Bande1
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Posts posted by Bande1
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despite what everyone on the internet says the slim jim antenna is just a half wave ~3dbi antenna and isnt that good. Its really no different in performance than a $10 abbree 42". You already bought a radio but height means a lot more than power.
buy this antenna next and some KMR400 off amazon. If you have a tree hang the antenna in the tree 35-65ft up.
https://www2.randl.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_1500&products_id=69428
every 3dbi you add it effectively doubles your power. 6dbi quadruples power. This antenna will give you +8.5dbi in UHF over the N9TAX. Its big at 17.3ft in length but its economically priced and very good. Coax power loss goes up as you increase frequency. At GMRS freq with say RG-8X you're losing about 2% per foot of cable. 100ft of RG-8X will lose -8.5dbi. You should buy LMR400 or knockoff KMR400. Which will lose 2.7dbi per 100ft. This antenna and coax combo would make your HT the same radiated power as the DB-25G while having far more receive capability.
Get the antenna as high as you possibly can
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yeah I couldnt stand that length either. I went through the phase of 1/4 wave 2m antennas and went to a little comet SMA503. I also went through the whole nagoya/amazon brand phase and despite being very cheap Ive learned when it comes to antennas just buy "real" ham brands. They're one of those things that actually are worth paying a little more for.
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On 4/4/2023 at 5:49 PM, WRQC527 said:
Odd. The Nagoya Ut-72G shows up as a dual-band in some places, but just GMRS in other places, including its own packaging.
theres 2 different ones. a GMRS and a dual band. if it says 72G its the GMRS version.
THIS antenna is the absolute best dual band I have found that isn't ridiculously tall. It beats the living snot out of a UT-72 for not much more and makes the Nagoya look like a toy from walmart. (it does in fact tune up to 467mhz decently)
https://www2.randl.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_1200&products_id=38572
if height or cost isn't an issue go with this
https://www2.randl.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_1200&products_id=30318
attached is the Jetstream antenna next to a diamond MR-77 (same size as UT-72) to see how much taller it is.
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17 minutes ago, Sshannon said:
Although I don’t know him personally, Marc isn’t the type to act that way. I think his question was because cable loss is usually described in dB, not percent and hearing it referred to as a percentage was slightly confusing.
oh ok. my apologies.
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On 12/31/2022 at 6:14 PM, marcspaz said:
Percent? What is being measured in percent?
Im getting a forum "ackchyually" vibe here. Are you being intentionally obtuse asking what's being measured? Its power loss. The entire point of this thread.
On specific measured frequencies, in this case 145mhz, KMR400 has less loss than the LMR400 calculator according to my surecom meter. Whether thats accurate IDK. Its close enough to make it worth buying to me.
why am I measuring at 25ft? because thats the length of coax I have to measure.
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On 12/28/2022 at 8:13 AM, Lscott said:
Besides the cable losses there are other factors you need to consider. The cable will be installed outside so it has to be water/weather resistant. The jacket has to be UV resistant too or it will rapidly deteriorate. Finally you need to be concerned with the quality and installation of the connectors if the cable comes with them.
Mines been out in the elements few months now doing awesome. Just made it through -20f windchills last week.
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On 12/29/2022 at 10:58 AM, Sshannon said:
Well, real LMR400 has losses of 1.5 dB/100 ft at 150 MHz or 1.9 dB/100 ft at 220 MHz, so I don’t know that I would accept that as better than real LMR400 from Times Microwave.
http://www.signalcontrol.com/products/timesmicrowave/Times_Microwave_LMR400.pdf
I had a table showing LMR400 8% at 25ft. KMR400 is doing 7%. But even still its less than a $1 a foot, thats pretty hard to beat.
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KMR400 the knockoff LMR400 on Amazon, I measured the loss at 3% per 10ft on VHF. That's like, IDK, about 1.8dbi @ 100ft. Which is slightly better than real LMR400. Ive been very pleased with it. I don't exactly have a lab quality SWR meter though.
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On 12/23/2022 at 7:32 AM, FreqieRadio said:
I just got the H6. Way better than my 5g and my bf-f8HP. I had some trouble programming. I needed to use the tidradio version. Other than that, fantastic cheap radio.
You can also use radioddity GA-510
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replying to wrtq652 my btech amp was in fact ran with an SWR meter. it generally drove the swr up from 1.01:1 to maybe 1.3:1 or there about.
I read my first post again let me clarify the amp vs mobile. the mobile heard a repeater when the handheld + amp did not on same antennas. I would key up a repeater with the amp and hear nothing. but the mobile would hear the repeater tone. I hit the repeater but heard absolutely nothing back through the radio. It was as if my handheld was deaf. but really easy and close repeaters would come through. like ones under 10 miles away.
I also tested the amp with a simplex and found some difference, very marginal. I would radio check with amp off, then radio check with amp on. It gave me maybe a 10-15% difference at the edge of range.
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one of the things is the UT-72 is a dual band ham antenna. its going to be less good on UHF than a dedicated UHF antenna. I have that antenna and Ive ditched it for a used diamond MR-77 I found for $10.
I bought one of those amps and the first one just quit working. sent it back got and the second one worked but I could barely tell a difference in performance. next to my 50w mobile radio the amp and handheld combined was a FAR cry. I sent the amp back.
I have also gone back to only running my stock rubber ducky on my radio. frankly it outperforms every aftermarket I ever bought BESIDES a motorola someone gave me. That thing is phenominal. I hear comet makes a 9" antenna thats good.
another thing Ive realized is all these amazon brands are like cheap toys. look at real ham brands. comet, hustler, diamond, larson, etc. except for the abbree on VHF those are actually pretty good.
my advice is to send the amp back and get a 25w mobile radio. better yet get a crossband radio that will link your handheld in U-U like a TYT TH-9800, Alinco DR-735T, Wouxon KG-UV920, etc and you can go into stores and whatnot, transmit out to your vehicle, and then to a repeater.
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2 hours ago, WRVD377 said:
Thanks for the facts, as I have proved that with 5w handhelds. (1.3 miles max) It was wishful thinking on range. But I bet I can have a more stable continuous duty repeater that can handle more traffic than a Retevis RT97 (Simple and super easy to make work, does not broadcast ID). It is pretty simple no special features or functions like the Bridgecom. I have 2 handhelds @ 5W 4.79w, Mobile 15W and 50W. 6db midland antenna. I was wishful in the 15 - 50 watt, to 40watt (20w likely after duplexer) repeater to gain range verses 10W (5W) test box. Repeater antenna Opek UH-2401, 6.5dB gain.
At this point it is for fun now to see my limits at my $$ willing to spend as altitude is a no go for me mostly.
Great to see others knowledge!
I cant recommend enough an air cannon. This little $40 project changed everything. First shot, first try got my line 100ft over the exact branch I was aiming for. antenna at about 80'-85' vs 25'-35' is a massive difference.
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TYT radios can be unlocked in their proprietary software. load software then download from radio like you would in CHIRP. Then go to the Frequency Range tab, hit "ctrl+f11" and enter the password 9800TYT (this includes the TH-7800/7900). Then you can text edit the TX frequencies from 400Mhz-480Mhz. Upload to radio.
- Sshannon and MichaelLAX
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2
General GMRS question
in Guest Forum
Posted
Also ask if they're properly masked.