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ICE agent using third party antenna on APX portable
- Thread starter W6VVM
- Start date
Are we sure that's actually ICE? Looks like a Jeremy Dewitte wannabe.
I watched the video. It was several agents arresting someone while onlookers recorded. Seemed real.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Usually puts the antenna high on the back so it's in the clear for better performance. Much better than having the antenna pressed up against the meatsack. Military does this with their radios.
But I doubt these guys actually need it. Often it's the "tacticool" look they are going for.
I had to look him up - a serial police impersonator. A real winner. Not a fan of the masked look.
Makes sense. Definitely better than your core or other body parts absorbing a lot of the signal.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Probably. But this whole thing is a compromise.
It's actually helpful when using a trunked system or simplex over a longer distance from other units, Essentially the difference between wearing radio on your hip level vs holding in your hand almost two feet higher. We use them for task force etc. Actually work well for the purpose.
safariland.com
MAST (Modular Antenna System Tactical) Antenna Relocation Kit
The M.A.S.T. allows tactical operators to relocate their radio antennas to improve line of sight communications, reduce the potential for interference caused by certain types of radio antennas, and decrease the visual obstructions caused by standard antenna configurations Please note, MAST Kits...
safariland.com
speedway_navigator
Member
When I started with ComTrack in 1985 we sold lots of headsets with antennas on the ear cup. I never did any measurements to see how much attenuation we had in the coax to see if the better LOS offset it.
prcguy
Member
Around 15yrs ago when I got my first Thales PRC-6809 MBITR I experimented with VHF lo band and dangling pig tail counterpoise wires then remote antenna mounts on a backpack for the factory short and 1m long blade antenna. I had a bunch of field strength measurements that proved the pig tail counterpoise increased performance and also raising the antenna up high on a pack vs on the radio at belt level. My final testing was a remote antenna mount up high with 5ft long pig tail and while I don't have the data handy it was quite an improvement over the antenna mounted to radio and lower on the body.It's actually helpful when using a trunked system or simplex over a longer distance from other units, Essentially the difference between wearing radio on your hip level vs holding in your hand almost two feet higher. We use them for task force etc. Actually work well for the purpose.
MAST (Modular Antenna System Tactical) Antenna Relocation Kit
The M.A.S.T. allows tactical operators to relocate their radio antennas to improve line of sight communications, reduce the potential for interference caused by certain types of radio antennas, and decrease the visual obstructions caused by standard antenna configurations Please note, MAST Kits...
I was a member of some military chat groups with radio guys and was telling some of them about my testing and one guy who claimed to be a medic asked if I could send him a version of what I was testing and I did, sent it to his military APO address which eventually got to him in Afghanistan. The setup was a double female TNC adapter attached to a MOLLE clip with removable 5ft pigtail ground and two different TNC to TNC coax assemblies, one made from a good quality US made RG-58 and another made of miniature Teflon RG-316 coax. Both had a a few wraps of the coax through a 61 mix ferrite bead near the antenna end as an RF choke. All metal connectors were painted flat black and I used thick hot glue heatshrink for strain reliefs on the coax.
The user reported back only once that it worked very noticeably better than their typical radio on chest with antenna attached to radio setup and also much better than some goofy long shorted RG-58 antenna thing that weaved up and down through loops on a pack that was all the talk with mil radio people at the time. I tried contacting the recipient of my stuff several times after that with no reply and I never knew what happened to him.
About 6mo later the TCI MAST antenna relocation kit shown above hit the market. WTF??? That was my idea but they left out the RF choke and pig tail counterpoise. And they charged a lot of $$. Oh well, not the first time I've been ripped off and probably won't be the last.
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If it works, it works.
That's all that matters.
That's all that matters.
speedway_navigator
Member
about 5 or 6 years ago I came up with the idea of streaming 911 calls to an PD unit's PC so they could hear the call taker in real time. I emailed a friend who owns a big east coast 2 way shop to see how to proceed, he said it was not worth pursuing. About 2 years later I get a webinar invite to see how a PD just starting using the newly patented idea to stream calls to MDTs.
It just adds to making them look like clowns!
Or maybe he didn't want 6w transmitting right in front of his eyes.
speedway_navigator
Member
That's a study we'll never see, which is less lethal, radiating into the kidneys with a radio on the belt or the eyes and brain with the RF spkr mic.
I'm reading The Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Firstenberg, it's damn scary what RF and AC do to us.
I'm reading The Invisible Rainbow by Arthur Firstenberg, it's damn scary what RF and AC do to us.
prcguy
Member
There has been 50+ years of studies which have resulted in current FCC and OSHA rules for RF and electrical field exposure. There is also a lot of kooks and hacks with zero knowledge on the subjects using uncalibrated Amazon meters to measure things claiming we are all going to die.
could be they just dont wanna break the antenna off, the multi band antenna on the apx are not flexible and a solid base. Seen a bunch of cops in area buying after market stubby antenna's getting in and out of car with radio on hip is not comfortable
prcguy
Member
RF exposure levels have been amended over the years and are lower now. The US used to allow higher levels than EU but I’m not up on current levels for EU.
speedway_navigator
Member
I had a guy bring in a portable with the Radius style antenna where the threaded stud was the bottom of the antenna. It was on a radio with an SMA connector, so the center pin of the SMA never touched the antenna.
