It could be in the antenna system. Corrosion in a connection behaves like this.

Eh? Are you new to amateur radio?

All the kenwoods require the lids taking off to install TXCOs, filters and speech units or to change the jumper for the attenuator for LF frequencies.

Most transceivers up until recently even used to come with a circuit diagram.

If they didn't want you to open up the lid, they'd put security screws on them and they'd not make options that required the lids to be removed to fit.

This is a technical hobby to for the purposes of self teaching and investigation into radio communications and taking the lid off stuff should be the norm, not the exception.

The FCC has no authority in the countries where they're made.

...by an amount which you most likely won't be able to distinguish in normal use.

I really should do that Youtube video however its too damn cold at the moment to be outside swapping antennas about.

It is so little as to be not noticeable. A S point on the meter is 6dB. 5/8 wave verticals are not 6dB better than 1/4 waves and on higher take off angles they can be worse than 1/4 wave.

I have done A/B testing extensively on my car with a 1/4 wave 2m antenna and a 5/8 wave 2m antenna to a repeater 55 miles away that has an ERP of 10W which is about 200 ft higher than where I am. My antenna is installed in the middle of the roof of the car via hole drilled through roof method and doors/trunk/hood bonded to the car body. I have found absolutely no discernable difference between the two antennas. Audio sounds the same, S meter sounds the same and I can talk through that repeater just fine with 10W on both antennas.

I may do a Youtube video at some point to show this.


This is definitely the case travelling at 60MPH or more or even lower speeds if you're driving into a strong headwind.

Seriously you should be building your own. Nobody should be buying wire antennas.

Personally I'd not bother with the Windom and build a fan dipole instead.

if you have an 8ft x 8ft space, even above your house or in the loft/attic consider the G3TPW Cobwebb antenna. 5 full size resonant dipoles for 20-10m in an 8ft x 8ft square.

The difference in gain of any mobile vertical antenna over another is so low as to make it almost worthless installing them over a simple 1/4 wave antenna. Because we mostly use repeaters on VHF/UHF mobile the elevation pattern of a 5/8 wave or longer is actually detrimental in a lot of areas.

Certainly my own extensive A/B testing between a 1/4 wave and 5/8 wave monoband 2m antenna has found no discernable difference to a repeater up to a distance of 55 miles away either on the S meter or RX audio strength and I've talked through that repeater with the 1/4 wave with just 10W. Simplex on flat land I've not noticed any difference over a 25 mile distance.

I'm glad you found you don't really need to run flat out on VHF. My Kenwood TM-D710 has never been run on high power - I've not found the need to. By the time a repeater gets to the point I need to use high power to use it, the RX audio is usually bad enough due to the low signal strength that it makes it too hard to hear whilst mobile anyway. Distance wise a repeater 55 miles away is about at the limit of my mobile 2m install for talking through it on 10W and for RXing it as well. That repeater is using 10W ERP. I guess my little 1/4 wave antenna works OK 

I used a triple magmount with a Little Tarheel and whilst the magmounts didn't tear up the paint, the coax flapping about did.

The biggest problem with the magmounts though was common mode current. On 80m it was so bad that if I keyed up with more than 50W it reset my radio. Drilled a hole and never looked back. I could put 200W through the antenna on 80m and not a hint of common mode.

Mike, you're against drilling a hole in an 8 year old car. I had no hesitation in drilling a hole in the roof of a 2 year old Mondeo I bought last year. Come resale time I'll fill the hole with a colour matched shark fin style GPS/DAB antenna, re-route the co-ax to behind the dash and sell it as an extra feature.

If you've a balun you may see a short. If there's a matching section you may see a short. Certainly the matching section of the Diamond CP6 appears as a dead short.

What is a dead short to DC isn't always seen as a dead short to AC which RF is.

The only way to check for a short on coax using an ohm meter is with the antenna and any inline baluns/chokes disconnected.

And the performance is dire - 6dB or more down on one mounted properly. Corvette owners have an excuse, nobody else does really.

MFJ 1026 Noise Canceller. Uses an out of phase signal to lower/eliminate the interference. Have a look on the Youtube videos. I think that in the UK at least it is almost becoming a requirement for anyone living in an urban area wanting to work HF on the lower bands.

Failing that, you're looking at the Flex.

Yes although the pattern of the 1/4 wave is more like half a donut cut horizontally through the middle.

I've tried switching between a 1/4 wave and 5/8 wave antenna on 2m quite extensively and noticed very little difference between the two performance wise to a repeater that is 55 miles away - maybe a S point at best. So if you're wondering whether you'll be OK fitting a 1/4 wave antenna and whether or not you'll be missing out massively with the performance in comparison to a 5/8 wave, no you won't. If you're in a valley and repeaters are on hills you may even find the 1/4 wave outperforms the 5/8 wave to those repeaters due to the higher gain at higher take off angles.

Best method for mounting an antenna is via a hole drilled in the roof. I understand in the USA the Larsen 2/70 NMO mount is very popular.

Personally I'd pony up the money for a dual band mobile radio with a removable head unit. Far better than trying to do it with a HT. Have the head unit on the dash, the main body of the radio in the trunk and you're good to go.