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question

bigred222

Key Up City Radio
Aug 28, 2006
1,155
53
58
34
Stamford, CT
www.cbjunk.com
im sure you all have been asked this millions of times. However I have yet to get a straight answer from anyone. Now people lets try to be civil here. Are we at all EVER EVER EVER (not in times of emergency) allowed to use a 10 or 10/12 meter radio On 10 meters. aka Exports. They are radios. the use LEGAL power (sometimes) and dont Really violate any laws. The only thing is some hams complain due to Bleedover and crappy sounding audio, but crappy audio set aside, I look at them like a cheap way to get started on 10 meters. Lets take the RCI 2995 for example. 10/12 meters capable. Why not???
 

Legally, only if type accepted by the FCC for use in that band.

The Uniden radios were type accepted. So was the 10-meter sold by Kenwood and Radio Shack.

Once these radios have been modified, they are no longer legal!
 
Not exactly as simple a question as you might think. Type acceptance is for commercially made equipment. It means that if sold commercially by the manufacturer/dealer/etc as an amateur radio, then the thing has to meet certain specifications and has to have been tested and passed by the FCC. 'M.C.' is absolutely correct about that, but remember, that's for commercially made equipment made for amateur use.
You can build any equipment you want to use for amateur use. It does not have to be type accepted (as such), but it does has to meet some minimum requirements. That means that you can start by using any piece of equipment and then modifying it to meet those minimum requirements. If it doesn't meet those requirements, somebody will tell you about it :)! The smart thing to do would be to 'clean' the thingy up before starting to use it, or while using it, before getting to the FCC getting involved point. That's what happens with 'other' commercially made stuff, like from the military, commercial radio services, etc, that are used in amateur service legally. The rules say that there are certain things that equipment has to be capable of. It's up to the user to make sure that it IS capable of those things, and it doesn't matter where that equipment started 'life'. (Motorola doesn't make 'amateur' equipment [as such], but they make gobs of stuff being used on the amateur bands.)
So, the answer to your question is 'Yes, and No'. Just depends on YOU, the end user...
- 'Doc
 
So would a RCI 2995 be able to be used on the 10 and 12 meter bands. Or would a Galaxy 95t2 be able to be used on the 10 meter band??? thats what i really want to know. reason being im looking to buy either of the two radios. Thank you.
 
the use is more or less subjective to the type of radio.

10m uses frequencys, most common frequencys are not ones that the "channeled" (for lack of better term) radios like galaxys and just about every other export that does not use a vfo for tuning.

a common call frequency is 28.400, a radio with a vfo like the 2510's and rci's can cover that frequency. traditional exports with channels that use 10k jumps will land on 28.395 and 28.405 and require you to use your course clairifer to get close to the frequency. even than most exports are so far out of alignment you will harldy hear anything clear enough to respond to.

95% of 10m transmissions are ssb, higher classes use cw and very limited fm voice. just getting your tech ticket limites you to ssb. somthing no export does well.

some people say rci's have excelent ssb. its bull. i have used many different rci's and uniden's and all were poor at best compared to a real radio. my old kenwood ts 440s wouls blow them away in ssb quality. you would think people are right next to you. with the rci's they always sounded ducky.

a older kenwood ts430,440 or icom or yeasu will run you around $250-$350 but that gets you a hf rig that goes just about anywhere (even am radio stations) and 60-100 watts true output, fan cooled and all the features you could ever need. they sound clean, the recieve like no other radio, 100% legal to own and operate, and will still hold there value
 
You took the words right out of me mouth! Yes, the "channelized" exports are legal for a ham to use. But WHY restrict yourself to "channels" when you can find a used amateur transceiver for almost the same money?

The straight dope is, they are LEGAL for hams to use ON the ham bands. They are not legal for dealers to SELL to the public--even tho, technically, they are legal for licensed ops to buy and use. They are not legal to use ON CB, and, of course, not legal to use on the actual 10 Meter band without the licensed.

73

CWM
 
Commercially built HF transmitters for the amateur bands do NOT require FCC certification or type acceptance. Commercially-built HF amplifiers do require certification (97.315)

"Ten Meter" radios are completely legal on the ten and twelve meter bands, if operated by amateur radio operators who have the proper grade of license for such operation. This licensed amateur is responsible for the quality of the signal he transmits.
 
There is a thread here on the forum that answers this Question.
Sonwatcher called the FCC and asked the question directly to them, the answer was that with the proper License a "Export" radio can be used on the Bands the License holder is authorized to use. If you search, he even included the Phone and Case number to call and confirm the info as correct.

73
Jeff
 
From The FCC Section of this forum:

Quote:
By the look of the incredible amount of internet disuccsion on the 10 meter law, it makes one wonder if we all really understand what the law means. Even electrical engineers I have spoken with do not fully understand what is going on.
=============================================
(Sonwatcher)

That is exactly where I was at. I noticed there are a lot of forums I have never heard of discussing this same matter with the same differing opinions. So at the beginning of the week I called the FCC and asked flat out if these radios, that are illegal to market in the US, are ok for licensed amateur operators to use on the amateur bands ? Today on my way home I called home and my wife said I had a message from a Diane from the FCC. She had told me she would get back to me after directing the question to someone in charge of Amateur Licensing. I got home just now and she has stated that an Amateur is allowed to use the Amateur portion of an export radio. So that settles the question for good with me.
If anyone would like to verify the answer you can call Diane at 877-480-3201 option #2. The case# for my question is #776635

73
Jeff
 
to sell somethign is different than to use it by a lic. op.

but either way the rangers are not channeled well except on 11meter if you hit the man button.

they have a vfo. but either way if your lic. op. you can use what ever you want as long as it doesnt exceed the power limit of the band your alocated too. even if it uses bands and channel for the display.

i would recomend the ranger over the galaxy. just because there more stable.
 
Now, if you have one of these radios you surely can use it on 10 or 12 meter. In fact, when I first got my general license all I had was a Ranger 2950DX and a Palomar Magnum 4500 hooked to an IMAX 2000. Yeah it was for freebanding :twisted: I wanted to get my general and use the radio for amateur use just like your wanting to do. The DAY I got my license I made contact with a JA station (Japan) on 10 meter only using the 25 watts from the radio. I then had a pileup of JA stations calling back to me and I told them what radio I was on and had good reports. I then fired up the 4500 Magnum and was still getting good reports.

After a few months of enjoying 10 and 12 meter with the radio I was wanting more bands. I then bought the Yaesu FT-100D, the difference in RX compared to a Ranger was unbelievable. I never went back to an export.

I have said this on the forum time and time again, spend the money on the better radio now you will be money ahead in the long run.

You want a good starter radio? Look at the ICOM IC-718. It is a basic ham radio, all the other ham manufacturers stopped building their "starter" radios like the Yaesu FT-840 which is still a good radio if you can find one.
 
I use my SuperStar 3900 Gold on 10 meters all the time. After an alignment, crystal swap and 2SC2999/Schottky diode mod, the radio receives really well for what it is. The transmit audio sounds very nice using a Heil HC-5 element in the stock mic case. Thanks to the wide SSB and AM filters, receive audio is excellent! (Give me a shout on 29.050 Mc AM sometimes for a demo.)

Is it as good as a $2,000 HF rig? Not on your life-as Carl has pointed out! However, they do an excellent job for minimal bucks.

I wouldn't be worried about running anything "export" on 10 meters as long as it had a clean, un-hacked transmitter section. However, I would worry about finding other folks to talk to as conditions haven't been very good for a while...
 

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