P1000 Ham Radio / Comms Installation

[Remote]

This is more than likely a install/grounding issue. The antenna and the radio must be grounded.

Plus 1000 on that! Sometimes I ground my grounds.

 

[Admin]

 

[elkaholic]

FWIW,

This is more than likely a install/grounding issue. The antenna and the radio must be grounded. Also being a Jeep guy myself most all off us like to mount the
in the back between the tailgate and spare tire giving you only a couple of inches for the radio signal (not good at all) not to mention the SWR that bounces back in the middle of 2 metal objects. Get an extension pole to raise the antenna while using the radio, put a metal plate (that should also be grounded) on the roof with a magnetic antenna to take on & off, or search Jeep accy’s for attractive front fender mounts that you can put the antenna and cubed lights on.

Changing the radio “might” help a little, not likely much. If you don’t ground the radio & antenna and set your SWR you’ll eventually ruin whatever radio you have regardless of quality.

Good luck man,

My antenna is mounted on the left front fender to hood with a grounded bracket. SWR is 1.25 on 2m and 1.3 on 70cm. The radio plain sucks. My Yaesu handheld has better reception and transmission than the TYT 7800 and Diamond antenna

I have tuned this thing as best I can and am ready to throw in the towel.

BTW this is on a Gladiator. On other Jeeps, I always mounted to a pole on the tailgate that put the top of the spring just below the line of the top and used an NGP antenna or raised the pole a little and added radials ...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[elkaholic]

Plus 1000 on that! Sometimes I ground my grounds.

See my other post. Not an install issue. I believe it is either a radio design issue or a “not so good” radio. Either way shipping the thing back to China is not worth it.

My install on the Jeep (note o do t have a picture with the current antenna - this was the initial fender mount antenna). Glass mount is a Larsen UHF tuned for my Midland MXT400 GMRS




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Remote]

Could be QC component issues. Knowing a few engineers and specifiers that do manufacturing in China holding source vendors feet to the fire on specs. Is a constant battle. It's seemingly almost like a game with them. We have the same type issues with control boards on CHICOM HVAC stuff (no we don't even sell that crap, we do get stuck on occasion trying to make it work). Identical units, often sitting next to each other will work either very well or constantly be down. You just throw parts at them until,, hopefully they work or fail in a manner that you stop loss and trash them. Even with random lot testing, there are vendors who will slip defective non spec parts into a board assembly and play the odds that it will not get caught.

I was reading some reviews on Amazon on a Beofang GMRS radio and there are quite a few just died and quite a few works awesome reviews. China gear.....pay your money and take your chances. Know that up front. All said, the CHICOMS are quite capable of a good product if you can filter out the cheating.

 

[Eldorado]

I agree with all of your comments here. Kenwood does make a nice handheld APRS capable transceiver but it is a bit spendy


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have the APRS capable (portable) Kenwood HT TH-74, thought about a mobile in my P-3 but decided to go portable instead. I use a design specific Pelican case to store it in when not in use.
Let us know what you decide and if you have any questions.

 

[elkaholic]

Could be QC component issues. Knowing a few engineers and specifiers that do manufacturing in China holding source vendors feet to the fire on specs. Is a constant battle. It's seemingly almost like a game with them. We have the same type issues with control boards on CHICOM HVAC stuff (no we don't even sell that crap, we do get stuck on occasion trying to make it work). Identical units, often sitting next to each other will work either very well or constantly be down. You just throw parts at them until,, hopefully they work or fail in a manner that you stop loss and trash them. Even with random lot testing, there are vendors who will slip defective non spec parts into a board assembly and play the odds that it will not get caught.

I was reading some reviews on Amazon on a Beofang GMRS radio and there are quite a few just died and quite a few works awesome reviews. China gear.....pay your money and take your chances. Know that up front. All said, the CHICOMS are quite capable of a good product if you can filter out the cheating.

Yes they are.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[elkaholic]

I have the APRS capable (portable) Kenwood HT TH-74, thought about a mobile in my P-3 but decided to go portable instead. I use a design specific Pelican case to store it in when not in use.
Let us know what you decide and if you have any questions.

That is what I was looking for but it has been discontinued due to the chip factory fire and they cannot get the required chips. I have a Yaesu FT3Dr HT that works nicely and does well on APRS.

I’ll probably bite the bullet and buy a Yaesu FTM-300DR for the Jeep


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Smitty335]

Yes they are.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You going to the TO? How's Cam?

 

[HondaRed16]

See my other post. Not an install issue. I believe it is either a radio design issue or a “not so good” radio. Either way shipping the thing back to China is not worth it.

My install on the Jeep (note o do t have a picture with the current antenna - this was the initial fender mount antenna). Glass mount is a Larsen UHF tuned for my Midland MXT400 GMRS

View attachment 260955


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice. Those are very clean installs, you need to be teaching us!
I have the TH8600 on mine and other friends, they work well for us. I’d also suggest you have a bad radio. I stand corrected and certainly meant no critique. My apologies.

 

[elkaholic]

Nice. Those are very clean installs, you need to be teaching us!
I have the TH8600 on mine and other friends, they work well for us. I’d also suggest you have a bad radio. I stand corrected and certainly meant no critique. My apologies.

