FM and Repeaters
Icom Delta100 - This is my wife's current mobile radio. I don't
recommend it. It does get us on 440 and 1290 Mhz UHF bands however. It's UI is
good. The microphone commands are great. It suffers from RF interference
during transmit in that the data signals from the microphone are audible on the output
signal. The 2m transmitter is fragile. We've lost the 2m final twice and
neither time can I blame the antenna system. My antennas are NMO mounts drilled into
the trunk. I use a Larson 2m/440 and a Larson 1260 colinear.
Icom IC2000H - I use this in my commuter car. It's UI is pretty
good. Between my dad's IC2000H and mine, both microphones have developed problems.
It may be the connectors which are RJ45 crimp-ons.
GE Master II - This is my 6m rig of choice. I own two of them
but only one is on-line right now, at home. I use a Diamond 5/8 over 5/8 base
station antenna. I get a pretty good signal into Mt Greylock on 53.23 from home.
Me on SSB
My current ham operating habits have me on 6m, 2m, 440 and 1290 FM only. I
haven't really been doing any weak signal stuff for a while. This is a terrible
situation that hopefully will be changed in the next year.
The first radio I bought after getting my ham license was an Icom202S SSB-only VXO
tuned radio. It was a battery operated portable (shoulder-strap) with a telescoping
2m quarter-wave antenna. Basically I was starting college and knew I wouldn't have
room for my Heathkit HF gear so I traded it at Madison Electronics in Houston (where I was
living) for a new Icom 202S and an old used Drake 6 channel 2m FM rig. I figured
that I'd be starting my collection of gear to work OSCAR Phase 3A when it went up.
Well.. 2 things happened... One was that a Drake 6 channel radio that was fine in
Houston isn't much good in the rural town I went to school in. The other is that
OSCAR Phase 3A went into the ocean and didn't work well from there.
My parents moved to NJ from Texas and that was driving distance from school. So..
I hooked up the IC202S to a Hustler 5/8 over 1/4 antenna on the bumper and drive the 350
miles back and forth to school calling CQ on 2m SSB all the way, each way. I made
lots of contacts. 4 years later I bought my Kenwood TS711 base station radio (2m
FM/CW/SSB). It's seen much more operation from the car than from a fixed station.
Sooner or later I'll figure out how to mount antennas on this house (or get a tower up)
and I'll get back on 2 SSB. Other projects are higher on the list.
Here's a photo of me in summer of 1981 operating 2m 'heavy talkie.' There was a
Kenwood mobile rig and 20 amp gell cell mounted in the milk crate. I didn't have an HT at
the time but wanted to have a portable. This picture was taken in North Chatham NY
at a ham picnic.
