I am looking for a radio
Feb. 4th, 2012 09:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
banjoplayinnerd. . . but not just any radio.
I have been a radio ham since I was 13. Since then I've been on and off the air, mostly off, but when I've been on I've thoroughly enjoyed it. For the last few years my activity has primarily been checking into local VHF nets. It's fun and I get to meet a great group of fellow hams, but I want more.
You see, the kind of radio I'm doing at the moment is mostly limited to line-of-sight communications. Other frequencies allow for longer distance communications, and one of the most fun things about ham radio for me is getting on the air and chatting with random strangers from far away, possibly in a country I only barely know exists and will likely never visit.
There's another reason for having long distance capability. I am volunteering as an emergency communications coordinator for my church. As I interpret it, this means that if things were ever to go seriously sideways around here I'd want to be able to get word out to the outside world. You can do some of that with line-of-sight VHF communications and relaying, but I want the capability of doing it directly, or at least being to use other frequencies and nets if necessary.
(Any radio hams who may by chance be reading this are probably going "Geez, why doesn't he just say he wants HF capability so he can check directly into traffic nets if there's an emergency?" Well that's exactly what I want, but it would take a while to explain that a traffic net isn't something car-eating aliens use to gather their lunch.)
So I'm in the market for a radio that will handle both HF and VHF/UHF and won't set me back a bunch of money I don't have. For a couple of reasons I've settled on the Yaesu FT-857. It will do every ham band below 500 MHz except for one I don't use and is small enough to pick up and travel with if necessary. Its big brother the FT-897 is a distant second. It looks more like a ham rig is supposed to look, but it's $100-$200 more expensive and from all the reviews I've read, the '857 has the same functionality as the '897. The only thing it lacks is built-in compartments for a battery and power supply. I can handle those on my own.
My third choice would be a good used HF only rig. The '857 would be better because it can do HF or VHF/UHF as the need arises, but my budget may force me to go with what I can afford.
So if you happen to know of anyone who has some amateur gear they're interested in selling, pass the word along. I'm already stalking eBay and Craigslist and checking some local sources, but sometimes nothing works better than saying, "Hey, I know a guy who might be interested in that."
I have been a radio ham since I was 13. Since then I've been on and off the air, mostly off, but when I've been on I've thoroughly enjoyed it. For the last few years my activity has primarily been checking into local VHF nets. It's fun and I get to meet a great group of fellow hams, but I want more.
You see, the kind of radio I'm doing at the moment is mostly limited to line-of-sight communications. Other frequencies allow for longer distance communications, and one of the most fun things about ham radio for me is getting on the air and chatting with random strangers from far away, possibly in a country I only barely know exists and will likely never visit.
There's another reason for having long distance capability. I am volunteering as an emergency communications coordinator for my church. As I interpret it, this means that if things were ever to go seriously sideways around here I'd want to be able to get word out to the outside world. You can do some of that with line-of-sight VHF communications and relaying, but I want the capability of doing it directly, or at least being to use other frequencies and nets if necessary.
(Any radio hams who may by chance be reading this are probably going "Geez, why doesn't he just say he wants HF capability so he can check directly into traffic nets if there's an emergency?" Well that's exactly what I want, but it would take a while to explain that a traffic net isn't something car-eating aliens use to gather their lunch.)
So I'm in the market for a radio that will handle both HF and VHF/UHF and won't set me back a bunch of money I don't have. For a couple of reasons I've settled on the Yaesu FT-857. It will do every ham band below 500 MHz except for one I don't use and is small enough to pick up and travel with if necessary. Its big brother the FT-897 is a distant second. It looks more like a ham rig is supposed to look, but it's $100-$200 more expensive and from all the reviews I've read, the '857 has the same functionality as the '897. The only thing it lacks is built-in compartments for a battery and power supply. I can handle those on my own.
My third choice would be a good used HF only rig. The '857 would be better because it can do HF or VHF/UHF as the need arises, but my budget may force me to go with what I can afford.
So if you happen to know of anyone who has some amateur gear they're interested in selling, pass the word along. I'm already stalking eBay and Craigslist and checking some local sources, but sometimes nothing works better than saying, "Hey, I know a guy who might be interested in that."
