Arzosah wrote: ↑Fri Apr 12, 2019 8:39 am This thread is gelling with a conversation I had with a neighbour over the weekend - he's just bought a new ham radio base, over £4k, so I presume it's a good'un. He was helping people in the Netherlands mark off the UK during a competition they were having, so it's got good range.
Not that I'd say anything to him right now, because it's a bit apocalyptic, but if I wanted to buy a handset that would be useful to contact him on, what model/dosh would I be looking at? Is there an answer, or is it a stupid question?
to contact locally a baogeng for £20 will do. not get hung up on the money side, its not so much the £4k for the radio its what antenna he has that does the real work. mine was £400 second hand and is twenty years out of date, it could do digital and computer stuff but i choose not to, " its a radio- i talk into it" very old school!!
a bad radio with a decent antenna will outclass a brilliant raido with a bad antenna, its like TV's a 60 inch plasma telly is useless untill you connect that aerial lead into the back of it, or the internet plug
with radios break it down into these groups of useage and see where it gets you
Mobile
not just car related CB but ham radio and VHF sets in these out of house uses are very very good, i use a lead acid battery and a cb radio from a rucksac and i also use a HF radio from a rucksac too. range is irrellivant, in fact for me i get better and further away from home than at home as there is less interferance to the radio sets. costs, we can go from a new hand cb set up, radio( grant two £160), antenna ( springer £20), leads (£20), small amp ( they call them burners for some reason£70) and a magnetic roof mount(£30), all singing and dancing can be yours for £300 ish add a decent stand alone antenna like a TL2 (£30) and your into europe and a good 100 mile radius you can do a 2m vhf set up for the same sort of money but second hand, again with the range of a 100 miles on a good day but better at 30 miles or less for 5 watts of less shouting out is easy and reasonably cost effective but it really makes the difference with what antenna your listening to, i have a x50 at home( big white fibreglass stick) its ten foot in the air and does a good job. when i do competitions its not as good as listening as i want it to be so i change to a yagi uda ( think flat tv aerial but bigger and longer)
if you stand in front of a crowd and hundreds of people infront start shouting at you and waving their arms you cant really see or hear anything expect for the loudest two or three people in that room. by changing the antenna style and type its like looking down a loo roll what you get to see is a far smaller focused group, this time maybe two or three people, the longer the loo roll or the antennas focus the less you see around the person you want to talk to. my x50 hears everyone and every thing and every thing you dont want it to hear which is good and bad at the same time, the focused loo roll - uda yagi antenna only sees the people i want it too in the area i am looking for,
for basic ham use a x50 is the better option to go (£40)
HAND HELDS.
here you have two choices, Baofeng 5R (£30) or anyother make from any other supplier (£200), Baofengs sort a purpose as they are cheap and work and work reasonably well, but have a few hang ups, but hang ups only really kick in when your trying to be fancy, think really basic small car, it has four gears, four wheels and goes forward and backwards, you can drive to work or drive on holiday, but your doing so at 45mph flat out, the seat is uncomfortable after a few miles, the fuel is fast to use and its not as clean and tidy as everyone elses car, you cant buy spares to mend it and you cant change or upgrade it and theres no lights or windows or a back seat, but it does the job and will do for many years to come. but say you want to go off road, or go faster or go in more comfort, or want a car you can buy spare parts for or upgrade or has lights so you can drive at night or windows to keep the rain out. your better off going the other route of a decent makers brand, ICOM OR YAESU KENWOOD etc, even a cheap second hand one is repairable and upgradable to a certain limit, more bells and more whistles, i only own baufengs either 5r or 888 and would not replace or swap for any other make or brand as i dont need the extra costs or the extra bells and whistles, range in a town is a mile, outside of town in the countryside its nearer 5miles,
Base stations
Here are those big black boxes you see or the ham radio guys have. prices are hard to nail down but if you went middle road basic set up Yaesu 1200, its a big black box thats going to do anything you want from listening to transmitting on all the HF bands, new its roughly £1k second hand £500, i have similar and i still dont use all the knobs and dials and buttons on mine and i have owned it for 5 years, you can go smaller in size FT450 but same sort of money or top of the range money no object £10K FT9000 big radio with a shed load of lights and buttons and bells and whistles.
you can use the smaller ft 450 as a mobile set as well as a base set, but your struggling to use a FT9000 out of the house unless your a real radio nut hard core mobile set up
decide where you want to use it the most, car, walking or home
decide on the budget for each set, 1/3 radio costs, 1/3 antenna costs, 1/3 amplifier costs or leads and cables and batteries and ancillaries.
thanks guys.