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I think they are slightly different flavors of the same basic dish. Cheap, entry-level radios that are mostly marketed to and intended to be used as CB and Freeband rigs. The lack of useful 10 meter features like PL tones are left out in favor of CB toys like echo and talkback, etc.
I certainly would not steer anyone towards them who was a new ham looking for a first rig. You can spend just a little more on a good used HF set and have SO much more that you can do.
For strictly a CBer who wants to play on the "dark side" of freebanding a little and getting a taste of what DX is like, one can certainly put together a basic setup based around one of these rigs (add an omni antenna, small amp, decent microphone) and have an absolute blast! Lots of No-Code Techs used to do exactly this---play on the VHF/UHF bands that the ham ticket gives you, and freeband is your "HF"....I did that for many a year with my old orange 2950, A99, Palomar 225 and a nice D104. Talked all over the world, often times without the amp. And you've got a pretty good sounding AM/FM CB as well.
Also, now that a lot of former freebanders are now general class hams with spankin' new HF sets to play with, many people (myself included) use our former bootleg 11 meter sets like these as legitimate 10 meter sets as an addition to, not in place of, our big bad Kenwoods, Yaesus, etc. I'll often have my FT-847 on 14.230 running SSTV into a wire antenna, while the DX2517 is sitting on 28.400 connected to the Imax with the volume up, but the RF Gain tweaked back a bit. I won't hear distant, sporadic signals much, but if something starts happening on the band, I'm going to hear it. Certainly all these sets are not complete junk---there are far too many guys out there enjoying them for that to be the case (I LOVE my Galaxy). I even run PSK31 and SSTV on 10 and 11 meters with the 2517! It does a good job (but drifts a little, lol).
Nothing wrong with liking these rigs, I certainly do.
I certainly would not steer anyone towards them who was a new ham looking for a first rig. You can spend just a little more on a good used HF set and have SO much more that you can do.
For strictly a CBer who wants to play on the "dark side" of freebanding a little and getting a taste of what DX is like, one can certainly put together a basic setup based around one of these rigs (add an omni antenna, small amp, decent microphone) and have an absolute blast! Lots of No-Code Techs used to do exactly this---play on the VHF/UHF bands that the ham ticket gives you, and freeband is your "HF"....I did that for many a year with my old orange 2950, A99, Palomar 225 and a nice D104. Talked all over the world, often times without the amp. And you've got a pretty good sounding AM/FM CB as well.
Also, now that a lot of former freebanders are now general class hams with spankin' new HF sets to play with, many people (myself included) use our former bootleg 11 meter sets like these as legitimate 10 meter sets as an addition to, not in place of, our big bad Kenwoods, Yaesus, etc. I'll often have my FT-847 on 14.230 running SSTV into a wire antenna, while the DX2517 is sitting on 28.400 connected to the Imax with the volume up, but the RF Gain tweaked back a bit. I won't hear distant, sporadic signals much, but if something starts happening on the band, I'm going to hear it. Certainly all these sets are not complete junk---there are far too many guys out there enjoying them for that to be the case (I LOVE my Galaxy). I even run PSK31 and SSTV on 10 and 11 meters with the 2517! It does a good job (but drifts a little, lol).
Nothing wrong with liking these rigs, I certainly do.
The 2950DX is the best of the three, IMO.
Pretty much hit the nail on the head. If had to choose between only those three radios to get on 10m, it would be the 2950dx, which was also actually sold and marketed to hams for a while. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the easiest to use user interface, which makes a lot of people gravitate toward the other two radios on your list.
Pretty much hit the nail on the head. If had to choose between only those three radios to get on 10m, it would be the 2950dx, which was also actually sold and marketed to hams for a while. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the easiest to use user interface, which makes a lot of people gravitate toward the other two radios on your list.
i would agree with the previous two posters,the 2950dx is a better radio than both the magnums,although it looks like a taxi radio,aesthetics aren't one of its strong points.
the magnum range of radios with non continuous vfo's seriously needs addressing as does the build quality.the noisy receivers don't help either.
having owned all 3 i like the magnum omegaforce the best. it memory
stores both channel/ and mode VERY nice.this is for a base install
in a mobile install i like the 2950 better its continueous vfo is simpiler
to use and my magnum seems to pick up slightly more electrical noise
i do agree the 2950 seems more geared towards ham being it doesnt
have things like echeo talkback, topgun.now this just what my tests
showed me but personally i like all 3 and any of them should make ya
happy
stores both channel/ and mode VERY nice.this is for a base install
in a mobile install i like the 2950 better its continueous vfo is simpiler
to use and my magnum seems to pick up slightly more electrical noise
i do agree the 2950 seems more geared towards ham being it doesnt
have things like echeo talkback, topgun.now this just what my tests
showed me but personally i like all 3 and any of them should make ya
happy
with out doubt the 2950DX is better. i run a 2950DX with a Astatic 575 mic for 10 meters when it opens up and never got bad report. have talked all over the world with it from base or mobile. had the other two and both were drifty till warm up and not quite as stable on frequency after. seems like ranger puts a little more into there radios to be CLOSER to a HF rig in versitility then the other two
The 2950 wins if you do alot of SSB talking. If you are a driver who does 75% AM on channel 19 then the OmegaForce would be a better choice. On AM the Omega wins hands down.
I have had three 2950's over the years and they are exellent radio's. Right now I have been running a blue mosfet Magnum 257 and it's a darn fine little radio too. Exellent receive.
In the end it comes down to what you like, need, and what mode you do most of your talking. I need a small size radio and talk 90% SSB. The 257 fits the bill perfectly.
I have had three 2950's over the years and they are exellent radio's. Right now I have been running a blue mosfet Magnum 257 and it's a darn fine little radio too. Exellent receive.
In the end it comes down to what you like, need, and what mode you do most of your talking. I need a small size radio and talk 90% SSB. The 257 fits the bill perfectly.
I like the Omegaforce.....memory channels rock, and saving the freq and mode is ideal for mobile applications. I like it because it does well on AM and SSB. Good all around radio.