Radios

[kcochran]

Oy.

So, what's the new hotness as far as 2-way radios go?

I was looking at this spiffy Icom IC-706MKIIG that apparently can be unlocked to do a bunch of stuff.

What do you guys think?

[rbcp]

I've been saving up to get one of these:



IC-706MKIIG looks nice.  What would you use it for?  Are you licensed?  There's no way I would buy a ham radio because I'm 100% positive that I would end up getting myself in all kinds of trouble with one.

[kcochran]

I'm not ham licensed as of yet, but apparently the beginner ham license is easier to get than ever.

No, what I was looking at was that particular radio can be unlocked to transmit on just about anything.  While I'd need a bunch of different antennas, I thought it'd be coom to have a single radio that can talk on CB, FRS/GMRS, HAM, and be programmable for a bunch of other stuff (like the drive-thrus, the fuzz, everything...)

[rbcp]

A few of my friends who were into radio used the Yaesu VX5 and VX7 for drive-thru fun.  You used to be able to find the VX5 on Ebay for under $150, though I don't see any on there today.

[MegaKitsune]

A few of my friends who were into radio used the Yaesu VX5 and VX7 for drive-thru fun.

That is a GREAT video. ^_^

[slimtwit]

No, what I was looking at was that particular radio can be unlocked to transmit on just about anything.  While I'd need a bunch of different antennas, I thought it'd be coom to have a single radio that can talk on CB, FRS/GMRS, HAM, and be programmable for a bunch of other stuff (like the drive-thrus, the fuzz, everything...)

If you want to run coax to the radio you can use what is called a matchbox to increase resistrance or decrease it to get the swr correct for whichever band you'll be broadcasting, of course you'll need an SWR meter too.

[immabadspellor]

If you want to run coax to the radio you can use what is called a matchbox to increase resistrance or decrease it to get the swr correct for whichever band you'll be broadcasting, of course you'll need an SWR meter too.

An IC-706 you almost have to run coax to the radio.  It is considered a base or mobile radio.  It's only portable if you strap it along with a trolling motor battery on your back.  The 706 has a built-in SWR meter that works up to 54 MHz.  It's not so important to have an SWR meter for frequencies higher than that anyways.  You can get an autotuner for it which will 'match' the radio to a long whip antenna which will allow it to operate anywhere from 7 to 54 MHz.  The tuner is the AH-4 and the whip is the AH-2b and it is basically one of those CB 102" whips you used to get at Radio Shack.  A screwdriver antenna would let you operate down to about 3.5 MHz and it uses a power screwdriver motor to change the electrical length of the antenna negating the need for an external tuner.  If you want to operate down into the 1.8 to 2 MHz ham band, or even as low as 1.7 MHz you will need the Texas Bugcatcher with the appropriate loading coil.  The 706 will transmit down to 1.6 MHz and maybe with a capacitance hat, a long whip and the texas bugcatcher and a tuner like the AT-180, you might be able to get it to resonate down there from your car.  Forget about stealth and not drawing attention! 

By the way, the 706 when opened up transmits very low power outside of the ham bands on VHF and UHF.  I haven't tried the MIIG but its older brother transmits only into the milliwatts.  You'd need an external exciter stage before you could even throw an amplifier.  It's not a new model radio.  Icom is still making it but they have a DSP color screen version out now.  Yaesu makes a similar radio and I'd bet that it is sturdier and similarly modded.  Check out qrz.com under the main menu and then radio mods for modification info. 

The VX-5 and the VX-7 are great little radios.  Try searching for not just VX5 but VX-5, VX5R, VX-5R and you will get more results.  I think the silver colored ones had an S on the end as well.  Out of the box, they transmit on 6m, 2m, 1.25m and 70cm.  The mod is very easy and opens it up into FRS, GMRS and so on.  If you plan on using it far outside of its intended operating range, use an antenna that is resonant on that frequency as the antenna that comes with it is made for the ham bands only.  Your signal will just go right back into the radio and could damage it.  These are small radios you can carry with you in your pocket, and you can get very small antennas to go with them beside the big one that comes with it.  It can receive all the way down to 500kHz as well so you can at least listen to shortwave so if you can do without transmitting on shortwave, save yourself the $700 price difference and get a little handheld you can take with you anywhere!

[kcochran]

Well, the 706MKIIG looked sexy as a single-radio solution, both for legitimate ham activities, and other things...

I understand it's a mobile/base radio - I was looking at putting it in my vehicle.

Since that original post, I've looked at a couple things and I figure I'm going to go with a multiple radio solution.  HF from a vehicle isn't horribly practical, since I don't want a shitload of amplifier and antenna gear.

There's an Icom 2m (the IC-2200H) and an Alinco 70cm (DR-435T) mobile unit that I'm looking at that can both be unlocked to handle other VHF/UHF stuffs, much like the VX-7R, and both those bands are much more practical for mobile operations anyhow.

As far as the Yaesu handhelds, I'm looking at picking up a VX-7R next week and unlocking it, for a truly portable solution...

If/when I decide to get into HF stuff, I might reconsider the 706MKIIG...

[Nullix]

I have a Yaseu VX-7RB Which is the Black Version and does 6m,2m,220mhz, and 440mhz. It was easliy modded by takeing soldier pads 4 and 5 off the back. Handy little radio to have, as I am a ham and I do need it for ARPSC/Skywarn/and ARES type stuff. I haven't had the chance to go to a drivethrough with it yet, but I have modded it for marine band, frs, and gmrs.

[rbcp]

Anyone know of a good radio that broadcasts in the lower 900MHz?  Seems like a lot of drive-thrus are upgrading to headsets that run on 900MHz.  Something like 902 - 930MHz, I think it was.  Which happens to be almost the same range of the old 900MHz cordless phones.

[Colonel Panic]

I was gonna say you might be able to rig up some kind of a tuner into an old cordless...

[RijilV]

A few of my friends who were into radio used the Yaesu VX5 and VX7 for drive-thru fun.  You used to be able to find the VX5 on Ebay for under $150, though I don't see any on there today.

Awww you remember me <grin>

I have owned Yaesu/Vertex Standard HTs pretty much exclusively but more or less by accident.  I still have a VX1R (will scan cell, big deal..), sold my VX5, and still have a VX7R.  The newer radios block cell and 700mhz on the chip so unless you can reverse engineer and build your own micro-controller doing anything besides transmission expansion (which is cooler on paper because the transceiver in most HT will deviate so horribly when its pushed out of band - a friend of mine did some tests with PL tones, using an AOR Mark II and his VX5, he found the VX5 would transmit the tones a few steps off when it was pushed out of band).

I would be much more happy carrying around a car battery and a mobile rig (well, you really need 14V for those not 12, but whatever..).  Something with cross band repeater would rock, it would be nice to have up to 50watts - there where a few times when we tried to squelch out a local radio station's remote broadcasting unit but they where bumping 35w and we couldn't break in with 5w (which was probably waaay less because we were out of band) even though we were miles closer. 

As for 900mhz, you can read a bunch of good info over here:
http://www.qsl.net/kb9mwr/projects/900mhz/plan.html

I could have sworn that Icom made a 900mhz HT but I couldn't find it on rigpix.com.  That early 900mhz band is licensed just like the 2.4ghz IIRC. 


I still want something that will go up to 2.4ghz that has discriminator out - it would be a hellofalot of fun to work with the raw 802.11bgn packets - would be really cool if GNU radio had a module for it too ....