[Kenwood] Re: Modified VHF/UHF rigs

[Gary Pearce KN4AQ]

At 11:14 PM 8/20/2005, you wrote:
>Sounds logical but one question. If these radio are not designed to operate
>on these bands then why do they program them into the chip and lock them out
>with a simple easy to remove diode? Wouldn't it be better to not program
>them in to begin with?
>
>Wally

Simple.  It's a sales "feature" for some people (hams and non-hams).

I've had two instances where my out-of-band transmit capability came in handy.

The first was when I was shadowing a police officer as the ham-police 
liaison for a large running event on city streets in Raleigh, NC.  The 
officer was in charge of logistics for the police controlling traffic.  I 
was monitoring his communications on one side of my Icom W32, and 
monitoring the ham traffic on the other side.  The lead pack of runners 
turned a corner and was heading down a street.  He saw that traffic had not 
been stopped a few blocks ahead, as it was supposed to have been.  He 
urgently needed to tell the officers manning that intersection to stop the 
traffic.  His battery died.  I handed him my HT and he completed the call.

Total "modified" radio use: 1 transmission.  Traffic: Urgent.

The second time was the day after Hurricane Isabel blacked out the eastern 
third of North Carolina.  Hams were providing communications for a variety 
of contingencies.  In Perquimmins County, the wind had knocked down the 
500' tower used for all Police/Fire/EMS repeaters.  Hams were stationed at 
the fire stations.  I was assigned to the 911 center where there was some 
phone service.  My job was to relay calls from the 911 center to the fire 
departments.

But I discovered that they also had no communications from the 911 center 
to the police cars.  There were a couple of hand-helds that the dispatchers 
didn't know much about (set up for repeat only), and no outside antennas.

The two-man radio tech crew was busy scouting available tower space to move 
the undamaged repeaters.  They had no time to provide radios or set up 
antennas at the dispatch center.

The first thing I did was set up crossband repeat from my HT (Kenwood F6A) 
to my mobile (Standard C5900), set up to talk simplex on their UHF repeater 
output.  The police officers were talking to each other simplex with their 
mobile radios, but had no way to talk to the dispatch center.  This gave 
them access to the dispatcher, at least while they were near the 
city.  This took about 10 minutes to set up.

Next, I got an antenna up on the roof, which took a while, as this was a 
secure, sealed building with almost no holes to the outside.  At first we 
ran one of my HT's on their UHF channel.  Finally one of their radio techs 
brought a police mobile radio and power supply and replaced the HT.  Then 
they got one repeater back on line on a borrowed tower and antenna.

Total "modified" radio use: 36 hours.  Traffic: mixed routine and important 
- I wasn't listening to it all.  But this was a rural county with no 
electricity anywhere and major hurricane damage.

I wasn't expecting either of these events when I removed the diodes from 
several radios.  I don't expect to have anything like that happen again.

I am VERY concerned about the proliferation of modified radios in the hands 
of people who lack the self-control to not use them, or have more nefarious 
intentions.  I'm surprised that we don't hear more "jamming" incidents to 
emergency service radio systems.  And I'm concerned about the modified 
radios being used in commercial service as a cheaper, more flexible 
alternative to legal radios, because that very flexibility makes it easy to 
make a mistake in programming and operation.

The problem is being reduced as systems move to 800 MHz, especially with 
digital systems.  It won't be eliminated - there will always be a few hams 
(and non-hams) with the expertise and resources to acquire a radio that 
will work on those systems.  But it's a different problem.  Those aren't 
ham radios easily being jeeped for non-ham service.

73,
Gary KF4AQ




__________________________________________________________________________
        Gary Pearce KN4AQ        editor, SERA Repeater Journal
        Cary, NC                 www.sera.org
        919-380-9944             kn4aq at sera.org
        kn4aq at arrl.net
         AIM: KN4AQ Radio.  Yahoo: KN4AQ
         (send e-mail to be put on my "buddy list")