mobil ham radio questions

ok guys I am gona buy one and my wife and I take our exams next saturday so I think it is time to consider what units our socal friends have and what they like and dislike about them. I want what works best in our varying terrain

So the questions are:
1: what unit do you have



2: what made you decide to get it?



3: what do you like about it now that you've used it?



4: what do you not like about it?


5: what antenna do you use?



6: would you buy your set up again?





Thanks guys
Dan

Gerr said:

So the questions are:
1: what unit do you have

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TMG707A

2: what made you decide to get it?

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Someone selling it at a good price and it being dual band

3: what do you like about it now that you've used it?

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it works when I need it

4: what do you not like about it?

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I wish it was a bit more intuitive on the menus

5: what antenna do you use?

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Comet something or other. Chose it for the gain and the height. But... MOUNT is probably more important then the antenna: I took off the first one that I had with a tree :/ I'm thinking about fabbing a different mount now.

6: would you buy your set up again?

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Yup cause it works

All my answers are about the same as remi...

Differences... I bought a cheap used radio shack rig from Ebay. I bought it because it was the smallest radio I could get for under $100. I like where it fits and how easy the buttons are to figure out. It is only a single band....but it hardly matters to me. I will buy another one for the MJ soon. I also went with a firestick type antenna with a good spring mount on it....it laughs at trees.

Radio is an HTX-242

So the questions are:
1: what unit do you have
Yaesu FT-857d


2: what made you decide to get it?
It gives me all the bands I could possibly need. and has remote face so easy to install.


3: what do you like about it now that you've used it?
Works great way more features than I know how to use


4: what do you not like about it?
I would like true dual recieve and a built in TNC for emergency work and APRS.

5: what antenna do you use?
HI-Q 5/160
Larson dual band 2m/70cm


6: would you buy your set up again?
I just bought it again the first radio was stolen.

As for terrain, our events are anywhere in the mountains from Aberdeen Washington to the rolling hills in Eastern WA...

1: what unit do you have
ICOM IC2200-H


2: what made you decide to get it?
I was broke, it was cheap. It works good, only 55 watts output though


3: what do you like about it now that you've used it?
There's nothing too special about it really, it works just fine though, so I'm satisfied.


4: what do you not like about it?
I want to get a dual band/dual receiver unit...much more useful for what I do, might not benefit someone like you though.

5: what antenna do you use?
Larsen 510 NMO on a magmount


6: would you buy your set up again?
If I needed to replace it with a cheap radio yes. I'm more looking into the dual/dual Yaesu's now. In our events we're using up to 6 frequencies at a time, so to be able to use/monitor two at a time would be worth alot to me. ICOM makes decent radios though.

1. Kenwood Tm-2250

2. CHEAP, I mean REAL CHEAP. I never use it on high, only low.(But I believe it is 5 watts low, 40 watts high)

3. Its very basic, I'm not afraid its going to get ruined.

4. Its VERY basic. Its a bit hard to use a 'random' frequency. It almost requires everything to be programmed into it.

5. Larson XXXX(I don't remember), on a NMO hood mount. Too many trees, I need to figure something else out.

6. Not for the Jeep or truck use. Its large bulky and kinda a pain to change to a non-programmed frequency. With the availabilty of better units with more features almost as cheap these days, I'd only look at this radio again if it was $20 and I needed something that day. Or to sit at the campsite and run APRS.

1. Yaesu FT 2200 (mobile), FT 1500M (mobile) and VX-5R (HT). One of these days I will upgrade the FT 2200 to a dual band. The VX-5R is a tri-band.
2. Reputation of this radio manufacturer plus I have previously owned several Yaesu HF radios
3. Great audio on receive and transmit and easy menu access
4. Nothing....
5. Antenna's are a matter of what fits your needs. As for manufacturers.... Larson, Comet and Hi-Q make GREAT antennas. Magnetic or fixed mounts are up to you, but what ever you purchase; go with a dual band antenna.
6. YES....

1: what unit do you have

Icom (IC-207H) Dual Band (2M/440Mhz) with remote face mounted below console.


2: what made you decide to get it?

dual band, remote face, it was a gift

3: what do you like about it now that you've used it?

remote face

4: what do you not like about it?

no alphanumeric settings on memory channels

5: what antenna do you use?

whatever was laying around in my dad's garage (über-ham/ex-communications equipment salesman)

6: would you buy your set up again?

iSuppose, but I didn't buy it anyway. Did I mention remote face?

good luck on the test btw, take the free practice ones on qrz.com.

just don't get carried away

actually had to miss my test cuz we had a "emergency" at work basicly my looser boss who has no life decided he wanted to work saturday

So the questions are:
1: what unit do you have

Yaesu FT1500
Yaesu FT7800 dual band
Yaesu FT8900 quad band
Icom 208H Dual Band <- in the jeep
Yaesu VX2R x 2
Yaesu VX5R

2: what made you decide to get it?
Impulse buys... Really. Good radios, needed one for each car.

3: what do you like about it now that you've used it?
They're all good, I kinda lean towards Yaesu though.

4: what do you not like about it?
Not sure...


5: what antenna do you use?
MFJ 1729 or 1728 Mag mount on the heep. 34 or 39 bucks, works great.

6: would you buy your set up again?

Yes

mikedashg said:

good luck on the test btw, take the free practice ones on qrz.com.

just don't get carried away

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Now where did I put that 2mtr mic