Freq range of radio greater than freq range of antenna - any possible problems ?

[PrivatelyJeff]

Thanks ! So it could be any one of those depending on your location, or just program them all in ?

If you have the channel space and/or will be traveling with your radio, then load all of them. If you don’t or aren’t going anywhere then just whatever you can get or covers your location if there’s multiple signals (I can get two in my area but only one is for my area, the other is for another area). My standard practice is to put them in the last slot(s) in my radio.

My standard layout is:
2 meter calling
70 cm calling
All 2 meter simplex
All 70 cm simplex
Repeaters
Receive only of whatever else I want that’s not ham (public safety, marine, FRS, etc)
NOAA weather radio

 

[N4KVE]

Since the radio is a Retevis which is a CCR, do we even know if it has circuitry to reduce the tx power if it encounters high SWR? Years ago my friend had an Icom HT, & he was getting something newer. So he removed the antenna, & keyed up for a minute at a time. Did it like ten times. Connected to the Bird, & still put out full power. With in influx of one chip CCR’s, the magic smoke would probably escape pretty fast on that test. With a proper radio, I wouldn’t worry, but with a CCR, I would. But hey, they’re disposable radios.

 

[GKLdiy88]

If you have the channel space and/or will be traveling with your radio, then load all of them. If you don’t or aren’t going anywhere then just whatever you can get or covers your location if there’s multiple signals (I can get two in my area but only one is for my area, the other is for another area). My standard practice is to put them in the last slot(s) in my radio.

My standard layout is:
2 meter calling
70 cm calling
All 2 meter simplex
All 70 cm simplex
Repeaters
Receive only of whatever else I want that’s not ham (public safety, marine, FRS, etc)
NOAA weather radio

Thanks, neat idea !

(I stay local, no overnight traveling so just need the one NOAA for my area)

I like how you organized your programming, sounds like a good thing to do !

 

[N6JPA]

Okay, this might seem like a noob question , but I just want to be sure of not risking damage to my radio.

I noticed that the range of frequencies that my radio has is greater than the range of frequencies of the antenna.

If I was to transmit on a frequency that was outside of the range of the antenna (either higher or lower) would I risk damage to my radio or would I simply get poorer results than when transmitting within the antenna's frequency range ?

The Retevis RT95 is supposed to have a frequency range of: VHF:136-174 MHz and UHF:430~490MHz
(and Retevis says you can set the UHF to have as much range as: 400-490MHz)

The antenna I have now, a Tram 1185 magnetic mount, says it has a frequency range of: 144MHz–148MHz and 435MHz–450MHz

and one of the possible regular antennas I might later consider getting has a range of:

6 dBd gain, VHF 144 MHz to 148 MHz
8 dBd gain, UHF 430 MHz to 450 MHz

Thanks in advance for any help !

You want to get an SWR meter or analyzer for 144 and 400 MHz range. MFJ sells them. As long as the SWR is below three to one (3:1) then you can safely transmit on those frequencies. You will want to check each frequency you are transmitting on. There are radio antennas that cover 144-174 MHz and 400 to 470 MHz very well in the land mobile and amateur radio market.

 

[GKLdiy88]

Since the radio is a Retevis which is a CCR, do we even know if it has circuitry to reduce the tx power if it encounters high SWR? Years ago my friend had an Icom HT, & he was getting something newer. So he removed the antenna, & keyed up for a minute at a time. Did it like ten times. Connected to the Bird, & still put out full power. With in influx of one chip CCR’s, the magic smoke would probably escape pretty fast on that test. With a proper radio, I wouldn’t worry, but with a CCR, I would. But hey, they’re disposable radios.

Understood, and really do appreciate the alert to be careful !

I'll see about doing more research on the RT95 tomorrow to see if I can find any reports of past problems.

It does have a fairly good overall review rating on Amazon though - Retevis RT95 radio

 

[GKLdiy88]

You want to get an SWR meter or analyzer for 144 and 400 MHz range. MFJ sells them. As long as the SWR is below three to one (3:1) then you can safely transmit on those frequencies. You will want to check each frequency you are transmitting on. There are radio antennas that cover 144-174 MHz and 400 to 470 MHz very well in the land mobile and amateur radio market.

