Amateur Radio

I am looking to take the technician test next month and I was wondering about my first radio. I have been looking at the Yaesu FT-60R or the VX-6R. I am new to the hobby and have no idea what many of the additional fetchers included with the VX-6R are or even if they are needed. I would like any input you might have.

The VX-6R
Around $250
RX .5-729MHz 803-999MHz
TX 144-148MHz 222-225MHz 430-450MHz
Submergible
AA Battery pack transmits at .3Watt TX very short run time

The FT-60R
Around $200
RX 108-520MHz 700-999MHz
TX 144-148MHz 430-450MHz
AA Battery pack transmits at full strength Good runtime

The FT looks real good because of the AA battery pack. I like the VX because of the RX range submergible and the 3rd TX range. Which should I get

Forget about the AA packs if you are going to transmit at all, they don't last long on either radio, my recomedation is to step up to the Kenwood TH-F6, gets you back on the 220 band and gives you full 5 watts out on all three bands and tremendous extended recv including HF SSB, I own 4 of them now it is mt EDC HT and has become my favorite and I have over 50 HT's alone so that says a lot.

Go to www.eham.net and look at the reviews of various radios, as well as posts as to whether to get a handheld or mobile as your first radio.

Good luck on your test. There are plenty of on-line test you can take for practice as well.

The two radios you have narrowed your search to are good ones.

Personally, I would not buy a Kenwood. I own a small antenna manufacturing company, and Kenwood has been showing fewer and fewer radios at smaller and smaller booths at hamfests over the last 2-3 years. At Pacificon in the Bay Area in October, they had a small booth on Saturday, and then grabbed their stuff Sunday morning and left before the show opened! I don't think Kenwood plans on being in the amateur market much longer.

Have you checked out what repeaters are available/of interest to you? 222 MHz might not be too popular in your area, so that capability might not be a necessity. As mentioned, the AA battery capability is not one most people use. It's just as easy to have another battery pack.

I have a VX7, 2 VX-2s, and an Icom IC-V8. Yaesu makes top quality gear.

KC9C

I also use a Kenwood TH-F6 and really like it a lot. I noticed that they have been less active at Pacificon, etc, however I don't get the feeling that they will leave the market. I certainly hope they don't. Several friends of mine own and use Yaesu HTs and also like them. The only regular complaint is that some people find programming Yaesu radios harder than it should be. I have several Kenwood radios, and find this size to be great for EDC. The Yaesu HT are also a good size. The AA bettery holder is fine for receive, but for being ready for real use of the radio, a backup gel cell battery is an arguably better choice.

Steve
N1ESC

I have a VX-5 and a VX-7R. I can tell you that you will be pleased with any radio off the Yaesu portable line, The are made out of metal, and I'd about venture to say they are so tough that you could drive nails with them. However, IIRC the VX-7 is the only one that is capable of TRUE dual recieve. You may want to look into buying at least one extra battery pack for whichever one you decide on, as they eat batteries on transmit like you wouldnt believe. The computer program package is awesome. I'd about venture to say you could just about run over one with a truck and it would still work! They are also very easy to modify to work on public safety/220 mhz bands. After the mod is complete the Yaesu logo screen changed to "Vertex Standard" on my VX-7 so something tells me that they werent specifically designed for Ametur use....could be mistaken tho.

I looked at the Kenwood TH-F6 and do like it but I think I will need to keep the first purchase under $300 so I can get just the VX-6R or I can get the FT-60R and some sort of accessory (maybe an extra battery and possibly the DC Cable)

Malpaso that is a great site. I have also been taking the tests on line they have been a lot of help. Are these the same questions that my test will come from. All of the sites seem to have the same questions and I found on the Arrl site where I could down load the whole pool of questions and have been studding from it also.

As for the repeaters in my area they are mostly 2m and 70cm there are no 1.25M close by so they will be out for the most part any ways. I liked the VX-6R for the water proof and the extended RX range the 1.25M was just an added bonus.

I know if I just thought about it would probably be easy but what is the best way to rig a gel cell? Would I just use an inverter?

Thanks for the input

I have the Kenwood TH-F6. It is the best HT I have owned, and I have owned almost all of them. Why: Dual band receive, receives TV, FM & AM radio, police, weather, PS, HF SSB, shortwave broadcast, CW, does 5 Watts on 220, LI battery, small & lightweight, combined with the Maldol tri band antenna works great on transmit & receive (the stock antenna sucks) :wave: . Does everything but crossbands....but few people need that....Software free on Kenwood site.....1000 memories or so, plus special banks.....get this one you won't be sorry.
PS 6 meters is a wasteland for the most part....

