Dear All,
I would appreciate thoughts from those who have their licence. I am planning to upgrade
I have limited space and I plan to get a "shack in a box" to cover both HF bands but also to give moveable system to cover all eventualities.
Obvious thoughts
Yaseu FT 817 very small but low power and internal battery is more limited than first appears.Price is a big plus
Yaseu FT 991A. the new kid on the block and does it all. A few teething problems and definitely not cheap.
ICOM IC 7100
Adding antenna tuner power supply and antenna all add to the cost so any thoughts welcome. What is a good prepper radio?
Appin
Which shack in a box?
Re: Which shack in a box?
Hi Appin
I wrestled with the same questions & not long after getting my licence I bought a Yaesu FT857D, ive never regretted it.
Before that I had only had the use of the cheap & cheerful Baofengs that accompanied me on my daily rounds.
At the time I could only justify buying one decent radio & wanted to use it as a mobile rig in the car as well as in the shack & also portable for SOTA (summits on the air) hilltop activations, the ft817 is traditionally the rig of choice for SOTA but I wanted the option of more power should I want it.
The 857 has been a real workhorse & continues to be my companion on the hills & in the car, I added a FT60 handheld for the higher summits that I don't fancy humping the extra weight of the 857 & it's LiFe golf cart battery & tuner to the top, of course I lose the option of HF on those occasions but I'm getting to old to care about that.
Why an FT60 ? Well as good as they are the Baofengs would usually get swamped on summits where there are fixed transmitters & you can get your signal out OK but you regularly can't hear the stations trying to get back to you.
Between Xmas & New Year I added the 991a to my Shack, as a Xmas present to myself, it's a great radio & its a good option if you want a rig for your shack that's still portable enough for field day use, but I wouldnt want to carry it uphill.
The 991 is great but I would say on balance the 857 is the best all round option if your only intending to buy one rig.
I bought the YT-100 auto tuner for the 857, it connects via a cable & draws power from the radio itself, it's a decent tuner but again adds to the cost, you could avoid that by either buying or making your own resonant antennas, sotabeams make a number of link dipoles that are duel or tri band options, I have a couple & they are very good.
Despite buying the 991 I can't ever see me selling the 857, it's just too flexible.
Good luck & hope to work you further down the log.
Wf
I wrestled with the same questions & not long after getting my licence I bought a Yaesu FT857D, ive never regretted it.
Before that I had only had the use of the cheap & cheerful Baofengs that accompanied me on my daily rounds.
At the time I could only justify buying one decent radio & wanted to use it as a mobile rig in the car as well as in the shack & also portable for SOTA (summits on the air) hilltop activations, the ft817 is traditionally the rig of choice for SOTA but I wanted the option of more power should I want it.
The 857 has been a real workhorse & continues to be my companion on the hills & in the car, I added a FT60 handheld for the higher summits that I don't fancy humping the extra weight of the 857 & it's LiFe golf cart battery & tuner to the top, of course I lose the option of HF on those occasions but I'm getting to old to care about that.
Why an FT60 ? Well as good as they are the Baofengs would usually get swamped on summits where there are fixed transmitters & you can get your signal out OK but you regularly can't hear the stations trying to get back to you.
Between Xmas & New Year I added the 991a to my Shack, as a Xmas present to myself, it's a great radio & its a good option if you want a rig for your shack that's still portable enough for field day use, but I wouldnt want to carry it uphill.
The 991 is great but I would say on balance the 857 is the best all round option if your only intending to buy one rig.
I bought the YT-100 auto tuner for the 857, it connects via a cable & draws power from the radio itself, it's a decent tuner but again adds to the cost, you could avoid that by either buying or making your own resonant antennas, sotabeams make a number of link dipoles that are duel or tri band options, I have a couple & they are very good.
Despite buying the 991 I can't ever see me selling the 857, it's just too flexible.
Good luck & hope to work you further down the log.
Wf
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Re: Which shack in a box?
I'd imagine you probably bought one, but you can't really go wrong with a YAESU FT-817ND, used prices are not too bad if you want to save some money. I'd also recommend picking up a cheap TYT MD-380 from one of the Chinese sites like Banggood/Gearbest as analog is dying outside of HF. I use multiple SDR's to log frequencies for activity, HF is still active, but everything outside of digital, has decreased dramatically, 2m/70cm has been hit the worst.
Re: Which shack in a box?
Without a doubt, I'd go for the 857D, I cant fault mine at all. I got it when I first qualified and still love it!
The extra power on tx over the 817 really made the decision for me.
The extra power on tx over the 817 really made the decision for me.
Guinness drinker with a prepping problem.
Area 1, Wiltshire.
Area 1, Wiltshire.