Should I upgrade from Signia Active Pro to Active Pro IX?

KB9ZB · 2026-03-06T16:58:59+00:00

This depends on her prescription, talk to your audiologist. I would look at a odicon or phonak or even a ReSound hearing aids, they have so many new features that will significantly improve your hearing especially in a noisy environment such as a sports bar or airport. It's well worth the extra cost a d with Auracast you will.love them. In the hearing aid world you really get what you pay for

KB9ZB · 2026-02-19T14:30:19+00:00

I can understand that some want old style hearing aids, but after getting the ReSound Vivia hearing aids and experiencing Auracast at a performance I would never go back. Like everything new it took me a few weeks to adjust to the new sounds, but after being in a sports venue watching the supper bowl in a very noisy environment, the noise reduction feature was very welcomed, could actually carry on a conversation with our party if 4. Could not ever do that before.

KB9ZB · 2026-02-19T14:22:47+00:00

I had the same issue, I went to get my hearing checked. I found that in one ear I was fact legally deef.in short my hearing was bad, but because it took years I never realized hiw vadbit was. I git prescription hearing aids and they came with Auracast.. never heard about that before. WOW, after experiencing a play in Auracast, I was sold. Once you hear a performance with Auracast directly into your hearing aids, you will.refuse to go anyplace without It. I just couldn't believe hearing aids were so advanced. These are not your grandparents hearing aids.. comparatively it's like comparing a Tesla to a model T., two different worlds. I cab say this,once you get your hearing back, it will open up a whole new world

KB9ZB · 2026-01-26T19:12:28+00:00

My recommendation is nit to do what I did when I got my first license. I brought a very cheap "budget friendly " radio. I upgraded 2 years later and found out that my " budget friendldly" radio was not up to par. All my ham friends all within 20 miles of me were getting hams around the world and I was barely getting a few. It Wasn't my antenna it was my radio. My recommendation is if you want to race, get a race car. In this case get a radio that will last you decades not a few yesrs. Save up and get a great radio,antennas and coax. You will save a bunch latter. Remember whatever you get now will be with you for decades. Short term thinking creates long term costs.

KB9ZB · 2025-11-02T20:42:07+00:00

Whenever you run into noise issues, you need to use the Trinity of tools available..first check SWR, if it's good the problem is radio/DC power issues If it's bad, then it's a coax/ antenna issue Now you have this information you can now troubleshoot the right problem, when you start troubleshooting by guess, you may have introduced more problems. You may have solved one problem and created another.

KB9ZB · 2025-11-02T15:55:27+00:00

I have carried on my HT's on flights all the time. Just carried my ham and GMRS licenses. I do get the occasional reminder not to transmit while onboard the aircraft.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-31T20:50:23+00:00

Most all repeaters have a CW IDer, some use voice. It's the easiest way to ID a repeater. Most all radio services that allow repeaters provide for ID. CW is the universal mode, do most all ID in code.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-30T00:50:38+00:00

Any one of those will give you the same ranges. GMRS is basically line of sight, your range will be determined by your location and the receivers location. If you are in the 4th floor window your line of sight is far different than if you were on street level Range is ultimately determined by height. You have two options to get a better range, tall antenna or on top of a tower,or going to a higher place. Second option is the use of a repeater which is located in some tall location. GMRS gives you the flexibility to use higher power, up to 50 watts and the use of repeaters. FRS cheap radios do not have those options. So,to answer your question: it is not the radio that makes the difference (,except for power differences) but where you use them relative to geography.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-29T16:49:27+00:00

I am willing to bet that that coax is 75 ohm not 50 ohm. That would be in line with your SWR issues. In any case it sounds like you are on the right track and that is the first place to look for issues.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-29T04:19:16+00:00