-panflute
W4FTL

I have a FT-50, its a pretty good radio, although it lacks the 222mhz band, I dont think I've used it for Ham purposes in over two years. It just sits in it's pelican case

Good luck on your test, its been a while since I took mine, but "Now your talking" is a great book. Got me through it A ok.

Hornet said:

Are these the same questions that my test will come from. All of the sites seem to have the same questions and I found on the Arrl site where I could down load the whole pool of questions and have been studding from it also.

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Yes, all the tests are taken verbatim from the question pool. The pool is broken down into sections, and there must be one question from each section. However, the answers will never be in the same order, so trying to memorize A,B,C or D will not work.

I know if I just thought about it would probably be easy but what is the best way to rig a gel cell? Would I just use an inverter?

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There are a number of ways to use a gel cell. I have set all of my gear up with PowerPoles to use with a RigRunner (Google the two for detailed information). However, a quick and dirty way is to use a female cigarette lighter end attached to the battery and the male adapter that comes with most rigs.

For what it's worth, I EDC an Icom IC-W32a, and really like it. It's not all tactical looking like the new Yaesus, but it works really well, and it's an honest dual band radio (ie, two radios in one case, vs. one radio that can tune several bands). It doesn't do all the wideband receive of the newer radios, but it also doesn't suffer from anywhere near the intermod (receiving pager signals 10 MHz away, etc.). If you live in an urban setting, that's very important.

I'm not going to recommend any particular radio (although I did want to get a plug in for Icom, since I really dig their radios). However, I will say this: get yourself to a ham radio store in person, and handle the radios, if at all possible. You may discover that you like the VX7 or the FT-60 much better once it's in your hand, or you may discover that one has a difficult display to read, etc. You might discover that one of the small, tri-band Icoms or Kenwoods feels better to you, or makes more sense out of the box.

There's a lot of value in having a radio that you Just Understand without having to refer to a manual. If you have to study up on how to use it, it's going to be used less, or less effectively, and that would be a waste of money. For what it's worth, the Alincos I've used have had absolutely atrocious interfaces. The one ADI mobile I had was even worse, and I'll never buy anything ADI again (although it was a fine radio, in terms of technical performance). The one Radio Shack scanner I had (a Pro-91) was difficult for me to use, but I think that's because I wanted to use it like a ham radio, not like a scanner.

In general, radios by the same manufacturer have the same interface -- Yaesu is very good about keeping a consistent interface between HTs, for instance. Learn to use one Yaesu, and you'll have no trouble learning the next Yaesu. I had that experience going from an FT-50 to a VX-5 to a VX-1 and VX-2. Likewise, Icom is pretty consistent, and I didn't have to research much between different HTs. I've only ever owned one Kenwood (TH-D7A(g)), so I can't comment on their interface consistency, but I personally don't like the interface of the Kenwood as much.

Anyway, my main point remains that I think it's really worth getting the radio in your hand before you plonk down your cash (just as you'd want to do with a flashlight, or a multitool, or a handgun, or a knife, or whatever). If your first reaction is, "this thing feels weird" or "this thing is hard to use," that's unlikely to change a whole lot over your years of ownership. I've found that both negative and positive reactions tend to get stronger, but they don't tend to reverse. Obviously this isn't a hard and fast rule, and you're not the same person as me.

[edit] Also, if you're a member of ARRL, they have all their radio reviews available as PDFs online. That's a tremendous resource, and to my mind is worth signing up with ARRL for at least a year just to get that. Their reviews aren't always the best, but they're usually pretty good, and they always have good data in them.

Good luck with whatever you get, and good luck passing your test.

73 de N7DCU

Hornet said:

I am looking to take the technician test next month and I was wondering about my first radio. I have been looking at the Yaesu FT-60R or the VX-6R.

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I don't think you can go wrong with either one of them. I use the FT-50 and l been looking at the FT-60 or VX6. I haven't made up my mind yet.

Good luck on your test. Amateur radio is a fun hobby.


Steve, N3FWE

If I were looking for an HT, I'd get the new VX-170. It's cheap, has 5 watts output if you need it, and plenty of great features such as alphanumeric tagging of frequencies.

