KAF6045

I don't have much reason to actually ask for general access. My home is just outside the current effective range of the repeater, so the only time I could make use is when going in for chemo sessions (four+ hours in a building with poor reception) followed by specialty shopping. Nearest "immediate family" is down the block from me -- and I really wouldn't trust my brother with even my cheapest HT (the nieces are some 30&60 miles south of GR, so way out of "immediate family" control range). For those events where I needed a driver, using HTs on simplex to advise when I was leaving the hospital and ready to be picked up is sufficient (driver is usually my brother's wife).

"Reset" of everything? (IE: clear all memories, or only reset processor keeping memories). You've stated you have two of the units. If you just set both to the same simplex channel, with NO TONE SETTINGS, will one receive the other? Do the radios/programmer have anything like: If it does, check the values -- those control the relative squelch setting for each of the 10 (counting #0) squelch levels one can select. The higher the number, the stronger a signal needs to be to open squelch; the defaults on the BTech rigs ran fairly high so even a single level step was a major change (max is 123 on this rig). Or could the programmer have written different Tx bands into the radio. Based upon what I've read, the UV-5R is nominally an Amateur (2m/70cm) radio -- default transmit range would be 144-148, and something in the range of 420/430-450. Outside of those it would be receive-only (and if you don't have anything transmitting on those bands there would be nothing to hear)..

SORRY -- DOUBLE POSTED.

That's mostly a feature of the newer (relatively speaking) D-STAR radios, which was then expanded to permit analog repeaters into the /separate/ D-STAR repeater list. A list which may be quite limited -- as with the Icom ID-5100 mobile. After loading Australia, Canada, UK, USA Midwest/Northeast/Southeast/West it has just 403 slots free. In contrast the new ID-52A has 743 free slots, and that's with Africa, Asia, Europe Eastern/Northern/Southern/Western, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latin America, Oceania, and Sweden added to the previously mentioned groups. 183 free on the TH-D74, but I don't recall if I removed some regions (Judging by the gaps in country #s, I deleted a LOT of countries before loading the radio with D-STAR repeaters). From what I can tell, the D74 repeater list is ONLY D-STAR repeaters (there's no mode option). The ID-52 allow for DV simplex, DV repeater, FM simplex, and FM repeater choices in that list, with CTCCS tone option for FM entries (Yes, the repeater list in these radios is SEPARATE from the regular memory channel list). DMR radios support a "roaming" mode for digital, but it tends to rely upon the radio "pinging" the repeaters in the roaming list to find one that returns with a proper synch signal. Something not available in FM mode. All but entry level Amateur gear should RECEIVE most of the VHF/UHF spectrum without a "MARS/CAP" modification. If you need to talk with those "little ones" (who are probably NOT on GMRS, but rather FRS) it might be cheaper just to buy a set of bubble-pack radios and consider them disposables if they get splashed at the beach. You'd at least match the NFM deviation of FRS. Just as an aside: to me "all-band" implies HF/6m/2m/7cm (maybe 1.2G; not much stuff included 1.25m -- Kenwood being the main exception as I have the D74 and F6 which both include it at "full power" [for an HT]; Yaesu VX8DR had 6m/2m/70cm at full power, and 1.25m at, if lucky, 1W).

Last renewed in 2018 https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=195998 They changed the contact person last fall.

I'm in such a dead zone for GMRS that I normally have the mobile in SCAN mode... So, yes, I end up on the kiddies shrieking between rings... The KG935's tone scan did let me identify the one repeater with traffic in Grand Rapids -- in a 25 year-old GMRS repeater guide book. A grandfathered City of Grand Rapids "business" use -- at the time it was allowed to be used by the public for Emergency & Traveller Assistance unless one obtained written permission in advance. Book states it has a 30 mile radius, but I think it's down to 15 mile (30 mile would reach Lowell with plenty in excess). I suspect if one tried to use it for E/TA these days they'd be hit with "What, you don't have a cell-phone?" Primary use for the system seems to be for the downtown paid parking lot operators... I've heard discussions of people wanting refunds because they'd bought tickets for x-vehicles, but their friend came in through a different gate; resetting machines so they'd start accepting plastic again, etc.

