First radio?

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K2NEC

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As you started your adventure into ham radio what was your first radio and why did you specifically pick that radio? Do you still have it and does it work?
 

riccom

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As you started your adventure into ham radio what was your first radio and why did you specifically pick that radio? Do you still have it and does it work?
My first one, it worked like a champ, but did not like the limits on the rx, I wish I knew of the extended frequency range or I would of kept it longer
adbb867a02bdf4ad75a477b8defd4c08.jpg


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SteveSimpkin

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Yaesu VX-6R tri-band HT. Bought one for myself and my wife when we got our tickets together 9 years ago. Picked that model because of its size, features (900 alpha memories, scanning,etc), build quality, good reviews and wide receiver coverage (500kHz - 999 MHz).
Still have them and still use them at least once a week.
 

mmckenna

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Yaesu FT-470.
At the time, it was -the- portable radio to have.
Being new to amateur radio, I didn't know much, and felt I "needed" to have the best.
Good radio, and at the time it did a lot of neat stuff.
I sold it after several years when my activity level dropped off.
 

Will001

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I was licensed 1 year ago on the 19th. The radio I used to make my first contact was my Motorola XTS5000 M1 VHF portable.


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nanZor

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Started off with a Heathkit SW-717 receiver as an out of the blue holiday gift from my Stepmother:

https://people.ohio.edu/postr/bapix/SW-717.htm

Those green headphones were a real pain to use. I don't have the receiver, but have fond memories of building it, being fascinated, and led me to the library full of decade old ARRL books, code tapes etc.

Passing that test, the next year I received a Heathkit HW-101 HF transceiver kit - I suppose THAT was my first amateur radio. Spent a year hinting my folks about it and it paid off! :)
 
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krokus

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I passed my test while home, on leave, then got my VK reciprocal license. I ordered an Onwa clone of the Icom IC-2E, from an Aussie retailer.

I believe I still have it, in the bottom of a box.ukv-onwa-k6201-ic-02e-slika-33439383.jpg

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kayn1n32008

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As you started your adventure into ham radio what was your first radio and why did you specifically pick that radio? Do you still have it and does it work?



First actual ham transceiver?

Icom IC-2SAT it did not even have CTCSS at all

First LMR radio programmed for ham was a Motorola 2ch GP300 has a local repeater and 146.520.


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kayn1n32008

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My first one, it worked like a champ, but did not like the limits on the rx, I wish I knew of the extended frequency range or I would of kept it longer
adbb867a02bdf4ad75a477b8defd4c08.jpg


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There was/is no way to extend the RX or TX range of the HTX-202

Plus side to that radio was the absolutely bullet proof front end of that radio.


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W5GX

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When I got my license, 2002, Dad offered to buy my first radio. I picked the FT-7100M, despite Dad's insistence I may want cross repeat capability. I had none of the issues so common with that model.

But now I regret not getting a model with cross repeat function. :p

Got it out of storage last year, and it's still going strong.

Had to replace the original microphone, as the cable insulation crumbled with age-rot.

uA48lrg.jpg
 

Murphy625

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Funny, I'm looking at the replies and everyone's first radio were boys...

Mine was a girl. (all kinds of knobs and buttons)
 

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K4EET

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As you started your adventure into ham radio what was your first radio and why did you specifically pick that radio? Do you still have it and does it work?

I built this Heathkit SB-102 station seen here in early 1974 before I had my Novice license so that I could copy Morse Code off of the airwaves to learn the new language (to me anyway :lol: ). I would practice sending with a straight key by transmitting into a dummy load at virtually no drive on the finals (a matched pair of 6146Bs). In June 1974, I received my Novice license with the callsign of WN4JQX.

SB-102.jpg


I still have the setup and it is still on the air for events like Novice Rig Roundup (NRR) and Straight Key Night (SKN). Hope to catch some of the other folks with nostalgic rigs on one of those events.

73, Dave K4EET
 

K8EAA

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Amico AC-1 transmitter kit and Lafayette Explor-air rcvr.also a kit. Running about 15 watts CW only.
Old call was WN2RPL. Both Items are long gone. Up graded to Heath DX 60B and drake 2C.

Don
 
D

DaveNF2G

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My interest in ham radio was kindled by listening to NTS nets on 2 meters. My first rig was the Icom IC-22S, given to me by the then Net Manager of the Western District Net. It sat on my shelf with the microphone in a drawer until I passed my first exam.
 

vagrant

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A Baofeng got me into the TX side of the hobby. I used it for FRS and decided I might as well get licensed in case I wanted or needed to use it on the amateur bands. I still have it, but it is relegated to transmitter hunt duty. My first QSO was on SO-50 using that Baofeng and the stock antenna.

I upgraded to General within the month and my first HF simultaneous radio purchase was a Kenwood 480-SAT and Yaesu 817ND, both which I still use day-to-day. Like a tool in the tool box, each has it's specific use.
 

majoco

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Ham Radio? Well, no, I wasn't old enough! My first radio was a crystal set - I was about eight years old and I got it for Christmas present. Dad was not happy with me leaving his downstairs big radio tuned to some weird station in mid Europe and so he got his friend Fred Turner G3VI to modify this crystal set to get the 49m band which in the early 50's was jumping with propaganda and clandestine broadcasts in the height of the cold war. A long wire down the length of the back garden bought in all sorts of signals.....
 

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majoco

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Later on for another Christmas when I was about eleven years old, a proper radio - a gov't surplus R1475 - now here was the Holy Grail.... 60+ years ago....
 

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