I have the same question..

I have one of these and for a small unobtrusive mag mount it works very well. amzn.to/3YsSX7S

Yep I’ll be covering that in my next video! We have tripod sprinklers that live in the truck and have T-post mounted sprinklers here on the property that also get pre-staged during fire season. Same with the soap. A couple jugs live in the truck with a bunch more stored at the house ready to be dumped into water for exactly that reason! Great advice!! Thanks for the comment!

@@JJH0326 what area are you in? You should be able to hear a local repeater in most locations in the US. Simplex is only short range, but repeaters usually have decent coverage.

@@GetYourCommsUp I have to drive 30 minutes just to go to the grocery store so it's probably where I live ..but here's hoping the yaesu 65r or whatever it is ends up being a little better then my other radios😂 I'm just bored out in the country I think is why I want it to work lol

@JJH0326 for simplex you can try listening on 146.52. Sometimes there will be traffic on it as that is the national simplex frequency. The other thing to do is look up the repeaters in your area. Try the Repeater Book app, or www.radioreference.com/db/browse/ To find the local repeaters. This should help you find something to listen to!

@@GetYourCommsUp thank you for the reply! I'll be looking into that soon.

Unfortunately there isn't a good way to test SWR on a handheld antenna. The manufacturer takes the interaction with your radio, you holding it in your hand, and the proximity to your head into account when they design the rubber ducky style antennas. So even if you try to recreate it, by putting a SWR meter or Nano VNA on the antenna you change the equation. The simplest test is a range test for transmit and a signal strength test for receive. If they perform well under those tests then you can figure it's a good antenna. Several of the other channels (www.youtube.com/@HamRadioCrashCourse, www.youtube.com/@HamRadio2) have covered this, and it's covered in a video I have in my que. (but like about 8 other videos, I just can't seem to find the time to get completed and published) Also please make sure you are authorized to transmit on the frequency your testing on 150.9 is not a HAM band and is also not one of the "license free" frequencies either. I don't want anyone getting in trouble with the FCC. And the antennas your testing are probably tuned for the Ham Bands or FRS/GMRS/MURS channels, picking a random frequency to do a SWR test is going to give you bad readings. I hope that helps! Thanks for the question!

@@GetYourCommsUp thanks it didn't seem like good data as it would jump around a lot. We use hand helds a lot at work and more and more clients are showing up with cheap radios instead of the icoms and Kenwood's. I'm a helicopter mechanic and there has been a lot of We can't hear you , you can't hear me snags where the helicopter gets blamed . I think it's the proliferation of these radios with cheap antennas causing most of this trouble. I have a few now for testing and I'll be sure to test the one you hang in a tree , that's sounds like a good quick base station.

Glad you found it helpful! Congrats on the new radios, Ham radio is a great hobby and way to help your community!

Your welcome! Glad it helped!

Yep power banking the solar works too. I’ve got some Anker packs to do that as well. Along with my much larger solar system that runs my main radio station and charge system for the handhelds.

And power is only inconsistent if there are clouds or other shading. Otherwise your panel should be able to produce consistent power output for the main part of the day.

@@GetYourCommsUp oh yeah during the main day? Absolutely. I just use it this way because my panels are smaller. they are made for backpacking and it like folds on itself. It was 99$ but I bought it 4 years ago and it’s waterproof. The foldable ones aren’t so powerful in general, but nonetheless during the later afternoon and evening that’s when having the bigger foldables matter to me. I notice with the smaller ones during evening you just won’t be able to charge a power bank with them, when you would if you had a bigger panel. That’s the trade off. I regret not getting a larger one a lot of times.

It’s always a trade off. And I tend to be a lot more energy conscious when backpacking with the smaller panels! Very good points! Bigger means more weight though. The newer panels are getting more efficient which helps.

You are partially correct. I worded it poorly. I should have said the radio was reversed from what the big three do. Yaesu, Icom and Kenwood all put the SMA female on the radio and the sma male on the antenna, where Baofeng puts the sma male on the radio and the sma female is on the antenna

But thanks for the comment! That clarification should have been made earlier!

Turn your volume up? All my videos should have the sound level set to about the half way point on most devices for people who aren’t hearing impaired. That should give lots of room to make it louder….. not sure if that helps at all….

Push the A/B and set both to the same memory channel.

Yep that should work well. I’ve hooked up to external antennas when out portable camping to do exactly that. It really helps with the range. Use good coax for the long run inside from the antenna and a short thin flexible jumper coax to hook the radio to the larger coax.

At a minimum use RG-8X for the run up to the antenna. LMR-400 is much better, but its thicker and a little more expensive. But if the run is longer than 50’ definitely use the LMR-400 or equivalent.

The USB charging cable is something you have to order separately. There should be a link to it in the video description.

Yeah the shorty antennas are only good for really close range.

A 100000mah battery would be about the size of a Kleenex box. So yeah they are lying about that. There are a few models that do produce 8 watts but the ones that claim 10 usually don’t produce even 8. Your always better off with a better antenna than more power. As more power into a bad antenna won’t go anywhere where as a little power into a efficient antenna will go quite a ways.

It would depend on what the connector on the rollup antenna is. But most likely it’s a BNC. If thats the case then this adapter would work. amzn.to/3ROXFcU

I actually just got a tool to show the SWR curves! I’ll see about finding some time this next week to film that one. That should be an easy one to get done.

Yeah I figured out how to change it for future videos. It’s in the settings. Didn’t even occur to me till after I had finished filming that video and was working on the editing.

Yes any of the antennas that fit the Baofengs should work on the Anytones. I did find this paper that another ham put together that has a valid point on the length of the threaded portion though. hamradio.joomla.com/images/Anytone/Correct_Antenna_for_Anytone_868-878-878plus.pdf

@@GetYourCommsUp Awesome so much Thanks!

😅The chicks like the bigger antennas.

You get the same distance that you’re going to get with any handheld radio, Yaesu, Kenwood or Motorola. Usually a couple miles in the woods. And yeah it can be as short as a few blocks in a city.

Change the TDR-AB Function, 34.