Bubble Pack Repeater

[MichaelLAX]

On 8/29/2021 at 2:04 PM, Lscott said:

Which one did you get? My last major purchase was a TK-5320 analog/P25 UHF radio. There’s hardly any P25 activity in my area, but like you said for experimenting.

https://pdfs.kenwoodproducts.com/18/TK-5220&5320Brochure.pdf

Two impulse buys: The Baofeng BF-888 for less than $15 including sales tax and free shipping from Amazon and the Baofeng BF-T1 for less than $21 including sales tax and free shipping from eBay.

I will probably just program them with my default "Chirp" file, connect them (one at a time) to my rooftop Comet and see how it compares in performance to hitting my favorite repeaters...

And then they will go into the pile of UV-5Rs that I already own! hahaha 

That 6 meter Wouxun dual-bander HT looks interesting, though...  My teenage years were spent on 6 meters AM enjoying the unpredictable skip!

[Lscott]

26 minutes ago, MichaelLAX said:

Two impulse buys: The Baofeng BF-888 for less than $15 including sales tax and free shipping from Amazon and the Baofeng BF-T1 for less than $21 including sales tax and free shipping from eBay.

I will probably just program them with my default "Chirp" file, connect them (one at a time) to my rooftop Comet and see how it compares in performance to hitting my favorite repeaters...

And then they will go into the pile of UV-5Rs that I already own! hahaha 

That 6 meter Wouxun dual-bander HT looks interesting, though...  My teenage years were spent on 6 meters AM enjoying the unpredictable skip!

I have a Kenwood TK-2160 coming from an auction. The seller said it worked fine last time he used it 2 years ago when he stored it. Now it doesn’t. He said the battery pack likely failed. It was a NiCAD pack suiting for 2years I’m not surprised. For $22 including shipping for the radio, antenna, charger and a likely failed battery pack it’s not bad. 
 

These radios make excellent MURS radios, even if they’re not certified for it. They can be programmed to be compliant however, power, frequencies and bandwidth.

http://www.telectronics.biz/assets/mainmenu/59/editor/PDF_leaflet_TK-3160.pdf
 

With 16 channels there is plenty of room for the 5 MURS channels and the 7 NOAA channels with a few left over.

The UHF version could be used for GMRS. Enough channels to stick your local repeaters in it and a few of the simplex channels.

Doing some careful shopping you can get these radios for a decent price. 
 

All the CCR radio type accessories work on them including the programming cable, just not the battery packs or chargers. The programming software is fairy easy to find on the internet and will work on Win 10.

I’m thinking about buying a buddy’s Motorola XPR6550. I currently don’t have any Motorola stuff so it will be a learning curve.

http://www.streammktg.com/stream/images/specs/TRBO Portables/XPR6000 Series Product Spec Sheet.pdf

[MichaelLAX]

Can I mod my Kenwood TH-22at’s to work on MURS?

My TH-79d to work on MURS and GRMS?

[n4gix]

21 hours ago, axorlov said:

Which ones have Part 95e certification, the Radioddity or WLN?

The newer Radioddity has both 90 & 95e certification. The WLN is not certified as far as I can determine.

[MichaelLAX]

On 8/29/2021 at 12:16 PM, n4gix said:

I've had four of these for the past four years:

Amazon.com: WLN KD-C1 Rechargeable Mini Walkie Talkie, UHF 400-470Mhz Prefessional Two Way Radio with Desktop Charger and Belt Clip for Kids Hiking Hunting Airsoft(1 Pair) : Electronics

They are functionally identical to the "new" Radioddity versions. The only real difference is that these have Part 95e certification.

The WLN KD-C1 are 5 watts versus 2 watts. They are all programmable via Chirp and the standard BaoFeng/Kenwood programming cable. They are excellent performers, very light weight, and smaller than a pack of cigarettes.

The Amazon page says: 2-3 watts

[n4gix]

They may well have reduced power since I bought mine 4+ years ago... 

[MichaelLAX]

Radioddity throws another low-price 5 watt GMRS Repeater capable HT into the ring:

Radioddity G11S

Looks like the Pofung P11UV

[axorlov]

Good friend had a birthday recently, so I jumped and bought Radioddity GM-N1 as a gift. Thanks for the heads up. The usage mode: outdoors in simplex, in rare forest and mountains. Repeater capacity is not required, but nice to have feature. Wide-band is very much required, for interop with mobiles. Friend has GMRS license.

Today I had a chance to put it against my Kenwood TK-3170 in a quick and dirty way. Meaning, the simplest distance comparison, when Operator 1 is stationary and Operator 2 drives around business parks and residential areas. Both operators had TK-3170 and GM-N1 tuned to the same frequency, wide-band, with the same DPL code. The GM-N1 squelch level was programmed to 2 (out of 10, and the default is 5). Both Kenwoods and Radioddity started to break up and go below 50% availability at about the same range. Direct distance is nothing to write home about: 1.3 miles. But between Operator 1 and Operator 2 there were: 1-story business park, freeway grade, 3-story business park, railroad grade, 1-2 story residential area. Not bad at all, in my book. The noise-cancelling feature apparently is not a total gimmick, it reliably removes static when signal is low. It really helps.

Annoyances:
- There is no way to change any of the programmed parameters on the radio itself. Not possible to change tones, squelch, and frequencies (FCC forbid). Not possible to add or remove channels from scan.
- No way to tell battery charge state. It just turns on without any notion about battery, is it full, empty or anything. That is a big problem for the outdoors use.
- Mic is very sensitive about where your mouth is. On other radios you must talk directly into the mic hole too, but on this one you'd better touch the radio with your nose.
- 30 channels with no way to reprogram frequencies. Only tones, wide/narrow and few other things could possibly be changed, and only from a computer. You can not have two channels with the same freq and different tones programmed.

So, programming cable is a must. It is Kenwood-style, the cables from bluemax49s work fine.

The codeplug format begs to be hacked optimized. The Tx and Rx frequencies are in the simple BCD format, and there is no trace of encryption, CRC or any other anti-tamper measures. I did not have a chance to mess with the codeplug file, maybe someday later.

 

[MichaelLAX]

The Radioddity GM-30, for a few bucks more, satisfies most of your annoyances!

I recently purchased a Pofung P15UV which is the "clone" of the Radioddity GM-30, and with the new Radioddity firmware installed (v06.003.006) many of my original complaints are rectified.

Also check out this interesting little device from TIDRadio for $20: a bluetooth dongle for K-1 HTs that uses your Android or iOS smartphone to program the HT on the fly!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098SM9FVL/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2R3751X8604MX&psc=1