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small or portable SSB radios?

towerdog

towerdog

one-niner-seven
Nov 18, 2009
644
134
53
NC
I cant afford the new version of the AH-100 HT, so I like to make the equivalent of said.

What is the smallest SSB mobile or portable ever made, with the exception of the cherokee/titan/eagle/etc handheld.

I would love to find something similar to the midland 77-861 Pair Midland 77-861 40 CH Portable Or Mobile CB Radios - eBay (item 380320383027 end time Mar-06-11 10:31:48 PST)

which I have been kicking myself in the ass for not bidding on.

All the SSB units I have looked at so far are large to extra large fram units, nothing that could fit in a backpack (although maybe mounted to the fram of the backpack) but not practically carried through the mountains and woods.

AM is a waste of power, I prefer SSB and a portable would make my setup complete.
 

The smallest mobile SSB CB I have seen is the Uniden PC122XL, I have one it's right small.


T23
 
glad you didnt buy them, they are am only.

the trc 453 from radioshack was pretty small and cheap. something a little smaller was the trc 465.

midland 79-290's used to be fairly cheap but there getting up there now.

Mundara SY-201 was another that could have been imported from oz.
 
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the super tomcat was made by Pearce Simpson. i believe they were released in Australia.
 
Backpack Dipole

A teensy bit OT. Back in the seventies I used to carry a rolled-up dipole made from 300 ohm twin lead tied to 25 yds. of mono fishing line with a weight on the end. A slingshot would let you hoist it over a high tree limb.

It was a wonder. You should try one. It takes almost no room in a knapsack.

Ted
 
In terms of HTs, you're pretty much out of luck. Besides the AH-100, the only other SSB walkie talkie I've ever heard of is the Midland 13-778, which was made back in 1971, and then for only a very short period of time. In fact it came and went so fast it barely made a blip on the CB scene.

The only reason I know about it is a friend of mine back around 1975 had one. He used to hike up to the top of the surrounding foothills and shoot skip. Successfully, too, I might add. Of course it only had 3 channels, so it's usefulness was limited. But you have to admit that sideband DX with an HT is pretty cool.

Unfortunately today your only choices are to either save up your pennies and pay the $250 or so for the Cherokee or put together small mobile and a bunch of batteries in a backpack. And actually, once you spend the cash on a decent mobile SSB radio and rig up some sort of hokey antenna, then add in $50 or so on Li-ion batteries or gelcells, you've pretty much paid for the Cherokee and ended up with something not nearly as useful or portable.
 
yeah i was just checking out the new magnum and asking myself the same old question, can 11m be unlocked. that thing is cool, like a walky talky version of a ranger export, covers 10,11 and 12.

the midland looks neat too, more crap to dream about finding at a yard sale or flea market.

and office888, no offense but since when is 5 watts QRP, when i think QRP i tend to think < 1 watt. I have actually seen a QRP HT for 10m, took crystals if i remember right and kinda resembled a am/fm transistor radio with a long telescopic antenna. I mean, its pretty much for safety reasons handhelds dont go much over 5 watts, as you become part of the antenna (my friend had a peaked out TRC-210? that would start to burn if you TX for more than 5 or 10 seconds. it is what it is. You can always buy an amp for use as a base/mobile.



I think, the FT-817, would make an awesome CB, if they made an HF only version of it, I might could dream of affording it some day.

Think about it, the best CB's are actually ham gear. How often is it a CB gets converted to 10 meters, if it does you be lucky to get $30 for it on ebay.

Now how often is it ham gear is 'unlocked' to use on 11m, and I aint talking about CB's in disguise with a 005 khz offset and multiple bands of 40 channels, but actual 11m rigs like magnum 257 or yaesu, etc. (some of the exports work alright for ham too just a pain to tune in).

DX is definitely possible, kinda simple with an HT. WIth my old radio shack TRC-211 I can piss off cuban fishermen on AM, just by pointing the antenna horizontally.

So does not SSB make more sense than AM considering the technology we have today, in theory it would use less power and therfore more battery life, longer range and less interference?
 
I'm working on a review of the revised Magnum 1012 right now.

They made a couple of updates to the radio from the first versions.

It can be unlocked for 11 meter operation but it's not as simple as the mods for other radios.

If you want something for a backpack and want to run a dipole in a tree from the top of a mountain while backpacking or something I think it could definitely be fun and you could talk some DX.

As for actual mobile radios - as mentioned look at the PC122XL, 640e, Magnum 257 .
 

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