UHF is quite dead in my area. I have an older FT-530 and rarely use the UHF side.

As far as batteries, I switched to the AA holder for my radio years ago and it was the best thing I've done for it. I filled it with 2500 mAh NIMHs and it works great.

Good luck on your test.

John

I have the VX-7R, VX-2R and the VXA-700. All are good radios. I run a Kenwood TMD-700A in the car with APRS and I use a FT-897 in the house. For ARES work I use the VX-7R with it's extra battery pack and grab the battery from the VXA-700 which is the same. VXA-700 I use while flying (Air Band transceiver and VOR plus 2 meters). Get this, I EDC the VX-2R. Even with its lower power I can hit most of the local repeaters, it fits in my shirt pocket or my cell phone case. Shortly I sell the FT-897 and pick up an ICOM IC-746PRO. Get involved with a local club, use the ARRL site to find one in your area. Volunteer for ARES and take the online ECOMMS classes. Won't be long before you'll upgrade to General and by that time the code requirement for better or worse will lkely have been dropped. Digital modes are making a comeback, using either a TNC or your computer's sound card. Even on 2 meters the Packet Boards are reliable means to send mail and messages. Kenwood will be around for a long time. The VX-6 is a great HT. Software to programs the Yaesus is either free or cheap and there are easy ways to convert Yaesu frequiency files to Kenwood and Kenwood to Yaesu. Most of all enjoy the people you'll meet. FB de W1PHB:devil:

I second the recommendationof the Yaesu ft50R. A fine radio. Dual band, and durable.
73's
de n0vmr
Vic

Thanks for all of the replies it really helps. I have been to some of the ham sites and they aren't always so nice if you don't have a license yet and ask an open question about radios. I guess they feel the person only wants the radio and will forget about the radio.

I still am not sure which I will get. I have read many reviews where the FT-60 will run as long with the stock batteries as it dose with six 2500 mAh NIMHs. Its also cheaper this will help just incase I find I need the mobile radio also. I So I think this is the way I am going.

It depends upon your style of operating. The FT-60 appears to be a honkin' rig suitable for some rough work - a 17"-19" whip would be sweet and improve performance by a few "bars" on the S-meter over the stock antenna. Certainly portable, clipped to the belt, but it's not what I would consider a "civilized" EDC as it has the girth of a Motorola-type of professional rig - police/fire/service etc., even the spring loaded clip is big. The Yaesu VX-2R is very EDCable at about 2" in height (I think) and weighs about 4oz. (I think). While not the 5 watts of the FT-60, the 1.5 watts of the VX-2r is enough power to work local repeaters effectively. And while a long whip will also greatly improve transmit and receive signals and range, it kind of defeats the stealth of the rig. The VX-6R and the VX-7R, of course, fall in between the '60 and the '2 in size and transmit at 5 watts. These two rigs differ in features and frequency coverage.

Although it is showing its age from five years of EVERY DAY carry, my VX-5R ROCKS. I prefer a single display, one band at a time type of rig over "true" dual-band with dual-receive, so I prefer my '5 over the '7 - but thats just a matter of style and personal preference. Without the frequency and tag visable at the same time like the VX-5R, I consider the VX-6R to be a downgrade from the '5. 220MHz doesn't interest me. Does it interest you?

Do you travel all over town with the need to get into the "home" repeater? Do you mostly sandbag (listen) to not only amateur, but other radio traffic as well? Do you get your hands dirty? Do you wear a suit and tie?

It's like asking "which flashlight should I EDC?". Only you can answer that. Check out the reviews at eham.com and elsewhere.

Yahoo groups has very active user groups for the rigs mentioned in this thread. Like CPF, those groups are an excellent source of information.

73
dim

I remember when hams used to build all their own gear.

Is there a reason why hams don't do this much any more?

They still build some of their own antenna gear, but there are FCC rules that govern any device that puts radio energy into the air. If you build your own transmitter or transceiver, the burden will be upon you to prove that it meets their standards for stability, power output, etc, something that's usually an expensive proposition. The big manufacturers can afford to submit their designs for FCC Type Acceptance and pay all of the fees involved.

Slightly off topic, but what do you guys use your radios for? Is there any purpose to it since the internet is so prevalent? I've looked into some TCP/IP over radio (packet radio) but it's very slow. Is there any point in getting into it now? I want to - it's neat - but what can I use it for?