I got one these radios, after using it for 12 months I don't like it when you travel it will not find a new Dstar radio it keeps going back to the in Nashville. WU5E
I am a new owner of the ID5100 and it seems to be as advertised, great. Now I want to install it in my motorhome with a permanent location for the base and two positions for the head. I ran a Cat 6 cable for the microphone and a telephone cable from the base to the head. Can I build or buy automatic manual switches or leave both RG11 jacks plugged in all the time. Thank y'all for your comments. I will post a picture when I figure out how to do it.
I also have a motorhome and plan to do the same thing and will order RG11 and RG45 manual switches to get rid of the unplugging and replugging. I expect this will work. Also I want to move the speaker so so I'll also add that and a speaker. Ultimately I want to take it outside for satellite work.
I had a similar issue which turned out to be a poor ground connection. It would only manifest itself on high pwr.
How did the extension cat 6 cables and use of a switch (or not) work out for installing it in your m0torhome? I tested on my Icom-7100 with shielded Cat7 and seems to work fine and had on-air audio checks. Considering buying ID5100 but it looks like two cables extension cables needed to mount main radio in RV--one for head/radio separation and one for microphone extension as it is plugged only into the radio / not the head? Is that true? I know the Yaesu-400 and Kenwood 710G same thing.
He's right about the voltage except he didn't notice it was in a car. I had the same problem with my 5100 in my vehicle. What happens is you can transmit on low or mid, but the minute you turn it on high power it reboots the radio. It happened to be my battery was getting old and with the alternator, it just didn't have enough amps when I hit high power but low and mid worked just fine. I would look in that direction. I would watch the voltage on the radio on low and mid power levels and see how much the voltage drops. Now I'm not saying it couldn't be a bad connection, that could also do it. Sorry for the late response. '73 - K3CCN
I put a buck inline with it to keep it at 12Vdc, but it didn’t help. The battery in the truck is an Odyssey and way overpowered in general. Granted, it’s a starter battery and not a deep cycle so perhaps it doesn’t support loads like I’d prefer. I disconnected it and was running on a LiFePO4 battery and it worked fine, even though I had to take it out and charge it every couple of weeks. Seems like a mobile radio would be a little more rugged to work off a car battery. I’ve since pulled out the ID-5100 and replaced it with a Kenwood TM-D710G. At one point, the Icom dumped its config, and would do an ALL reset every time I turned it on. With the external battery. I haven’t wired the Kenwood yet - the extension cables aren’t compatible with the Icom. So far, it’s been running a couple of months plugged into a cigarette lighter. No issues.
I'm using the original version of one of these with mine and no longer have the rebooting problem, not one time ever. https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/wmt-58515-1777?rrec=true MFJ also makes one now. https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/mfj-4416c?rrec=true Curt WU3U
This may be the best solution I’ve read so far, if not an expensive solution. I tried a buck converter but it wasn’t designed for ham radio. So far my Kenwood seems a lot more tolerant of voltage variations but I’ll keep this product in mind.
I had the same problem in my vehicle with my Kenwood D710G and the original version on the first line above resolved the problem with it also. I bought one of the new versions from West Mountain Radio because I liked how it had built in PowerPoles and their design must be slightly different because it worked but every few days the radio would reboot. They sent me another one and it did the same thing. They swore that the design is the same and kind of made me feel like I was doing something wrong and would not let me try a third unit. I returned the second one and they refunded my money. Maybe they have changed the design since the original run that I purchased from but all of my wiring in the mobile was the same despit which unit I was using. Curt WU3U
I don’t follow. The West Mountain model is good, or you had to get three units before it worked? Or you had one good one, but the new version doesn’t work? Or does the MFJ figure in there somewhere?
I have one of the original N8XJK Super Boosters. This is the the model made by TG Electronics and designed by N8XJK. It works great, does exactly what it’s supposed to. When Tim from TG Electronics passed away I believe West Mountain Radio bought the design and made some of their own refinements and I was first in line to get one. I waited months fir it to be released. I wanted one because it was a little smaller and it had built in PowerPoles rather than I guess what you would call flying leads. When I got West Mountain Radios version I was very disappointed. I removed my original TG Electronics version and installed the WMR version within a day the radio was back to rebooting. I could be in the middle of a QSO on a local repeater and the radio would tune off. I could be stopped and not talking in the radio and the radio would reboot. I contacted West Mountain Radio and they send me a second one and I returned the first. The second one did the same thing. I would still experience the radio rebooting at least once a day. They had me open up the booster and change the low voltage threshold. It didn’t make much of a difference. I went back and forth with Joey Didion at WMR and he said that it was something with my installation and their booster would work every bit as good as the original TG Electronics version. They refused to work any further with me and was convinced that neither of their boosters had a problem. I could only tell them what I saw. I connected the original TG Electronics booster back up and it worked fine. It’s now installed in a new vehicle still working fine. I returned the second booster to West Mountain Radio and weeks went by with no refund. I had to push the issue to get my money back. They obviously had some defect and don’t k is if they ever found it or not. As far as the MFJ version goes, I recommended that a friend try one of theirs and when he adjusted the voltage pot he heard a pop and the booster was dead within 15 minutes of taking it out of the box. He send it back and never tried another one. I’ve seen positive reviews of the MFJ so that may have been a one of type issue, or maybe not. I really had high hopes for the West Mountain Radio version and would still buy one of theirs today if I knew it would work. That guy got frustrated with me because his device was t working in my application which is what the device is designed for. Why he wouldn’t own up to something being wrong with his device I have no idea. I think I purchased one of the first 20 or so out the door and was using it in a real world environment and not on a test bench. I even offered to do further testing for them to help get to the bottom of the issue. I kind of left me with a bad taste when it comes to WMR. Curt
