Question about single band radios

[Stylishxone767]

Im sorta new at this so bear with me. I am just curious why anyone would purchase a single band handheld of mobile radio. I was looking at a single band Yaesu only capable to transmitting on the vhf band and was wondering why someone would limit themselves to just that band. If someone could shed some light on the issue for me. Thanks

 

[toastycookies]

I buy mostly single band radios for VHF and UHF.

Mostly Kenwoods and mostly public safety radios then have been been replaced and are tuned up by a Kenwood dealer.

They are cheap and the quality cannot be beat for anywhere near the price and work perfect for ham stuff.

All of mine have DB25 or DB15 data ports that give me a lot of free range.

Really cannot beat them.

 

[kb5udf]

Cost

Historically, monobanders could be alot cheaper. When I was first licensed back in about 1991
my DJ580 dual band HT cost almost 600 dollars. First first dual band mobile in about 1993 cost about
the same. Obviously, now days, things can be alot cheaper, so for amateur use, a dual
bander makes more sense in most installations.

Also, in the past, I heard concerns that dual banders may have had inferior receivers to monobanders.

Last thing I can come up with is I often hear it said that all 2/70cm dual band antennas are a bit
of a compromise on one band or the other, so that would be an argument for 2 monobanders.

I look forward to seeing what other ideas folks post!

JB

 

[RF-Burns]

If you can find a Yaesu dual band radio for the same price as a Yaesu single band radio show me because I'll buy it.
If you want to buy cheap Chinese junk feel free but your quality with suffer big time.

 

[SteveC0625]

Im sorta new at this so bear with me. I am just curious why anyone would purchase a single band handheld of mobile radio. I was looking at a single band Yaesu only capable to transmitting on the vhf band and was wondering why someone would limit themselves to just that band. If someone could shed some light on the issue for me. Thanks

A lot of hams are also affiliated with some type of public safety agency. We need Part 90 radios that can also work in the amateur bands. My agency uses Motorola CDM1250's, 1550's, and CP200 XLS radios. We own the cables and the programming software to maintain our own inventory. I have a Motorola CDM1250 VHF and one on UHF in my truck. I have Motorola portables on both bands as well.

Most radios marketed to the amateur world just don't cut it in public safety and many of them are not Part 90 type accepted anyway.

I think you have to realize and accept that not every amateur radio licensee has the same goals and needs when it comes to choice of radios.

 

[MarkWestin]

I always wondered why here in Northern Maine the only amateur radio repeaters were two meter ones. Quite a while after I had my license I discovered the existence of "Line A". Line A, (also Line C between Alaska and Canada) controls the use of certain frequencies within a certain distance of the USA and Canada Border. If you search for Line A, you will find a map that shows where line A and C are on the FCC Website. If you live north of Line A like I do you have to decide whether having a radio with frequency coverage that you can't use unless you are South of Line A on a trip. Most but not all radio that I see in use here are single band radios. This of course excludes HF radios, which are not affected by the Line A rule.

Mark

 

[Seven-Delta-FortyOne]

I don't know if you're speaking of commercial or ham stuff, like the Yaesu FT-270, but one thing I would add to the above is, a great deal of SAR teams use Amateur Radio, and something like the FT-270 is waterproof, and if you just use a certain repeater or simplex frequency, that might be all that is needed.



Delta

 

[jwt873]

Historically, monobanders could be alot cheaper. When I was first licensed back in about 1991
my DJ580 dual band HT cost almost 600 dollars.

Yep, I bought my first dual band HT back in 1990. It had 10 VHF and 10 UHF memories and cost over $500.00 and it was one of the cheaper ones available. (I wish they had Baofengs back then )

 

[N4GIX]

If you can find a Yaesu dual band radio for the same price as a Yaesu single band radio show me because I'll buy it.
If you want to buy cheap Chinese junk feel free but your quality with suffer big time.

I've done extensive tests with my 20 year old Kenwood TM-V7A and a brand new TYT TH-7800. Considering the difference in their ages, the Kenwood does seem to be holding up well, but its "ears" have lost a lot over the years. Of course the display "died" about ten years ago, and is not repairable. I have to 'count the clicks' on the tuning knobs.

Taken together though, the "Chinese" TYT is feature for feature identical to the Kenwood, which incidentally was made in Singapore (China). As I recall I paid around $600 for the TM-V7A, and $220 (shipped) for the TH-7800. Worse, adjusted for inflation, the Kenwood TM-V7A was $1,016.98 in today's economy!

