I’m going to try for my operators license as soon as I find a place near puyallup to take it. I would like to get a good mobile system. What are you guys using in your rigs. I see there are some that just do 2m which is what I assume you guys use on the trail. But I also see there are some more expensive options that do all the freqs. should I even bother with one of those big suckers. Or just grab a decent 2m. And what are some decent 2m radios?
Thanks Kyle
We currently use Beofeng handhelds and have Technician licenses. They work fine for convoys in the woods, etc. Within the next five years or so, we will end up getting General license. With that future plan in place, I plan on buying a Yaesu FT-857D Transceiver (or equivalent) in the next 7 months as I want something compatible with my future license in my rig. I don't want to by two radios, so I plan on buying an expensive one now (in the next 7 months) to avoid buying a lesser expensive radio now and having to replace it in 3 - 4 years. To me, that's a waste of money. Quite an investment for our future radio/comm set up, but I won't have to buy anything again for a decade or more.
That’s a pretty slick radio. Thanks for the info. Ive been keeping my eyes on some used sites hopefully I can grab something decent for a good price.
A few of us have the Kenwood D710 dual band. It's a great radio and has a TNC and APRS built in. Cost wise, it's on the upper end of the spectrum but it performs well.
The Baofeng handhelds are a great addition and/or entry point. They're cheap enough to have as a backup or to loan to people on the trail to listen in. Being a cheap handheld they do have their limitations and an external antenna really helps
It really depends on what you want to do with ham. Do you just want trail comms? Or are you going to play around in the other aspects of radio?
For just trail comms there are a lot of budget radios that will perform well. I have a TYT TH-9000D that's just a single band VHF and it works really well for what it is (somewhat hackable for adding a TNC too...which I think will be happening...).
If you want to play with other aspects of radio, the units mentioned so far are fantastic options. I have a Yaesu FT-991 in my truck. It's an all-band (sort of) all-mode radio and is super flexible for anything I might want to do.
Ii Do intend to play around with all aspects eventually. I imagine getting a base station and a mobile unit for my truck would be the best bet. I have an Army buddy that lives in Montana that is into ham. I think it would be cool to be able to reach him. I imagine that would best be done with a base station unit and large ant.
+1 on the Kenwood 710. One additional thing to consider is how/where to mount it. Some of the smaller radios are a single unit, which limits installation options. The nice thing about the Kenwood 710, the Yaesu FTM-400 and some of the ICOM radios is that they have separate remote head units. Putting the main unit under a seat, and just mounting the head unit gives you the ability to use RAM mounts, or a bunch of other options.
+1 more on the Kenwood TM-D710GA. Last spring John Russell & I was on the same trail run, me in front and him in the back of the convoy. We both ran APRS and could see how far apart we were, greatest thing ever for keeping the group together!
An HF capable rig like the Yaesu FT-857D would be cool as well, but keep in mind you'll probably need another antenna to use HF frequencies. Combined with a nice antenna, it would probably be the best solution if you're trying to connect with someone a state away or more.
Having a dual bander (2m/70cm) is nice if you plan to take advantage of repeaters. Even nicer if it has two receivers in once like the Kenwood TM-D710GA or TM-V71A or similar radios from Icom or Yaesu. That way you can chat with your NWOL buddies on 146.46 while still monitoring a local repeaters for any stragglers that didn't make it to your meetup on time.
Using repeaters is the key to communicating at any distance over 2m/70cm. For example, I can easily reach the Burch Mountain repeater near Swakane Canyon from Blewett pass or Wenatchee or the hills between Ardenvoir and Chelan. Gives you a very good range of communication.
Thanks that’s a lot of good info. I’ve been looking at the dual bander. A question I had about the ones with aprs. Do they just auto broadcast your position no matter what. I’m only curious in case I bought one I don’t want to be illegally broadcasting until I get my license.
This is how my 710 is mounted. I used a RAM cupholder mount and the dash mount that comes with the radio. It was supposed to be temporary until I came up with my "real" solution, but after a year it's still working for me. I really like my mic placement since I try to keep the dash clutter free and limit cords and such. It's also easy to remove the head unit - keeping "smash and grab" temptation to a minimum.
That’s a nice mount but then where’s my beer go?! Haha
Here's how my rig is mounted, I'm using a vehicle specific mount from proclipusa.com.
BTW, looks like the Kenwood TM-D710GA is $100 off at hamradio.com today. That's a pretty good deal for this radio...