WSEL489 Posted September 13 Report Share Posted September 13 I ordered this radio after a search for a 15-20 watt mobile that I could move between my Jeep and my office. I wanted a unit that would work from a 12v outlet in the car, and also plug into my 5A lab power supply. PROS Very small Great speaker Bright color display CONS No Chirp programming, must use app from Radioddity Closer to 15 watts than 20 watts on most frequencies I will provide further feedback after I have had the chance to use it some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davichko5650 Posted September 13 Report Share Posted September 13 9 minutes ago, WSEL489 said: I ordered this radio after a search for a 15-20 watt mobile that I could move between my Jeep and my office. I wanted a unit that would work from a 12v outlet in the car, and also plug into my 5A lab power supply. PROS Very small Great speaker Bright color display CONS No Chirp programming, must use app from Radioddity Closer to 15 watts than 20 watts on most frequencies I will provide further feedback after I have had the chance to use it some. I've had mine for a couple months now. Moved it into the shack for Base use and installed a Retevis RA87 out in the mobile. I agree with the pros. As far as the Cons, I've not looked at the power output, but I've noticed better results mobile with the 40w (listed) power on the RA87. At home seems the DB20 is working just fine, power wise. Haven't found any issues using the Radioddity software, and I've found the radio is very easy to program on the unit itself. So far, very satisfied with the DB20 and the RA87 both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted September 14 Report Share Posted September 14 19 hours ago, WSEL489 said: I ordered this radio after a search for a 15-20 watt mobile that I could move between my Jeep and my office. I wanted a unit that would work from a 12v outlet in the car, and also plug into my 5A lab power supply. PROS Very small Great speaker Bright color display CONS No Chirp programming, must use app from Radioddity Closer to 15 watts than 20 watts on most frequencies I will provide further feedback after I have had the chance to use it some. You fotgot the most important PRO: $99-$109! I bought a second one for use in my home with a rooftop antenna and irrespective of what output a wattmeter may claim; my range simplex and to distant repeaters far surpasses my expectations There is a large user base of the Radioddity DB20-G a/k/a Anytone AT-779UV on this Forum. WRUU653 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRXP381 Posted September 14 Report Share Posted September 14 The 5w difference from 20-15 won’t matter at all for distance specially if hooked to a good antenna with good coax. It’s the height (line of sight) and radiated power from the antenna that really matter. Heck a 5w hand held cam radiate over 70w from the tip of the right antenna and coax. SteveShannon and WRYZ926 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYZ926 Posted September 14 Report Share Posted September 14 4 hours ago, WRXP381 said: The 5w difference from 20-15 won’t matter at all for distance specially if hooked to a good antenna with good coax. It’s the height (line of sight) and radiated power from the antenna that really matter. Heck a 5w hand held cam radiate over 70w from the tip of the right antenna and coax. This is very true. I didn't notice any difference between my Wouxun KG-XS20G (20 W) versus my Wouxun KG-1000G or Midland MXT500 when hooked up to my base antenna and talking to people on the repeater. They couldn't tell a difference on their end either. The base of my Comet CA-712EFC is 20 feet above the ground and I am using 30 feet of LMR400 coax to the outside wall and another 15 feet of LMR400 inside the shack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSEL489 Posted September 16 Author Report Share Posted September 16 I forgot to mention that I was able to get the radio for $87. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveShannon Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 Some radios have S-meters which display the signal strength. For most people there is a somewhat noticeable audible difference between each number. Although radio S-meters are not precisely calibrated, generally speaking (and a question on the ham test ) one unit difference on an S meter correlates to 6 dB. What that means is that if 40 watts gets to S9, 10 watts gets to S8. WRUU653, RayDiddio, WRYZ926 and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davichko5650 Posted September 16 Report Share Posted September 16 1 hour ago, SteveShannon said: Although radio S-meters are not precisely calibrated, generally speaking Way back my then Elmers taught me that a good signal report is not based on what you see on a meter, but what your ear holes hear or can't. Similar to my Army days, you either got a "read you 5 by 5, Lima Charlie" or a "say again, you are weak and unreadable" (one we used a lot when doing Electronic Countermeasures on ID Ten Tee's). Or, just go Contest Mode, where er'body gets a solid 59! WRYZ926, RayDiddio and SteveShannon 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted Monday at 09:35 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 09:35 PM I may have said this before, but I added to my Radioddity DB20-G and Anytone AT-779UV; a Radioddity DB25-D. In effect this is a DMR version of these radios with the same analog capabilities with the addition of DMR worldwide capability for a reasonable price ($180-$210) SteveShannon 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYZ926 Posted Tuesday at 04:19 PM Report Share Posted Tuesday at 04:19 PM 22 hours ago, Davichko5650 