It was time for a 2M HT...

[gary in ohio]

Went over to universal at lunch today. Between the 4 of us that went we spent close to $1000 on gear and NO one even got a radio. I got out of ther with the least spent at just under $200 for the tri-band vertical 2/220/440.

One thing I did notice is they have LOTS of used gear on the shelf. They seldom have any quality used gear. A number oF radios, ic7000, ic756 ts-520s and a number of used handhelds including VX7's.

 

[hochung]

Gary, did you happen to check the price on that used IC7000?

 

[gary in ohio]

Gary, did you happen to check the price on that used IC7000?

NO I didnt, The 756 pro were $1200, but not sure about the 7000.

 

[Cabrito]

Went over to universal at lunch today. I got out of ther with the least spent at just under $200

That happens to me everytime I go to HRO. Even though I might have just gone in for a $20 J-pole I always end up spending over $100.

-m

 

[Redline]

I have to give the little Kenwood a plug as well. It’s my only radio at the moment, but I always get very good audio reports from those I'm speaking with as long as I have enough power to hit them. I have the factory rubber-ducky antenna and probably the same gain antenna Mr. Chung is using.

I need a vehicle mounted radio for an event soon and I'm considering buying an amplifier and and external antenna and using the THF6A as my mobile.

snip........

For raw function, I'd recommend the Kenwood TH F6A (the one on the far left):

Check out the specs when you get a chance. It's a very good radio.

Oh, almost forgot, there's a VX8-R coming out soon.

 

[hochung]

Redline,

Give the external mounted antenna a try. You might find you don't need an amplifier. I've used the FT-60R with an external magnetic mount and an NR770 for a long time before I bought a dedicated mobile unit. A few issues:

1) the radio gets very hot on extended tx.
2) battery life is too short for extended mobile use, so you'll have it plugged into the cig lighter.... which leads to...
3) too many cables/wires in the cabin.

NO I didnt, The 756 pro were $1200, but not sure about the 7000.

The 756PRO is too bad as$ for me.

I was considering a 7000 for home use. I am afraid the use ones are still going for over a grand.

 

[Redline]

For sure. Using the HT with lots of TX time does make it pretty hot, and I have already considered all the extra cables issue, a definite negative.

Some of these issues are making me consider a less expensive 2m only radio like the Kenwood TM-271A, but the radio is large

Redline,

Give the external mounted antenna a try. You might find you don't need an amplifier. I've used the FT-60R with an external magnetic mount and an NR770 for a long time before I bought a dedicated mobile unit. A few issues:

1) the radio gets very hot on extended tx.
2) battery life is too short for extended mobile use, so you'll have it plugged into the cig lighter.... which leads to...
3) too many cables/wires in the cabin.



The 756PRO is too bad *** for me.

I was considering a 7000 for home use. I am afraid the use ones are still going for over a grand.

 

[Cabrito]

Turning the power level down will keep the radio from getting so hot. Of course you can't turn the power down for all situations, but running on the lowest possible setting will also extend the battery life.

-m

 

[1leg]

Jerry, for your Ft-60, do you use the FT-60R Commander to program memory?

I bought the program at HRO, not sure about the brand but the screen shot looks pretty much the same.

 

[Redline]

Yep, I often turn my HT down to its middle power setting (not Ultra Low) and it works well for close range simplex on trail rides. But I would need to run it at maximum/5-watts to drive an amplifier.

I like the small size of using an HT for a mobile, but the extra cords for running an amplifier and powering the HT is a concern.

Turning the power level down will keep the radio from getting so hot. Of course you can't turn the power down for all situations, but running on the lowest possible setting will also extend the battery life.

-m

 

[gary in ohio]

The 756PRO is too bad *** for me.

I was considering a 7000 for home use. I am afraid the use ones are still going for over a grand.

Your not going to find a working 7000 under a grand. You can get a 706mkgii for$700-$800 range. The 718 is under $500, most other newer vintage icom's are over $1000 usually over $1200.

 

[crawler#976]

Received the unit yesterday.

It's a stout little radio w/ a very easily read display. Those familiar with Yaesu units will find the manual programming pretty easy. I loaded 18 repeaters and 10 simplex frequencies into memory in a hour or so after reading the instructions.

The 12V and 120V chargers can be used with the unit on. Voltage jumps from 8V or less on the battery to 12V on either charger. The max the unit can handle is 16V.

Transmitting on 0.5W from inside a vehicle to my FT-7800R mobile unit resulted in an effective range of 1/2 mile, outside a vehicle on 2W I was able to be read clearly on the Bill Williams Repeater approx 35 north of my QTH, and at 5W it achieved full quieting on the same repeater. On a more distant repeater in Flagstaff, (60+ miles) I was able to open the repeater and input DTMF signals and get a response from the repeater on outside temp. I did not get a voice reply to my request for a signal check.

So far I'm pleased with the little radio, and will get some airtime on it this weekend to see how battery life is.

Mark

 

[Hltoppr]

Well...I'll be on 147.140 here in about five minutes....I'd be glad to give you a holler and check...

-H-

 

[crawler#976]

Hey Andrew!

Didn't see your post until this morning!

From work I can't hit Mt. Ord with the HT from Prescott Valley (I can with 50W on the FT-7800), and Elden is obscured by Mingus Mt., so no luck testing it from here. I can hit the 147.220 machine on Mingus - not sure if you can get out to that from Flag tho.

Mark