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New Remtronix 800 took pin right out of radio

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jzarick

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My G5 radio is about 2 weeks old. Works great here in Loveland CO. The stock antenna that came with the radio works great but I figured I would try this remtronix 800 out. I screwed it in till it stopped. Listened to a few transmissions to check signal strength to compare to stock antenna and when I unscrewed the rem 800 the pin came out with it. I got the needle nose pliers and gently put it back in. I can screw the stock antenna on and off and the pin stays in. My reception is the same so nothing was lossed but I’m a little weary using the rem800 now. Any one else have this problem and if not beware you don’t lose the pin when changing antennas. Can a replacement pin be ordered if necessary
 
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cpetraglia

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Sounds to me like the pin broke off. It's part the sma connector. From this point I highly recommend you get an antenna connector adapter to the type of your choice, screw it in tight with your loose pin and never remove it. The alternative is send it in for a repair.

I used an sma to bnc adapter from day one. Never had a problem. This takes the stress and continued use away from the radio's antenna jack.
 

iMONITOR

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Anyone know why Unication chose to use the vulnerable SMA antenna connector?

I think the SMA connector is the worst choice for a scanner radio antenna. What compelled manufactures to go with it, other than cost, I have no idea. They're very fragile, and wear quickly. There doesn't seem to be a firm standard for SMA as demonstrated by the one used on the SDS100 which doesn't fit well with most antennas and even SMA-BNC adapters. I have an SMA on my favorite scanner, BCD436HP and I hate it. I use the BNC adapter always.

Uniden stayed with a BNC connector on their excellent BCD325P2, BC75XLT, and BC125AT scanners and they're some of the smallest they make. So it can't be a size preference.
 

boatbod

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Anyone know why Unication chose to use the vulnerable SMA antenna connector?

I think the SMA connector is the worst choice for a scanner radio antenna. What compelled manufactures to go with it, other than cost, I have no idea. They're very fragile, and wear quickly. There doesn't seem to be a firm standard for SMA as demonstrated by the one used on the SDS100 which doesn't fit well with most antennas and even SMA-BNC adapters. I have an SMA on my favorite scanner, BCD436HP and I hate it. I use the BNC adapter always.

Uniden stayed with a BNC connector on their excellent BCD325P2, BC75XLT, and BC125AT scanners and they're some of the smallest they make. So it can't be a size preference.
Theae pagers are NOT designed to be scanner radios. Just because they happen to work that way if programmed correctly is just a bonus. The vast majority of users are never going to remove the stock antenna.
 

jzarick

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Theae pagers are NOT designed to be scanner radios. Just because they happen to work that way if programmed correctly is just a bonus. The vast majority of users are never going to remove the stock antenna.
well I wont be removing the stock antenna. It performs better with the stock antenna than does my outside antenna connected to my Uniden536.
 

LEH

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My G5 radio is about 2 weeks old. Works great here in Loveland CO. The stock antenna that came with the radio works great but I figured I would try this remtronix 800 out. I screwed it in till it stopped. Listened to a few transmissions to check signal strength to compare to stock antenna and when I unscrewed the rem 800 the pin came out with it. I got the needle nose pliers and gently put it back in. I can screw the stock antenna on and off and the pin stays in. My reception is the same so nothing was lossed but I’m a little weary using the rem800 now. Any one else have this problem and if not beware you don’t lose the pin when changing antennas. Can a replacement pin be ordered if necessary

There is a thread with a picture of this very same problem, I just can't find it right now. It even had photos to show the reason for the problem.

There are differences in some of the SMA antennae out there. The Unication default the female pin and surrounding insulation are slightly recessed from the end of the connector. Several second party antennae this is flush with the bottom of the screw in connector. If you use one of these, there is a possibility you will pull the pin on the pager out.

If you are going to use an antenna that is not stock, check the bottom of the antenna to see if the receptacle is recessed slightly. If not one of the users on the Facebook G4/G5 page recommended using a small rubber washer to avoid the possibility of pulling the antenna pin out.

