recommendations please

[Captain Kilowatt]

Hey Joe.You are concerned about what HT to get? What is going to happen if you score 80% or more and get HF priviledges? Just think of all the choices you will have to make then.

 

[AudioShockwav]

FT 897D

or a FT 857D
or a FT 897D
or a ft 857D
or a ft 897D.

did I mention a FT 897D? They are nice too....

73
Jeff

 

[Joe]

The part about "depending on the area" is critical.
We have several 2 meter/440 machines up on the east side of the valley here that i can easily use with less than a watt on my vx5r....with a mighty-fine-junk rubber-duck.

These are 50+ miles away as the crow flies and work great, and cover well over 100 miles up and down the valley. Remember vhf/uhf is line-of-sight, even a little elevation at the repeater site is a BIG advantage. Were are you located at? What kind of terrain characteristics do you have around you? Hills? Valleys?
Another good thing is to talk to Hams in your area, see what is working there real time. Do you have a scanner?
Plug in a few frequencys or band scan on 6/2/220/440 and listen for activity, or repeaters.
And as highlander has pointed out, 2 meter antennas are small and easy to build, 440 even smaller. A home brew 4/5 or 6 el 2 meter quad can be built from wire, and PVC pipe. LOL one of the first two meter antennas I built was a 5 el quad, I used a 2x4 split in half for the boom, and 3/8 wood dowels for the spreaders. a drill, a bit, some wire and a tape...good to go.
Don`t give-up on VHF/UHF yet!

HT
I really like my Yaesu VX5R, tri-bander.
Has 6/2/440, and the rx covers shortwave thru public service. Super small,lots of features,solid good batt life.
Linearone might say its "BomB Diggity"

73
Jeff

Thanks Jeff for the great info and helpful hints, this has been a very informative post so far, I’m leaning towards the VX-7

Hey Joe.You are concerned about what HT to get? What is going to happen if you score 80% or more and get HF priviledges? Just think of all the choices you will have to make then.

I look forward to all the choices QRN

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

FT 897D

or a FT 857D
or a FT 897D
or a ft 857D
or a ft 897D.

did I mention a FT 897D? They are nice too....

73
Jeff

So Jeff,what do you think of the Yaesu 857/897 series. I know I love mine.

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

well it does depend on a few things...
are you looking for an HT...mobil...or base set up..

I have the Icom T-90A
i am surprised at this radio..
at first i hated it due to the killer intermod..
(forget L.A. try N.Y.C. and across the river in NJ...lol)

the rubber duck the T-90A came with is a waste of time
(as is rubber duck supplied with all HT's)

However in replacing it with high gain antennas from Diamond, Comet, Maldol...
well let me say intermod is something i need look up to remember what it is...
and a side benifit is that they work like gang busters..
i have hit repeaters 80 miles away on regular basis...

i still have one fault for Icom's T-90A
it seems 6 meters is a Dead band...
it also seems 222 is not...
if Icom was so intent at keeping 6 meters (and it should) why did it ignore 222

it is because of 222 i had to get Kenwoods THF-6A
same size as Icom T-90A but nowhere the quality
i also do not like its menu and find Icoms T-90A to be stupid easy where with THF-6A the menu is all over the place..

THF-6A is a joke compared to the T-90A except on 222 mhz
both get worm to almost hot on trasmit...
but metel chasis on icom superior to plastic in kenwood
also intermod still exists a lot on thf-6a
also thf-6a i am always asked to talk closer to mike (it does not suffer from audio problems that they have a mod for) while with Icoms T-90A i am asked to back off on the audio (i am usally mistaken for a base radio)..

i do have one other pet pive with T-90A....it does not last long on a charge like the THF-6A

so there are pros and cons to both (is why i have both) but without any doubt perfer the T-90A

if 222 is big by you then maybe you would like the Alinco D 235
very nice radio...
i wish it was multi mode as oppesed to simply fm so i could use SSB with it..

i also love my 706MKIIG and look foward to getting the IC-7000

hope you ace the test


Later

 

[AudioShockwav]

So Jeff,what do you think of the Yaesu 857/897 series

I got the 897D, this radio is one sweet rig. At times I can`t beleve that they can cram all that in such a compact radio, and then I turn it on again...and there it is!
DSP is awesome
RX is awesome
IF roofing filter, notch filter,
there all great..
Its very Menu driven, and it is well thought out.If you can run a Multi-band HT,you will have no problem with this radio.
Its BomB Diggity! LOL
Now I spend all my free time putting up antennas.
I have a 400' wire up for HF, Jays I-10K tuned for ten, 14El 2-meter yagi, 11El 440 yagi, and a 2 meter vertical.
Now I need something for 6 meters....hmmmm..

73
Jeff

 

[AudioShockwav]

it seems 6 meters is a Dead band

another reason to listen around to see what is up in your corner of the woods.
6 meter FM traffic is rare here as well.

both get worm to almost hot on trasmit...
but metel chasis

I agree.
I find almost all of the small metal case HT`s will get hot on hipower if you are running a high duty cycle.
But that is the trade off in such a small package, that heat has to go somewere, and the whole HT is the heat-sink for the output-pa.
larger HT`s don`t suffer from this as bad, but they are ....larger lol.

73
Jeff

 

[KingCobra_CDX882]

AudioShockwav

yes i agree...
but even the small plastic ht's have the heat..

now between my T-90A (metel chasis)
and my THF-6A (plastic chasis)

my T-90A does not get as hot..but the battery does not last as long as on my THF-6A..

there are always trade offs

Later

 

[Joe]

Took a look at the T90 and the VX-7R today

wow can they pack a lot of technology into a small package.

I'm leaning toward the VX 7R

However I forgot to ask the sales guy what kind of distance I could get sitting in my house

Would I be able to hit the two repeaters a few miles down the road or would I have to out doors with this in order to get any distance

Thanks.