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axorlov

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Posts posted by axorlov

  1. 44 minutes ago, tep182 said:

    Mencken said

    You mean the "gnawing worry"? You free-flying rebels are funny. Keep up your free-spirited, but useless and harmless experiments. Don't forget to keep us all posted, we will enjoy your fruitless hunt.

    20 minutes ago, WRUR259 said:

    or could be routed through a UHF amplifier like the Btech unit for an even higher output - up to 50 watts!

    I ROFLed here. Up to 50 watts, with Baofeng! Crazy stuff, Imma telling ya

     

  2. 1 hour ago, WRUJ963 said:

    I was trying to see if I could see the messages to show up through my GMRS radio to the GMRS Pro Radio

    It is not clear if Baofeng follows APRS spec. They may very well do not. To determine, you probably need to set up a receiver with APRS decoder (APRSDrois will do) to see what exactly Btech Pro sends. It may not be compatible with bona fide APRS.

  3. 43 minutes ago, CMG1012 said:

    My cigarette lighter port is being used by something else

    Ok, got it. As pointed by others, USB port is not going to provide enough power. I would use something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Yantu-Cigarette-Lighter-Adapter-Splitter/dp/B07CM7PJQB/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1PG8W3KZE8W61&keywords=lighter+splitter&qid=1664330596&qu=eyJxc2MiOiI0Ljg2IiwicXNhIjoiNC4zNyIsInFzcCI6IjMuODkifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=lighter+splitter%2Caps%2C700&sr=8-4

    Or better, solder/splice short wires with Anderson Power Poles or T-connector to existing cigarette lighter socket and use the same Power Poles or T-connector on your battery eliminator.

  4. 2 hours ago, CMG1012 said:

    I am looking to purchase a usb to female cigarette port adapter

    Not sure I understand the use case. You've got battery eliminator already, so you can use it in car. Do you want to use this battery eliminator at home? And power it from USB power adapter? This will not work for two reasons: USB provides 5V, while you'd need 12V (maybe 9V, depending on a construction of battery eliminator); and small USB power bricks for phones provide "dirty" power, i.e. the voltage is not filtered from ripple noise.

    You would need something that puts out at least 12V (again, maybe 9V will be enough) and something that provides "clean" power, like MFJ-4103, for example. But that's going to be expensive.

  5. 1 hour ago, Flameout said:

    Which would be better for GMRS?

    You don't even need a calculator for these two. Your second link shows loss at 450MHz (2.7dB), and little googling brings this page: https://abrind.com/coax-guide-2/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIhor86fWt-gIVpT2tBh1P-gcyEAAYASAAEgLy4_D_BwE where loss for 25400 at 450MHz is 3.3dB. So, Wireman is better, but LLC-25400F is a direct burial.

  6. Channel spacing on GMRS is 25 kHz. 462.550, 462.575, 462.600 and so on. And indeed, channel spacing for low power and FRS-only channels is 12.5 kHz. Channel bandwidth is something entirely different, related to how much information could possibly be pushed through the specific channel. Term is not really applicable to what we are talking about. What chinese manufacturers can't properly translate is an occupied spectrum. For most of the radios I'm familiar with, it is 16 kHz for wide band, and 11 kHz for narrow band.

  7. 7 minutes ago, kidphc said:

    6db antenna for 450-470 at about 31" picket fences more then a ¹/4 wave

    Not exactly the answer to the question you asked, however:

    In my experience 11" BR-178 (which is 5/8) picket fences about the same as 31" BR-170 (which is 5/8 over 1/2). I do not see a difference in picket fencing, I do see a difference when stationary. 31" is tiny bit better.

  8. 6 minutes ago, motsco said:

    i moved it down to where the antenna metal was about inch over the pole and tx and rx got a lot better on repeaters

    If I read you correctly, in both cases the top of your mast was below the yellow/brass metal part of the antenna? Good then.  What's likely happened is a bad contact/connector got better with the handling of the antenna.

    At any rate, use the configuration that works better. Antenna tuning is considered a black art by many. It is not, of course, but as long as a setup works for you it's good. You can always debug it later.

  9. 33 minutes ago, motsco said:

    when mounting the 6140 to the pole. where does the metal at the bottom of the fiberglass antenna  need to align with the metal pole?

    No, no need to align. Use the mounting brackets that should be supplied in the package with the 6140. Radiating element of this antenna is inside the white plastic tube, so make sure your mast does not block any part of it. In other words, mount 6140 on the top of the mast. As long as mast does not block the actual antenna (white plastic tube) it does not matter if it is aligned with the mast or offset.

  10. 48 minutes ago, WRFE959 said:

    Do you have suggestions for a better/easier solution?

    Hypothetically speaking, if you find a strong transmitter nearby, and you can lower your antenna to shield it from said transmitter with your roof/house, it may improve reception of signals you are interesting in. That's strictly hypothetically speaking. Maybe there is no strong signal, and maybe it's on the same side of the house. That's just an example. Another hypothetical example is to use 3-element yagi, instead of 12-element, and mounted it with low/null toward the strong interference. It may give you enough of an angle to receive all interesting repeaters, but will block the interference, while being stationary. Just another example.

  11. Try both. For receive, they should be the same. For transmit, I guess 6140 will outperform Nagoya for a reason that your ground plane (4 radials) needs to be tuned for the 462MHz. It is not a UHF groundplane in it's stock form. 6140 is as fool-proof as it gets, while tuning Nagoya+groundplane may give you better results eventually. Or may not.

  12. UHF signal is not affected by sun. UHF signals are sometimes (rarely) susceptible to reflections in atmosphere between the layer of  colder and hotter air. If you noticed correlation of you signal changes with fog or low cloud cover, that may hint to this type of propagation. Another, and more probable reason of change over the course of the day is that you have a business transmitter/repeater in the UHF band nearby. If you notice worse reception in the work hours, that may be it. This transmitter may make your radio go deaf. There is also a remote possibility that something in your house creating an interference. Remote because we are talking about UHF, but still a possibility.

    If you're inclined, do some research. Get RTL-SDR dongle for the PC and see what's going on in the spectrum around you, at the times when reception is good and when it's bad. Good dongles (Nooelec and rtl-sdr.com) are below $40 these days. And they used to be below $20, I've got mine in ole goode times before covid.

    Yagi will help for sure, but rotator is a pain, and maybe there is a easier solution.

  13. By common scientific understanding, lightning rods do not attract lightning bolts. They do provide a short path to the ground for direct or nearby hit, so Instead of you getting a coolest scar on your face and back (looks best when in coffin), you just see the fire show.

    There is also a short story by Mark Twain, Political Economy, hilarious as usual, but spreading misconception. But I can forgive Twain.

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