I don’t think Midland radios are very good.

[SvenMarbles]

2 minutes ago, nokones said:

Well, that might be a save from being called a "Sad HAM".

I’m literally the opposite of a sad ham. 
 

[OffRoaderX]

19 minutes ago, WSAK691 said:

not a ham.. Could pass a tech exam, and continue to general tomorrow morning,.. hungover.. Not interested.

Sorry to have to be the one to break this news to you but bragging about not being a ham BUT how easy it would be to pass the examS "if you wanted to" is a strong indicator of being a latent sad-H.A.M. .. Your other posts already proved you also fall into the "some people" category..

And as the inventor of the term Sad-H.A.M., my declaration is final and cannot be disputed or overturned.

[SvenMarbles]

5 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

Sorry to have to be the one to break this news to you but bragging about not being a ham BUT how easy it would be to pass the examS "if you wanted to" is a strong indicator of being a latent sad-H.A.M. .. Your other posts already proved you also fall into the "some people" category..

And as the inventor of the term Sad-H.A.M., my declaration is final and cannot be disputed or overturned.

Damn… so,.. you’re saying I passed the sad ham exam, before even taking the ham exam.

That’s a distinction, for sure.. 

[OffRoaderX]

7 minutes ago, WSAK691 said:

so,.. you’re saying I passed the sad ham exam, before even taking the ham exam.

Being a sad-H.A.M. is a mental/emotional-defect, not a test score/status. And while there is a very high correlation of sad-H.A.M.s having H.A.M. licenses, this does not prove causation.

[SteveShannon]

11 hours ago, WSAK691 said:

You're right, I don't know who "the players are" here. But frankly I don't care. I do radio. I know the radio things.

I'm assuredly not "some people". Those ones are those who care about "who the players are" and the perceived "players" themselves.

I don't fall in line with conventional dogma. When I speak on something it's because I've had empirical experience in trying that thing out. And in this case I know ALLLLL about the silicon labs radio chip things vs. superheterodyne receivers. I know where they're good and where they're not. I know about the "chuff" tuning vs constant and variable tuning. The squelch muting, and the vulnerability to harmonics. Bad first IF stages, etc... I'll be glad to have a conversation with any "players" here about it..

I know it's difficult to imagine. That there could be such a person out in the wild whose been doing the radio hobby for decades and just now signed up for MYMGRS, Hi. You've met one.

Two days ago you didn’t know how to waterproof your coax connectors and today you’re lecturing Marc Spaz on receiver sensitivity measurements.

You posted a picture of a radio installation that looks like what Randy discarded last week. 

(Edited to remove mean-spirited attempt at humor.) 

In any case you’re just one more wannabe on the ignore list. 

[SvenMarbles]

7 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

Being a sad-H.A.M. is a mental/emotional-defect, not a test score/status. And while there is a very high correlation of sad-H.A.M.s having H.A.M. licenses, this does not prove causation.

I see. Defects. There’s something defective going on with, me..

Because I know radio stuff. As an interest..  In my spare time away from being a father, husband, and business owner.  

Maybe I should film my ugly face and go off half cocked on a topic that I know just a little bit about like “some people”. Hopefully though, I won’t run out of steam part way in and start making weird “art videos”..

[OffRoaderX]

1 minute ago, WSAK691 said:

Defects. There’s something defective going on with, me..

Because I know radio stuff. As an interest.

No, thats not why.  Missing the entire point and not "getting it", as you just demonstrated is why.

[SvenMarbles]

1 minute ago, OffRoaderX said:

No, thats not why.  Missing the entire point and not "getting it", as you just demonstrated is why.

I did miss the point.

[SvenMarbles]

14 minutes ago, Sshannon said:

Two days ago you didn’t know how to waterproof your coax connectors and today you’re lecturing Marc Spaz on receiver sensitivity measurements.

You posted a picture of a radio installation that looks like what Randy discarded last week. 
Your last name is Gass; I’m not sure if the G is silent or your last name refers to  the the material you’re full of. 
In any case you’re just one more wannabe on the ignore list. 

Personal insults? Weird…

[marcspaz]

@WSAK691 I have been sitting back reading and I've noticed that I don't have to share any pictures of anything because you have already shown us your ass.  You are gravely mistaken in believing anyone here, especially me, has anything to prove to you.