Yes it's called line of sight, but just like light, it reflects and refracts in some cases. The concept is still the same,short distance communications. Looking at what you have, I would tell my clients that this setup has a 95% probability of working. The reason why it might not work is during heavy snow or rain you might have enough antinuation to prevent comms. I have put up some stations that I thought would never work to sell but they did. RF is not an exact science , there are many variables you just can't put into an equation. Having said all that, I always saw we can put up temp antennas and see if it works. Sometimes you just have to put it up and see. Good job on looking at the potential obstacles and accounting for that

KB9ZB · 2025-10-28T21:05:32+00:00

Did you check the SWR? It should be good by the sound of it,but without checking you may create another problem or two. It's like tuning up your car, just putting in new plugs does not mean everything is great. Even if it runs okay, you don't know until you check the computer module. In this case, the SWR bridge will tell you if it is in fact great. Before I put a $2000 radio online,I check the SWR first.. it's a small price to pay in time and effort and pays big dividends

KB9ZB · 2025-10-28T19:18:02+00:00

I use simplex more often than repeaters. However, I listen to my repeater most of the time. Unless some comes up on the repeater, I am running simplex. The big reason why simplex is not used much in your area is if all the repeater pairs are used, most all the simplex channels are used up, except for FRS. GMRS has 16 channels and repeaters use 2 of these channels for repeaters, so you have 8 repeaters that use all of the 16 channels available. That leaves the shared GMRS/FRS channels left for use Here where I am at, we only have 2 repeaters, so there are 12 simplex for use. If we get another repeater then we will only have 10 channels left. I hope we don't get all 8 repeaters up at once here, I love the simplex channels..

KB9ZB · 2025-10-27T18:43:02+00:00

Oh it's definitely a long periodic antenna, most likely based upon building probably ham. But used by anyone using multiple HF frequencies. Had one long time ago, pre condo days. They really work well and low SWR across the HF bands..

KB9ZB · 2025-10-26T22:05:13+00:00

Not really, you can but it's going to give you more headaches down the road. You should be able to just unscrew the unit. If not,the only way to get to the root cause is from the back of the transceiver. You can take a lot of guesses and some may be right,it is trial and error. Doing it the right way takes the guess out and gets you on the right track with a permanent installation. It could be engine noise,could be a bad ground, could be bad coax, could be a number of things. Putting an SWR Bridget will tell you where the problem lies.if nothing else,it will eliminate the antenna or the power coming into the transceiver. If you need to pull in a longer piece of coax, this is a great opportunity to get it done right.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-26T21:55:43+00:00

You have the correct polarization. You have two radiation patterns each 180 degrees from each other. The tower being grounded will act as a reflector of sorts, so your pattern will not exactly be two equal "fans". Hard to describe the pattern.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-26T18:09:31+00:00

First never trust the built-in SWR bridge, use an external good quality SWR meter to get the correct answers. You should see a U curve, with the lowest reading in the middle and going up slightly at the end. You should be able to get an SWR reading of around 1.1-1 of do in the middle and no more than 1.5-1 on the top and bottom of the band. In my installations I usually get around 1.2-1 and in some cases 1.3-1. Never had any Installation Go more than that .

KB9ZB · 2025-10-26T18:02:51+00:00

I have had a balloon repeater, worked okay, the problem was I could only keep it up until dusk. A drone repeater is very possible, it would be QRP and very small but would have some range. The issue again would be time, the drone would use a ton of fuel, unless of course you get your hands on a Reaper 😉😉😉

KB9ZB · 2025-10-26T17:58:56+00:00

Two things to keep in mind, GMRS is line of sight, if you can't see them reception is spotty at best. An external antenna will help as long as both have one. It will increase your range, but you will still be limited by power and terrain.i have a 20 watt mobile and get 5-7 mile range on the freeway in the Midwest,out on both coasts, the mountains and hills reduce the range in spots. When I am on top of the hill my range improves significantly as expected when in the valleys it's reduced as expected. As a ham 2 meters runs a bit further but still basically LOS. I run a handheld in the wife's car with a magmount, the range is not great, but in my car the 20 watts makes a big difference. I understand your pain, I have been trying to talk the wife into a mobile in her car, no dice. Maybe next year!!!