No worries ... and I sell these so I try to make my installs showpieces of what I can supply and or install if local to me ..


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[elkaholic]

You going to the TO? How's Cam?

I wish. The timing simply won’t work for me this year


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PropsR4Boats]

Hi guys. I’m extremely new to Ham radios. I did my test this past Sunday. Anyway. I have a tyt th-8600 installed in the 1000-5 with a BR-136 that I purchased from Offroad communications (Elkaholic) has be awesome to deal with. I figured I should bug other people with questions then just him 😂. Pic attached is my antenna install. As Elkaholic warned me about when I turn on rear lights I can not receive transmissions. Witch I figured would be manageable however, when I turn in 50” light bar on front of the rig it stops receiving as well. Any idea on different mounting locations and as to why it cuts out with lights on?

Thanks in advance Props

 

[elkaholic]

The issue is the LEDs. Most reasonably priced LEDs are very noisy from an RF perspective. This Radio Frequency (RF) radiation will very often make any radio reception (two way, commercial broadcast, etc.) difficult at best. It will also screw with transmission

The only cure I know of is good LEDs or mounting the antenna 15-20 feet away (pretty tough to do). Shielded antenna cable and or capacitors / noise filters on the power connections to radio can sometimes help but in general won’t eliminate the issue ...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PropsR4Boats]

Thank you Sir. So don’t get lost and stuck at night where I need good lights. 👍. I’m very happy so far with the setup. I’m reaching a Repeater 44km away. Oh buy the way. I lost the big set screw from the antenna. Do you happen to know what size it was?

 

[elkaholic]

Thank you Sir. So don’t get lost and stuck at night where I need good lights. . I’m very happy so far with the setup. I’m reaching a Repeater 44km away. Oh buy the way. I lost the big set screw from the antenna. Do you happen to know what size it was?

I do not but I do have one of those antennas and I’ll see if I can figure out what size it is. It may be next week before I can do it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[PropsR4Boats]

No that’s ok. My father-in-law has the same antenna. I’ll steal his 😂. Lock tight is on the rest of them now.

 

[annoyed]

Realized I never posted an update.... got everything installed a while ago. Radio works great, I’ve hit some repeaters over 50 miles away when driving in some mountains.

Antenna is folded so it doesn’t hit the garage door or the storage rack above the door.

Used a magnetic mic mount for the mic. Have one in my truck and am a huge fan.

also replaced the mic with a simple unit without a ton of buttons. Keep the complicated one in a sealed bag if I need it for programming

 

[thashane]

Hi guys. I’m extremely new to Ham radios. I did my test this past Sunday. Anyway. I have a tyt th-8600 installed in the 1000-5 with a BR-136 that I purchased from Offroad communications (Elkaholic) has be awesome to deal with. I figured I should bug other people with questions then just him 😂. Pic attached is my antenna install. As Elkaholic warned me about when I turn on rear lights I can not receive transmissions. Witch I figured would be manageable however, when I turn in 50” light bar on front of the rig it stops receiving as well. Any idea on different mounting locations and as to why it cuts out with lights on?

Thanks in advance Props

View attachment 263940

I'd make sure everything is grounded. I use a multimeter and check for continuity on an unpainted surface on a bolt head, or other.
Check the: radio chasis (body), and antenna mount. Not sure if the radio power supply is grounded directly to the battery, but if the lights are also grounded to the battery, I would separate them. If the radio positive isn't wired directly to the battery, I would. While you're checking, make sure the antenna itself, has no continuity to ground.
On my tractor I use some 3m earmuffs that have FM radio. The tractor has cheap Amazon leds. As soon as I turn on the lights, the earmuffs pick up a ton noise (static) from the lights, and that's at 3ft away. On my YXZ with PCI intercom, and kenwood 2m, the cheap leds would generate a ton of noise, which convinced me to upgrade to baja design sports - no noise- very bright.

 

[Ugly]

I have had good luck with Kenwood and Garmin. Remember that in some places you will not get good GPRS locks (12-15 satellites). Are you planning on running on the dunes out west or on the east cost where there are mountains and valleys where we ride our SXS, Are you near any 2M repeaters that can help on distance? I also heard that Yaesu (VX-8DR)has a digital APRS system. Not familiar with the technology but Yaesu has a very good reputation in the ham community. That might be work a look also. Have you checked some of the comments on QRZ.COM? Might be some help there also. I think a 2M radio is a better choice than the FRS radios but as you know, you need a license. I wonder about GMRS when you can use more than 3W on transmit and there are some (limited) repeaters? KB9RVJ.

 

[Haldog77]

Yes, for the price point, the 8600 is quite nice and the only waterproof unit I have seen. Their only weakness of the microphone - I’ve had about a 10% failure rate so I keep spares on hand for customers.

I have been trying a 7800 in my Jeep and I am not impressed ... guess I will double the cost and get a Yaesu for it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hey brother of the air ways, how would I know if my mic is bad? This past w/e in Mena, AR I could hear just fine but no one could hear me. How can I test it?