"Roger" beeps are relatively innocuous -- it's those "call" tones that the kiddies seem enamored of (come on, you're supposed to press the call button once, and wait for someone in your group to respond... Not treat it like a police siren on a pursuit: ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding for three or four minutes). Granted, if one is running through a repeater, and the repeater is also providing a beep, having the user transmitting one is redundant and misleading. Simplex? Heh.

My biggest worry would be parasitic coupling to the roll cage (I'm presuming there is a metal tube under that fabric?). I probably try for a spot a few inches further back (over the taillight itself, say). It was less of a problem with CB antennas (I'm not "up" on Wrangler series features -- is that I'm guessing that black disk is fuel filler? and not a blank mount point for CB); A fiberglass 1/4-wave CB antenna runs ~8 feet, so much of it would be above the roof-line (and no doubt the pendulum flexing itself played hob with SWR).

I've always had to program my scanners -- Even the (defunct) GREcom trunking capable unit. It had a number of trunked systems set up, but none of the analog stuff. At the time, all the traffic in my area was analog. Same when I moved to MI. And of course as near 20 year old scanner wouldn't have programming for the currently implemented statewide trunking system. One obtains a frequency guide, spends time deciding how to partition the radio channels (many allowed for "grouping" things so you could disable entire groups that may not have been of interest or were for other locales -- reducing the overall time for one scan cycle), and then sitting down for the tedious: VFO mode, dial frequency (of key entry), Memory In mode, dial empty channel slot, Store; repeat (this assumes one has preset the RF mode for FM/NFM etc. AND is not worried about using CTCSS tones to block out spurious squelch triggers; otherwise there will be a CTCSS, dial tone, exit phase between frequency entry and memory save).

DX Engineering...

Testing with PTT down, on high power, might be desirable -- it would show if the higher current drain pulls down the voltage. Suggest picking the emptiest channel in the 15-22 range (1-7 are limited to HT power levels). Better would be with a dummy load -- so you don't have to fully ID and declare "equipment testing". At least you aren't looking at a 100W HF/6/2/70 radio... THERE is a current hog. (Fortunately, that install didn't need extending the factory power cable -- under passenger seat to battery was in range).

Well... while it has "3 adjustment" points, it still doesn't allow rotating the NMO plate to the outside.. To avoid possible interference with top of hood if the lip to top distance is more than the mount lip-to-NMO plate, you'd have to tilt out at the bottom hinge moving the NMO plate away from the hood, then tilt in at the top hinge to set the antenna vertical. The Diamond allows you to rotate the top hinge and NMO plate so it sticks out on the side with the "support tab", and then use top hinge to lift the plate for vertical antenna. The design worked well on my 1999 Jeep Cherokee, since the tailgate window sloped, and then the tail gate was vertical -- I could mount to the side of the tail gate just below where the slope/vertical transition, rotate the plate and tilt it to vertical, with the plate away from the body. The window slope meant the antenna was further from sheet metal (this was a screwdriver HF/6/2/70 rig). Pity the Jeep rolled over on a damp off-ramp. Other than some kinks in the whip, I think the screwdriver survived, but we lost a few of the remote mounting screws stripping it before the junk yard got it.

Hoping not to offend, but it is gMRs -- general mobile radio service; not some twitter spelling of germs ? As for amateur -- in my opinion the Technician license test is the most difficult, as it emphasizes FCC regulations, which portion of bands are available to the different license classes, etc. General (once they dropped the Morse requirement) I studied for two weeks using the "big" ARRL text book (which gives explanations for the questions) rather than the skinny "memorize these questions and answers" book. Found an online practice exam site, and verified that I got a passing score on each General class attempt (questions are randomized). Out of curiosity, I also tried around 5-10 Extra class practice exams, and was passing those about 75% of the time. WITHOUT STUDYING! So, on the following Saturday (it was Thursday evening that I did the practice exams) I drove to a test session, and signed up for both General and Extra. I felt it was a no-loss situation -- if I didn't pass Extra at this session, I had two weeks to study before the next local test session. Passed Extra by one question.

And may cause lung cancer... Maybe a semaphore light from a battleship? Granted, that's not only line of sight, but directional -- you need to aim it at the recipient.

https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-003079 (short coax, the longer coax model is out-of-stock at the moment) Don't think I'd recommend https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-006521 as it doesn't seem to allow rotating the lower hinge. Once you've mounted it and hinged the antenna to a vertical, the mount might be hitting the hood if the rise isn't sufficient to clear. Rotating the lower hinge would let you put the offset to the outside, away from the hood. The K400 allows rotating the lower hinge, and then pivoting up to vertical. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-006551 (hah "does not damage expensive or leased vehicles", yet most of them want the under-lip set screws to make contact with bare metal so one has to scrape small dots of paint off from the underside ? Has same problem as the previous.

