if needed. As with all of my radios, I did a power/SWR test on this one. I was really surprised at the result. I'm using a 13.8v, 23amp power supply, 50ohm dummy load (100 watt max) and a Surecom SW-33 to measure. I get that this SWR meter isn't the best, but it has been accurate and served me well so far. Also, same results using my antenna (Diamond X50NA). Anyway, here are the results from my testing. These results are consistent on other frequencies: 467.725 - High Power: 36 watts (WTF?) 462.725 - High Power: 37 watts 467.725 - Medium Power (level 1): 16.5 watts (should be 20) 462.725 - Medium Power (level 1): 16.5 watts (should be 20) 467.725 - Low Power: 4.3 watts 462.725 - Low Power: 4.5 watts Now, I get that radios will vary in their output and I totally expect that, but 37 watts? Really? I could live with 40 or 45, but this is disappointing. Most dual band radios will have lower output in the higher UHF range, but my assumption was that this radio is optimized for GMRS and would be tuned to output something close to 50 watts. I have contacted the vendor and I'm waiting for a response. Maybe it's just a fluke or something (hoping so). Has anyone else tested the output of their KG-1000G?

Yeah, that's what I have it set to. It's strange, after I checked the firmware, it just started working. As if it reset something. Thanks for your help on this. Much appreciated.