Something to think about

[WRUI365]

Sometimes you need a outside source to help you make decisions on what you going to do. Maybe this will help or maybe not. 

 

 

[WRKC935]

GRID DOWN!!!!!! GRID DOWN!!!!!

[AdmiralCochrane]

Stopped in less than 5 minutes of his hour long video when he said power can overcome line of sight. If you want to be taken seriously you just CANNOT tell people this.

[LeoG]

To a point you can.  But GMRS limited to 50 watts it's not going to get you much farther.

[WRXB215]

Power and Line Of Sight is not straight forward enough for a blanket statement. Which is why so many answers are prefaced with "it depends."

[RIPPER238]

Yeah, outside sources got me thinking of a Kenwood TH-D75. lol

[WRUI365]

Already have D75A, waiting for Kenwood triband mobile to come out next year.

[AdmiralCochrane]

On 12/10/2024 at 6:08 PM, WRUI365 said:

Already have D75A, waiting for Kenwood triband mobile to come out next year.

If it doesn't have 15w or more on 1.25m, it's just another meh

[WRYZ926]

1 hour ago, AdmiralCochrane said:

If it doesn't have 15w or more on 1.25m, it's just another meh

The problem with most 50 watt tri-band radios is that they will only do 5 watts max on 1.25m. And HT's will be more like 1 watt or 2 watts on 1.25m. That's why I will not buy a tri-band radio. And right now the only two mono band 50 watt 1.25m mobile radios available is the Alinco DR-CS25T or the TYT TH-9000. And there is the 30 watt Bridgecom BCM-220. But none of those three radios get the best reviews, especially on e-ham.

It's a darn if you do and darn if you don't thing with 1.25m mono band radios. The big 3 manufacturers don't make them because there is not much of a demand. And no one wants to use 1.25m in most areas because no one makes a good 1.25m mobile.

I would use a tri band if we could get at least 20 watts on 1.25m or even a mono band radio if a good quality one was available new.

[wrci350]

19 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

 And right now the only two mono band 50 watt 1.25m mobile radios available is the Alinco DR-CS25T or the TYT TH-9000. And there is the 30 watt Bridgecom BCM-220. But none of those three radios get the best reviews, especially on e-ham.

I actually have all three and the Alinco is the one that's in my shack ... the others are in their boxes.  I really like it.  It only has three reviews on e-ham (two 4 and one 5) so I think that's pretty good.

As far as HTs go, Kenwood has a history of putting out tri-banders that do full power on 220 (TH-F6A, TH-D74A, TH-D75A) so I"m hopeful that the mobile will do that too.

Pretty sure the TYT TH-350 does 5w on all three bands too.  I had one and it's a decent radio, IMHO a notch above some of the other CCRs.

The Yaesu VX-6R *does* fit into the "lower power on 220" category though, and that's kept me from buying one.  So far.

[WRYZ926]

Good to know about the Alinco. I'll keep that in mind.

[AdmiralCochrane]

I have an older mono 50 watt Alinco I bought used just because new 1.25's with decent power are hard to come by.  Don't skip it just because you can't buy new

[wayoverthere]

2 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

The problem with most 50 watt tri-band radios is that they will only do 5 watts max on 1.25m. And HT's will be more like 1 watt or 2 watts on 1.25m.

That's one of the big things that kept me from getting a triband mobile. I have a couple handhelds that do, the wouxun is 5 watts, 2m/1.25m, and the yaesu vx7r does 300mW, iirc (220 was unadvertised for that reason, from what I read...it also has the standard 2m/70cm, and 6m.

I kick myself for not grabbing a uv920p (wouxun) when they were available, as there was a 2m/1.25 variant with 50 watts each. But for the amount of activity, it was hard to justify the cost of that or the Alinco, plus an antenna. 

The less expensive route I went was one of the Btech amps, to kick the power out of the handheld to 30 or so watts.

[WRYZ926]

The lack of activity on the 1.25m band in my area is another reason why I have not bought a 1.25m radio. I do have the Wouxun KG-Q10H quad band. 

Here are the power output levels on the KG-Q10H using a Surecom SW-102 into a dummy load.

1.25m - 1.4 to 1.6 watts

2m - 4.5 to 5.1 watts

MURS - 1.4 to 1.8 watts

70cm - 4.1 to 4.5 watts

GMRS -  4.1 to 4.6 watts

6m - 1.0 to 1.3 watts

Power output will vary slightly depending on the frequency/channel on each band. And output levels are what I expected on each band. Tri band and quad band radios are a compromise. A mono band for 1.25 and 6m is ideal for the max power output on mobile radios.

[Lscott]

The 1.25M band is sort of ignored by a lot of Hams. Most of it having to do with the fact the allocation is in ITU region 2, basically North America. Due to that few of the major manufactures make equipment for it.

I only know of two that make radios with digital modes that will operate on the band, Kenwood TH-D74A and TH-D75A for D-Star, and Anytone D578 radios for DMR with the proper band settings. Don't try using the D878.

[WRUU653]

2 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

The lack of activity on the 1.25m band in my area is another reason why I have not bought a 1.25m radio. I do have the Wouxun KG-Q10H quad band. 

Here are the power output levels on the KG-Q10H using a Surecom SW-102 into a dummy load.

1.25m - 1.4 to 1.6 watts

2m - 4.5 to 5.1 watts

MURS - 1.4 to 1.8 watts

70cm - 4.1 to 4.5 watts

GMRS -  4.1 to 4.6 watts

6m - 1.0 to 1.3 watts

Power output will vary slightly depending on the frequency/channel on each band. And output levels are what I expected on each band. Tri band and quad band radios are a compromise. A mono band for 1.25 and 6m is ideal for the max power output on mobile radios.

I have similar numbers on my Q10H except I was higher on 1.25m at around 2.5 and slightly lower than you on 6m at .85, I’m not sure my battery was at 100% but probably close. 

[WRYZ926]

My battery was showing 99% when I tested.

[wrci350]

The post mentioning DMR and the Anytone AT-D578 reminded my of another radio that fits in the "lower power on 220" category:  Alinco DR-MD520, which is the tr-band version of the DR-MD500 DMR radio.  (If you ever see them side-by-side you'll quickly discover that they are cousins to the D578.)

The MD520 will do 55 watts on 2 meters, 40 on 70cm, but only 5 watts on 220.

[wayoverthere]

4 hours ago, Lscott said:

The 1.25M band is sort of ignored by a lot of Hams. Most of it having to do with the fact the allocation is in ITU region 2, basically North America. Due to that few of the major manufactures make equipment for it..

Kind of a chicken and the egg...less use because of less equipment, but less equipment because of the double whammy of less traffic and NA being the only market for 220.

Edit: this gave me the nudge to go ahead and email BTWR about future availability of that UV920p. Maybe if we can show some interest we'll get another run?

Edit#2:heard back from BTWR, indicating the 220 version is discontinued the remote head would be a big win. Too bad the uv980 can't trade 10m for 1.25

Edited December 13 by wayoverthere
update with email response

[AdmiralCochrane]

This.  You have to buy radios and use them or there is no traffic on the band.  Be one of the few - next thing you know, you will be one of some, then one of many.