Thinking of ditching the vhf/uhf rig from the RV in favor of some 10mtr mobile activity. Any recommendations on rigs (10 mtr only, don't want an all-bander due to space contstraints), and antennae's. Have seen several advertised, but they sorta look like glorified 11mtr rigs.
These are, indeed, based on a CB rig. Unless you want to spend some major coin, the HTX rigs will be hard to beat for 10M SSB. A KX2 will give most of the HF bands with General coverage RX and use a lot less space than many of the "10M only" radios seen. Add the built-in tuner and you can work with a 102 In whip. Good luck!
Do you want FM or SSB? What power level (QRP, 100w)? Do you need a tuner or are you going to use a resonant antenna? Are you going to use it while camping or in motion (ie properly mobile)? How much space do you have? A KX2 with ATU would certainly work (I have one), but that's about $1200 and a lengthy wait these days. It's also not a radio I'd want to use while in motion. There are too many multi-function buttons. A bit more intel about your plans would be useful. Chris
That is exactly what they are and they're sold as "10 meter" radios in a flimsy attempt to disguise their actual usage as high-power CB's. Trust me: you would not be happy with one of them as your only HF rig. There are a number of small HF radios available on the market today, most notably from Yaesu. Yes, they might be more expensive than those "10 meter" radios, but they are so much better to use. Remember: ten meters is a very fickle band and comes in and out at a moments notice. I say that knowing that ten is still my favorite band but I understand how it can be fickle. Years ago, before the fake ten meter radios came out I converted a Cobra 148 CB to ten meters. It was a fairly easy conversion, but it was very awkward to actually use because of the channelized nature of the thing. It did work, but I never tried to use it while mobile or while driving. I returned it to CB and that is where it has stayed. I take it out from time to time if I have to travel in bad weather. Truckers are still a valuable source of info on road conditions. I followed the converted CB with one of the Radio Shack HTX ten meter radios. That worked fine, but again I was confined to ten only. Then a Kenwood TS-120s went into the truck. That was a very good mobile radio. I still have it. No menus, very few controls to find in the dark or while driving. That radio stayed in the truck for years. Then I got an Icom 706 MK IIg. smaller foot print, all bands plus VHF / UHF. Soon after that radio was in the truck, I changed jobs. New job had me on the road in the cities a lot... I mean A LOT! Even having a two meter rig was too distracting. I decided not to risk the distractions and took all the radios out. Drivers around here are dangerous even on their good days! Fast forward a couple of decades. Now that I am retired and with the advent of POTA, I'm seriously re-thinking the mobile radio idea, but still only when parked. The truck in question through all this is my old Ford Bronco II with 191,891 reliable miles on it! Still drive it every day...
I would be nice if somebody currently made an actual 10m mobile. ...vs a glorified roger beep echobox channelized bootleg truck stop monkey-boy rig. The FT-891 has some quirks, but it's small and works well.
I operate mobile HF daily. I used a G90, which worked very well with its detachable head. The display was a little too small, so I got an X6100. I didn't mind the drop from 20W to 10W since I keep both rigs at 5W for mobile QRP CW. If you're going to bother with a 10M rig, you may as well get all the bands.
