Amateur Radio

[2xAGM114]

I HAD a programming cable, but no clue where that is now. I manually programmed my Baofeng to hit a downtown Dallas repeater and one up in Richardson. Haven't used CHIRP yet. May buy this Yaesu Chris recommended and dive into CHIRP.

FT-60 was my entry into amateur radio. Agree with Chris' comments above. Easy to program, yes.

Chirp doesn't work for me (Mac OS user) so I bought the RT Systems cable and software, ~$45. Fed the RT software with the latest RepeaterBook within 50 mi. Done and on the air! RT has great phone support to boot.

I highly recommend the Signal Stick antenna in place of the OEM rubber duck antenna. Noticeable increase in range.

Great little HT.

[mtnbkr]

Well, someone bid $100 on that FT-60 and there were no other bids. They got a deal. I've seen those sell on QRZ well used for nearly NIB prices.

The Signal stick is a good antenna. I have one in a little zipper pouch with my VX-3. The VX-3 is my "I'm not doing radio stuff but I want to bring a radio" HT. It has a little 3" snubby antenna that is good for short to intermediate (out to a mile in good conditions) comms, but I'll drop the signal stick, tied in a loose loop, in my back pocket in case I hear something that is out of the snubby's range transmit. I've done that and worked a SOTA activator up near Skyline Drive from my hometown in NoVA (40-odd miles away). I also activated Reddish Knob on the northern edge of the Shenandoah Valley with the VX-3 and the Signal Stick. Not bad for a 1.5w HT.

If I'm going hard with an HT for SOTA but don't want to hang a j-pole, I'll use a half-wave whip, but the Signal Stick gets the job done when a quarter-wave whip is sufficient. The price is great too.

Chris

[Shotgun]

Well, someone bid $100 on that FT-60 and there were no other bids. They got a deal. I've seen those sell on QRZ well used for nearly NIB prices.

Yes and damn. I had a couple of reports to get out today and was focused on those. Checked Ebay about 2:00 and the sale was over. Just damn. Thank you for the link, Chris, but I blew it. Despite not getting a good deal, the wants have me, and I shall be the owner of a FT-60 soon.

[mtnbkr]

Yes and damn. I had a couple of reports to get out today and was focused on those. Checked Ebay about 2:00 and the sale was over. Just damn. Thank you for the link, Chris, but I blew it. Despite not getting a good deal, the wants have me, and I shall be the owner of a FT-60 soon.

Bummer. Nice thing is, they're still available new, so aside from paying more, you didn't miss out on anything.

And I'm all too familiar with the "wants".

Chris

[ccmdfd]

What's your use case? Local repeaters? Digital modes? Simplex? Which bands? The standard HT bands are 2m and 70cm, but some add 1.25m (220mhz), which is popular in some regions. Others may have 900mhz or 1296mhz.

Budget?

On the low end, the Quansheng K6(8), I think I got the model right, is pretty neat. If you like to tinker, you can change firmware and add features such as SSB (technically DSB). My buddy has one and the output on SSB/DSB is pretty good. They run about $30 on Amazon and are much better than the original Baofengs that flooded the market years ago.

My main HT is a Kenwood TH-D74, but that's a pretty specialist device and overkill if you're just trying to hit the nearest repeater.

If I had no HT and didn't need digital modes and other complicating features, but wanted best performance on 2m and/or 70cm, I'd get the Yaesu FT-60. Price is reasonably at about $150 and they're available anywhere that sells ham gear (HRO, DXE, etc). They have the best receiver of just about any current production HT. They come with a rechargeable battery but also have an AA case as an option, giving you power options for travel. Also, unlike a lot of newer radios, the FT-60 will put out full power on AA batteries. My old VX-7 wouldn't and my current Kenwood only accepts AAA batteries, won't put out full power, and has very little runtime on those AAAs. My buddy has a couple FT-60s and they work great.

If you want similar VHF performance (but no 70cm/UHF) at a lower price, find an Icom IC-V8 on eBay. They often sell for well under $100. Get the AA case and get on the air. This is a VERY basic radio but has a great receiver and will work in environments that my Kenwood or the Yaesu VX-7 I used to own can't handle (ie near mountaintop radio/TV/cell towers). My buddy, who does a lot of SOTA with me, has been able to make contacts standing right next to me with his V8 while my Kenwood was deaf in the shadow of such towers. Same antenna, same frequency, and he's hearing people while my radio is silent.

BTW, if you do go with a chinese radio, none of them have good front-end filtering. They're open to anything and everything. The antenna acts as that filter. It's fine if you're sticking with the factory antenna, but if you install an "improved" one and are operating in an RF-noisy environment, you'll actually get reduced performance. It's not a problem if you're in the middle of the national forest and away from other sources of RF radiation though.

Chris

So is Kenwood back in the HT game now?

When I was getting into this back in 2020/2021 they had just quit producing their Flagship product because of a fire at some production plant. I haven't really been paying attention since then and haven't been in the market but just curious.

I always liked the idea of a good quality tri-band. We do have some 220 repeaters around here although they don't get much use.

[mtnbkr]

So is Kenwood back in the HT game now?

When I was getting into this back in 2020/2021 they had just quit producing their Flagship product because of a fire at some production plant. I haven't really been paying attention since then and haven't been in the market but just curious.

I always liked the idea of a good quality tri-band. We do have some 220 repeaters around here although they don't get much use.

They brought out a replacement for the D74 last year. It has a few minor upgrades but is essentially the same radio.

Chris