Amateur (Ham) Radio BS and Callsign Thread!

As an update to this, I narrowed down my issue to a bad cable. New cable and connectors crimped and we are back in the game. Got my SWRs down to 1.3-1.6 from 150-158 band after tuning my antenna.
I appreciate everyone’s input. Thank you.

 

My honest and brief review of the VERO VGC NR-7500 Mobile Amateur Radio:
DO NOT BUY! Rather wait for the NR-7600 because they are putting a screen in the hand mic.

This is a quirky-ass radio. And support via manuals is limited. The only official manual from Vero-Tel is in Mandarin Chinese. All of the other manuals on the web are either a quick start guide or a product sales brochure. I've cobbled together a collection of documents to steer e through learning this odd little radio and they sometimes disagree with each other. My guess is lost in translation or in the difference between the evolving firmware. Most of my formal education on the topic has come from YouTubers.

Pros:
Power, sound, fit finish, build quality all rugged.
Hand Mic is wired (can be bluetooth too if you upgrade) and is much sturdier than other mics I've used and broken and replaced. It also has a fair amount of control buttons on it.
Mounts out of the way and there is NO screen / control panel to have to mount on the dashboard. This radio uses your phone to control it via BlueTooth.
Android is a little better control platform than Apple but not a show stopper.
Potential upgrade..... I'm looking at getting one of the bigger screen / radio control head units for the Taco. Those come with Android on board. Would be nice to have the radio seamlessly integrated with the Infotainment Screen.
APRS - What a cool feature. It has native APRS inside the radio and will run fine, but it also has a KISS TNC so you can run APRS.fi or APRS Droid. The upshot is you can also run any other phone, tablet, or laptop based radio software through the radio via that same bluetooth TNC. I know some people running WOAD that love it.

Cons:
Damn that Mic cord is short - especially for a radio that mounts "out of the way." I guess they really prefer you upgrade to the bluetooth handset. I'm keeping mine until the cord wears out.
Learning and Programming - not very intuitive.
Limited Channel Memory - Come on guys. Memory Chips Are CHEEEEEEAP. You could double the memory in this radio for $5 but they don't do it at the factory and there is no way for an end user to pop in an SD Card with additional memory on it.

You are limited to only 6 banks of channels and each bank has like 32 or 34 channels. The radio does have dual channel ability but you can only operate out of one bank at a time. So if you want to run APRS all of the time and then you have a favorite repeater in each bank, then you have to put APRS as Channel 1 in each bank so it always knows where that is.

At the end of the day am I happy with this radio? Sorta, yes. Would I recommend it? No. Am I looking to replace it? Also no. Each radio is different and if you switch from Kenwood to iCom or B-Tech then you know how difficult that curve is. This radio does what I need, want, and ask of it. Especially GPS for off roading. It just does it differently and that learning curve is proving to be hard right now. If your mind is still young and flexible, you might take to this radio like a duck to water.

https://www.verotelecom.com/VERO-VR...obile-Radio-With-APP-Programming-p541441.html

 

Ailunce HA1G vs Baofeng handhelds?

I have a couple

$63 Baofeng BF-F8HP (UV-5R 3rd Gen) 8-Watt Dual Band Two-Way Radio (136-174MHz VHF & 400-520MHz UHF) Includes Full Kit with Large Battery

Baofeng BF-F8HP and

$18 UV-5R VHF/UHF Dual Band Radio 144-148MHz 420-450MHz Transceiver

UV-5R radios that I’ve had for years. They’re fine and do what I need.

I recently won a Retevis/Ailunce HA1G in a raffle. I like that it feels more robust and hefty, and has a better screen.

How does it compare as a radio though? Is it any better than the BF-F8HP? Or should I keep the Baofengs and pass the HA1G along to someone else?

 

The baofengs are ham radios, the HA1G is a GMRS radio. It's permitted to TX using the HA1G (with a GMRS license), it is not permitted to TX on GMRS frequencies with the baofengs.

Otherwise, which do you like better? The Baofengs have a ton of accessories out there for cheap, easy to program, etc.