Normally I tend to use a 3 min on, 3 min off as it fits both the FCC controlled environment 6-minute window, and the uncontrolled environment 30-minute window (both basically come out as 50% transmit ratio), and the timings would probably be a worst case for me on the Amateur gear (though since I made Extra I have yet to /speak/ on HF -- PSK31 and FT8 were my last modes, and running at half power if not less). And assuming a "rag-chew" session. A lot of my Amateur radios are configured with 3 minute time-out-timer. I just grabbed the 6ft distance as a possible range for a rear corner mounted antenna to driver's seat, and for people that might be walking by (though I believe they are considered transient and fall into the controlled environment distance, not the uncontrolled -- permanent neighbors for example) I tend to use a worst case situation for the required evaluation of the Amateur stations (need to model the recently installed dual-band ground-plane antenna -- maybe sometime after I replace the weathered OCFD that is now showing a best SWR around 5-6:1 on non-amateur frequencies. The 40m/20m/10m/6m bands are so bad the antenna tuner goes through fits every time I tried keying up. Not helpful for FT8 when the tuner is clicking away during the entire transmit window. I've not gone to the effort to model the mobile antennas -- even with EZNEC 7 now free, I'm not ready to build of a mesh representation of a 2008 Jeep Liberty nor a Larsen dual-band glass mount (I did do a mesh of my house's metal roof for the OCFD, just to ensure a worst case gain pattern WRT the neighbor's bedrooms (they have a two-story vs my single layer, and the masts are only about 10ft above my roof -- about 25ft total height... Terrible but anything taller runs the liability of a storm dropping a mast on the neighbor's house. I could do the mag-mounts as a small flat mesh would do for ground plane, but with 15W max on the GMRS, and I'm sitting near the null in the pattern I'm not overly concerned (I have to find someone to speak to first ? )

My ID-5100 came with a 9.8ft power cable. I had to splice in 10ft 12ga (I don't think it was 10ga, but it felt thicker than the Icom cable) to reach from the battery to where the 5100 main box was mounted (in a well under the cargo bed of the rust-bucket 2008 Liberty -- it wouldn't fit under the passenger seat due to the AirBag passenger-present circuitry and wouldn't go under the driver seat due to the bulge of the transfer case). So yeah -- basically a 20 foot run of power cable! The low power MXT115, and even lower power ancient CB had cigarette lighter plugs. I cut off the plugs, keeping the in-line fuses, spliced them together, and then ran them to front splice point of the 12ga wire, and spliced them into it. Unless someone has three hands for microphones I don't think they'll overload the Icom fuses. Assuming 50% efficiency in the radios, the total would be 138W draw, on 13.8V that comes to 10A even. At 33% efficiency, it is a 207W draw, or 15A@13.8V; the Icom fuse is 20A. After all, if I'm ever going to do a long haul trip, I'll also have a GPS navigator and an old radar detector. That would have made for four devices wanting one power socket (and even expanders top out at three sockets).

A futile attempt maybe to save the battery it seems... 12.8 is probably just enough to float the battery once charged. 13.8 is a nominal level between float and a "cleaning" charge (with engine running in my rust bucket, my Icom ID-5100 shows 14.1V) I believe at float voltage, the plates can get fuzzy. I have had battery chargers that try to recover bad batteries by using up to 16V "shocks" to decompose the fuzz on the plates. It does cause thinning of the plates. The basic antenna is a half-wave dipole. It is considered a "balanced" antenna (so, properly to use with coax, one needs a balun to convert the balanced antenna to an unbalanced coax). It is half the wavelength at the frequency of interest and split in the middle -- which is where the feed line connects. For GMRS 465MHz (mid point of 462 simplex and 467 repeater) the wave length is ~64.5cm. A dipole would be ~32.25cm -- so each leg of the dipole would be ~16.12cm. This antenna form has a pattern that looks like a donut with the antenna rising through center of the donut. So signals are strongest perpendicular to the antenna, and essentially non-existent off the ends. When comparing antennas, a dipole is 0dBd (db relative to dipole) or 2.15dBi (db relative to a fictional point radiator "isotropic" which puts signals into a perfect sphere -- since such does not actually exist in nature, the energy going into parts of the sphere are "focused" by a dipole -- so more energy is "seen" on the perpendicular points of the donut as it gets the energy that would be off the ends). A quarter-wave antenna is basically one half of the dipole, so only 16.12cm long... BUT it needs a ground-plane to create a "mirror" of the missing half of the dipole, and maximum gain is probably less than the dipole as the ground-plane sort of reflects the signal in such a way that parts may interfere (cancelling out at some angles) and reinforce (adding in at other angles). I haven't actually studied how 5/8th wave works... by the numbers it is a half-wave with an additional 1/8 wave added to the top. Also, for vehicle/HT you are unlikely to see a true dipole, as the antennas are fed from one end. That also changes the behavior. Longer (yet tuned for SWR) antennas should show a gain over 0dBd as they squeeze the donut top/bottom -- pushing the excess energy further out on the perpendicular (but you may lose access of some mountain top repeaters as less of your signal is rising on an angle to reach them) I really should study my ARRL Antenna book again.

