Single band vs dual band value

DaveInDenver

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
I respectfully retract my motion about dual use. :) I agree with everything you guys said, I was just floating it as a potential bridge within the 4x4 community. I would prefer ham stay ham without a doubt.
Hillbilly Heaven said:
Amounts to taking the old GE and Motorola commercial rigs into ham radios. Yes it can be done but it can't do both as equally well.
Click to expand...
That was true some years ago, but radios designed in the last decade have much less issue being frequency nimble. The days of relying solely on highly complex discrete filters are long past in favor of tons of FBAR & SAW filters and increasingly FIR in firmware. A radio Motorola sells now might be listed for 403-470 MHz or 450-512 MHz and will have no issues covering that sort of range. Doing our full ham 70cm allocation (420-450) and GMRS (462/467) wouldn't be a problem for the radio. The tougher problem is antenna bandwidth without using active matching.
 
texasnielsen

texasnielsen

Outdoorsman
Not to hijack the OP's thread but back to his original question....

Coincidentally I was just searching EP last night concerning a very similar situation. Recently licensed (as an aside to CERT instruction) (KG5GKS) and trying to learn this technology beyond what I studied in order to pass the exam. Of course passing was just gaining entry to the club, right? So what gear to go with on my rig?

My job has had me out of town and traveling more than in it lately so I haven't had an opportunity to hook up with some local folks for guidance/mentoring. After some elementary research I landed on the following for what I think the OP and I are after. Opinions? (Not so much on the $$ but the gear chosen)

Thanks!!!!

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prerunner1982

prerunner1982

Adventurer
texasnielsen said:
Not to hijack the OP's thread but back to his original question....

Coincidentally I was just searching EP last night concerning a very similar situation. Recently licensed (as an aside to CERT instruction) (KG5GKS) and trying to learn this technology beyond what I studied in order to pass the exam. Of course passing was just gaining entry to the club, right? So what gear to go with on my rig?

My job has had me out of town and traveling more than in it lately so I haven't had an opportunity to hook up with some local folks for guidance/mentoring. After some elementary research I landed on the following for what I think the OP and I are after. Opinions? (Not so much on the $$ but the gear chosen)

Thanks!!!!
Click to expand...

I don't see anything wrong with what you selected, all from well known companies.
If you can swing the extra $200 the D710G does APRS and voice at the same time and from what I have read does it better than the Yaesu FTM-400.
The Kenwood V71 and D710G and the Yaesu 7900 and 8900 are getting a little long in the tooth in my opinion. They just look dated. The Yaesu FMT-400 and Icom IC-5100 look better and even the Yaesu FTM-100dr and Icom 2730 to some extent.
Obviously the display doesn't make the radio and really any of the radios from the big 3 (or 4, Alinco?) should serve you well. I have run a Yaesu FT-8800r for the last 5 years in 3 different Jeeps in a dusty environment and it performs great.
If you are on Facebook feel free to check out Texas Off Road Amateur Radio Club.
 
DaveInDenver

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
For APRS the TM-D710 is the way to go, but if budget constrains the body of the TM-V71 is the same at the TM-D710. The differences are contained in the radio heads/faces. So you can upgrade to the APRS-capable face later if you wish.
 
dreadlocks

dreadlocks

Well-known member
Ive got a 710 for my tow vehicle, also waiting install.. needa get roof rack first so cant give much feedback on it.. looks great sitting on my test bench here heh, it receives just fine on GMRS w/out modification.. just wont TX, so I dont see how removing a resistor is going to have any impact on its performance.

I do APRS and GMRS when adventuring.. APRS/2M when traveling and am getting tired of a hodgepodge of hacked radios and I'm a Kenwood guy so I didnt really bother looking around at the competition.
 
Billoftt

Billoftt

Active member
I have a Kenwood TM-V71. It is a 2m 70cm radio that has 2 VFOs on it. Tis means I can cross-band repeat, monitor V/V, U/U, V/U, U/V.

I too live in the Southeast United States in South Carolina and rarely hear anyone on 70cm. Now, for the off-roader, this isn't a bad situation. With my Kenwood I can be the trail vehicle, have my radio set to a simplex frequency that the group is on and have the other side set to a 70cm repeater that the lead vehicle is also on. If, for whatever reason the lead vehicle and I get separated enough we have an entire repeater to ourselves. Just some food for thought.

One other thing to think about, you don't have to buy a brand new ham radio. Go to a Ham Fest or a local swap-meet with someone from your club that knows what he is doing and you can prbably find a good used radio at a decent price. These things aren't cheap CBs and aren't treated rough by cheap CBers, most are in good shape.

Whether you decide on, I recommend an NMO mount. It is the most versatile out there.

Sent from my SM-J320P using Tapatalk
 
ultraclyde

ultraclyde

Observer
Well, since someone bumped the thread...

I ended up with a dual band, dual transceiver 50w unit. I went cheap import (yeah, I know) but so far it's been good. I went with a TYT-7800. I found several independent tests online in the ham community that verified it doesn't have any issues with spurious frequency transmissions and generally plays well within the regulated requirements. 1 year warranty and purchased form an actual US company that I can go to if there are issues. I'm running a 75watt rated, 1/4 wave mag mount antenna since the trails here are brushy as crap. So far, all the feedback I've gotten from others on simplex and repeaters has been very positive on sound quality and clarity. on-radio programming is kind of a PITA, but doable, and CHiRP works great with it. It would be nice to have band groupings in the memory structure that were individually scannable, but I can work around it.

Interesting point about being able to simplex to a particular vehicle or vehicles while in a group with the dual transceiver. I can see that being useful for sure.
 
dreadlocks

dreadlocks

Well-known member
those cheap import radios are the biggest reason why HAM licenses are not slowly fading away in numbers.. so dont sweat it, thats what they are there for.. small investment, big results..
 
Billoftt

Billoftt

Active member
Ain't nuttin' wrong with dat!

I have heard the TYT radios are actually pretty good. I would rather see people on the fence buy an inexpensive radio and go for it than look at the price of a "Big 3" and ditch the idea. Unfortunately, you will find more than just a few people in the community that are a bit "snobbish" and it becomes a bit off-putting.

K4WGA

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