 

I don't care about your opinion. I'm fairly sure no one else here cares about your opinion.  With the exception of providing some mild and waning entertainment as you continue to show us your ass, your incessant posting is doing nothing beyond solidifying your place in purgatory of the internet. 

[SvenMarbles]

4 minutes ago, marcspaz said:

@WSAK691 I have been sitting back reading and I've noticed that I don't have to share any pictures of anything because you have already shown us your ass.  You are gravely mistaken in believing anyone here, especially me, has anything to prove to you.

 

I don't care about your opinion. I'm fairly sure no one else here cares about your opinion.  With the exception of providing some mild and waning entertainment as you continue to show us your ass, your incessant posting is doing nothing beyond solidifying your place in purgatory of the internet. 

I predicted the play on “showing my ass”.. ::golf clap::

Short of that you haven’t said anything else..

[marcspaz]

That's because there is nothing left to say.  All things are self-evident. 

[SvenMarbles]

2 minutes ago, marcspaz said:

That's because there is nothing left to say.  All things are self-evident. 

Well not really . 
 

Do you think because I got poked by Randy and his hangers-on that anything pertaining to the topic prior was satisfied? 

[WRUU653]

Was there ever really a question with this thread or a point to it? Was it just an excuse to engage in argument? Question might as well have been “hey you like that crap radio you got there”? 

Thank goodness for the ignored user setting. 
 

[marcspaz]

3 minutes ago, WSAK691 said:

 

 

I thought you would be satisfied with me posting a comment based on content you so eloquently teed up. If that does work, I suppose you will have to resort to satisfying yourself. 

[WRUW493]

5 hours ago, WSAK691 said:

SINAD

As an RF engineer who has designed receivers for over 10 years, I can say that SINAD is not a receiver metric. SINAD (Signal In Noise and Distortion) is a measurement parameter to which receiver performance is measured. dBm (dB-milliwatt) is far and away the most common receiver sensitivity metric in the RF design world. Sure FM broadcast receivers are measured in dBf, (dB FemtoWatt) but that is not typical elsewhere. Actually, in the receiver world, Noise Figure (F) is the best metric as that speaks to the RF front end without impacts from the audio circuitry, see below. 

To the person who posted dBm sensitivity measurements: Surely you used some proper RF service monitor to perform this measurement. May I ask what "weighting" you used on the audio? A or C weighted? it does make a subtle difference...

Hope this helps.

 

[SvenMarbles]

10 minutes ago, WRUW493 said:

As an RF engineer who has designed receivers for over 10 years, I can say that SINAD is not a receiver metric. SINAD (Signal In Noise and Distortion) is a measurement parameter to which receiver performance is measured. dBm (dB-milliwatt) is far and away the most common receiver sensitivity metric in the RF design world. Sure FM broadcast receivers are measured in dBf, (dB FemtoWatt) but that is not typical elsewhere. Actually, in the receiver world, Noise Figure (F) is the best metric as that speaks to the RF front end without impacts from the audio circuitry, see below. 

To the person who posted dBm sensitivity measurements: Surely you used some proper RF service monitor to perform this measurement. May I ask what "weighting" you used on the audio? A or C weighted? it does make a subtle difference...

Hope this helps.

 

Generally speaking, how do you find integrated radio-on-chip receivers vs radios with multiple IF stages to be, relative to eachother?

[marcspaz]

43 minutes ago, WRUW493 said:

To the person who posted dBm sensitivity measurements: Surely you used some proper RF service monitor to perform this measurement. May I ask what "weighting" you used on the audio? A or C weighted? it does make a subtle difference...

A-weighting.  I used a Tektronix SA with a standard 1000hz.

 

Edit: I will add that I'm by no means an expert on this stuff. However, I believe A is standardized, as it's a closer representation of how we hear, vs. C is more of a peek measurement. My monitor has Z as well, but I don't think it's used that often anymore.  Does any of that sound correct? 

[WRUU653]

21 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:

Was there ever really a question with this thread or a point to it? Was it just an excuse to engage in argument? Question might as well have been “hey you like that crap radio you got there”? 

Thank goodness for the ignored user setting. 
 

