My Ham Shack- Yaesu FT-2900- Icom IC-7100, and a leap into the digital world of radio

[M Rose]

I have been diligently working on my TK-790s. My 45w TK-790 is almost finished. I can operate digitally on it, just can’t use the mic yet. I am pretty sure my problem is with the mic I am using, so I will be looking for another mic shortly to try and configure to work.
The TK-790H won’t power on. I am about at my wits end and ready to ship it off to a shop to find out what’s going on. The TK-790H is a 110w radio that if I can get configured correctly will make a great trail radio. I’m also looking into turning it into a Tri-Band radio by adding a second TK-790H and a TK-890 to cover allow me to run digital/voice on 2m and have the ability to also use 70cm.

Kenwood TK-790 VHF (148-174MHz) 45W Mobile Radio (Advanced/Dash Mount)

Kenwood TK-790 VHF (148-174MHz) 45W Mobile Radio (Advanced/Dash Mount)

used-radios.com

Another update:
My Baofeng UV-5R started acting up on my last trip out. I wasn’t able to transmit or receive good quality signals, even with my external antenna. I’m not quite ready to step up my HT game yet, so I was looking for a little better HT. Well, I found a Baeofeng GT-3PT Mark III for a little more than a UV-5R. I looked up a couple of reviews and was suprised to find it had an FCC sticker. Come to find out it is FCC compliment and it’s a true 8 watt radio. I got the version with an extra capacity battery, and the standard accessory package (car charger, earphone mic, upgraded antenna, and house charger). Their is an upgraded accessory package that also includes the speaker/mic extender, and the programming cable for $10.00 more, but I already had these accessories for my UV-5R, so I didn’t bother getting the upgraded package.
The GT-3P uses the standard UV-5R accessories, has the same male antenna port as the UV5R, and even uses the same programming cable to program through Chirp. The biggest difference between the UV-5R and the GT-3P is in chirp, there isn’t a GT-3 series radio listed, so you need to select a different UV5 radio (I forget which one off the top of my head). Once programmed the radio menus are similar to the UV-5R, so no relearning the menus.

Range report:
I haven’t done a full range test yet, but I can now hit all of the local repeaters instead of just the local club Repeater that is a mile away.

Baofeng GT-3 Makr-II Transceiver, FM Radio, Dual Band 136-174/400-520 MHz, Chipsets Upgraded, ABS Frame and Programming Cable

 

[Sparksalot]

Years ago, I had a pair of those 790s. I had no way to repro them back then, they were always in the way, etc. Now I wish I still had then.

 

[M Rose]

Years ago, I had a pair of those 790s. I had no way to repro them back then, they were always in the way, etc. Now I wish I still had then.

It’s actually a very easy repro mod now, pretty much just program and go. There are a coupe of people working on importing the TK-X90’s into chirp, I’m working on a simple mic adapter that will cost about $15 to use a mic with RJ-45 connectors. I’m also working on a separation cable kit that would allow a person to get a radio equipped with the KCK-5 separation kit to build the very expensive cable for under $10.

If wanting to use a Kenwood TK-x90 be mindful there are several variants, and only 2 are easy to repurpose for typical Overlanding needs.

The TK-790 (and 790H) can be programmed into the 2 meter band by overriding the programming software.
The TK-890 (and 890H) is the UHF version wich can be made to work on 70cm and GMRS frequencies. But.... huge but here only the TK-890 is legal for GMRS use, as it has several different power Settings for transmitting. The TK-890H is a full 45/110 watt radio wich on full power isn’t allowed, and most channels 45 watts is still too high.

The TK-690 and the TK-690H can be modded for 6 meter use, but it’s more than just a programming modification.

What I like about the TK-x90 Radios is the ability to set a tri band radio. My overall goal is to use two (2) TK-790H’s and a single TK-890 to make a tri band radio. One TK-790H will be paired with a TKsharing a control head, while the second TK-790H will operate on its own screen. One TK-790H will be a data only radio used for APRS, and WinLink gateways, while the other will be programmed for phone on simplex as well as Repeater use. The TK-890 I plan on programming MURS, GMRS, as well as 70cm Repeaters. I will block out the transmission on all the lower GMRS/FMRS and MURS frequencies to stay legal.

