So, after someone on air mentioned liking Kenwood’s, I decided to go for it and buy one… it ended up being about $80 with shipping and a microphone… I knew it would be a pain, but I figured why not…

The thing arrived and it’s kinda neat looking, I guess it’s basically what you’d find in a cab or police car…

The first thing needed is a programming cable because the thing has no buttons for programming… it’s designed to be programmed at a PC and then put in service in a vehicle where the user just selects channels… The cables are about $15 on ebay…

Rather than spend another $15 I decided to build my own… it turned OK, but ended up costing more than $15 between the bits/pieces and certainly the time…

Given the comparisons in size, I felt like this:

At this point I decided to watch Back to Future III and write this stupid post.  By next year I should have some progress…

I know this is an easy search, and a no-brainer to those who are experienced… but apparently copper and galvanized pipe are incompatible (which is why I have a union on my water heater).

If I’m using ENT or chain link top rail as an antenna mast I need to ground it.  To ground it I should use brass pipe clamps.  Brass contains zinc and is compatible with galvanized pipe (copper is not compatible and will chemically etch the zinc from the pipe and it will rust at that spot).

I should keep watch if I’m using a bare ground conductor that it doesn’t touch the mast either, and also verify the type of metal the mast supports are.

(www.repeater-builder.com/antenna/site-stuff/radiositerules.html)

(http://www.askcodeman.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=316)