Just to be clear I’m not saying it’s a crap radio. Rather that @WSAK691 doesn’t give rats ass about his initial question as he had already decided it was crap and only came here to argue. 

[SvenMarbles]

3 minutes ago, WRUU653 said:

Just to be clear I’m not saying it’s a crap radio. Rather that @WSAK691 doesn’t give rats ass about his initial question as he had already decided it was crap and only came here to argue. 

I own that. I had an agenda going in. The title of this thread should have been “I don’t think that Midland GMRS radios are that great”.

In fairness, it’s within the context of rebuttal of criticism of “Chinese radios”, from people that weren’t even here . So yeah I brought some heat that seemed like it came from nowhere.

 

[SvenMarbles]

Yikes… too many pops yesterday and got a little silly. 
 

Sorry folks.

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WSAK691 said:

Yikes… too many pops yesterday and got a little silly. 
 

Sorry folks.

Marc Spaz is one of the nicest guys on these forums. He never beats his own chest or blows his own horn. And he does have some serious technical skills. 
So when someone who has been here for months attacks him as posting something that’s “not real” and does it in a way that simply reveals his own ignorance, it’s a chickenshit move. 
Then you doubled down on it as if you were somehow an expert. 
You owe Marc a sincere apology, not “got a little silly. Sorry folks.”

Learn from your mistakes and move on. Perhaps seek counseling. If you make an honest attempt at an apology and don’t act like that again the forum members will get over it quickly. 
But, I owe you an apology also. I made fun of your name. That was a cheap shot. It was mean-spirited of me and completely unacceptable. I apologize for that. 
Steve

[WRUW493]

11 hours ago, marcspaz said:

A-weighting.  I used a Tektronix SA with a standard 1000hz.

 

Edit: I will add that I'm by no means an expert on this stuff. However, I believe A is standardized, as it's a closer representation of how we hear, vs. C is more of a peek measurement. My monitor has Z as well, but I don't think it's used that often anymore.  Does any of that sound correct? 

That is correct on A weighting. I'm not familiar with Z weighting though. Nice to hear that someone has good test equipment available. Would you by any chance have some mobiles or handhelds available to perform some comparison sensitivity testing on? There is pretty widely available TX power testing capability but RX is much less common.

 

[marcspaz]

15 minutes ago, WRUW493 said:

That is correct on A weighting. I'm not familiar with Z weighting though. Nice to hear that someone has good test equipment available. Would you by any chance have some mobiles or handhelds available to perform some comparison sensitivity testing on? There is pretty widely available TX power testing capability but RX is much less common.

 

 

At the moment, I only have an FTM-300DR, and FT3DR and an XTL5000.  I also have a radio that I can't currently disclose, as am working with the manufacturer to do some testing on it for them.  Once I get the OK to share those results, I will, though it's not GMRS related.  It would be purely for the geeks to enjoy. LOL 

 

I did order a TD-H3 to play with (thanks @OffRoaderX for the review).  I am planning on testing that one for use on the trails.  I am a trail guide for our club and I'm looking for some inexpensive loaners that also work well.  I am excited to see how that one goes.

 

For the most part, I stopped spending money on radios (both GMRS and Ham) and started focusing on building an extreme offroader.  That has sucked up most of my funds.  However, the truck is almost done.  Once I wrap it up and have extra time and cash, I may start buying some radios to test.  While his humor is an acquired taste for some, Randy is a very nice guy, knowledgeable more-so than most and I value his opinion on the equipment he reviews.  Like the TD-H3, when I do start the tech dives again, I may go through his videos and see what some of the better equipment he has tried lately and focus on those.

[WSAA254]

I went through some work on deciding between a midland or a wouxun kg-1000 plus.  In a way I would have preferred the midland, it was simpler.  The kg1000 will do more than I ever needed, however it was more flexible on software interface.  I know that technically you don't have to have "software" on a computer to "program" them, but boy it sure makes it easy.  The problem for me regarding the midland, it required a windows computer to load firmware updates,  While I could have probably/maybe figured this out using bootcamp on the mac, I just went with the wouxun and use CHIRP for programming.  The wouxun has worked out very well, but its way more than I need.  I would have been happy with the midland if there interface was easier...  Hope this helps, good luck..  All info is good info...  regards