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I have noticed severe selective fading at 900. The spreading should help with that. 900 has a tendency to work in places where you think it shouldn't, and not work in places where you think it should. I keep wanting to use either dual polarization, or circular polarization on that band. I did...

That may well have been part of it. I couldn't afford the 650's. I have used other 900 MHz spread spectrum stuff, and never really got any decent range. I actually like the 900 MHz band, and for a while had a repeater on the highest point in the state. 900 is a funny band. I have been amazed at...

Quote: As for AI and those developing it. I'd like to think they are "responsible enough", but we know that is not the case. Someone is going to see a way to make money, and there won't be any amount of rules/laws that will stop them once they smell the green. It -will- get used and abused in...

Well, they were used DTR410s, and they have been in storage for years. I really doubt that you would want them. I would still like to fool around with some FHSS radios at some point, but there are far more important things to consider.

While I am happy that everyone seems to really like these radios, they didn't really work out for me. Don't get me wrong. I am not knocking them at all. I really like the concept. When I tried them, the range wasn't all that good. But the thing that killed them for me was that talk permit tone...

I believe that anything encrypted with AES256 is safe for the time being. When I read that quantum computers had actually become used routinely, I did a little research. It seems that the algorithm used in AES isn't amenable to solution by quantum computers. At least not yet. From what I was...

I have a RT490 I purchased from Aliexpress last year. I posted a short review of it shortly after. As mentioned in my review, the advertisement for it says it receives 8-900 MHz. It also says so on the box it comes in, but the radio doesn't have the capability. I bought it to listen to the...

Appreciate the part numbers. When I did a search on those part numbers, results showed some different looking antennas. I ordered one that looked like the one I had before. The specs say it is 5.5" long. I remember the one I had being a little shorter than most UHF whips. It seems to be out of...

Some years ago, Motorola made a whip for portables that was actually wideband. The normal UHF whip is only really effective over a fairly narrow band of frequencie, those near where it works as a quarter wave. However, Motorola made one that had some kind of network at its base that allowed it...

That sounds like a good setup. I don't remember if they specify sine or square. I was thinking of running my 10 MHz from a GPSDO through a squaring circuit first. They probably want sine though. If they wanted square, it would probably be at 5 or 3.3 volts.

The Icom manual states that the required 10 MHz input is -10 dBM. I have wondeered about what an acceptible level would be as well. Looks like 0 dBM should be OK. I would have thought that at this price level, they would have used a nice OCXO, but they used a TCXO instead. I guess they didn't...

Coming from the acoustic guitar world where some really insane things are almost universally considered to be fact, I say that if it can't be measured, but you perceive it anyway, you have an over active imagination. Like once when someone asked me what I would think if I saw a ghost. I replied...

I was never all that big on listening to cell calls. I did hear a few doozies, however. After having worked in a telephone central office for a few years, I realized that the vast majority of phone calls are just boring.

Oh yes, and there were special phones that would sniff out ESN/MIN pairs, use them for a couple of calls, and get new ones for you. Never had one, or actually saw one. Things have gotten a lot more secure of late. I am sure there are ways of hacking networks today, but I don't hear about it at...

That law was a knee jerk reaction to a very limited situation. As I remember, some news organizations eavesdropped on some politicians, and got caught doing it. What they did was already illegal. But Congress over reacted and passed an almost useless law. There were already plenty of radios out...

Off topic I know, but reeds worked very well and were pretty robust too. I have worked on some old pagers that could decode a signal down in the noise.

A little update. I got an aftermarket programming cable, and using the "Multiband" software, was able to program a small number of memory channels. I tried to use Chirp, but got weird results. I'll try again it later. Programming is fairly straight forward. When I entered 280 MHz, for instance...

As someone who has worked in the industry for a company that made filters, among other things, I would like to comment. I had never heard of PAR before reading this. Looking at their website, they seem to be a legit filter company. My hat is off to anyone who can make a living at making...

It should work. I have the Phonak equivalent, and it is a piece of cake. I usually use the dedicated Phonak TV Connector, or Roger On, because of latency with bluetooth. But, if you were streaming scanner audio, it wouldn't matter.

This has been an interesting thread. As expected, there are those who just love their 8600's, and some, not so much. I don't think it can be argued that the 8600 isn't a great receiver. There is simply no evidence for that. Is it the best? Does it really have to be? I still haven't used mine...