radio range increase???

[SABRE17]

My unit comms director told me about a device that lets you boots the power of a hand held (1-5 watts) to as much ad 40 watts!?!?!  Apparently you take the stock antenna off, screw in a cable that screws into this box and run another antenna, either vehicle whip antenna or what ever your hearts desire, and BAM you have a 40 watt HT1000. has any one seen anything like this before?
if you have where can i get it?

[Major Lord]

You are referring to a booster amp. Some handi-talkies even have a cradle that allows you to make a cleaner installation. These are common in the Ham radio world, and with your handi-talkie, you can drive amplifiers to outputs in excess of 300 Watts. Of course, most amps are not going to be NTIA approved, and the power levels you are talking about are in excess of what CAP allows for a mobile. You need to quadruple your effective radiated power to double your distance, and adding a 3db gain antenna over your rubber duck will effectively double your power without having to add more expensive hardware and potentially really irritate your comm people! A booster amp will also do next to nothing to improve your receiver sensitivity, unless it has a preamp, in which case, it will add noise too. I would start with a better mobile antenna.

Major Lord

[SABRE17]

what is the limit on mobiles any ways?
and where do you find a larger antenna for an ht1000?

[JoeTomasone]

HTs are limited to 6 watts output anyway. 

[Major Lord]

There are all kinds of adapters floating around out there. Here is one I found with a quick search: http://www.kawamall.com/pd_antenna.cfm

You can purchase slightly less lossy rubber duck antennae from Ham Radio Outlet, E-Bay, etc. Naturally, these will be longer than the OEM whip, which is pretty close to be being a dummy load!

With a good 2 Meter antenna on your vehicle, and your portable, you will see improvements in performance on an order of magnitude. You are limited to 25 Watts on VHF.

Major Lord

[Slim]

If you're talking about an HT-1000, what you want to look for is called a convertacom.  It's basically a cradle that you set the radio in, and make a connection with the universal connector in the side of the radio.  The convertacom includes a microphone, external amplified speaker, and antenna connection.  It will also increase your output power to about 12 watts.  Combine that with a high dB gain antenna, and you might have something.

FWIW-we tried using them at work with our 800MHz portables, and didn't have much luck.  The main problem is that the convertacom isn't paramedic proof, and the pins in the universal connection are very sensitive.  When one breaks, the whole unit is basically junk.  If it's your equipment purchased with your money, you'll probably take better care of it.

The other question is:  Is the radio NTIA compliant in that configuration?  I know, nobody else will know what you're doing or how you're doing it, but still.  I do believe that placing a mobile, external antenna onto a portable unit is a no-go.  For the Motorola and Johnson radios using an SMA antenna connection, there is an SMA to BNC adapter available.  However, when using the adapter, you're increasing the weakness of the radio's weakest point.

[JoeTomasone]

Along the lines of this discussion, CAPR 100-1 used to include the provision that if you use an HT with an external antenna on a non-temporary basis (i.e. regularly) that the HT must meet the more stringent NTIA mobile radio requirements.   However, I cannot find that in the latest 100-1.   Did it get removed or am I just not finding it?

[Eclipse]

http://www.capmembers.com/media/cms/R100_001_162D77B8183A1.pdf

[SarDragon]

We know where to find the reg, Bob. We're looking for verification that the restriction or advisory text no longer appears there.

[cap235629]

We know where to find the reg, Bob. We're looking for verification that the restriction or advisory text no longer appears there.

It is no longer there as it pertained to member owned equipment that is now frowned upon

[Eclipse]

We know where to find the reg, Bob. We're looking for verification that the restriction or advisory text no longer appears there.

It is no longer there as it pertained to member owned equipment that is now frowned upon

Which?  The mod or member owned equipment?

Member owned equipment is not "frowned upon" - if you want to spend your money on a compliant radio, nothing has changed, and while new equipment may be more expensive than wideband days, used stuff is still fairly easy and "cheap' to get.

