Ham Radio Gear

kaiser715

kaiser715

Doing hard time
Joined
Jun 1, 2006
Location
7, Pocket, NC
I passed my Technician exam last Saturday (and am patiently waiting to appear in the ULS).

I'm getting into it mainly for emergency needs when I'm out of cell phone coverage. (Like a couple of years ago up the mountains near Franklin, I drove about 15 minutes before getting a cell signal to call an ambulance for an elderly couple).

I've been looking at radios and talking it over with some friends, and I know there are several hams here. Should I go cheap and stick with 2m only in a HT or mobile, or go dual-band 2m/440? For Jeeping, emergency needs, etc, will 440 be of any real value now or in the future?

Right now, I'm leaning towards a cheaper 2m 50w mobile, and a dual-band HT when some money comes in.
 
Congrats on the ticket

Don't know how active it is over your way but I would say start with a 2m mobil get a power supply and a antenna for the house and go from there

I do have a few dual banders but mostly on 2m and playing with packet right now .


73's


N3-PHT ( Party Hard Tonight)
Greg
 
As for myself I strongly prefer a dual band mobile rig. Yes, I know, the VHF 2M band has way more traffic than the 70cm UHF band, but if you're buying it for emergencies you'll be better off with the dual band rig. Grab a copy of the AARL repeater directory to throw in your glove box as well, just to give you a reference for what repeaters may be available to you when you find yourself in unfamiliar territory. Of course, that's coming from a guy who has had a dual band rig sitting around for years but never manged to get it actually installed in my rig. I always feel like a doof riding around with only a CB in there. I keep telling myself that I'll install it when I do my center console, but never quite get around to building the console.

KG4CJL

edit: And congrats on the new ticket!
 
Congrats on the ticket. I mostly use 2M but I just can't resist the charm of a dual bander. There are a coupla decently priced dual banders out there that perform very well and don't require an engineering registration to program and operate. The Yaesu FT-7800 is a good buy in that regard and so is the ICOM IC-208H, both $255 at aesham.com. These two are one band at a time, so for a true dual bander (two bands simultaneously, side-by-side display), you gotta get up off more yen.

If a single bander is more your cup, the ICOM IC-2200H is a good choice and is stupidly simple to program and operate, and it's reasonably cheap ($140 at aesham.com). The stupidly simple and cheap parts are why I have one of those, too. Just take it from experience, get yourself an external speaker or you won't be able to hear most any ham rig at speed in an open vehicle, and maybe not in a closed off-road vehicle with knobby tires. Ham gear may be good in some respects, but pretty much across the board, audio power seems to completely escape the designers' minds.

Antenna recommendations would be something WITHOUT a leaf-catching "pigtail" coil in the rod. Those tend to get caught on every tree branch that comes in contact with the leaf-catcher coil. If it has to have a coil, get one that is a sheathed (closed coil) design. You can put a piece of heat shrink tubing on the open coil design and that'll reduce or eliminate the leaf catching for as long as the shrink lasts. Also the fewer parts that make up the antenna (fewer joints), and the more flexible the design, the happier it will be off road. Comet and Diamond brands work great on your car and don't lay back in the wind, but are so stiff they're easy to damage in the woods, and they have a lot of joints that are susceptible to corrosion when you stress the joint seals. Don't get sucked into their hinged "break over" designs either. You can't use the radio when the antenna is in the laid over position, and the hinged joint is notorious for becoming a source of noise when they get worn or damaged.

As for the ARRL directory, it's notoriously out of date and full of errors and "ghost" repeaters each time it comes out, probably because it has to rely on info from so many different organizations and their publication schedules. Join SERA, the SouthEast Repeater Association, (sera.org) and get the quarterly journal that has the SE US repeater listings in it. The SERA Journal ain't perfect either, but it's published by the organization that does the repeater coordinations for the Southeastern US.

WX4CBH
 
Another thought and something now I wish I had done was to buy a dual band with REPEAT function in it!!

Then buy a handheld with the 440 band. So what happens then is your dual bander in the vehicle is set to take your 440 signal IN and then rebroadcast it OUT on the 2m band (using the 50ish watts or so in the car)

This allows your low wattage hand held to be sent out using the much bigger amp unit in the trail rig. To me that is the main reason to get a dual bander, but the ICOM 208H does NOT have the REPEAT function. (I have the 207H...wished I had figured this out first tho)

For a handheld, I use ICOM T2H which is a really good/rugged model. I guess they are not making them or have changed the name but here is one on ebay. (I like the fact you get a full 6 watts in a handheld...it basically does anything I want in the TRIAD..I can sometimes hit W/S repeater from my office in Gso)

Search for ebay# 140224015871

http://cgi.ebay.com/ICOM-T2H-2-METE...ryZ40066QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
Congtats and welcome to hamdom.

The more usable frequencies you have at your disposal will improve your chances in getting help in time of need.

Besides, more is always better. More lift, more tire, more gear, more frequencies.

I'm an Extra class ham and I run a (cough) modded (cough) Icom 706 MkII. HF, 6m, 2m...and (cough) rumor (cough) has (cough) it (cough) that (cough) c(cough)b(cough) is in there.

I run an old Larsen 2m and have ben seen on trail w/ a screwdriver antenna.....but I tore it off at Callalantee.

73 de KF4ZGZ

Matt
 
There is no way that the two squirrels in that Zucchini Somersault can handle a hunnert watt radio...... :flipoff2:

WX4CBH
 
Thanks guys, this is helping! Still *patiently* waiting for the ULS. :) They said it could be a couple or three weeks.

Anybody buy from universal-radio.com? Someone sent me their link, but had no direct experience with them. Prices look decent.
 
I bought my antennas from them and great prices and quick to send me out a replacement when they sent something incorrect. (Let me keep the other one too / wasnt worth their time to get it back...was the base I believe for my 2m antenna)

I cannot remember the brand/name but it was an antenna Deezul had recommended to me for my 2m/440 dual band radio.

I bought both of my rigs on ebay...but to do over again I would buy a new one from Universal or one of the others recommended here.
 
deezul said:
There is no way that the two squirrels in that Zucchini Somersault can handle a hunnert watt radio...... :flipoff2:

WX4CBH
Click to expand...


I'm not Spinal Tap.....I don't put it on 11 all the time!

Besides....it was all a rumor. :rolleyes:

btw- doncha listen to deezul, he's too OLD to remember anything!

:popcorn:
 
Good call.....

If yer into geocaching it means Did Not Find.

Matt
 
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