Mobile 220 options?

[Cognomen]

I bought a brand new Kenwood TK-785 commercial mobile from a Canadian dealer, amateurized with TK-780 firmware and some other things in it. It's a 25w radio and it works really well. You just have to calculate the offset when programming it, due to the VHF firmware. However, it comes with pretty much every 220 repeater pair pre-programmed into the 2nd zone, so rather than re-doing all the calculations, I just copied and pasted what I needed from that zone into the first zone (which was unused), and labelled the channels with the repeater callsigns and locations. Then added the simplex channels I needed by calculating the offset. I only use the first zone.

 

[WB9YBM]

I bought a brand new Kenwood TK-785 commercial mobile from a Canadian dealer, amateurized with TK-780 firmware and some other things in it. It's a 25w radio and it works really well. You just have to calculate the offset when programming it, due to the VHF firmware. However, it comes with pretty much every 220 repeater pair pre-programmed into the 2nd zone, so rather than re-doing all the calculations, I just copied and pasted what I needed from that zone into the first zone (which was unused), and labelled the channels with the repeater callsigns and locations. Then added the simplex channels I needed by calculating the offset. I only use the first zone.

Sounds interesting! I'm looking forward to your comments when you have the chance to do some operating.

 

[Cognomen]

I've had it since November 2017, and as I mentioned, it works really well.

 

[Cognomen]

Sorry, I re-read the original post that I made when I first bought the radio. It's only 15w, zone 2 had the pre-programmed repeaters, and zone 3 had the pre-programmed simplex frequencies. So I copied and pasted what I needed from zones 2 and 3 into zone 1, then renamed the channels. The radio will scan every channel marked Scan Add, so to scan just zone 1, I changed all of the channels in the other zones to Scan Del. The amateur conversion increases the radio to 250 channels. It uses KPG-49D for programming, due to the TK-780 firmware. It operates in FM and NFM. The model is a TK-785-1, covering 217-235 MHz.

 

[N6TUJ]

alinco icom kenwood jetstream tyt

 

[tweiss3]

I bought a brand new Kenwood TK-785 commercial mobile from a Canadian dealer, amateurized with TK-780 firmware and some other things in it. It's a 25w radio and it works really well. You just have to calculate the offset when programming it, due to the VHF firmware. However, it comes with pretty much every 220 repeater pair pre-programmed into the 2nd zone, so rather than re-doing all the calculations, I just copied and pasted what I needed from that zone into the first zone (which was unused), and labelled the channels with the repeater callsigns and locations. Then added the simplex channels I needed by calculating the offset. I only use the first zone.

Will look into this one.

 

[fineshot1]

The used market can often be a cost effective way to try a new band to the average ham. I did well this way on 220 years ago.
I used to scour ebay and often found good deals making sure to ask the right questions of the sellers making sure these radios
were properly tested before the sellers sold them to me.
I had several Kenwood TM-331A mobiles, an Icom IC-38A I still have, an ADI-AR 247, a Jetstream JT-220M and a TYT TH9000D that I recently
purchased. Both the Philly area and NNJ area have many 220 repeaters that offer good coverage.

 

[mass-man]

You might not be thrilled with15 watts out of the TK780!

 

[bharvey2]

I've had the TYT 9000 in 220 for several years. I don't use it too often but I've never had any trouble with it to date. I also bought an Alinco 435MkIII (440MHZ) that I purchased for use as a node radio. I spoke to a number of people more familiar with the radios and experienced users seem to find that the TYT didn't hold as well to prolonged use. That advice pointed me to the Alinco radio for my node. It's been running 24/7/365 for a couple of years and I haven't had any trouble whatsoever. All that being said, if you'll be a light duty 220 user, a TYT should be fine but keep in mind that it seems that they crap out eventually. If you want to do it just once, consider the Alinco.

 

[N4GIX]

I have owned a BCM-220 for some time and it has been excellent. They stopped selling them for a while, but they seem to be available again. The BCH-220 HT is no longer available apparently. Also have one of those.

