WORST 2 meter Hand held you ever owned ?

[AI4EP]

Two meter Handie - talkies ( HTs ) have been made for several years..which that you have personally owned were / are among the worst ?

This is 2 meter HT s only...no dual bander HT s , mobiles, bases, etv ( future questions about those ) ...just the simple 2 meter H T .

What did you NOT like about the particular unit ( features, batteries, quality of unit, etc.....)

[WA9CWX]

Believe it or not, I have owned over 75 HTs, almost all were bought new, and of course MOST were two meters.
I still have several boxes of UNOPENED or never used HTs that I have bought/stored for YEARS.
I think the only BAD one was a P2ia or some such micro thingy several years ago from Icom. The only redeeming feature was a 15 milliwatt low setting that was GREAT for hamfests, and battery life.
Mercifully the thing died, and I sold it to some happy camper as a parts radio on eBay a few years ago.

Who here remembers the days of carrying around a mobile rig with a motorcycle battery in a lunchbox arrangement at hamfests?
Or the THRILL of the first GE thin little FBI radios that could be re-crystaled and put on 2 meters?? Can't recall the name of them, about 1970...
Then the BIG Wilsons, as big as the Motorola 200 Brick....
(just bought a VX5 on closeout from AES yesterday, VERY nice radio) !!
Frank

[K6BBC]

They were all great.

It was the crap coming out of the speaker I could not stomic.

BBC

[K9STH]

Well, I have never owned a bad HT / Handie Talkie. Now, there are plenty of PORTABLE radios out there that are not of the best quality. However, as for HT / Handie Talkie all have been pretty good.

Remember, that HT / Handie Talkie are registered trademarks of Motorola. As such, only portable units made by Motorola are HT / Handie Talkie, etc.

Radios made by any other manufacturer are portables. Do you want to rephrase your question or do you want to confine it only to Motorola which technically you have done by your original question?

Glen, K9STH

[K6BBC]

Quote[/b] (K9STH @ July 16 2005,15:48)]Well, I have never owned a bad HT / Handie Talkie. #Now, there are plenty of PORTABLE radios out there that are not of the best quality. #However, as for HT / Handie Talkie all have been pretty good.

Remember, that HT / Handie Talkie are registered trademarks of Motorola. #As such, only portable units made by Motorola are HT / Handie Talkie, etc.

Radios made by any other manufacturer are portables. #Do you want to rephrase your question or do you want to confine it only to Motorola which technically you have done by your original question?

Glen, K9STH

Go to your room EP.

[K8YS]

worst 2m portable... probably Yaesu... FT202R, every time I opened the thing, a wire broke! Poor construction! The automatic wire stripper had nicked EVERY wire. Add to the catagory of worst, the FT207R, it was a dog from its inception.

I really cannot consider ANY portable radio good or better or best, they are all marginal when compared to mobile or fixed base transceivers.

But when it comes to real "HT"'s, I'd have to say that "best" I actually owned were all pretty good... MX360, MT500, HT1000, and even the old HT220 was better than the best Yaesu of the period.

I settled and arguement over "mine is better" when a guy with an Icom IC2AT refused to twirl his into the air and let it fall on the concrete. He would not accept that my MX360 with 6 channels was "better" than his 2AT and "800" channels... OK, so after mine hit the concrete, when I got home, I did have to open the back and push all the modules back upright, but it still worked...

An old reliable, but the receiver is a wide as a barn door, is the old IC2AT, just don't drop it.

current portable is the FT-50. I forget where I put it.

[K7FE]

Quote[/b] (ai4ep @ July 16 2005,16:39)]I would be GLAD to start all over again... with a whole new thread ...if I can get permission to say

hand held unit

or

portable

...even though 99% of the folks who read this will recognise the words or letters H T #I do understand the legality issue and I dont want Motorola on my back ....

ai4ep

Robert, I "fixed" the Topic for you. #Now you will not have to hide your assets from Motorola. #

[WA2ZDY]

I still have an IC2AT around here somewhere. Aside from replacing the BNC a few times, it's a good radio. I added the CTCSS deck to it back in 82 or 83 and it was an easy enough job.

My brother had a Yaesu 207 and yes, it was a dog. Bow wow.

Aside from the IC2AT and an Alinco 130 I have beating around here, I only have Motorolas. Nice to not worry about dropping them if it happens.

[WD5KCA]

Quote[/b] (K9STH @ July 16 2005,17:48)]Well, I have never owned a bad HT / Handie Talkie. Now, there are plenty of PORTABLE radios out there that are not of the best quality. However, as for HT / Handie Talkie all have been pretty good.

Remember, that HT / Handie Talkie are registered trademarks of Motorola. As such, only portable units made by Motorola are HT / Handie Talkie, etc.

Radios made by any other manufacturer are portables. Do you want to rephrase your question or do you want to confine it only to Motorola which technically you have done by your original question?

Glen, K9STH

That is a technically correct but very snotty response.

Thanks for setting us straight on the intellectual property issue.

[W0LPQ]

KCA: Snotty, far from it. Glen has posted this very info on these threads for, probably more years than I care to remember. HT is a Motorola name ... period.

Several manufacturers have had to change their advertising brochures because of this.

What Glen is trying to do is educate people to the correct terminology.

Personally, I have one of Chris's favorites, the IC-2AT, since they first came out. Still not tone enocoder, but it works. Also have an Icom T7 that is a pretty fair unit, however unlike the HT's, I am not going to drop it. Motorola units ... like the olde watch commercial, take a licking and keep on ....!

73

Bill, W0LPQ