What's a good Race radio you can type in Channels

8

85Yota

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Apr 5, 2022
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I currently have rugged M1 radio's in my vehicles BUT they only operate on the programmed frequencies. So if someone is on a channel I'm not programmed to I can't talk to them. Now I remember some Kenwood possibly radios having the ability to be modified to be able to type in or tune the frequency exactly as needed. Now what radio should I look into and how to mod them if required. I know Rugged only sells ones you have to program because the FCC
 
85Yota said:
I currently have rugged M1 radio's in my vehicles BUT they only operate on the programmed frequencies. So if someone is on a channel I'm not programmed to I can't talk to them. Now I remember some Kenwood possibly radios having the ability to be modified to be able to type in or tune the frequency exactly as needed. Now what radio should I look into and how to mod them if required. I know Rugged only sells ones you have to program because the FCC
Click to expand...
I've got the Kenwood Tm 281a in the Tacoma was pretty inexpensive

In Mouse and 4runner I've got ICOM V8000

Not that you should mod your radio but if you did......
this video was filmed with a spud
 
I use this

www.dxengineering.com

ICOM IC-2300H ICOM IC-2300H VHF FM Transceivers | DX Engineering

Free Shipping - ICOM IC-2300H VHF FM Transceivers with qualifying orders of $99. Shop Mobile Transceivers at DX Engineering.
www.dxengineering.com www.dxengineering.com

I can type the numbers in, and I can program channels in. Remove a diode the size of this period . and you can transmit in our frequencies. Takes like 3 minutes to do it and have it back in the truck. I don't have it hooked up to headsets or anything, though.
 
I have an ICOM V8000 in my truck. Second one since 2010. You can type in manually or set presets to quickly toggle through. Hooked up through PCI intercom and headsets sounds great and the 75W transmits as far as I need. The remote mount units can get more wattage and might be good to use if you commit the time to ensure you antenna setup is sound. Mine is mounted in the wrong spot and not grounded right most the time. Don't believe that non ground plane antennas don't need to be grounded for anything.
 
Is there anything like an ICOM V8000 in a 110W? How far do you think you can reach out with the 75W?
 
I've only got a 55W radio now with a stealth low pro antenna mounted on cowl by windshield so power doesn't matter for this truck is want it in anyways. I may want a bigger 110W one for my ford though in future but will be running rugged intercom and stuff through it so need one that will all work with.
 
GahnRacing said:
Is there anything like an ICOM V8000 in a 110W? How far do you think you can reach out with the 75W?
Click to expand...
For VHF/UHF, higher wattage is only good to a certain point. For the most part, it's always going to be "line of sight," which would be the visible horizon at your location. Getting in those higher watts is going to turn into how well you can be heard at the outter limit of your horizon.
You're better off getting a better antenna, or mounting it as high as possible.

If you want to do some real distance, you need to go lower frequency, into the MF/HF. These frequencies are low enough to be bounced off the atmosphere for the distance. It gets tricky since theres bands in those frequency ranges that can reach different distances (skip distances). You can have a frequency that will skip to someone 60 miles away, but another that might skip to 200 miles, and the person 60 miles away will never hear it.
 
i been using the v8000. i am not sure why but i burned up 2 of them many years ago when transmitting. my current 2 (one in the van, one in the prerunner) work fine. people have complained that they can hear me key up but hardly hear me. i have read that the mic is not that good. one mod was to open up the mic and drill more holes around it. or i just need to speak louder. i always carry 2 baofang hand held radios for back up or ???

on the v8000 you can set the transmit power from low, med, high. i always carry the manual because i forget ho to do some of the programing.
 
charlie brown said:
i been using the v8000. i am not sure why but i burned up 2 of them many years ago when transmitting. my current 2 (one in the van, one in the prerunner) work fine. people have complained that they can hear me key up but hardly hear me. i have read that the mic is not that good. one mod was to open up the mic and drill more holes around it. or i just need to speak louder. i always carry 2 baofang hand held radios for back up or ???

on the v8000 you can set the transmit power from low, med, high. i always carry the manual because i forget ho to do some of the programing.
Click to expand...
Burning up a radio on transmission can be caused by an improper length antenna, or one thats not rated for the wattage. If the antenna is too short, or long, it will actually bounce transmission power back into the radio, instead of broadcasting a signal.

