Suggestions For Simple 2 Meter Rigs?

[Tesla]

I'm looking for a new simple to program & operate 2 meter only ht &
mobile rig. I'm tired of rigs with fancy bells & whistles, difficult
menus, etc. I do not want to carry an operator's manual with me all the
time. Anything out there where an engineering degree is not required?




--
Tesla

[Channel Jumper]

Welcome to the forum.
Alinco / ADI - were both WYSWYG type transceivers.
They had a button to access the VFO which allowed you to tune to a
specific frequency. You then picked out a PL - if any, and the split,
which is + above 147.000 and - below 147.000
You then pressed the VFO button again, selected a channel and hit enter
and it was saved.

That is about as easy as they come.

At the same time, the next generation of transceivers, the Kenwood 2
meter transceivers wern't much harder to program.

The purpose of the menu's is to allow each button to do more then one
thing.
As in the case of my Yaesu FT 8900R, it does 4 bands simultaniously.
On the left side it does two meters, 70 cm and also 6 meters, on the
right side it does 2 meters, seventy cm and also 10 meters.
The center button - I painted white, because it accesses the menu and
looks like all the others.
One button accesses the VFO, while another selects bands, while another
selects options such as allowing it to clone or to program from a
computer, while another allows it to download.
Things like Packet, wires etc - might not interest you today, but might
be something you might get into down the road, and would want one of
those more complicated radios... Just something for you to think
about..

Different radios does different things, and if you might work Ecomm -
you want to have a dual band transceiver.

At the same time, walkie talkies have come a long way since my Radio
Shack HTX 202 - which is almost impossible to program, unless you have
done it before, or have a manual with you and can decypher it's contents
while you program the radio.

The new walkie talkies - forget it.
About the best you can do is laminate a card and attach it to the radio,
with programming instructions.
Other then Ecomm work, a walkie talkie is practically worthless from the
standpoint of trying to work simplex, which is how most Ecomm work
should be expected to be performed.

Alinco DR 135 TMK III
Alinco DR 635 T
Icom 2300H

Yaesu FT 1900 / FT 2900R are going to be two of the easiest mobiles to
program.

I don't know of any walkie talkies of your specifications...

You might want to look for an Elmer, someone to guide you and show you
how to properly operate those transceivers and show you how to program
them.

I would suggest that you buy a Yaesu FT 8800 or 8900 and a programming
cable and a G4HFQ software and move up - due to the fact that the 8800
and 8900 does a lot more things for a little more money.
The programming software allows you to store thousands of programs in
your computer, which you write, specifically and can store in your
transceiver, which you can access while you are driving down the road.

Say you lived in Western Pennsylvania.
You could write one program for Pittsburgh
Another program for Erie
Another program for central PA
Another program for northern PA
Another program for central Ohio
Another program for Maryland / WV
Another program for eastern PA...

Then, while you were driving down the road, you could access one of
these other programs, and the radio will switch and the frequencies will
stay the same, but the PLs will change and you can choose between a
number or a 5 letter trundication - PITT - Pittsburgh, KITT -
Kittanning, Derry - Derry, Indna - Indiana etc.. Or can be frequency -
Pitt would be 146.790, Kitt would be 145.410, Derry - would be 145.150

The names allows you to get used to hearing the tones and the CW
identifier, which learns you the channel, then when you switch to
frequency, you will recognize it by the sound of the repeater.
If you get somewhere in between, you can press the center button and
change the PL. If you want to save it, you can save it, if you want to
go back to scan, it will revert back to the origionally programmed PL.

If you want to know what station a frequency is, you can press the
button and it will show the name, and you can save it or go back to scan
and it will go back to the frequency. That is the nice thing about the
Yaesu - you don't have to know a lot once you learn the basic menu.




--
Channel Jumper

[Michael Black]

Get a Motorola HT-220, like someone suggested the last time this came up.

Squelch and VOlume controls (the on/off is on one of them) and if it's a
multichannel unit, then a switch to change channels. No bells and
whistles, if you need different frequencies, you open it up, get new
crystals and plug them in. Technology this over forty years old, it can't
be beat in terms of simplicity.

Of course, expensive to add new frequencies, and it won't cover all the
locally used channels.

Endless ham specific 2meter FM walkie talkies followed, their quality
varying, some apparently awful in the receiver department. But they were
just as simple, though often had place for more frequencies (but needed 2
crystals per channel). Some even ran off standard AA batteries.

Towards the end of the seventies, synthesiders did become standard, but no
scanning and no bells and whistles. Little BCD switches to change the
frequency, no LED or LCD readout.

After that, bells and whistles became the norm, people living with bad
receivers to they could have wideband reception, endless features added to
be able to top the competition, rather than because the buyers were
demanding it.

Michael VE2BVW

[you]

In article <Tesla....@radiobanter.com>,

Find an Old Icom 2AT Handheld Very easy to operate..... Just Say'en...

[Michael Black]

That's a specific. Late enough to have a synthesizer, but early enough to
come before all the bells and whistles were added.

