WRUU653

Welcome David. You know the old saying, the memory is the second thing to go... I forget what the first is. ?

Yes yes but are they theoretical? ?

Just a friendly heads up @WRWQ761 because this is a public forum, mygmrs.com rules ask that you don’t post the tones of repeaters in your post, you need to be a member to access repeater tones. That said it looks like you got things correct. I don’t know what radio you are using but many will automatically put the +5 offset in when you set it for a tone on TX for repeaters. You can leave the RX tone off until you are sure you are hitting the repeater, this can help diagnose what is happening as you would be able to hear everything on that channel/frequency. If you are testing with two radios make sure they are not right next to each other as they may desense each other. You can use this tool to check line of site https://www.scadacore.com/tools/rf-path/rf-line-of-sight/. Is it possible you that you are out of range? Check your squelch. Is it possible that everything is right and good with your radio and there just isn’t anything to hear? I hope this helps and you succeed access to the repeater.

I don’t believe you can.

Too much? ?

@Sshannon Really great PDFs. What you say is true about bonding and potential between things. Bonding is often mistaken for grounding and while trying to avoid the rabbit hole into the topic and sounding like I am preaching I feel it is important for people to understand potential dangers exist and these codes and guidelines exist to keep people safe.

No, it is not big enough. Reference NEC. 810.21 Bonding Conductors and Grounding Electrode Conductors — Receiving Stations. The bonding conductor or grounding electrode conductor shall not be smaller than 10 AWG copper I don’t want to understate importance of grounding and bonding. Reading material in my above post is a good idea.

Nice. It wasn’t there yesterday, glad to see this. ?

Yes, this ^^^ You wouldn’t make phone emergency call 911 in one state and 912 in another or worse yet 915 if you have one phone manufacturer and 913 for another. What’s the thinking here? Natural selection by radio understanding? We only want to help people who have Midland radios?

I’m not saying this is a bad idea. It’s just that privacy code 7 seems only appropriate for Midland radios. Motorola, Baofeng, Wouxun all use code 8 for 85.4. This seems like a huge oversight in trying to set a standard for emergency especially for the Motorola bubble pack crowd which won’t even see a frequency but rather just a number when setting up their radio and consist of a huge portion of radio users. Users that may very well not be aware of the issue. Also why a tone at all? How does a committee for an emergency idea not discuss this and resolve it before going forward?

It isn’t just about creating a ground plane for the antenna. There are grounding and bonding requirements at play here for a whole slew of reasons. Chapter 8 of the NEC (National Electrical Code) article 810 is a good place to start. https://www.amazon.com/National-electrical-code-2023-Paperback/dp/B0BJVN2YWM/ref=sr_1_19?crid=2FI33XQXFITCI&keywords=nec+2023+code+book&qid=1680190728&s=books&sprefix=Nec%2Cstripbooks%2C248&sr=1-19 this book from ARRL also. https://www.amazon.com/Grounding-Bonding-Radio-Amateur-ARRL/dp/1625951493/ref=asc_df_1625951493/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=552879161221&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15249024678358850374&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1013639&hvtargid=pla-1461344866696&psc=1 be safe.

Yeah that won’t be a problem. I’m not finding that as a tone 7 on anything but Midland. Wouxun caller somewhere close by keys radio. Help help… some guy, we’ll call him Bob is monitoring channel with tones Hi Bob hear any calls today? Nope. All quiet.

I would add if you are anything like me the screw is in the carpet or bounced under some piece of furniture already ?

Alright the name of this thread is Welcome… How about everyone try and remember that and be a bit more welcoming. Is it so hard? Read your own post before you are so quick to send it. Read the one you are responding to. WTF (welcome to forum)?

It uses the same screw (they should have sent an extra) as the cover does. They did this to maintain the waterproof IP67 rating.

For the life of me I can not think why anyone would use a privacy tone for an emergency. I would think in an actual emergency you wouldn’t want to restrict hearing anything.

This little blurb from Bettersaferadio.com web page for the KG-UV9GX

I gave this a try and Mobile 675 showed up on the map and Spanish Fort 700 was on the second page of repeaters listed. ?

It’s my own fault @Sshannon that I started looking at those. All kidding aside I covet much of their products. The idea that these are super visible in bright sunshine I found enticing. The idea that I would want two may keep my wallet safe. Thanks for the additional info.

Damn it Steve, You are not making it easy to not spend more money ?

I agree, if it’s using the “travel tone” you are likely okay to use. I would go ahead and ask someone who is on it about it. I did this once and was able to talk with the owner who told me about his repeater and now chat with him occasionally.

Okay I see what you were saying now. I misunderstood that you were mounted to a plastic roof, though I don't know how you would be reaching that far that way. Sorry for my confusion. I honestly don’t know if you would get better than what you got going already. I’ll leave that to those with more experience with antennas, ground planes and side by sides in this situation to add their two cents but it seems you are doing pretty good with it right now.

Hey @WRWI380 it is great to hear you have made some quick progress. A ground plane would certainly help. I am not sure what you would need to do to achieve that in your particular vehicle but I’m sure the info is out there. Perhaps a wire going from the mount to chassis or if you could mount directly to the roll cage. They do have antennas that don’t require a ground plane but from what I can gather you are better off if you can get a ground plane. I’m just throwing stuff out there without knowing what the situation actually is for the side by side. You must be doing something right to reach it from where you are so you are on the right track. Anyway very cool and thanks for letting us know about the success. ?

I think you’re fine, it’s anybody’s guess what all that was about. Some people ?

Sorry @WRUT935 I'm no help here. I checked Chirp and don't see the KG-XS20G ?