For the current radios not transmitting well, a better mic could be a good solution. Could also be a similar problem as above, or possibly a poorly grounded antenna.
 
Yeah the antenna length is supposed to be tuned to the frequency that you most often operate on.
 
He works for a company that complies by FCC rules. My friends wife Taryn works for rugged and she said they don't sell what I was asking about because of FCC rules. Which sounds like boafeng and race radios popularity got the race radios on their radar.
 
85Yota said:
He works for a company that complies by FCC rules. My friends wife Taryn works for rugged and she said they don't sell what I was asking about because of FCC rules. Which sounds like boafeng and race radios popularity got the race radios on their radar.
Click to expand...
Sure, but I'm sure he's forgotten more about radio shit than we even know...
 
Hey guys. Yes. The FCC does not allow face-programmable business band radios. It might be possible to find a non-compliant (illegal) radio that will do this, but here's the problem:

Unless you do some homework ahead of time, there's no way to know if that frequency you're manually keying in is being used for something else in the area. There are a handful of popular "desert" channels that are walking on emergency services. This is why we do not program them into our radios. A few years ago, KOH was forced to change their 2 main frequencies because they were walking on an ambulance service. That year, we programmed about 4000 radios on the lakebed to get off-roaders out of a major potential shite show. I was surprised the FCC didn't show up and make some people super sad.

Anyway, of course, people will do what they want. I'm not the radio police (nor do I have any desire to be) but I do encourage radio users to keep in mind how their radio use affects the hobby, and possibly someone's emergency service rescue.
 
SteveG said:
Hey guys. Yes. The FCC does not allow face-programmable business band radios. It might be possible to find a non-compliant (illegal) radio that will do this, but here's the problem:

Unless you do some homework ahead of time, there's no way to know if that frequency you're manually keying in is being used for something else in the area. There are a handful of popular "desert" channels that are walking on emergency services. This is why we do not program them into our radios. A few years ago, KOH was forced to change their 2 main frequencies because they were walking on an ambulance service. That year, we programmed about 4000 radios on the lakebed to get off-roaders out of a major potential shite show. I was surprised the FCC didn't show up and make some people super sad.

Anyway, of course, people will do what they want. I'm not the radio police (nor do I have any desire to be) but I do encourage radio users to keep in mind how their radio use affects the hobby, and possibly someone's emergency service rescue.
Click to expand...
What frequencies did you have to chage? Just wondering what cross contamination we have to worry about.
 
SteveG said:
Hey guys. Yes. The FCC does not allow face-programmable business band radios. It might be possible to find a non-compliant (illegal) radio that will do this, but here's the problem:

Unless you do some homework ahead of time, there's no way to know if that frequency you're manually keying in is being used for something else in the area. There are a handful of popular "desert" channels that are walking on emergency services. This is why we do not program them into our radios. A few years ago, KOH was forced to change their 2 main frequencies because they were walking on an ambulance service. That year, we programmed about 4000 radios on the lakebed to get off-roaders out of a major potential shite show. I was surprised the FCC didn't show up and make some people super sad.

Anyway, of course, people will do what they want. I'm not the radio police (nor do I have any desire to be) but I do encourage radio users to keep in mind how their radio use affects the hobby, and possibly someone's emergency service rescue.
Click to expand...

Interesting.....

I've been meaning to get my HAM License just to get more informed on the whole topic.

This checks out though. Never really thought about it from an emergency standpoint. I know we have been way in the middle of nowhere and picked up mining companies, or cruising through the middle of LA picked up schools or stores a few times...

For something like KOH for me is about listening in.....

Where would one find that frequency info, for certain areas?

Can shed some light for us simpletons. About radio wattage/ ranges / Antenna?

Any and all info to help us become more informed would be appreciated!

E
 
Its vary easy to get . The questions are fairly straight forward and practice test are online. I just read all the question pool and started to take the practice test. After you pass is when you start learning all the cool things you can do. Being able to use repeater can be a life saver.
 
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