Improving your Handy Talkie

ICOM W32A

 

Ah, I can go one better! I started out with a Heathkit 2 meter talkie in kit form! I later moved to the IC-2AT, IC-02AT, then an IC-T70A : )

 

I can name HTs too!

Baofeng UV-5R!

Yaesu VX-1r!

Icom IC-V80!

 

Thank you to ALL the Deer hunters!


You save my truck from the stupid deer running into them!

GMC truck will soon catch up with my 243!

Cheap China Radios is like Social Media. You can complain but they are NOT going anywhere.
*Unless Hidden Biden passes or make that makes up a law!

 

My first HT was a FT-60, and it's still going strong (and probably has many more years still).

73,
Truman N6TRU

 

That is how I started. I got a J-Pole and added 20 miles to my range.

 

I got a Heil Mic with a ear phone for my low power base. ( 15 watts )

 

carry my uv5r in my tractor every day....never had a complaint. I rotate every soo often with a Kenwood d74 and an anytone 878.

 

TH-F6 12 years old and still going strong.

 

Yeah, dead batteries make for a great phone. I have fresh batteries in my Baofeng and it works just fine, but then, I'm not a snob.

 

My wife and I were both hams... she is N4ANF. We used it for personal communications via the Boone NC repeater.
There were no cellphones yet... not even the $4,000.00 lunchbox ones.

 

When it comes to handy talkies, I mostly use Brandmeister DMR servers on my hotspot and local repeaters. If I'm not on Brandmeister, it usually means I'm on HF somewhere.

 

My first non-crystal handie was a Kenwood that crapped out pretty quickly (soon after the warranty expired). I threw it away, vowing never to buy another Kenwood radio again. Bought a Yaesu FT-60 that worked great for a few months, then refused to hold a charge (new batteries didn't help, and the AA battery pack eats batteries like crazy); it became an expensive paperweight on my ham desk. If necessary, I can use AA batteries that'll last an hour or so in case of emergency, so I didn't throw it away yet. I finally got a $20 Baofeng that has worked flawlessly for 5 years now, yielding great signal reports. Liked it so much, I got one for my (Technician) xyl, too. I always laugh when I hear Kenwood and Yaesu guys disparage those cheap Chinese handhelds. If their experience matched mine... ;-)
73!
- WB1CDG

 

My Yaesu VX-7 is 15 years old and still going strong. I bought a 2nd battery about 7 years ago after the factory one started getting weak, but I still use both. I can get about half a day out of the original battery and a full day to an entire weekend out of the aftermarket one depending on how much I use it. I probably should get a third, but haven't yet run into issues. I bought, but seldom use, the AA pack for it. It's on my desk next to me, connected to an external antenna and monitoring 146.52, as I type this.

I picked up a used Icom IC-V8 this Summer for RF-challenged SOTA summits (the IC-V8 has a better front end being single band without wideband receive). I don't know exactly how old it is, but it has to be nearly as old as my VX-7 since the IC-V8 was being closed out when I bought the Yaesu. I run it off AA batteries and it will go multiple SOTA activations before the AA NiMH batteries need to be recharged.

Chris

 

Any recommendations for HT Speaker Mic?