Base station radio

[GreggInFL]

On 10/19/2024 at 1:47 PM, WSFF871 said:

Hey Gregg... I am in FL too (Nocatee)... curious what your "cheap 25W mobile" actually is  (Brand/Model)....many thx

Bobby

I settled on a Radioddity DB25-G.  Amazon had it for $89.99 a while back. I had to return the first one because it wasn't right.  The replacement seems okay so far.  I went with 25W because it would easily plug into a car's cigarette lighter and could be moved inside to a power adapter.  This is not the best set up, but for a new user like me it's perfectly adequate.  I'm told that people tend to keep buying radios, so there will be plenty of opportunities to upgrade.

[WSFC997]

2 hours ago, GreggInFL said:

I settled on a Radioddity DB25-G.  Amazon had it for $89.99 a while back. I had to return the first one because it wasn't right.  The replacement seems okay so far.  I went with 25W because it would easily plug into a car's cigarette lighter and could be moved inside to a power adapter.  This is not the best set up, but for a new user like me it's perfectly adequate.  I'm told that people tend to keep buying radios, so there will be plenty of opportunities to upgrade.

I bought the Radioddity DB20-G, during prime days, and then unlocked the frequencies using their own software, making it a DB20-GUV.  I only did it to get around the 8 repeater channel limit on this thing.  I have a ton of repeaters around here in the Phoenix area and 8 just ain't gonna cut it.  No desire to transmit on any of the HAM frequencies...  I'm still working on an antenna for the house (currently using a pizza pan with a cheap Bingfu magnetic mount UHF antenna) and I actually get better RX/TX when I'm in the car.  Anyways, new to the site and new to GMRS, but not radios in general.  

Jeff

Phoenix Area

WSFC997

[GreggInFL]

^Welcome!

[SteveShannon]

1 hour ago, WSFC997 said:

I bought the Radioddity DB20-G, during prime days, and then unlocked the frequencies using their own software, making it a DB20-GUV.  I only did it to get around the 8 repeater channel limit on this thing.  I have a ton of repeaters around here in the Phoenix area and 8 just ain't gonna cut it.  No desire to transmit on any of the HAM frequencies...  I'm still working on an antenna for the house (currently using a pizza pan with a cheap Bingfu magnetic mount UHF antenna) and I actually get better RX/TX when I'm in the car.  Anyways, new to the site and new to GMRS, but not radios in general.  

Jeff

Phoenix Area

WSFC997

Welcome, Jeff!

[TrikeRadio]

3 hours ago, WSFC997 said:

I bought the Radioddity DB20-G, during prime days, and then unlocked the frequencies using their own software, making it a DB20-GUV.  I only did it to get around the 8 repeater channel limit on this thing.  I have a ton of repeaters around here in the Phoenix area and 8 just ain't gonna cut it.

Ah... I like that. so by default you can't save any other GMRS repeater channels with different tones wihtout unlocking it? Glad to hear there is a way around it!

[WRXB215]

12 hours ago, TrikeRadio said:

Ah... I like that. so by default you can't save any other GMRS repeater channels with different tones wihtout unlocking it? Glad to hear there is a way around it!

Yep, it's sad that you have to do things like this sometimes. You shouldn't have to find a way around it. I think some of the manufacturers misinterpret the regulations. Any GMRS radio should be able to have multiple repeaters programed in with the same frequency but different tones so that as you travel, you just switch to the one you are near.

[amaff]

12 hours ago, TrikeRadio said:

Ah... I like that. so by default you can't save any other GMRS repeater channels with different tones wihtout unlocking it? Glad to hear there is a way around it!

Yeah, the channel programming is SUPER restrictive in GMRS mode.
But it's also really easy to program in the GMRS rules once it's opened up.

I also really like that it has a "TX OFF" function for each memory channel that you can set from the face of the radio, if you want to program in, say, ham frequencies that you don't usually have permissions to transmit on.

[WSFF871]

21 hours ago, GreggInFL said:

I settled on a Radioddity DB25-G.  Amazon had it for $89.99 a while back. I had to return the first one because it wasn't right.  The replacement seems okay so far.  I went with 25W because it would easily plug into a car's cigarette lighter and could be moved inside to a power adapter.  This is not the best set up, but for a new user like me it's perfectly adequate.  I'm told that people tend to keep buying radios, so there will be plenty of opportunities to upgrade.

Gregg...thx so much!!

[GreggInFL]

57 minutes ago, WSFF871 said:

Gregg...thx so much!!

You're welcome.  If I had it to do over again I would upgrade the radio to a good 40/50W unit with a Midland MXTA26 antenna.  Just depends on your budget and how much you intend to use it.

[brasda91]

@WSDE521 where do you stand with your base radio setup?

[SvenMarbles]

Regardless of what you decide to do for a permanent base antenna, I'd recommend also purchasing an N9TAX slim jim style antenna and just having it put away. With that, you can have something that is field deployable AFTER whatever type of problem rolls through and busts things up. Toss a line over a tree limb, or something high, or raise a painters pole, and get it up in the air. You can screw it into whatever handheld you have, or even your base radio if you can power it (I believe they're rated to handle 100 watts).

Also consider, for a base radio, to instead of buying a power supply box, get a 30ah Lifepo battery, a charger for it, and perhaps even a little solar power setup (harbor freight). The battery accomplishes all of the day to day powering requirements, and instead of having a power supply box plugged in, just have the battery on the plug in trickle charger all the time. This when when things go down you' have some buffer back up power time for the radio. I tested mine, and it'll run my radio with pretty heavy use for about 8 days at high power. This could probably be improved by bumping the power level of the radio down to medium or low power.