said: Similar to my Army days, you either got a "read you 5 by 5, Lima Charlie" or a "say again, you are weak and unreadable" (one we used a lot when doing Electronic Countermeasures on ID Ten Tee's). We use to mess with the ID10T's all the time. My favorite was to fire up the PTO driven generator on my 5 ton machine shop truck. That generator would jam all comms equipment within a 150 foot radius. And we can't forget the good old classic of sending NUG's for a can of squelch. On subject. Any good 15 -25 watt radio will work just fine when good coax and a good antenna is used. The best thing is to get the antenna as high as you can for a base station. And try to get a good ground plane under your mobile antenna. This even benefits the no ground plane type mobile antennas too. Davichko5650 and SteveShannon 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSDT638 Posted Wednesday at 04:11 AM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 04:11 AM My first base. I think I paid $100 out the door on Amazon too. A high school buddy from many years ago moved to my town and got me into GMRS a little over a month ago. I currently have it in my Toyota Corolla with a Nayoga antenna. For what it is, and what it does, I am impressed, and I am brand new to this. I have a 30watt power supply for my garage setup that I am planning, but I need to get an antenna, I am thinking the Tram 1480. I may move the DB20 back to the garage every now and again but really want a 50watt for the garage, so I can keep the DB20 in the car. I'd recommend it with the antenna I have. I have had no issues as of this post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRPL700 Posted Wednesday at 11:07 AM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 11:07 AM I have one of my two DB-20Gs in a go box with 12ah battery. Mine puts out about 18 watts. It is a great little radio for the price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveShannon Posted Wednesday at 11:24 AM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 11:24 AM I have two of the db20g radios. I like almost everything about it: small, easy to use, powerful enough. What I don’t like is the fact that you cannot use Chirp or RT Systems, and the software provided by Radioddity doesn’t allow imports, and copying and pasting doesn’t work the way I want. Also, this is probably the most frustrating: once you have a configuration file created, you cannot change the frequency range in the CPS to another, even if all of the channels you’ve programmed are well within both of the ranges. There’s a range of channels that goes up to 470 MHz. There’s another range that’s higher in the list of available ranges that goes to 490 MHz. A program file written for one range cannot be used for the other and changing the range in the settings wipes out all the channels you’ve created. RayDiddio and WRUU653 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRXB215 Posted Wednesday at 02:04 PM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 02:04 PM @SteveShannon sounds like you would be better off with the AnyTone AT 778 UV. Cost just a little more but it's a nice radio. WRUU653 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveShannon Posted Wednesday at 02:09 PM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 02:09 PM 2 minutes ago, WRXB215 said: @SteveShannon sounds like you would be better off with the AnyTone AT 778 UV. Cost just a little more but it's a nice radio. I’m thinking I’ll be better with something like a Yaesu ftm300. But I already have these two DB20G radios that are great go box radios. I just need to pay closer attention before I start building a configuration file. WRYZ926, WRXB215 and WRUU653 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYZ926 Posted Wednesday at 05:42 PM Report Share Posted Wednesday at 05:42 PM The small 20 watt mobiles are nice for go boxes. I have a Wouxun KG-XS20G that I might put into a go box if it doesn't go in the wife's car. WRUU653 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwilkers Posted Thursday at 04:39 PM Report Share Posted Thursday at 04:39 PM I use a 20 watt radio as my home radio. Works great. Power does not need to be 50 watts to be effective Sent from my SM-S911U1 using Tapatalk RayDiddio, AdmiralCochrane, WRXP381 and 3 others 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRUQ357 Posted 3 hours ago Report Share Posted 3 hours ago I just bought a db20 and gm-30 combo on Amazon for $109. I'm going to move my MXT275 to my truck and put the db20 in my jeep. The MXT275 fits in the map pocket next to my right knee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted 26 minutes ago Report Share Posted 26 minutes ago 2 hours ago, WRUQ357 said: I just bought a db20 and gm-30 combo on Amazon for $109. I'm going to move my MXT275 to my truck and put the db20 in my jeep. The MXT275 fits in the map pocket next to my right knee. Did Midland ever fix those units to be able to run WideBand FM instead of the default Narrow Band? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WRYS709 Posted 23 minutes ago Report Share Posted 23 minutes ago Somewhere on the Forum somebody posted a Template in Python that he claimed would allow you to merge a CSV file into the Radioddity DB20-G software so as to make programming somewhat akin to CHIRP! I downloaded the Python template, but I have reached the point of my life where I do not like to research something that I will only do once. SO: not knowing how to program Python, I am a bit reticent to study up all the time it would take to learn to run Python on either my Mac or in Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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