Are there any VHF Low (30 - 50MHz) Band models?

[NC1]

The usual dual band radios by Baofeng, Wouxun, Pofung, etc.are plentiful and very cost effective, but don't seem to see any of the cheap radios with the low band.

I would rather lose or break a cheap chinese low band radio than an expensive scanner. Mostly it would be used for about 4 or 5 channels, so scan speed is not an issue.
I know scanners can be had cheap, but they are much larger than I desire so am not considering them.

Are there any made in the "cheap and affordable" range like the current UV-5R? I thought I saw one a while back but cannot find any at all now. Any links would be appreciated.

 

[nd5y]

I have only seen a couple that covered about 60-88 MHz but not the North America 30-50 MHz band and don't remember the manufacturer.
There is a list of manufacturer links at Budget and Entry Level Transceivers - The RadioReference Wiki

 

[bharvey2]

I think Wouxun makes a dual band radio that is 6m/2m but that is the closest I've seen to what you are looking for. I also suspect that the 6m is FM only.

 

[fyrfyter33]

I still have one syntor x tuned for 33.9 and surrounding. It's only the chassis and maybe the wiring. I doubt I have any more control heads left. It's an old Motorola, that we used when I started, before we switched to 800 Astro digital.

 

[NC1]

I was just wondering if anybody knew off the top of their head. It looks like I may have to go through each manufacturers website and look at each and every radio.
Too bad they don't have them listed with the frequency range along with the model number, all they have is a picture of the radio and model number. That makes for a cumbersome and time consuming process.

Maybe somebody will chime in with some info before I have to look up every radio on every website. I saw the WIKI but did not want to spend the time if it was unnecessary, but it looks like that will be the case.

 

[jonwienke]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I53VUEY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl

"Transmits 10M ( 29Mhz ), 6M ( 52Mhz ), 2M ( 146Mhz ) & 70cm ( 440Mhz ) Bands"

 

[NC1]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I53VUEY/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl

"Transmits 10M ( 29Mhz ), 6M ( 52Mhz ), 2M ( 146Mhz ) & 70cm ( 440Mhz ) Bands"

That one is kind of close but it is a little pricey and needs to be a HT, and cover 30 to 50 MHz.

I'm sure there is something out there that fits my needs, just a matter of time until it turns up.

 

[fyrfyter33]

I doubt it. 10m is probably not going to show up on an HT. Yaesu VX-8DR will at least get you 6m.

EDIT: the closest you are likely to get for what you want is an FT-817, or maybe a Xiegu QRP. Neither are HTs but quite literally, I don't see much function from 10/6m at 5w.

 

[NC1]

I doubt it. 10m is probably not going to show up on an HT. Yaesu VX-8DR will at least get you 6m.

I'm not looking for 10m or 6m, just 30MHz to 50MHz receive is all. No transmit is necessary.
I have 2 other radios that receive 10 and 6m, so I am covered there.

 

[jonwienke]

Receive Range: 26-33Mhz, 47-54 MHz, 110-180Mhz ( with AM Air band), 350-399Mhz, 430-512Mhz, 750-947Mhz.

 

[jonwienke]

If RX is all you need, a RTL SDR will cover 30-50MHz for $20 or so.

 

[NC1]

If RX is all you need, a RTL SDR will cover 30-50MHz for $20 or so.

Has to be portable like a Baofeng UV-5R, so SDR is out. And the other rig you mentioned the RX range for is a mobile.

I appreciate the effort, but I don't think they make what I need - or I just cannot find it now.

VHF Low seems to be the forgotten band these days, it used to be very popular until about the late 70's from what information I am finding on it.

 

[byndhlptom]

Low Band

If all you need is receive, there are several older analog scanners that are compact

Uniden 125, 246, 346, 330, and a lot of others

Radio Shack/Uniden/GRE had several that were smaller, from 10 channels up to 400

Most of the NASCAR/race scanners were reasonably compact.

Personally, I like the Uniden 100xlt/200xlt series, battery packs easy to swap/rebuild, great RX

These are all programmable, even cheaper would be an older xtal scanner, but the crystals will add up to a simple programmable.

You should be able to get an analog portable for less that $50 with no problem, a lot less if you are a little patient.

Look through "RigPics" or just scan through EBAY, there are a lot out there...

$.02

 

[NC1]

Compact scanners might be the only option if what I want is not possible for one reason or another.

I had seen a couple, but they were in the $180 and up category, and I would not be able to program them myself. Paging through the manufacturer websites of cheaper HT's leaves me with the impression that this may be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

 

[signal500]

The usual dual band radios by Baofeng, Wouxun, Pofung, etc.are plentiful and very cost effective, but don't seem to see any of the cheap radios with the low band.

I would rather lose or break a cheap chinese low band radio than an expensive scanner. Mostly it would be used for about 4 or 5 channels, so scan speed is not an issue.
I know scanners can be had cheap, but they are much larger than I desire so am not considering them.

Are there any made in the "cheap and affordable" range like the current UV-5R? I thought I saw one a while back but cannot find any at all now. Any links would be appreciated.

China Low VHF AES-256 Secure Encrypted Portable Radio, 30-88MHz/30-37MHz/37-50MHz/50-66MHz/66-88MHz - China Low Band, Digital Two Way Radio

 

[cmjonesinc]

There seems to be very little info on that radio floating around, especially anything price related. If it does half of what it says I'd be very interested in seeing how it performs. I really thought I remembered seeing a Chinese radio that would do 30-50 MHz before but I certainly can't find one now.

 

[NC1]

China Low VHF AES-256 Secure Encrypted Portable Radio, 30-88MHz/30-37MHz/37-50MHz/50-66MHz/66-88MHz - China Low Band, Digital Two Way Radio

I would have to say, that one is definitely NOT within the budget, lol.

 

[k9wkj]

i plug my dongle into my phone and poof i got a radio
cant get to much smaller

 

[NC1]

i plug my dongle into my phone and poof i got a radio
cant get to much smaller

It has to be independent of other devices, and my phone will not accept a dongle anyway

 

[jonwienke]

You're not likely to find much in low-band HT's. The problem is that efficient antennas in low band have to be impractically large. So you either have poor performance or a huge antenna, and most people would rather go VHF or UHF and have reasonably-sized antennas that are also reasonably efficient.