Sab02r

You are free to skip threads you do not find particularly interesting or beneficial. No offense intended.

There is nothing wrong with running a 20watt unit. My 20watt mobile units serve me just fine, especially when traveling in a caravan or as a loose-knit group. My 50watt base unit may or may not expand the range at which I can reliably reach those mobile units, as there are impediments, limitations, and points of diminishing returns with all things physical and electrical. but it does have many features that make it handy to use as a base unit (such as scan groups) that my mobile units do not necessarily have...and if I am paying more for those extra features that extra wattage doesn't hurt my feelings any.

Hey, I just watched your review last night! Great job! Not to turn this into a Pecron commercial, but the E1500LFP, big brother of the E600LFP has an integrated 120VAC charger so no need to carry around a charging brick. I put an E1500 on order (largely due to the price), and if it performs well I may add an E600LFP...or maybe the EP3000 expansion battery. Thanks for the helpful review!

That is an awesome setup! If only the EV manufacturers could figure out how to do something like that...like they told us they would. I love the radio shed idea as well. I've been contemplating something similar to maintain the charge in several lead-acid batteries I have on hand...which is ultimately what lead me to consider solar generators for their advancements, efficiency, portability and flexibility. I considered assembling a few LifePo battery banks to charge in something like your radio shed with fixed solar panels, and then move from the work truck to the camper to the office or to the house in the event of a power outage. With so many options from Anker, Bluetti, Ecoflow, Pecron and others, I doubt I could put together anything as efficient or as effective as they offer. Great information, everyone! You've all given me much to think about. Much appreciated!

Thanks guys, Impressive ingenuity and preps!

The thread on a "grid-down" cross-country communication relay got me thinking about methods of powering a base station during a power outage. Is anyone running a UPS or other battery, power station, or solar generator for their comms gear, such as this Pecron E1500LFP? PECRON E1500LFP Expandable Power Station 2200W 1536Wh I am not hyping this or any particular unit, just wondering if others are using something like this for their base station...plus I have long been thinking about getting a solar gen for the RV that could also run the fridge or freezer temporarily during a power outage.

For the OP, Radioditty DB25-G with a Midland MXTA26 antenna and a Breedlove #940 angled stake pocket NMO mount works great. The DB25-G has a couple of peculiarities related to scanning, but as a simplex or duplex radio it works great.

I like my Tram 1486 antenna...but mine is roof-mounted. Perhaps the longer Comet GP-6NC or GP-9NC might be a better use of your dedicated tower.

I would suggest buying a couple of different brands of cheaper (more affordable) radios to start with and learn how to program them through software and keypad and read the manuals to understand the features of each. You will learn that some features are more useful to you than others, and some radios are more user-friendly than others. The first radio I bought; I fell in love with. The second radio I bought made me realize that there were features (scanlists in my case) that make a radio more broadly useful to a particular type of use...illustrating that my first choice wasn't the best choice for me. Once you know how you will use the radio, and what features are most-useful to you...then its time move up to bigger, badder, spendier models with huge antennas requiring bigger. badder and even more-spendier coax.

+1 for Tram 1486. Mine was easy to trim to a 1.1 SWR and seems to work just fine for simplex and repeater communication within my line of sight. I used this inexpensive Winegard roof mount from Home Depot: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Winegard-J-Pipe-Antenna-Mount-DS-3000/204701091

Yeah, I use mine. I don't enable alerts but I do program the Wx channels at the very top end of the memory channel list and set them to skip so that I don't have to hear them on every scan but can still easily navigate to them when I want. That came in handy last week in the mountains to let me know that a particular route was temporarily closed, then last weekend to let me know how hot and miserable I was going to be cleaning up brush by the pond...then again this weekend to let me know I was going to get wet while camping. Until you asked, I didn't realize how often I used them.

I assumed the explosion of popularity was due to a carefully crafted marketing campaign by the CCP in order to spy on Americans using Boofwang UV5Rs... ...or simply "some people" enjoying humorous youtube videos during covid lockdowns.

This is solely my experience and not a scientific comparison. I had Ed Fong's DBJ-UHF antenna mounted on the rooftop for a few short months. It worked reasonably well and had an acceptable SWR for my purposes, though I don't have the SWR number recorded. Unfortunately, I went up on the rooftop to check the mount on a clear day after a period of harsh winter weather, and gave the mount a slight twist to assure myself that the PVC was still nice and tight. When I went back to the radio, there was no reception and a check of the SWR showed it to be extremely high. When I tweaked the antenna, I broke the solder connection in the base, which is my fault and not necessarily a strike against Fong's antenna. I replaced it with a Tram 1486, which cost more, but is also more robust. I was able to trim the Tram to an SWR of 1.01:1 with the unit mounted on the roof, and I don't feel the need to go check it to see if the PVC is still secure in the end caps. Reception is very good with the Tram, though I don't have the instrumentation to accurately compare it to reception with the Ed Fong. My signal reports seem to be better with the Tram, though that is subjective as well. Ultimately, I was fine with the Ed Fong, and I am probably a little happier with the Tram 1486, mostly due to it's robust construction.

I actually used your picture as a model for the one I built (THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!). I was surprised at how inexpensive the off-the-shelf Home Depot unit was, and bought it just to see if it was durable. Turns out that it was prettier and handier than mine...and is doing a fine job of holding that Tram down, while my fabricated mount sits in the garage.

After I had already built my own, I found this easy-to install, adjustable roof mount at home depot that may be cheap enough to use until you find a tower: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Winegard-J-Pipe-Antenna-Mount-DS-3000/204701091