Thanks, as much as I'd like to have an SWR meter now I need to wait before considering getting one as I've already spent more on various ham hobby stuff recently than I planned and it seems to be easy to do

(but I do appreciate the helpful info !)

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

Thanks, neat idea !

(I stay local, no overnight traveling so just need the one NOAA for my area)

I like how you organized your programming, sounds like a good thing to do !

Also, if the radio does zones, then I put those into zones, at least that’s what I did with my Anytones since it can hold 4000 channels.

 

[nd5y]

Since the radio is a Retevis which is a CCR, do we even know if it has circuitry to reduce the tx power if it encounters high SWR?

No. None of the CCR manufacturers publish such detailed specs let alone schematics and service manuals.
You could probably figure that out if you had a decent wattmeter, a decent 50 ohm load and a way to switch to other loads of different impedance that resulted in 2:1 and 3:1 SWR.

Years ago my friend had an Icom HT, & he was getting something newer. So he removed the antenna, & keyed up for a minute at a time. Did it like ten times. Connected to the Bird, & still put out full power. With in influx of one chip CCR’s, the magic smoke would probably escape pretty fast on that test. With a proper radio, I wouldn’t worry, but with a CCR, I would. But hey, they’re disposable radios.

There is a youtube video of somebody clamping the PTT button on a UV-5R without an antenna until the battery ran down and then again with the antenna connector shorted and it didn't hurt it.

 

[ladn]

Okay thanks, so program the radio to operate ONLY within the stated frequency range of the antenna ?

This applies only to transmit. You can program receive frequencies anywhere within the frequency range of the radio. And no license (in the USA) is required for just RX. The antenna may be less efficient as you move the frequency range farther away from the design specs, but there will be no damage to the radio on RX.

 

[nd5y]

Wow, I'll have to research that tomorrow about the risk of bricking the FT-60R using Chirp.

This is a direct quote from the developer on the CHIRP mailing list yesterday:
It's also worth pointing out that chirp does not upload or modify firmware in *any* radio and thus can't "mess up" the firmware. It's possible for chirp to upload some *memory data* that the firmware running in the radio can't understand, and some low-quality radios are not very robust about error checking or handling unexpected data if that were to happen, but that can usually (read: almost always) be corrected.

 

[nd5y]

If you are smart the first thing you do when you get a radio is download whatever programming and/or settings came from the factory and save it. Then to a full reset, download everything again and save it as a different file. Then if you mess something up in the future you might have a better chance of fixing it.

 

[FKimble]

I put all the NOAA stations in my radios. I also put them at the highest slot number, easier to get to!. I use "other area" stations to get a jump on what is coming my way in the even of bad weather. The NOAA website will show you the locations of their transmitters. In bad weather I am usually listening to my NOAA, the NOAA station the weather is coming from, plus my local repeater and the repeater between me and the "weather". Nice to know when to duck!

Frank

 

[ladn]

I, too, have the NOAA stations in all my radios. The newer radios have the channels hard programmed. From my vehicle at my home QTH, I can usually hear at least two NOAA stations, sometimes four.

The NOAA stations are also useful for testing radios, cables and antennas.

 

[GKLdiy88]

Also, if the radio does zones, then I put those into zones, at least that’s what I did with my Anytones since it can hold 4000 channels.

Thanks, I'll need to check that out later, as far as your Anytone you mentioned I had read online where someone mentioned about the: "Anytone AT-778UV, which is essentially the same as the Retevis RT-95"

 

[GKLdiy88]

This is a direct quote from the developer on the CHIRP mailing list yesterday:
It's also worth pointing out that chirp does not upload or modify firmware in *any* radio and thus can't "mess up" the firmware. It's possible for chirp to upload some *memory data* that the firmware running in the radio can't understand, and some low-quality radios are not very robust about error checking or handling unexpected data if that were to happen, but that can usually (read: almost always) be corrected.

Thanks, been busy still other research I need to do yet but I appreciate you finding the above info !

NOTE: thanks to all who posted recently, just wanted you all to know I do read your posts and learn from them (I add a "like") even if I don't have any response at the time to any specific post.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

The NOAA stations are also useful for testing radios, cables and antennas.

Yep, when my scanners have been a little too quiet, I’ll flick over to weather just to make sure everything is working.