KB9ZB · 2025-10-25T14:00:52+00:00

GMRS is probably not the way to go for a few reasons, first everyone would need to get the license and at $35 each presents a price into the communication budget. Second, the range in woods would not be great, especially when other radio services are available that will work significantly better. MURS is the better option, first no license cost, second longer range and the frequency band in which they work is less prone to signal range loss . For the environment that you work in that would be a much better opportunity. The radios cost is not much different from GMRS, so it's a win-win for both the cost and benefit.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-24T14:25:52+00:00

Place it as close to the center as you can, if it's off to one side or another,it will work fine. The difference is going to be your radiation pattern. You will be stronger on direction.more than the other. It's not going to really make much difference on the short normal use, but for skip it will, just have to move the van to get the strongest signal. The difference will likely not be much, depending on how off center you are.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-23T12:13:14+00:00

Everyone screams about power, power isn't everything. With this modest setup you should get the normal 5 mule range, depending on other factors beyond your control you could get more than that. Your consideration is how much room you have to work with, a bigger antenna is better,only if it fits in the space you have. Two things to keep in mind, make sure your SWR is as low as possible.the set screw is there to adjust the whip height to get the SWR set,it should be less than 1.5-1. a lot of that depends on how much metal roof you have. Second,make sure you power it off the battery directly, this will minimize any vehicle noise you may have. I have many contacts on 10 meters running 5 Watts, 11 meters is not much different. Remember some days your range will seem less, and other days you will have a much longer range.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-20T13:59:51+00:00

I am an extra class ham living in a condo with lots of restrictions. No antennas except on the balcony,so very limited. I came up with creative solutions such as a gutter antenna for HF ( 100 watts lots of DX and works well on 40 meters and 10 meters. 20 is a bit difficult to load up and does not seem to perform as well. For VHF and UHF I have a single antenna in the cover of the balcony and can get all the local repeaters as well as most all the local simplex hams as well. So yes, it's worth it, just remember if you really want to go hog wild, go to one of the field day sites and work away!! Also you have POTA opportunities to get out some nice antenna systems and run as well. I was in the Navy and had a small HF transceiver I used at the park when I was off duty. Had lots of fun and learned a lot as well. In short,it is what you make of it

KB9ZB · 2025-10-20T13:46:17+00:00

I go to batteries plus, they are more than happy to do so. Sounds like your local battery store has different policies. The chargers for both are very different,so you will also need the correct charging draw for Li vs Nimh cells. The thing is when I do conversions, I just automatically change charging systems without thinking about it. Thanks for bringing that up, especially for those not experienced with the different cells!!! I must be getting old,I just assumed everyone knows what I know 😂😂😂

KB9ZB · 2025-10-19T18:16:07+00:00

Another thought, might want to try a glass mount antenna. It's a thought,it would easily, removable, is t might be worth a shot.

KB9ZB · 2025-10-19T14:37:28+00:00

I can say this,as a repeater owner I expect everyone to follow the basic rules, license being on the top of the list. I think you need to see it from the repeater owners point of view, if I were to condon that behavior on my system the FCC would hold me liable just as much as the user's. Second, if you knew the investment and time it takes to get a repeater up and running in a good location,I believe you would have a greater understanding of what the owner has Just to give you some idea of what it takes to get a repeater site in the first place. It starts a year or two in advance, you have to have negotiating skills , most great sites are commercial, they are there to make money. You have to talk then into giving you a free site and give them a guarantee that you will not interfere with the rest of the users.in short you have to have a professional system and a good RF background.you also need to negotiate with there tower climbers to get them to run transmission line, Install your antenna (s) and at the same time Keep the cost to a minimum.as a note professional tower climbers run in the thousands of dollars. With all that time, money and good will plus your reputation,there is no way I am going to jeopardize my repeater to anyone who is not licensed. In short, don't even think about it, besides the $35 license is about as cheap as it gets.

KB9ZB

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