marcspaz

Hey folks, we are hosting a get-together on Sunday, July 13th starting at 02:00 PM at Carrabba's Italian Grill in Centreville, VA. We will meet in the main lot and spend some time socializing and working with anyone who may need some guidance on their gear. When everyone is hungry, we can head inside for some ice cold beverages and some food. As always, this will be a family-friendly event. Feel free to bring family and friends. Any questions, just post them below! https://www.facebook.com/events/744340581470568/?active_tab=discussion https://locations.carrabbas.com › Virginia › Centreville 5805 Trinity Pkwy Centreville, VA 20120

Just remember the corner caps are plastic. You should have the mount forward on the hood about 6 or 7 inches for a good ground plane.

Couple quick pics. Ignore the body damage.. it my offroader.

I wouldn't put 2 fuses, but i would relocate the one that came with it to no more than 18 inches from the battery. The closer, the better.

Fiber or fabric roof. That's not an option. For a fiber roof, mounting some type if reflector for a ground plane doesn't work. The material is too thick for it to be inside and it's ribbed up top, which adds a whole new level of aggravation.

If you are mounting an antenna that large, i would drill a hole in the top of the bed rail over the tail light and hard-mount a UHF mount. (Or NMO). The only other option would be to use a lip mount on the hood. Something like this... ot the Diamond version. https://www.cometantenna.com/product/coment-hd-5m-heavy-duty-rs-840-lip-mount-w-dlx-166-coax-gold-uhf-conns/ I'll take a couple pictures of mine in about an hour and show you what I have (both) for GMRS and Amateur Radio

I wonder if being in a metal rack is helping with shielding. Unfortunately that isn't something I can try in the field. At one point, I did run a 3 foot grounding rod and made sure the case of the radio was well grounded, but that didn't do any good either.

Here are a few sweeps of one of my band-pass filters. I'm confident the filter works fine with about -60dB of attenuation on the other bands. The assumption is that key parts of the radio are not shielded well enough. 10m 20m 40m 80m

They don't help with the IC-7300. If there was a radio within a half mile pushing more than 1w and they were on a frequency below me, I couldn't hear anything but that radio. I made two for 20m and ended up buying a third that was a high dollar commercially made and none of them worked. I ever skipped a patch cable and used a double male barrel connector direct to the radio and the filter did nothing. They all looked great on the analyzer, but the radio just lacks the proper shielding in the IF circuits or some other critical part of the system. Never did figure it out. Just started using mt FT-891 for contesting with the group, since it has a native amp keyer.

My two favorite HF radios for newer operators and for people who aren't DX contest junkies are the Yaesu FT-991A and the iCom IC-7300. The Yaesu includes 160m through 70cm (all bands, all modes) and the IC-7300 covers 160m to 6m (all bands, all modes). My personal opinion, the IC-7300 has much better receive sensitivity, but it is more prone to interference because of it. It is almost impossible to use in a group for things like contests or Field Day, but its great if you typically use it at home or with no other operators around. The FT-991A is truly a "Shack in a Box". Good at everything, not great at anything. If you have any interest in 2m or 70cm SSB, its a good choice and one of the few "new" radios that support it. Otherwise you are paying original retail or more for used radios that have been discontinued a decade or more. For example, I have an IC-7000 that was discontinued in 2014. Last known retail price when on sale was $900 from HRO. They are for sale today for between $900 and $1,100 depending on if they have the head separation kit or not.

Also, they are going by what is at the antenna connector of the chassis. "Output Power listed is conducted power." Conducted Power: This refers to the RF (Radio Frequency) power that is supplied by the transmitter to its antenna, measured at the point where the cable connects to the antenna. This is different from radiated power, which is the power emitted into the air from the antenna. Based on what I read from Cornell, the FCC's definition of "conducted power" primarily refers to the total transmit power delivered to all antennas and antenna elements when the transmitter is operating at its maximum power control level. This is also referred to as "maximum conducted output power."

I found the authorization... it took a few minutes between meetings. LOL What is wild is, the FCC authorization only seems to be valid if the user is operating with a maximum of ZERO dBi gain antenna, unless I am reading this incorrectly. I mean, it says "should" not "must"... so I don't know the correct answer. There is nothing in the rules about antenna gain. Where is my FCC enforcement guy? We know you read this stuff... LOL. Can the FCC legally put a limit on one-off stuff like that without going through a PRM process and an update to the rules? Seems odd. https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/tcb/reports/Tcb731GrantForm.cfm?mode=COPY&RequestTimeout=500&tcb_code=&application_id=MjZkkijyA8IfBeMCZsYVMw%3D%3D&fcc_id=2AGNDGMRSRPT50 TCB GRANT OF EQUIPMENT AUTHORIZATION TCB Certification Issued Under the Authority of the Federal Communications Commission By: MiCOM Labs 575 Boulder Court Pleasanton, CA 94566 Date of Grant: 12/15/2023 Application Dated: 12/15/2023 BTECH (BaoFeng Tech) 702 N Industrial Ave Arlington, SD 57212 Attention: Greg Wilson , NOT TRANSFERABLE EQUIPMENT AUTHORIZATION is hereby issued to the named GRANTEE, and is VALID ONLY for the equipment identified hereon for use under the Commission's Rules and Regulations listed below. FCC IDENTIFIER: 2AGNDGMRSRPT50 Name of Grantee: BTECH (BaoFeng Tech) Equipment Class: Licensed Non-Broadcast Station Transmitter Notes: GMRS Repeater Grant Notes FCC Rule Parts Frequency Range (MHZ) Output Watts Frequency Tolerance Emission Designator 95E 462.55 - 462.725 46.7735 1.097 PM 16K0F3E Output Power listed is conducted power. The transmitter has maximum duty factor of 50 %. This device is authorized to operate in the following radio services: GMRS (Part 95E). There must be an informational insert inside the box (product package) or the Users Manual must include information that clearly informs the consumer (buyer/owner) when the radio is transmitting on GMRS frequencies, that operation on GMRS frequencies requires an FCC license and such operation is subject to additional rules specified in 47 C.F.R. Part 95. The ant gain used should be 0dBi as max,The device with it's antenna must be installed to provide a separation distance of at least 114cm from all persons. End users and installers must be provided with antenna installation instructions and transmitter operating conditions for satisfying RF exposure compliance.

I think you are correct, in that what the FCC care about is everything is in one chassis, and what transmit power is coming out of the chassis. Not necessarily the PA output power.

I can find this stuff... but nothing I can open. Not sure where the actual letter and artifacts are. https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/eas/reports/ViewExhibitReport.cfm?mode=Sum&calledFromFrame=N&RequestTimeout=500&application_id=MjZkkijyA8IfBeMCZsYVMw%3D%3D&fcc_id=2AGNDGMRSRPT50

Steve, the FCC gave the repeater type certification based on the output of the duplexer because the duplexer is inside the chassis and considered and internal part of the radio... part of the design. https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/2AGNDGMRSRPT50 I am trying to find the official FCC cert, but that is the reference I found so far.