220MHz getting even scarcer

[mass-man]

My favorite part of 1.25 mtrs was that you could still put up a repeater with coordination. Not so much on 2/440...was part of several in years past! Now only one of them is still on the air

 

[tunnelmot]

Doing my part here... A little 220 activity in the Houston area.
A working rare Motorola MOF 230 and an Icom 37A (With volume and squelch issues I need to tackle)

 

[n7maq-1]

I love the Jedi/Wookiee radios, that MOF 230 is great!! Good find.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

View attachment 112960
Doing my part here... A little 220 activity in the Houston area.
A working rare Motorola MOF 230 and an Icom 37A (With volume and squelch issues I need to tackle)

I bought one of his portables and mobiles recently. After alignment they work GREAT! Good to know another made it to the area! Those have been on my rare radio bucket list for awhile.

 

[K2KOH]

An excellent radio if you can find one is the Alinco DJ-G29T 220/900 radio.

 

[jhooten]

An excellent radio if you can find one is the Alinco DJ-G29T 220/900 radio.

I have two of them. Problem is it takes 50 watts to get into the nearest repeater from the house. So they are only useful when i go to they big city to the west.

 

[mrkelso]

Was that a 220-only site? Or were there other similar repeaters located there (2m/440) that had comparable range to the 220 machine?

The three working 220 repeaters in my area leaves some to be desired range-wise despite being in decent sites or co-located with 2m repeaters.

It was 220 only at that site, we had 2 other machine at the Armstrong tower in Alpine NJ

 

[Plasmastorm73]

If Baofeng can make a tri-band HT, sell it for under $25, and make a profit, there is no reason other companies can't do the same. Jacksonville just activated their 220 repeater this week. It seems to me the 220 band is growing.

 

[AK9R]

If Baofeng can make a tri-band HT...

A few years ago, I checked a friend's tri-band Baofeng on a spectrum analyzer. There was a spur on the second harmonic (approximately 440 MHz) that was almost as big as the fundamental signal. My friend then took the frequency of a local 440 repeater, divided it by 2, programmed the resulting 220 frequency into his Baofeng, and was able to activate the repeater when he keyed up.

...there is no reason other companies can't do the same.

The reason is that the major manufacturers of amateur radio equipment (Alinco, Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu) don't want to go through the expense of designing, testing, and certification of a radio that they can only sell in North America.

Jacksonville just activated their 220 repeater this week. It seems to me the 220 band is growing.

Not sure I'd jump that conclusion based on the activation of one repeater in the 39th largest metro area in the U.S.

 

[Plasmastorm73]

A few years ago, I checked a friend's tri-band Baofeng on a spectrum analyzer. There was a spur on the second harmonic (approximately 440 MHz) that was almost as big as the fundamental signal. My friend then took the frequency of a local 440 repeater, divided it by 2, programmed the resulting 220 frequency into his Baofeng, and was able to activate the repeater when he keyed up.

The reason is that the major manufacturers of amateur radio equipment (Alinco, Icom, Kenwood, Yaesu) don't want to go through the expense of designing, testing, and certification of a radio that they can only sell in North America.

Not sure I'd jump that conclusion based on the activation of one repeater in the 39th largest metro area in the U.S.

I have been watching the 220 repeaters coming online across the country. This is our first repeater, there are more planned as well.

 

[GlobalNorth]

If Baofeng can make a tri-band HT, sell it for under $25, and make a profit, there is no reason other companies can't do the same.

Kenwood, Icom, Yaesu, and some others aren't building all their gear in Communist China and getting government subsidies for doing so.

 

[sprman1955]

Hi not much 220 activity here in the nashville area, there is a private repeater here thats got a bit of activity but not much.Seems most activity is Skywarn or Mters network here on 440.

 

[prcguy]

I have a commercial version Anytone D578UV that I had configured and programmed as an amateur radio so it would have 2m, 220 and 440. After a couple of years never using any of the 220 freqs I reconfigured the radio back to commercial where it lost 220 but I gained the ability to program GMRS and a few marine freqs which are much more useful to me along with 2m and 440.

I have a few handhelds that will do 220 but they have not been turned on in years and there are dozens of 220 repeaters in my area, just not much if any traffic on them.

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

I have a commercial version Anytone D578UV that I had configured and programmed as an amateur radio so it would have 2m, 220 and 440. After a couple of years never using any of the 220 freqs I reconfigured the radio back to commercial where it lost 220 but I gained the ability to program GMRS and a few marine freqs which are much more useful to me along with 2m and 440.

I have a few handhelds that will do 220 but they have not been turned on in years and there are dozens of 220 repeaters in my area, just not much if any traffic on them.

If you put it in mode 14, you can use all the frequencies on it.

 

[prcguy]

If you put it in mode 14, you can use all the frequencies on it.

My band software doesn't have 14, maybe its too old.

 

[KQ4ABU]

Just for the record:

If I might add some sunshine. Q5 Transverters are the only way to get a real radio on air today. I bought a 45watt about 6 months ago and have been working towards using it. I need to erect a horizontal antenna. I know the antenna I want, I must drive 5 hrs to just pick it up. I had it set to use 6 meters so I could if i want use the entire band

 

[seastream]

I just ordered the Alinco DR-CS25T. We'll see if they've farmed out their manufacturing to the chinese.

 

[sallen07]

I just ordered the Alinco DR-CS25T. We'll see if they've farmed out their manufacturing to the chinese.

I think many of the recent Alinco radios are built in China. From a quality standpoint that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

The FCC sticker on the radio just says, "Manufacturer: Alinco, Inc.". I cannot find a country of origin sticker.

The box lists the Manufacturer as "Alinco Inforporated Electronics Division" with an address in Japan. The manual says, "Printed in China" but I see no evidence that the radio was built there.

I've had mine for about two and a half weeks. There's not a *lot* of 220 activity here (is there anywhere??) but I've used it a few times and have been very happy with it. The radio is *tiny* ... much smaller than the DR-235.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

I think many of the recent Alinco radios are built in China. From a quality standpoint that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

The FCC sticker on the radio just says, "Manufacturer: Alinco, Inc.". I cannot find a country of origin sticker.

The box lists the Manufacturer as "Alinco Inforporated Electronics Division" with an address in Japan. The manual says, "Printed in China" but I see no evidence that the radio was built there.

I've had mine for about two and a half weeks. There's not a *lot* of 220 activity here (is there anywhere??) but I've used it a few times and have been very happy with it. The radio is *tiny* ... much smaller than the DR-235.

I was looking into one of these, but the reduction in TX power from 25w on the 235 to 10w on this model made me pause. I wonder if our brazillian friends will be using these on FM sats lol.

 

[sallen07]

I was looking into one of these, but the reduction in TX power from 25w on the 235 to 10w on this model made me pause.

Not sure where you got that information from. Yes, the low power setting is 10w, but medium is 25w and high is 50w. Power is not everything, of course, but this radio has twice the power of the old one.