I have tried a couple of second party antenna, the smallest a Larsen (forget the number sorry) and I have gone back to the stock antenna.
 

iMONITOR

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Theae pagers are NOT designed to be scanner radios. Just because they happen to work that way if programmed correctly is just a bonus. The vast majority of users are never going to remove the stock antenna.


That doesn't change the fact that SMA is a fragile design. I still don't understand why manufactures that use SMA jacks on their radios and SMA connectors on their antennas, don't adhere to a standard so they can be interchanged, swapped without problems.
 

MTS2000des

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That doesn't change the fact that SMA is a fragile design.
Every Motorola Jedi, Astro Saber, XTS3000, XTS2500, XTS5000 and APX all use an SMA. I had over 3,000 XTS radios in service, now replaced with APX radios and not ONE has failed and users routinely handle the radio by the antenna, they get dropped on the antenna connector, banged around, and yet no failures.
Inserting the wrong type of antenna into an antenna connector is a user error not a design fault. If the SMA was "fragile" as you claim, radio manufacturers would have abandoned it long ago. EF Johnson/Kenwood, Tait, and Icom all use the same style SMAs.
 

mikewazowski

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Every Motorola Jedi, Astro Saber, XTS3000, XTS2500, XTS5000 and APX all use an SMA. I had over 3,000 XTS radios in service, now replaced with APX radios and not ONE has failed and users routinely handle the radio by the antenna, they get dropped on the antenna connector, banged around, and yet no failures.
Inserting the wrong type of antenna into an antenna connector is a user error not a design fault. If the SMA was "fragile" as you claim, radio manufacturers would have abandoned it long ago. EF Johnson/Kenwood, Tait, and Icom all use the same style SMAs.


Yup, never had a problem with any sma connector. From two way radios to microwave radios. Certainly not a fragile connector.
 

LEH

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... I still don't understand why manufactures that use SMA jacks on their radios and SMA connectors on their antennas, don't adhere to a standard so they can be interchanged, swapped without problems.

Now this I can agree with. Finding some antennae and connectors with flush pins and others with them recessed is not great in the standardization area.

From a point of being fragile, I think the SMA is stronger than the BNC. The external wall of the BNC is easily bent (been there done that) making swapping around difficult to impossible. It is possible to break of the guide pins. The SMA threaded are is much thicker and other than cross threading much better able to withstand rough handling.

For the most part the vast majority of the radios using SMA are professional and the antenna is not normally swapped out.

For my scanners, I personally do not like the SMA for that reason, when I go the car, I have an external antenna; in the house, I have an external antenna and they are all BNC. I am constantly swapping out the antenna.

We just need to keep in mind the Unication radios are a professional grade voice pager that does a great job monitoring.
 

seth21w

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My G5 radio is about 2 weeks old. Works great here in Loveland CO. The stock antenna that came with the radio works great but I figured I would try this remtronix 800 out. I screwed it in till it stopped. Listened to a few transmissions to check signal strength to compare to stock antenna and when I unscrewed the rem 800 the pin came out with it. I got the needle nose pliers and gently put it back in. I can screw the stock antenna on and off and the pin stays in. My reception is the same so nothing was lossed but I’m a little weary using the rem800 now. Any one else have this problem and if not beware you don’t lose the pin when changing antennas. Can a replacement pin be ordered if necessary

I didnt know remtronix made an 800 antenna with an sma F connection. The only 2 i know that they made are bnc and sma male?!
 

tumegpc

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That doesn't change the fact that SMA is a fragile design. I still don't understand why manufactures that use SMA jacks on their radios and SMA connectors on their antennas, don't adhere to a standard so they can be interchanged, swapped without problems.

I think that most of us will agree that Uniden SDS100 has worst design of any SMA jack.
The box should read ** Safety glasses and grinder not included.
 

jzarick

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I forgot to mention that I used an adapter.
I didnt know remtronix made an 800 antenna with an sma F connection. The only 2 i know that they made are bnc and sma male?!

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
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