I'd favor pushing Congress to renegotiate the Line-A restrictions with Canada as their GMRS service includes the two frequency (pairs) that can't be used in half of Michigan. It may have made sense back before Canada created a GMRS service (granted, theirs is closer to our FRS service: <2W power, NO REPEATERS) and they recommended that former users of the "GMRS" frequencies should move to different bands, or put up with interference by GMRS. That implies that our usage of the Line-A frequencies for GMRS should not be a true conflict with other users on the Canadian side if they selected to retain the frequencies for their "other service" license. The only sticking point is that, with no repeaters, the 467MHz input frequencies are hanging in the air and might be a problem if that segment gets assigned to some other usage (Okay, so we have no /repeaters/ on the Line-A group, but simplex should be allowed in the 462 segment). The Amateur band restrictions on Line-A probably still remain. Oh, I also found, somewhere a recommendation suggesting: 01 as a simplex calling channel 03 as simplex emergency channel 17 as an emergency channel (I presume simplex and repeater) 20 (the original emergency/traveller assistance channel) as... Emergency/Traveller Assistance (again simplex and repeater) and I labeled 19 and 21 as Line-A exclusion. (also managed to discover the repeater that seems to cover much of Grand Rapids -- by using a radio with tone scan, I locked onto a tone for it. The repeater on that frequency/tone is listed in my near 20-year old GMRS repeater directory... Belongs to the City of Grand Rapids -- and is available to general users only for Emergency/Traveller Assistance (prior permission needed for other uses [at the time of the book -- suspect they'd be shocked to get a phone call or letter asking for permission to use the repeater these days]).

https://www.qsl.net/co8tw/Coax_Calculator.htm Belden 9913 isn't far behind. 2.905 dB (25.612W at antenna from 50W, 100ft, perfect SWR) LMR400 2.735 dB (26.638W, same input, length, SWR) Lucky you can get away with a stock cable configuration. I paid $96 for a 2ft length of LMR400 with an N connector (for the window pass-through) and PL-259 for the diplexer (not duplexer, the TS-2000 has separate 2m and 70cm outputs that I had to combine to feed a dual band ground plane) Most of the cost is apparently labor to install custom connector mix, as the 75 ft LMR400 (with same connector mix) was $191, just twice the 2ft -- so the cable was the cheap part ?

When I lived in Sunnyvale, I always wanted to purloin a Prop 65 warning sign and put it on my apartment door. After all, I had a dozen tins of air-gun pellets (LEAD!), a few thousand rounds of pistol&rifle ammo (more LEAD!), Winsor&Newton drawing inks (FORMALDEHYDE!), acrylic and oil paints (CADMIUM! Chromium! other similar compounds), paint solvents (and not just turpentine and acetone, but methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) ).

