axorlov

I used Argent Data SR-1 for many years with great results. Even without high mast, just plugged into a mobile radio with 5/8 antenna on a flat roof of SUV it extends the range of HTs by many-folds. I have it programmed to only repeat when DTMF "0" is sent, to keep annoyance factor to minimum. There are several threads here where we discussed simplex repeaters.

I used Argent Data SR-1 for many years with great results. Even without high mast, just plugged into a mobile radio with 5/8 antenna on a flat roof of SUV it extends the range of HTs by many-folds. I have it programmed to only repeat when DTMF "0" is sent, to keep annoyance factor to minimum. There are several threads here where we discussed simplex repeaters.

It's a free country. If you don't want to listen to linked repeaters, then you do not. If you want to listen to rag chews and join in, then you do. Ride your own bike and let others decide what do they want.
 

Dave Casler touched on important point, the common mode current, which J-pole antennas are very susceptible to. But on UHF frequencies this cute (rather ugly) loop of coax is not going to stop your common mode current at all. Better, expensive chokes are needed with UHF J-poles. This is the reason why Ed Fong antennas do not work when mounted on metal masts.

There is a chance that firmware in the radio is ether LTR firmware or Sholer Johnson Passport firmware. If first case, you should be able to run Fpro utility (flash programming) from the KPG-49D suite to flash a genuine Kenwood firmware and make the radio compatible with PG-49D. In the second case situation is more complex, since you'd need a WinSJI software to enable the reflash of the firmware.
But start with first things first.
1. Make sure your power adapter is capable of at least 8A at 12V. Normally, you'd need less, but that's the spec.
2. Make sure there is no misconfiguration of your USB-to-serial adapter. Keep experimenting with COM speed, trying to read from the radio.
3. Try to press SCN button and power on the radio to see if it greets you with PROG 56700 on the panel. In that case you can reflash the firmware.
 

Dave Casler touched on important point, the common mode current, which J-pole antennas are very susceptible to. But on UHF frequencies this cute (rather ugly) loop of coax is not going to stop your common mode current at all. Better, expensive chokes are needed with UHF J-poles. This is the reason why Ed Fong antennas do not work when mounted on metal masts.

Most people can be programmed only once. Like a famous philosopher Kozma Prutkov once said: People a are akin to sausages. What they are filled with, they keep carrying around. 

Haha, LOL!
Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon are watching a parade on Red Square in Moscow in 70-s.
Alexander: If I only had tanks like these I'd conquer all of Europe and also Asia!
Julius: If I only had missiles like these I'd rule the whole planet!
Napoleon: If I only had a propaganda machine like that one, nobody ever would know that I lost at Waterloo!

Haha, LOL!
Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Napoleon are watching a parade on Red Square in Moscow in 70-s.
Alexander: If I only had tanks like these I'd conquer all of Europe and also Asia!
Julius: If I only had missiles like these I'd rule the whole planet!
Napoleon: If I only had a propaganda machine like that one, nobody ever would know that I lost at Waterloo!

SWR meter: a measuring instrument most often used to ruin the tuning of good antennas.
NanoVNA: an inexpensive electronic device that is used miscalibrated to obtain the results that are misunderstood.

I see a confusion between the owning a ham license and not owning a common sense and manners. Different things, really. If you can magically ban all hams from GMRS repeaters, you'd still be stuck with local lunatics and know-it-all a-hole youtube influenzers. And they are plenty around!

Very likely a screw-up by people who implemented algorithm for particular hardware. I was at this very place some 20 years ago, working on TEA implementation (not related to radio). Used uint instead of int in one place, and it caused a degradation of entropy. Luckily, my mistake was caught in time and never went into production.

Very likely a screw-up by people who implemented algorithm for particular hardware. I was at this very place some 20 years ago, working on TEA implementation (not related to radio). Used uint instead of int in one place, and it caused a degradation of entropy. Luckily, my mistake was caught in time and never went into production.

Very likely a screw-up by people who implemented algorithm for particular hardware. I was at this very place some 20 years ago, working on TEA implementation (not related to radio). Used uint instead of int in one place, and it caused a degradation of entropy. Luckily, my mistake was caught in time and never went into production.

Very likely a screw-up by people who implemented algorithm for particular hardware. I was at this very place some 20 years ago, working on TEA implementation (not related to radio). Used uint instead of int in one place, and it caused a degradation of entropy. Luckily, my mistake was caught in time and never went into production.

Ham is exactly a hobby. Some like to compete, some don't. HF bands give you a global reach, it draws people to HF. But many are fine with the local chats on repeaters.
What? You got to be kidding. Where I live VHF FM is packed to the brim, while 70cm is empty because military restricted use, to not have an interference for the PAVE PAWS radars.

Hardware is different. These are different radios. And that does not preclude you from being happy with 8160!