Michael VE2BVW

[Bob]

There are no simple handhelds. Even the least expensive ones are hard
to program. The solution I've found is to get a handheld, and get
programming software to go with it. The software is much easier to
work with than the controls and menus on the rig. I have a Yaesu VX-8,
a very complex little handheld, but I also have the RT Systems
software to go with it, and it makes the rig quite easy to set up and
use.

bob
k5qwg

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Michael Black wrote:
> That's a specific. Late enough to have a synthesizer, but early enough to
> come before all the bells and whistles were added.

Missing a tone board. While you can live without a tone squelch, it is
difficult not to get a long without a transmit tone board in some places.

I'd go for one of the many Motorola HT600's, MT1000's and similar rigs
no longer legal for commerical or professional use in the US.

Geoff.


--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, N3OWJ/4X1GM/KBUH7245/KBUW5379
It's Spring here in Jerusalem!!!

[Michael Black]

On Wed, 20 Mar 2013, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

> Michael Black wrote:
>> That's a specific. Late enough to have a synthesizer, but early enough to
>> come before all the bells and whistles were added.
>
> Missing a tone board. While you can live without a tone squelch, it is
> difficult not to get a long without a transmit tone board in some places.
>

You mean like a PL tone? There were plenty of articles around the time of
the rig that dealt with adding that to small units, and it's probably
relatively large compared to today's walkie talkies.

I think touch tone was more common in North America for repeater access
(and other things). People were adding those to the fronts of walkie
talkies back then too.

Michael VE2BVW

[Geoffrey S. Mendelson]

Michael Black wrote:
> You mean like a PL tone? There were plenty of articles around the time of
> the rig that dealt with adding that to small units, and it's probably
> relatively large compared to today's walkie talkies.

Yes, a PL board. You can still get the same Comspec encoders (or modern
versions of them) that were put into the IC-2AT's. They cost more than the
radio is worth and changing the frequency is difficult, You may have to figure
out how to cut a hole in the case for a set of DIP switches.

>
> I think touch tone was more common in North America for repeater access
> (and other things). People were adding those to the fronts of walkie
> talkies back then too.

Touch Tone was not used to access repeaters, it was used
to make "autopatch" calls over landlines. The ICOM IC-2AT in fact was
the short lived IC-2A model, with a factory installed (or user replaced
front panel). It was significantly more money than the original, but it was
a hot item because you could make free phone calls with it.

US regulations permitted all license classes the use of the autopatch, and
most clubs charged minimal membership dues which included the calls.

It's a moot point these days, since the mid 1990's almost all hams have
abandoned autopatchs for cell phones, and the phone lines removed from
most repeaters.

Going back to the original question, if UHF is your band of choice,
BAOFENG and other Chinese vendors sell 16 channel 5 watt HT's which have
only volume, channel select knobs and PTT. They are much smaller, much
lighter, much cheaper than old Motorola or other LMR HT's.

Amazon.com sells them for $27 with shipping in the US.

In order to use them, you need a BAFOENG/Wuxoun/Kenwood programing cable,
a Windows XP computer, and the free but quirky software.

[Ralph Mowery]

"Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <g...@mendelson.com> wrote in message
news:slrnkkmn9...@cable.mendelson.com...

> Going back to the original question, if UHF is your band of choice,
> BAOFENG and other Chinese vendors sell 16 channel 5 watt HT's which have
> only volume, channel select knobs and PTT. They are much smaller, much
> lighter, much cheaper than old Motorola or other LMR HT's.
>
> Amazon.com sells them for $27 with shipping in the US.
>
> In order to use them, you need a BAFOENG/Wuxoun/Kenwood programing cable,
> a Windows XP computer, and the free but quirky software.
>

Having been a ham for around 40 years, I was just getting started about the
time the repeaters were and have been keeping one up for about 35 years.

If someone does want a simple HT, I am in agreement with you. Just get one
that has thesoftwear to program it with. I have a Woxun (or however you
spell it) and it is a real pain to program. However with the softwear and a
computer, it is easy. Best thing for me, I bought it at a local hamfest and
local dealer. He had one that had about 90% of the repeaters in the area in
it. He just cloned his HT to the one I bought. I took it home and used the
computer to add what I wanted and that was the last thing I did. Now I just
turn it on, set the volume and turn it to the 'chanel' I want to talk on. I
do mash the scan button and get it to scan sometimes on several preset
frequencies. The BOAFOENG may be a way to go too. I just have not looked
at that one.

I guess the newer mobiles are that way too if they have a computer program.
I am waiting on the new Anytone dual bander to come to a local dealer. The
one I have in the car is about 10 years old and I am wanting to put it in
the house and the new one in the car. I progrrammed the one in the car and
could not tell you how to use it now except to get it to scan the memory and
stop on what I want it to. It will do a lot, but I don't do much with it.

One thing I do not mind $ 10 or $ 15 for a programming cable, but it is a
rip off paying more than that for one. Sort of like the Icom cable they
sell for around $ 100..