My first step would be to just verify simplex operation with another radio (got somebody nearby with bubble pack FRS units?) Low power, no TONE of any type. If you can hear them on each segment (1-7 simplex GMRS interstitials, 8-14 0.5W NFM FRS interstitials, 15-22 simplex GMRS main channels) you'll have verified that the radio does receive. Next step would be to set a CTCSS tone on each unit (at least on the channels used in each segment). Note bubble-pack radios automatically are CTCSS (TSQL) -- if you set the BTech to TONE only, they should still hear your radio, and since you aren't using a receive tone you should hear them. Make sure you have the same tone (bubble packs, and even my MXT115 mobile use a sequential number for tones, so you have to cross reference the manual to find the actual tone frequency). Third step is to set the BTech to TSQL with the same tones. You should still hear them, and they should hear you. Then have them turn OFF the tone on their end -- they should hear you (since they aren't using a tone to open squelch) but you should not hear them (as they aren't sending the tone you want to hear). That should verify you can set everything in a working mode -- leaving the problem in the repeater channel programming. (The V1 model allowed one to program receive only channels, but required you to modify channels 23-30 for specific repeaters). My V2 (nominally 5W vs the 2W V1) tends to only run around 3W, barely above the V1 output (which registered high on my power-meter at near 2.5W).

Technically, if using a mag-mount, you have a ground-plane -- the metal that the magnet sticks to is capacitively or directly coupled to the shield side of the coax. (It's my Larson dual-band window glass mount that has me perplexed -- the whip screws to the outside part and is just what would be the central conductor of the coax, which capacitively couples through the glass to the inside part where the shield side is terminated. Best I can make out is it uses the outside of the coax back to the radio as the ground-plane). If you are planning to cut a hole in the roof, discard the mag-mount and use a through-hole NMO base&coax. The aluminum roof would be the ground-plane. https://www.hamradio.com/detail.cfm?pid=H0-014933

"2dBi gain" essentially means it is functioning as a half-wave dipole (reference dipoles are rated 2.15dBi, 0dBd) -- heck, if really just 2dBi, this antenna is a loss compared to a true half-wave dipole. It is base-loaded, which allows for shorter antennas -- but base loaded antennas aren't the most effective; center loaded would be better. Since you are talking a vehicle with no (or little) metal in the covering, mounting low may not matter (unless there is a roll-cage near the mount point) -- it's just your body in the direct beam of RF ?; mounting higher could be safer at the power levels of these radios (a base-loaded CB antenna was much longer, so the beam was likely just above the roof line when using a trunk-lip mount, and with a 4W max, less RF exposure than a 5W GMRS HT). I assumed a talk ratio of 50% (for example two minutes transmit, two minutes receive, repeat). Controlled environment is "you", knowing the radio is in operation; Uncontrolled is random people passing by who do not know there is a transmitter in the area. I chose 6 feet as the distance from the antenna to personnel. That report is from a Python port of an Amateur radio RF Safety calculator.

If a stay-at-home type, a Tech license, 2m/70cm D-STAR (or DMR, but those are rather nasty to program) HT, combined with some form of hotspot (ZUMspot, OpenSpot, generic MMDVM hat on a Raspberry Pi running Pi-Star) would give reasonable "chat" opportunities via D-STAR reflectors or DMR talk-groups (or, if one goes Yaesu, System Fusion and "rooms"). Both D-STAR and DMR will require registration on the respective system (D-STAR needs call-sign, DMR needs a DMR numeric ID issued to the call-sign; not sure what YSF requires -- I don't have YSF capability). Unfortunately, D-STAR radios are not cheap. The only current manufacturer is ICOM (ID-52A @ $650 HRO discounted ? price) (even though D-STAR is not ICOM proprietary, unlike YSF); Kenwood did have units but discontinued them some time ago. DMR tends to be cheaper (AnyTone AT-D878UVII Plus @ $315 at Bridgecom [or via Amazon] and is one of the higher end DMR HTs) as they are often business band radios that are locked to Amateur bands to allow user programming via front-panel and software (business band radios are not programmable by front panel, and are supposed to be programmed by local radio shop in accordance with one's license). The OpenSpot 4 Pro is not cheap either, but offers battery power and can do cross-mode digital as it has both AMBE CODECs (D-STAR uses a different CODEC from DMR/YSF/P25 -- Pi-Star can cross-mode DMR/YSF/P25 as that only involves changing the routing headers in the digital packet, but not the digitized voice data which only handled by the radio itself). Given battery power and a cell-phone with WiFi access point, the digital modes can go mobile without using a local repeater (though I'd be leery of it myself: Using an HT on lowest power on one frequency to talk to a hotspot, which then uses WiFi frequency to talk to a cell-phone using cell-phone bands to reach the internet... That's three RF sources transmitting at one time inside a metal cage, within a 2-3 foot average range from the user).