Go jump on it. I would, if I did not have four of them already:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/266327438043?hash=item3e025a32db:g:o0MAAOSw8j9kc3QY&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAAwJU%2B%2F62jI%2F09cb8W%2FP7DsJ4OoYgKBsHR25P%2FGaaJ8M5VUJUL306ARrTijgep5YOaQssrqbxrMWiC9xToo1iZv%2FZ7%2FpNWM3QODRRpAVrVJA6Qygy95qrkhw%2F6oc6WfjmkouBxj6tjLWOAPrtdwttcc4hHhp1EDfXwIpLDt10IRS5vRPvjmyaKyML6Gas95e%2FwX2u1XU7I6QxSfpAEKCDsvGgYziCzxXzEMNyoaZXT4R2OAgNRxF%2FVuL5mi04dtEbiIQ%3D%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR4Slo5GsYg
But you also would need programming cable, keep this in mind.

Yes! And the Baofeng/Btech external speaker-mic also works fine with 3170.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. Things to consider:
- condition of the radio, how much it is beaten up;
- condition of the battery, assume you will need to replace it;
- speaker and programming port: 3170/73 have Kenwood port that is also used by the majority of CCRs, so cables and speakerphones work. 3140 has a different, more robust connector, but that means buying special programming cable that will not work with Baofengs. Do you have Baofengs? Do you plan to have Baofengs?
- you will need charger, 3170/73 takes both LiPo and NiMH batteries, so makes sense to get universal charger KSC-25;
- antenna connector, Kenwood radios generally not compatible with CCR antennas, you will need authentic Kenwood antenna, they are cheap though.
In 2014 it was no brainer to get a pair or three of 3170 for $100 total, replace broken parts, get new batteries, and have a good radio for about $70 a piece. Today ebay prices on used Kenwood radios went up, so I'm not so sure anymore. New KG-805G is only $100.

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to that question. Things to consider:
- condition of the radio, how much it is beaten up;
- condition of the battery, assume you will need to replace it;
- speaker and programming port: 3170/73 have Kenwood port that is also used by the majority of CCRs, so cables and speakerphones work. 3140 has a different, more robust connector, but that means buying special programming cable that will not work with Baofengs. Do you have Baofengs? Do you plan to have Baofengs?
- you will need charger, 3170/73 takes both LiPo and NiMH batteries, so makes sense to get universal charger KSC-25;
- antenna connector, Kenwood radios generally not compatible with CCR antennas, you will need authentic Kenwood antenna, they are cheap though.
In 2014 it was no brainer to get a pair or three of 3170 for $100 total, replace broken parts, get new batteries, and have a good radio for about $70 a piece. Today ebay prices on used Kenwood radios went up, so I'm not so sure anymore. New KG-805G is only $100.

GMRS is in the middle of business band, so the technical requirements are identical to Part 90. For example, stability must be 2.5ppm for 25KHz channels and 1.5ppm for 12.5KHz channels. Ham gear does not have such strict requirements. It is only recently (few years) when new ham HTs and mobiles started to satisfy that spec. Majority of older ham gear is drifty.
This thread shows quite well, that when "I know what I'm doing" is uttered, it is a very strong signal that person has no clue. :rolleyes

Maybe this will help.  There’s a ham in Poland who makes boards that accept the filters.  See this article.  The updated board is discussed near the bottom.
https://qrper.com/2022/09/how-to-assemble-a-narrow-cw-filter-for-your-yaesu-ft-817-ft-818-ft-857-ft-897-an-affordable-yf-122c-equivalent/
 

There are some decent Chinese PCB houses out there that can manufacture the blank board for a cheap price. This is one we used at work here for making some quick prototype boards.
https://www.pcbway.com/
You just need a PCB layout package that can generate standard Gerber files.
A number of people have used KiCad to do their own boards. It's used for a number of public domain projects.
https://www.kicad.org/
Before that the favorite was Eagle. However it has some significant limitations with the "free" version that KiCad doesn't.
https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-install-and-setup-eagle/all
Were I work we use Altium Designer for schematic capture and PCB layout work. The projects and part libraries are cloud based. All you need is the software loaded on your PC and Internet access for the license server and the cloud server. Then you can work from anywhere as a team partner.

The commercial digital radios have better frequency stability spec’s.
It’s necessary due to the quad frequency modulation, 4 discrete frequency shifts, used. If the frequency drifts too far off the radio can’t detect the particular dibit, two bits encoded per frequency shift, being sent resulting in a higher bit error rate. That’s by the way why people have to tweak their hotspot frequency.
The other reason if the frequency drifts too much the RX radio will loose sync with the data stream if the transmission lasts too long, mismatch between TX and RX data rates. Then the communication fails. The same frequency reference use for TX and RX is also used for the data stream bit timing.
The various digital modes standards have spec’s for the above.
I wouldn’t be surprised that the cheap Chinese digital radios have a tendency to experience drop outs due to the above. Some of those radios have crummy frequency stability specs to save money on a better reference oscillator. For amateur use the dropouts aren’t critical. However for first responders it could be life threatening.