JackstandJohnny
Member
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2016
- Messages
- 23
Hi everyone. I recently bought myself an upgrade from my first radio, a Baofeng UV-5R, to a Kenwood TM-281A. I already had a Nagoya magnet mount antenna on the roof of my truck that I used for my Baofeng HT. So I bought the TM-281A and an adapter cable so it would connect to the antenna cable. Within the first couple minutes of installing it in my truck I was able to hit my local repeater and TX/RX was 5x5x5. So the following night and from thereafter I have had nothing but problems. I cant reach anyone, incoming TX is picket fending REAL bad when I drive, very poor signal in general. Lots of static. I have tried switching from tone to CTCSS, I have tried VFO and MR mode and Ive even done a hard reset on my TM-281 and manually reprogrammed the local repeater 3 times now. I havent checked in a while but 52 simplex worked when I tested it using both my TM-281 and my Baofeng UV-5R. Then again, they were 5 feet apart.
So I am at a total loss here. Is my antenna fried? Is my radio? I dont understand what changed and Im pretty frustrated with it. I dont have an SWR meter and the ONLY way to get local help is to sign up for a yahoo email and join a very clunky and outdated "reflector" page because none of the local hams will embrace the local amateur radio clubs facebook page. Also obviously I cant get anybody on the radio. Whats even worse is my UV-5R recently crapped out on me and I wasnt able to TX, only RX. Heres some extra details that may or may not help:
-I am powering the TM-281 using a Blue Seas System 12v 12 bus fuseblock that has several other electronics tapped into it
-I have both ground wires and hot wires from the fuse block all zip tied together
-At one point the SMA connector on the antenna came loose so I shoved it back together, everything worked fine so I used electrical tape to keep the connection tight. I know some of you will focus on this but please try not to fixate.
-I have not tried programming with a computer yet. I have the MCP-01A software and driver installed on my laptop but I cant afford a $100 cable so I bought a cheap $10 one off ebay. I am seriously concerned about how complicated the software and driver is to deal with to set up correctly before running it and now I am afraid to use this cable.
Please let me know what other information you may need. THANK YOU!
So I am at a total loss here. Is my antenna fried? Is my radio? I dont understand what changed and Im pretty frustrated with it. I dont have an SWR meter and the ONLY way to get local help is to sign up for a yahoo email and join a very clunky and outdated "reflector" page because none of the local hams will embrace the local amateur radio clubs facebook page. Also obviously I cant get anybody on the radio. Whats even worse is my UV-5R recently crapped out on me and I wasnt able to TX, only RX. Heres some extra details that may or may not help:
-I am powering the TM-281 using a Blue Seas System 12v 12 bus fuseblock that has several other electronics tapped into it
-I have both ground wires and hot wires from the fuse block all zip tied together
-At one point the SMA connector on the antenna came loose so I shoved it back together, everything worked fine so I used electrical tape to keep the connection tight. I know some of you will focus on this but please try not to fixate.
-I have not tried programming with a computer yet. I have the MCP-01A software and driver installed on my laptop but I cant afford a $100 cable so I bought a cheap $10 one off ebay. I am seriously concerned about how complicated the software and driver is to deal with to set up correctly before running it and now I am afraid to use this cable.
Please let me know what other information you may need. THANK YOU!