The biggest advantage to using these radios besides the 110w (the H at the end of the number) is their price. Buying a used one in non-working order is about $80-100 (usd). Most wont power on because they need an ignition sense wire plugged into the back of the main radio body, or they have a blown fuse (F502) from someone trying to power it on with the polarities reversed. Both of which are free fixes and take only a matter of a few minutes to repair with a good soldering iron.

The biggest disadvantages is the need for 1 antenna for each radio, or at least 2 antennas (1 dual band antenna and one 2m antenna). The second disadvantage is most of these radios don’t come with a control head. So expect to pay about 20-50 for a new control head. There are two control heads available: the KCH-10 and the KC-11. The KCH-10 is the basic head and has a built in speaker. It features 7 programmable buttons.
The KCH-11 removes the 4 watt speaker and gives 4 more programmable buttons. The loss of the speaker means you have to buy an external speaker. Luckily this means you can upgrade from a 4 watt to a 13 watt external speaker.
Another disadvantage to this radio is the cost of mics, they are about $100 Used and take a special Kenwood only 12 pin mic connector. But I’m trying to address this with a simple DIY solution (More on this to come as it further developed).

one more disadvantage is the lack of a VFO knob, it possible that the firmware can be modified to turn the channel selection knob into a VFO, but work hasn’t currently been done in that regards yet. I don’t know enough about firmware to even try starting the hack.
The last disadvantage it the size of the radios. They are HUGE. But they are tough.

 

[M Rose]

So I’ve been playing around with my TK-790s. I have everything working off of the DB-25 connectors, but I really wanted to use the 12 pin connector on the back of the remote head for my speaker output and the mic input. For what ever reason I can’t get this to work. So I’m momentarily ditching this idea and will just run a separate Cat5 cable to my center console for the mic, a audio extension cable for the TNC to my glove box, and hardwire my external speakers to the B-Pillars in the bronco.
I will be getting one more TK-790h and a TK-890 to have a tri-band radio setup in the Bronco, while I will be adding my current TK-790 to my coms go box as a dedicated packet 2m radio with backup phone capabilities.

I did a little more work to my Go-Box. I now have all the external connectors for the Icom IC-7100 accessible without having to open up the coms box. My current coms box is a living prototype. So how I have it configured right now will be changing with my final design later this winter.

My plans are to make the box more deployment friendly and make accessing the ports a little easier without cables running everywhere. I also want a place to permanently mount my RasPi 3, and feed it power as well as have it connected to the IC-7100 in such a way I can still plug an external laptop up if I so choose to (mainly for field day since our logging software runs on windows only).
Another thing I am planning is the ability to store my portable antennas inside my box. Right now I just have an end fed random wire antenna, but I am building several dipoles for the 10, 20, 40, and 80 meter bands. For UHF/VHF I’m looking at building a couple of wire vertical antennas.

 

[M Rose]

The IC-7100 go box is complete and ready to be deployed to full time service inside the Bronco.

I used some Stimulus cash to stimulate my ham shack.

 

[M Rose]

A late update. I temporarily added the Icom IC-7100/ Kenwood KT-790H go box to the Bronco. In the future I plan on moving the head unit to my overhead console and permanently mount the IC-7100 and Kenwood KT-790H bodies under my rear seat along with a couple of LiFePO4 200 AH batter



The Kenwood is set up as a packet radio so it stays on 144.390 for APRS or can monitor 146.520 and 146.460 while using the IC-7100 on UHF and VHF.

 

[El-Dracho]

The Kenwood is set up as a packet radio so it stays on 144.390 for APRS or can monitor 146.520 and 146.460 while using the IC-7100 on UHF and VHF.

I like that idea! Thanks for the update! By the way, the Sasquatsch Lights switch is supercool!

 

[M Rose]

I like that idea! Thanks for the update! By the way, the Sasquatsch Lights switch is supercool!

Thank you. I love the KC Apollo Lights.