 

[GKLdiy88]

If you have the channel space and/or will be traveling with your radio, then load all of them. If you don’t or aren’t going anywhere then just whatever you can get or covers your location if there’s multiple signals (I can get two in my area but only one is for my area, the other is for another area). My standard practice is to put them in the last slot(s) in my radio.

My standard layout is:
2 meter calling
70 cm calling
All 2 meter simplex
All 70 cm simplex
Repeaters
Receive only of whatever else I want that’s not ham (public safety, marine, FRS, etc)
NOAA weather radio

Just a quick update, been busy with household stuff (I'm retired and my wife does not mind me having hobbies, but I need to keep up on household projects and chores too ), and I am still working on making up a list of specific frequencies to program into my RT95 when I am ready to do so. As much as I'd like to get the RT95 in "on air" operating condition I don't want to rush into programming it before I am ready and have all (or at least most) of the specific frequencies I want to include.

I am using the above quoted list as a basic guideline, I found a list of 2m and 70cm repeater frequencies I "might" possibly be able to reach (won't know for sure till the RT95 is up and running) we don't have any repeaters in our county so I searched for repeaters in a county next to ours.

I still need to figure what frequencies to use for the "2 meter calling" and "70cm calling" as well as "All 2 meter simplex" and "All 70 cm simplex" as well as the misc frequencies, I did find one weather freq I was able to get on my HT.

Since this will be my first time trying to program a ham radio I want to study it enough before starting so I will feel confident of getting it right the first time.

 

[mmckenna]

I still need to figure what frequencies to use for the "2 meter calling"

146.520MHz

"70cm calling"

446.000MHz

"All 2 meter simplex" and "All 70 cm simplex" as well as the misc frequencies, I did find one weather freq I was able to get on my HT.

Simplex frequencies will vary depending on where you are. Different regions may use different steps between channels. Some use 15KHz, some use 20kHz. Some hams will just pick any frequency in the band that isn't in use.

Since this will be my first time trying to program a ham radio I want to study it enough before starting so I will feel confident of getting it right the first time.

You won't get it right the first time. Programming the radio will be something you'll tweak over time as your experience and knowledge grows. Eventually you'll find a setup that works best for you. It is a learning process, but there's no 'right' way to do it.

 

[GKLdiy88]

146.520MHz



446.000MHz



Simplex frequencies will vary depending on where you are. Different regions may use different steps between channels. Some use 15KHz, some use 20kHz. Some hams will just pick any frequency in the band that isn't in use.



You won't get it right the first time. Programming the radio will be something you'll tweak over time as your experience and knowledge grows. Eventually you'll find a setup that works best for you. It is a learning process, but there's no 'right' way to do it.

Thanks !

I was thinking from what I read somewhere (done a lot of researching recently) that 146.520MHz was the calling freq for the 2 meter band, but I was going to confirm that to be sure, but you just did !

As far as steps for Simplex I did a search online and found this web site with resources, is this what I would use to tell for sure as far as Simplex frequencies and steps ?

Southeastern Repeater Association - SC

which had links including the following:

SERA FREQUENCY UTILIZATION PLAN for 144 - 148 MHz

and

SERA FREQUENCY UTILIZATION PLAN for 420-450 MHz

it has other bands also but I guess I just need the 2m and 70cm bands.

Yep, I figured I would need to fine-tune my programming after a while, just wanted to get it reasonably well the first try

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

Thanks !

I was thinking from what I read somewhere (done a lot of researching recently) that 146.520MHz was the calling freq for the 2 meter band, but I was going to confirm that to be sure, but you just did !

As far as steps for Simplex I did a search online and found this web site with resources, is this what I would use to tell for sure as far as Simplex frequencies and steps ?

Southeastern Repeater Association - SC

which had links including the following:

SERA FREQUENCY UTILIZATION PLAN for 144 - 148 MHz

and

SERA FREQUENCY UTILIZATION PLAN for 420-450 MHz

it has other bands also but I guess I just need the 2m and 70cm bands.

Yep, I figured I would need to fine-tune my programming after a while, just wanted to get it reasonably well the first try

Yep, that works! I found a similar one for my part of California that had the same thing. I just set them to no tone/CSQ.