A friend of mine spent months narrow banding all of the fire and ambulance equipment in the area before the end of the year - and the splatter box ICOM stuff is not my favorite brand. The wide band equipment sticks out now - like a sore thumb!Īnd the scanner people can hear the difference right off the bat - because his signal is twice as loud as the police on analog. Unlike amateur radio - where there is little rules and even less enforcement, with public service radio equipment, it was mandated a number of years ago to be narrow banded. It's just a matter of time before he gets caught. There will come a day when he will transmit and someone will hear him and they will come looking for him. As with most people - he didn't listen to me. I suggested that he leave police frequencies out - due to the fact that it would be easy to forget and try to transmit on those frequencies. I have a friend that has an old Icom mobile dual band that did not have any limits. The radio needs to be either or and not both. To put in my own two cents - what you are asking is against the rules per the Part 97 and 95. Most all new transceivers will do what you ask, if you don't ask it to do it on the same antenna. The Kenwood doesn't have an option for disabling TX on a channel by channel basis I've been told.
But does anyone know of a dual band that can be easily switched in and out of extended transmit like the V71A, but not require a reload of the programming? I’m guessing all will require a reset, but asking just in case.Īn alternative, would be a dual band that is easily modified permanently, but the software can disable transmit on a channel by channel basis. Hence the reason I like the idea of adding a switch to the cut wire, rather than just cutting it and running it extended all the time. Not that big of deal since I can easily re-load all programming via software, but would rather not have to if possible.įor my use, I only need the extended transmit for limited periods, and wish to run the radio normally most of the time. However, it requires a radio reset which requires re-programming the radio to go between the normal and extended TX. I know the Kenwood V71A could be modified as such due to its easy wire cut mod, so adding a switch would be a piece of cake to enable and disable the mod.
I would prefer the extended TX mod to be easily switched on/off if possible.
For TX+RX, I need something with a better receiver circuit.I’m hoping someone can help me with a specific recommendation on a dual band 2m/70cm, with extended receive, and an easy modification to extend the TX range. Searching the net indicates this is a common problem with BaoFengs.įor TX-only missions, the BaoFeng is great. I notice the same in the car, RX seems fine for a while but then stops receiving. Usually they matched, but once BaoFeng overloaded, it wouldn't unsquelch/demodulate anything for a while. I tested BaoFeng+AprsDroid side by side against SDR+Gqrx.
I already used CHIRP to update the Squelch sensitivity.
The receiver (frontend circuit) on BaoFeng gets overloaded in San Jose, CA (metropolitan area) and at times fails to receive a lot of packets. It should be no worse from an aircraft even with a Nagoya NA-771 near the window.ī) TX+RX: reliably receive messages (WXBOX, SMSGTE or my own APRS-IS client at home). With a magnetic base UT-72 Nagoya on car roof, I get 20mi tx range in San Jose, CA. ^^^ upper bound of what I'm willing to spend.Ī) TX-only: send APRS position updates from tablet which I already have for navigation and ADSB-in:ĪprsDroid with BaoFeng 8W and voice-ptt circuit works great for this. Or do I need to reach for a higher shelf for: Clunky UI or no Programming/CHIRP support is not a problem, as I need only 144.390 :) Battery life doesn't matter, as normally it would be on 12V aircraft power. Which Chinese HT has the best frontend circuit?Īs long this radio has TRSS plug for my voice-ptt circuit and a good non-overloading frontend for receiving, it would be an big improvement over BaoFeng for my mission. flat tire in backcountry but not for "real" rescue for which I have a 406mhz PLB). I'm a pilot and I got my Technical to use APRS for position tracking and to call for help (ie.