For me, the USB C charging out of the box of the HA1G is a big selling point. You can convert a baofeng. It's cheap. But

$13 Baofeng UV-5R Battery BL-5 1800mAh Battery Rechargeable Support Type-C USB Direct Charge for Walkie Talkie BaoFeng UV 5R,BF-F8HP,UV-5X3,GT-5R,UV-5RE Two Way Radio

https://www.amazon.com/Baofeng-UV-5...82&sprefix=baofeng+usb+battery,aps,133&sr=8-3

I have my ham license, and I use the baofeng for ham radio. I can (technically, I have the ability to, I am not saying I do. ) use it for GMRS and WX as well. Outside of (receiving only) GMRS and WX (Which the HA1G has), I have not used the baofeng for anything that wasn't ham radio licensed stuff. It can, also, technically, get the MURS channels in there too.

If you have no need for anything other than GMRS and WX, the HA1G is going to be easier to live with.

 

They all seem to work fine with GMRS frequencies so far. I programmed the Baofengs easily enough. I think I like the HA1G better, but that may be because it's shiny and new. I guess I'll try it out for a bit and see how it goes.

 

He’s telling you it’s not legal use the baofengs on gmrs
This is a ham radio thread, and generally amateur radio people do care about complying

 

The baofengs are dirty on the frequencies they're designed for. You can program them for anything, but they're even dirtier outside of their rated frequencies. If you're using gmrs, at least get a radio type accepted for gmrs, if for no other reason than consideration.

 

Installed an FTM500 in my truck last week.

Used PCTEL NMO Mount on the Victory 4x4 bracket. The mount is designed for a thick surface so I had to put a bend in the Victory bracket. If the mount or coax ever fails I may look for a different mount that does not has as many threads on it but I liked the construction and how it appears very water resistant. I added some clear silicone under the bracket the next day (not shown in the photo).



The coax is routed over the hinge, fed into a cable sheath, and behind a panel in the engine bay then through the firewall on the passenger side and over to the driver side where I tipped the cable.



Radio body is mounted under the driver seat with the included bracket to the seat springs with some zip ties. I was able to mount the bracket then slide in the radio. You can make out in the photo a Mobilinkd TNC4 which I attached to the back side of the radio with some velcro. It is powered by USB running to an aux power source I have by the driver side footwell fuse box I have posted about before.

The Mobilinkd improves the APRS interaction with the radio in my opinion by allowing the use of a mobile app like APRSdriod. I tested two antennas with an antenna analyzer and got good readings. With a Comet SBB5 I was getting 1.03 on 70cm and 1.01 on 2m.



For the mic I used an RJ45 passthrough Toyota switch and added it closest to the driver. I had already relocated the ETC to the shift knob and deleted the Qi button a while back. So I moved the BSM and Parking switches over a space. I had deleted the Qi early on as I don't even have a phone with wireless charging and had heard of the bubble that happens. Well the bubble happens sometimes even if you never use the charger. For this install I finally did a full delete of the charger, I found the SR5 cubby online and swapped it out.

Magnets were added to the underside of the cubby and some JBWeld Plastic apoxy. Another RJ45 passthrough was added to the back of the cubby. Yaesu sells a steel bracket that I attached to the head unit and it sticks nice to the magnets. When testing it indoors I was holding the plastic trim upside down and shaking it and the head unit did not budge. Hopefully it holds up over time but I am happy with the result. The magnets also hold anything magnetic in place that I toss in the cubby which is a plus.







The head unit and mic are stowed away in the center console when I don't want to use the radio.

Power for the radio is connected to one of my switch pros inputs.

 

^^LOVE THAT INSTALL!^^

 

I second that.

Also second that mobilelinked makes APRS on my FTM300 actually fun.

I used to have my FTM300's head unit down by the shifter but now I have a TEQ offroad chinga to mount it on. I'm split- I liked how low-key the original install was, but its much easy to operate and monitor on the TEQ.

 

I was rocking a DigiRig Lite to do the same thing ($50) only w/o the blue tooth connection - it's wired. Then I upgraded to a radio with blue tooth and it is crazy good at APRS. I especially like the ability to text my wife on her cell from the trail when off road.

 

Yeah thats the bummer with bluetooth (upgrade) on the FTM300, it doesn't PTE I guess its just for a headset so it doesn't play nice with APRSdroid. They got to the 90 yard line and then stopped with that.