About three years ago I bought a BCH-220 HT on a whim while at Xenia for the 1st Dayton Hamvention held there. Last December I bought a BCM-220 mobile to use in the shack. I already have an over abundance of 2m/70cm gear so was only interested in 1.25cm to complete band coverage. We have an excellent repeater here in NW Indiana with antennas at 515' receive, 485' transmit. It has a H U G E footprint!

Two weeks ago I ordered an Anytone 8888UV III tri-bander. V/U at 50 watts, and 220 at 25 watts. I plan to put this one in my car to replace the existing TYT-7800, which I will put in the kitchen along with a spare CS800 DMR/Analog so I don't have to sprint from the front office/shack whenever someone calls!

This new Anytone is working very well here. The only "disappointment" is that I cannot cross-band from 220 <> 144 or 220 <> 444...

 

[fineshot1]

A google search turned up nothing so what is an Anytone 8888UV III ?
Do you have a url address for this?

 

[N4GIX]

A google search turned up nothing so what is an Anytone 8888UV III ?
Do you have a url address for this?

Oops, my bad! It is an Anytone 5888UV III. Currently it shows as "out of stock" at Amazon. There are of course other companys that sell this radio.

Amazon.com: Anytone 5888UV III Tri-Band FM Transceiver 136-174Mhz & 220-260 & 400-490Mhz Tri-Band Mobile Radio with Free Cable: Car Electronics

Buy Anytone 5888UV III Tri-Band FM Transceiver 136-174Mhz & 220-260 & 400-490Mhz Tri-Band Mobile Radio with Free Cable: Two-Way Radios - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[WB9YBM]

Picking a radio also depends on how fancy you want to get (or need to get). For example a quite popular radio is/was a Midland 13-509 (variants also made by Clegg & Cobra) that are 12-channel rock-bound rigs. They're so reliable, they were also used in home-made repeaters. Unfortunately they didn't have crystal ovens so if used mobile--especially during a mid-west winter--they'd be a bit off-frequency until the car warmed up. Also with one exception all parts had "real world" part numbers (not the super-secret in-house numbers that radio manufacturers like to use in modern gear) so they were easily fix-able on those rare occasions when something went amiss. Also there was a bit of empty real estate inside the chassis for putting in "extras", and there's an accessory jack on the back for easily adding upgrades.

These radios aren't as glamorous as the modern stuff but at least they're useable & time-proven. The ones I've got have probably seen something like tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of hours of operation since they were built back in the 1970s and they're still going strong (if something would've failed in the radios, it would've done that a l-o-n-g time ago).

 

[tweiss3]

Well, I did get a 220 antenna up, and still can't hit it with 5W. Coverage model indicates I should have no problem, and I'm no where near the edge of coverage. I need to verify, but if I'm correct I can hit the 2M repeater on the same site with no issues. I'm a bit stumped. I can hit other 220 repeaters, but this one is the only one that actually has traffic.

 

[vagrant]

Could it be a TX tone or offset issue?

 

[mass-man]

or RX tone? If you can hit other repeaters on 220 then it’s a setup thing!

 

[tweiss3]

From the club:


My programming:


Time to compose an email. It is 19.4 miles away, so maybe 5W just isn't enough?

 

[tweiss3]

Some back and forth emails today. I got my answer, I could throw 200W at it and not make it. 2m antenna is at 360'AGL, 220 antenna is only 180'AGL.


That's going to be a problem. Atleast I didn't toss a ton of money into it without doing my research.

 

[WB9YBM]

if I'm correct I can hit the 2M repeater on the same site with no issues. I'm a bit stumped. I can hit other 220 repeaters, but this one is the only one that actually has traffic.

I've had it happen here with a 220 repeater where the repeater was the issue: initially I could hit it with a rubber ducky and ground level; after a few months I had to upgrade to a 3/8 wave; then a 5/8 wave; then start the whole scenario all over again when I went to the 2nd floor of the house. I knew it wasn't at my end since I could still hit other repeaters along the way so I realized maybe someone at the repeater was tightening the squelch or for some other reason it was loosing sensitivity. I asked one of the club head honchoes and he said they know about it and are planning to get a more modern receiver for the repeater once finances allow. Meanwhile here are a few spec's for a beam that might help you (or anyone else interested in a 20MHz beam):