[cap235629]

starting with the equipment.  Most (note the word most) wings have enough equipment to support the mission (NOT to give everyone who wants one a radio) and "mods" are not allowed on CAP equipment without prior approval through the NTC via your wing Comms Officer.  Attachments are ok but you can't crack the case.

[SABRE17]

unfortunately my wing does not have enough equipment to loan out and as i live over 30 miles form the closest repeater i need a cost effective way to have both handhold coms and vehicle (20 is watt) coms, hence why one of these connvertacoms is good, ill have my portable ht1000 right there in case i need to dismount and go on foot/ talk to an AC, while i can have the same radio with more power be able to talk to MB.
i just want to know if there is any reg against that.

[Eclipse]

unfortunately my wing does not have enough equipment to loan out and as i live over 30 miles form the closest repeater i need a cost effective way to have both handhold coms and vehicle (20 is watt) coms.

Why?

In what context would you need to contact an a/c or other CAP members where there is no issued equipment in the area?

[SABRE17]

it actually happened that an ELT was going off in a boat yard in Chatham MA. and an Ac was dispatched and two GTM's responded, i live half way from my base to that area, i could have gone directly to the site rather then drive 20 miles to get a radio then respond. not to mention i wish to participate in repeater and new work checks.

and my wing as equipment, it is just for actual mission and training use, and every one else in communications in the area has their own gear.

[Eclipse]

^ There's no reason you could not have simply checked into the mission via cell phone or email, etc., gone direct to the search area and waited for the teams to arrive.  You are not allowed to prosecute a search alone, anyway, so its not like there would be much to discuss via radio.

VHF nets no longer serve any purpose but for radio confidence checks, if you don't have one, there's nothing to check.

I'm not saying it won't be more convenient to buy a radio, and people are free to spend money where they like, but I hear all the time how members "have to have a radio to do ES...", which is simply not true.

[SABRE17]

and when a huricane tears across cape cod, knocks down all the cell towers and sets of 1000 boat elts what use is a cell phone?

not to mention it never hurts to have a spare radio around

[SarDragon]

^ There's no reason you could not have simply checked into the mission via cell phone or email, etc., gone direct to the search area and waited for the teams to arrive.  You are not allowed to prosecute a search alone, anyway, so its not like there would be much to discuss via radio.

VHF nets no longer serve any purpose but for radio confidence checks, if you don't have one, there's nothing to check.

I'm not saying it won't be more convenient to buy a radio, and people are free to spend money where they like, but I hear all the time how members "have to have a radio to do ES...", which is simply not true.

I participated in a mission using just a cell phone, and I'll never do it again. We had two UDF teams and an aircrew looking for multiple ELTs, and the lack of ability to talk to all the players at the same time was a serious problem.

[Eclipse]

and when a huricane tears across cape cod, knocks down all the cell towers and sets of 1000 boat elts what use is a cell phone?

The devices in watercraft are referred to as "EPIRBS".

Having 12 radios won't change the fact that you can't act as a single operator, and the team you connect with will likely have the equipment you need.  If your wing has such a high ops tempo that it is exceeding the TOA, they need to request more equipment or consider redistributing it better.

[Eclipse]

^ There's no reason you could not have simply checked into the mission via cell phone or email, etc., gone direct to the search area and waited for the teams to arrive.  You are not allowed to prosecute a search alone, anyway, so its not like there would be much to discuss via radio.

VHF nets no longer serve any purpose but for radio confidence checks, if you don't have one, there's nothing to check.

I'm not saying it won't be more convenient to buy a radio, and people are free to spend money where they like, but I hear all the time how members "have to have a radio to do ES...", which is simply not true.

I participated in a mission using just a cell phone, and I'll never do it again. We had two UDF teams and an aircrew looking for multiple ELTs, and the lack of ability to talk to all the players at the same time was a serious problem.

No argument there - but not everyone on the hunt needs a radio, only one point person on each team (YMMV, of course).  Actually I could think of a few creative ways that having an open conference bridge with an earpiece would be infinitely more effective than simplex comms.

I may need to try that next mission.