Sab02r

Mine is the minus model...not the Plus. I have had it for 2 - 3 years, purchased before the Plus model was available. As WRWE456 said, it came with a pair of 3200mAh batteries. Each easily lasts me more than a couple of days. The addition of a USB-C chargeable battery makes it a nice travel companion.

The KG-935G is a very good radio with many useful features. Some of my likes include: Scan groups. This allows you to program a group of repeaters for your home area, and other groups of repeaters or channels along your route of travel, or around your destination. I can preprogram the radio so that when I am in Dallas, I can select and monitor my Dallas scan group. When I am in Denver, I can select and monitor my Denver scan group. If my route takes me through Albuquerque, I can select and monitor my 'querque scan group while I am there...without having to download to the radio. This is the reason having a 999 channel memory is also useful. The 935G accepts Wouxan's USB-C rechargeable 1A26KG-8 battery. I had to order this battery separately, but I like not having to carry a charger for the radio. I can charge the 935G with the same cable I use to charge my phone. The 935G is CHIRP compatible. Wouxan does offer their own programming software, and I have no doubt that it works just fine, but CHIRP compatibility means that I can copy and paste repeater channels from other non-Wouxan CHIRP compatible radios without having to hop between software applications (or load new software on my PC). Another feature I like on the 935G is the channel knob. Not a big deal, but when you use a radio with up/down arrows, or direct entry only, you notice the absence. The one dislike I have of the 935G is that it can only scan one band at a time. Wouxan does offer at least one radio that can scan two bands simultaneously. I think it is the KG-UV9GX, which also has the scan group feature. This would allow you to monitor two scan groups simultaneously if scanning is important to you.

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

I'll second the recommendation for the Tram1486. I used my MXTA26 temporarily mounted to a porch railing, with decent results while awaiting coax...and decent weather. Once the ice was off the roof, up went the new Tram. The higher elevation provided vastly improved reception. Keep in mind that the Tram will likely require some tuning for GMRS frequencies. The antenna comes with very good tuning instructions that require you to take the antenna apart, carefully measure and trim each section accordingly, and then reassemble the antenna to test SWR. Please trim incrementally, working your way to the measurement with the lowest SWR by trimming a small amount at a time and then reassembling and testing SWR. If you trim too much...it takes forever to grow back ? I stopped trimming after three cuts when my antenna measured 1.16:1 SWR on the workbench. On the roof, with new coax, it measured a high of 1.04:1. I am certain that OffRoaderX has some excellent videos showing how to tune an antenna and measure SWR with the Fars-O-Meter 2000 for reference.

Grounding is good! Glad you got the problem solved. I would never have thought to move the shelf to solve the GFCI problem, though after reading your excellent writeup it does make some sense. Perhaps we should keep a long-running thread (some forums allow stickies - not sure if MYGMRS does) on this forum of odd things that can interfere with radios and repeaters, and also devices that our radios occasionally interfere with...as a reference for others who run into gremlins in their systems. Since it was your experience, I'll leave it up to you to decide if you want to start that thread.

Thanks for sharing that info Lscott! This will the fourth or fifth time I have heard mention of tire pressure management system interference...and not always the same auto manufacturer.. I am compelled to ask, regarding the car alarm failures, do you know if this was this a permanent failure or a temporary condition? In either case I can see how people could be a little miffed that their car alarms could be so easily and anonymously defeated.

Some or all of my exterior motion lights come on when I key up on 462.700MHz. The motion lights on my garage door openers in the unattached garage are triggered by 462.675MHz. Thankfully the doors don't roll open. This occurs on those frequencies with either my 50 watt KG1000G with roof-mounted antenna or my 5 watt HTs...but I aint never popped a GFI ?.

My opinion is that Baofengs serve as a great entry-level product (gateway drug) to generate new interest and new users (buyers). It is those buyers who will go on to buy more advanced (higher cost) products, keeping the "better" manufacturers afloat into the future If entry-level radios were all of exceptional quality, but cost $700, there would be very, very few future buyers and the companies (Kenwood) that produce higher-quality radios would simply die off.

In all seriousness, I do applaud your effort and your passion, Kirk. I myself suffer from a lack of both passion and seriousness. That said...will you please expand your "rant" series to include a separate rant for each of the GMRS channels?

Exactly. Some might see this as a function of good personal safety practice or situational awareness. Communicating without telegraphing location, destination, or personal information should be the rule...or at very least the goal, but it doesn't really require secret code. Of course, broadcasting a callsign that can be looked up in a publicly available database to find the user's address does compromise some of that security, but that is the tradeoff we make. Now, about my green paint...?

Others may disagree, but the reality is that the English language is a very large and convoluted bunch of code words and phrases. One could simply agree on common innocuous phrases to have meanings such as "on the flop" - stopped, "on the fly" - en route, "on the fritz" - broke down, and as long as you don't refer to them in a cryptic fashion ("I send code "on the flop" to your station. I repeat "on the flop"! How copy? Over!!) no one is going to report you to the FCC for speaking in code...nor will anyone care enough, or listen long enough, to even understand that you are speaking in any "code" except English. What's more, if you stick to simplex your communications are unlikely to be scrutinized by radio aficionados or the FCC for codes any more than the lumber yard, the daycare, the garbage truck drivers, or the construction guys already transmitting code phrases on those channels.