n4gix
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Posts posted by n4gix
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Odd then Marc that the founder of NSEA is the listed owner of three repeaters in northern Chicagoland, and none of them id themselves. He is also a licensed communications attorney who's frequently in contact with the local FCC field office.
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Oh my! Was the unit still under warranty or do you have to eat the repair costs?It was sent to Yaesu for review. My initial thought is the controller failed.
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I used glue-filled heat shrink myself. My Comet CA-712EFC antenna has been up now for five years and still checks out just fine.
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And today, my 5 day old $800 Yaesu FT-857D caught on fire while I was in the middle of a QSO.
Do you have any idea why the FT-857D caught fire? I have one installed in my Toyota Camry and that report of a fire now has me as nervous as a cat trapped on a front porch surrounded by rocking grannies!
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With the recent uncertainty surrounding the FCC and import radios, TYT has made a decision to ship all of their radios locked down to the 150-160 MHz VHF and 450-460 MHz UHF ranges.
They actually made these changes a few months ago, and at first "unlocking" the radios to allow use outside of these limited ranges required special unlock software. With the most recent firmware release, however, TYT has made the unlock process much more simple. All of their models can now be unlocked by holding down a key combination while powering on the radios.
Unfortunately I haven't found a source for the specific buttons to hold down while powering the radio on. The above information was found at this site:
https://www.buytwowayradios.com/blog/2019/03/how-to-unlock-tyt-dmr-radios.html
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I wouldn't mind a revision to the rules, but in the meantime, FM is what we have, now, if we like DMR that much, we should collect enough signatures from licensed operators to get the FCC to revise the laws and pass new ones that allows DMR/MotoTRBO on GMRS.
I think it wouldn't fly too well to force 1500+ repeater owners to replace their legacy Wideband FM repeaters with a shiny new DMR repeater, no matter the circumstances.
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It also requires that one have a 'smart phone' they don't mind being dedicated to act as the control panel for the radio...
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The usual practice is to call the other station first, then give your call sign.
"WRAK523 this is WQWU626 calling."
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I still have and use a Diamond dual-band antenna that has been exposed to 22 NW Indiana winters and is still working just fine. I also have a Laird UHF that's survived 13 NW Indiana winters so far. SWR on both antennas remains < 1.2:1 which I consider acceptable.NP... I'm a fan of Diamond antennas myself. Them and MFJ... I have had good luck. I seem to have the best luck with stainless steel, though.
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I am mostly experienced with the BridgeCom and it is configurable up to 23 different in and out tone combinations. from CTCSS to CTCSS or CTCSS to DCS so that's a lot of options. I am not sure if this is what is referred to as a voting system?
The main purpose of having up to 23 different tones is so that the repeater owner can offer "customers" their own tone pairs and thus not have to listen to other "customers."
Of course this is mostly used by commercial repeater owners. It has no practical use for GMRS unless it's a totally closed repeater group.
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It's also being operated illegally....it says they run digital modulation over it.
If they have run P25, I've never heard it. The other repeater owners in the NWI GMRS network would be marching towards the owner of Grundy with torches and pitchforks!
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I was fixing to say he was actually hearing "intermod." Even some of my professional radios suffer from intermod while near downtown Chicago.
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Possibly you are hearing the Grundy 700 repeater as it has approximately 80 mile radius: https://mygmrs.com/view?id=529
It is located at 500' on the WBEZ tower using a 16-bay folded dipole (Andrew DB420), Hardline 1-5/8 (Andrew) and a Motorola Quantar HighPower, 50w out the 6-Cavity (RFS CP450-422).
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You are right! AVA7-50 is not the same quality as LDF7-50...I don't think the AVA7-50 is the same quality as the LDF7-50 was. I may have a line on some NOS LDF7-50.
...it is better!
Product Alert: AVA7-50 Heliax Coaxial Cable is 100% Copper jacketed and center conductor cable. It is not to be comfused with lower cost and quality Aluminum jacketed cables. It is a step up from the old standby LDF7-50A (discontinued or special order only,) featuring lighter weight and lower losses at all operating frequencies. This cable is the darling of cellular and commercial broadband infrastructure providers worldwide.
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Commscope recommends this as a direct replacement for what you seek:
Replaced By:
AVA7-50
AVA7-50, HELIAX® Andrew Virtual Air™ Coaxial Cable, corrugated copper, 1-5/8 in, black PE jacket (Halogen free jacketing non-fire-retardant)
https://www.commscope.com/catalog/cables/product_details.aspx?id=1309
It's certainly not inexpensive most places, but this company is selling it brand new for $3.95/ft
That would be $888.75 + shipping.
http://www.surplusserver.com/products/Antennas-Coax/246/Andrew_AVA7-50_Heliax_Coax_Cable.html
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Ian, I have only reports from a few people who have ordered and received +5 MHz split, with the correct Rx/Tx frequencies programmed and tuned.
I did point out to Retevis directly that there was absolutely no reason why they couldn't tune their repeater to use our convention of Tx low, Rx high. Since they never replied to me directly, I can only assume that from the reports I've read that Retevis at least took my comments to heart. It was from suggestions and comments made to them that they now offer 5 MHz split now.
In any case, as soon as I can free up $400 I'm going to order one. If I have to put it on my bench and re-tune it with my service monitor, so be it...
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2) repeater. I thought duplex repeaters were only for HAM licenses? I really hate the thought of that 90 sec transmission fiasco with using a simplex repeater, but what other duplexer unit can a GMRS licensee (me) use?
Repeaters are permitted on eight channel pairs in the GMRS allocation. They have up to 50watt output, and their antennas must not be higher than 20' above their mounting structure (building, tower, etc.)...
If you truly want something portable, you might consider the new Retevis RT-97 portable repeater. Despite some confusing language, they are in fact able to program them for the correct repeater +5MHz split, 467.xxx receive and 462.xxx transmit.
A pair of hams in England* did a range test with the repeater running off a parked car's battery and using the antenna on the car. They easily got 7 miles range from their hand held radios. More range of course could be achieved by hoisting an antenna into a tree.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZEAo_HkLv8
The RT-97 is not simply "two portables in a box" but instead is a properly designed transmitter and receiver in a custom aluminum housing providing very robust shielding between them.
Why "More Power" Isn't The Answer
in Technical Discussion
Posted
I use similar filters for HF on Field Day and Parks on the Air events. If I'm going to work 20m I put a 20m passband filter in-line and the other guys on different bands don't swamp my 20m reception. They average -40db rejection outside of the band they are designed for.
They aren't inexpensive ($84/each), so the club has a single set of 1/each for every ham band.
https://www.dunestar.com/product/single-band-bandpass-filters/