Test Equipment: Cushman CE-5 Service Monitor, Rigol DSA815 Spectrum Analyzer, Bird 43 wattmeter
=======================================
Receive sensitivity on the TYT is 0.16µv VHF and 0.22µv UHF.
Receive sensitivity on the TM-V7A is 0.28µv VHF and 0.32µv UHF.

Selectivity @ -6dB, -60dB
TYT 12 kHz, 30 kHz
TM-V7A 12 kHz, 30 kHz

Power output:
TYT is 50, 20, 10, 5 VHF and 40, 20, 10, 5 UHF
TM-V7A is 50, 10, 5 VHF and 35, 10, 5 UHF

Spurious Emissions:
TYT -70dB
TM-V7A -60dB

 

[bharvey2]

Depending upon your geographical area, there might only be traffic on one band and the other is pretty much unused. Other reasons include cost (single bands are often cheaper) power, (single bands, especially 2M are offered in a higher power that dual band) and a desire to use commercial equipment (More often than not, commercial radios are single band)

 

[AK9R]

...which incidentally was made in Singapore (China).

Singapore is a long way from China both geographically and politically.

To the OP's question, if there isn't much 440 MHz activity in your area and a 2m single-band radio is less expensive than a dual-band radio, then you might be compelled to buy the single-band radio.

 

[ecps92]

Too many reasons

Personal Preference
Trustee of a Repeater - want to monitor it only, why waste $$
Only that band is avail in my area
Prefer to Optimize that Rig/antenna and have 1 Rig per Antenna designed for that One Band
[IMHO] Single Band Radios get less interference/desense than multi band
That band is only allowed xyz Mode (ie: Packet has always been primarily 2 meters)
Not many Part 90 Dual/Tri band Radios exist want to also use for Work, Volunteer etc
and finally Personal Preference, based on all of the above

Im sorta new at this so bear with me. I am just curious why anyone would purchase a single band handheld of mobile radio. I was looking at a single band Yaesu only capable to transmitting on the vhf band and was wondering why someone would limit themselves to just that band. If someone could shed some light on the issue for me. Thanks

 

[popnokick]

Do you EVER travel for ANY reason (regularly, emergencies, visiting relatives, business, whatever...)? A dual band radio is more likely to be very useful.... even if for only the broader receiver coverage that most of them have, allowing them to monitor services other than Amateur Radio. The most appropriate answer might be, "I have a dual-band radio for travel. I use my single-bander only when home."

 

[TLF82]

I almost exclusively use single band radios. That being I only use Motorola radios. Dedicated ham radios cant match the performance of a quality commercial rig. This all being said, I did finally buy a dual band radio but that was a Motorola APX 7000...

 

[N5TWB]

In my SUV, I have two radios. One is a commercial ICOM VHF, programmed for ham frequencies, and the other is an ICOM D-Star dual-band ID-800. Because the dual-band is not simultaneous receive, it's helpful to have the dedicated VHF radio. Also, because the events I volunteer for cover large areas with differing coverage and repeaters, it's best to have dedicated radios.

 

[robertmac]

And some people buy single band VHF for dedicating to APRS. Or talking through sats. one on VHF other on UHF depending on up/down linking. As with the whole amateur radio, there are so many areas of interests. Generally, the VHF only band mobiles have higher power than dual bands but not certain if that makes much difference in most cases.

 

[Cognomen]

My preference is mono-band radios. Mainly because they're mil-spec rated and have minimal controls. I haven't seen any dual-banders that are mil-spec rated, although I haven't looked in the last few years.

If you want a non-ham-specific digital mode such as NXDN, P25, or DMR, you have to buy a mono-band radio.

 

[TLF82]

My preference is mono-band radios. Mainly because they're mil-spec rated and have minimal controls. I haven't seen any dual-banders that are mil-spec rated, although I haven't looked in the last few years.

If you want a non-ham-specific digital mode such as NXDN, P25, or DMR, you have to buy a mono-band radio.

Motorola and Harris both offer dual/multi band P25 radios.

 

[Cognomen]

That's true!

I guess I should have qualified that with "affordable by me". lol

My Icom NXDN and P25 single-band full-keypad models have each costed me around US$200.

 

[TLF82]

That's true!

I guess I should have qualified that with "affordable by me". lol

My Icom NXDN and P25 single-band full-keypad models have each costed me around US$200.

HA! Yeah I hear ya. They are not cheap at all. But I can say the APX 7000/8000 are sweet radios.

I typically prefer mono band radios just because of how I monitor and such. I though about replacing my mobile radios with multiband units but they won't work for me... So that will stay monoband Motorola.