Good handheld Transceiver for Beginner?

[AC9BX]

If you want the less expensive radio versus a top brand such as Icom or Kenwood I can't say enough good things about the Quansheng TG-UV2. This is a great radio in the cheap Chinese class. It has surprisingly good audio on both transmit and receive, makes good power (some of these say 5W but don't get anywhere near it), clean RF, great battery (better than the top brands), relatively easy to manually program and manipulate, and is very well built, rugged, seems to have good weather resistance. It also costs more. It's about $90 versus $30. But you really do get what you pay for. It's true dual-band and unlike some you can have a memory channel for 1 receiver and manual for the other. The software stinks. But then that's true for all the cheapy radios. Sadly Chirp doesn't support the Quansheng as far as I know. QST magazine had an article a few months back on these cheap radios and one interesting item was how frequently they had excess spurious emissions. (they didn't review the TG-UV2)

I'm a fan of Yaesu and the FT-60 would be a good choice. It's about $160 new.

Consider Alinco.

Consider used. Most hams take care of their stuff. You may find a very nice radio like an FT60 for sale used for much less than new. It's for sale because they decided to move to something with more features, D-Star or Fusion or DMR, for example and just want to unload the now unused radio. Visit a ham fest, ask at the local club, ebay or even Craigslist. Shop carefully, see it in action before you pay. Many ham gear dealers also sell used. It'll be more expensive but you get assurance of the item's condition. hamstation, universal radio, Maine trading, many more

 

[Rred]

"Thanks for answering! Yes, I searched, but most posts seemed to concern the 3W and 5W BaoFengs. The two models I listed are 7/8W. "
Yes, and as you learn the issues behind amateur radio (as opposed to just memorizing test answers) you'll also find that all of the HT's that are actually designed and sold legally for the amateur market (or the marine market or the commercial markets) generally do not exceed 5-6 watts.
This is because too much RF energy at the "right" frequency, coming out of an antenna next to your head, is considered unsafe. There are precise formulas you can use, and RF safety will be a topic you should encounter in your license study, even for a tech license.
But the simple bottom line? Is that more than 6 watts on a handheld is crossing into the danger zone. It is a sign that a radio maker doesn't know or care about anything except "People will buy MORE POWER" so they've built a useless and perhaps dangerous radio with MORE POWER than the competition.
Same as with home hair dryers, where they can't give away anything under 1500 watts, which is enough power to blow a fuse on most home bathroom circuits. (And that's the only reason they stop at 1500 0r 1600 watts.)

Stick to one of the three big brand names for a start. There are reasons they charge "more". (Like, following the safety guidelines.)

 

[pinballwiz86]

I would spend more money so you don't end up with more than one HT!!

Get something that is future proof. An HT that can do D-Star and APRS, etc..

 

[k6cpo]

Lots of recommendations for the FT-60R here, but one caution. I have been told that the FT-60R is going to be discontinued in Favor of the FT-65R. Apparently, Yaesu wants to capture back some of the market share they have lost to the Chinese radios. The Ft-65 adds features not found in the FT-60, (but in the Chinese radios) such as a built-in flashlight (good way to run down your battery) and FM broadcast reception (just what you need out in the boonies where there's no signal.) I call the FT-65R the "Yaefeng." (They even changed the antenna connector to match the Baofengs.)

My suggestion is buy the FT-60R now before they're gone.

 

[byndhlptom]

First handheld

The older RS HTX202(2mtrs)/404(440) are reasonably simple, will not go "out of band" and use the older ICOM (02/03/04 series) batteries/chargers. Can be found found for <$50 just about anywhere. Pretty solid, not costing a fortune.... For that matter the Icom 02 series radios are in the same category...

Also use the Icom spkrmics.....

$.02

 

[teufler]

Several have commenting that the CCR's are not good, poor reception, etc. Several have comment they worked okey. I don't think they are built as strong as some of the big three. Years before they CCR's showed up, I bought a Yaesu VX-7. Good strong radio, water proof, dual band, small and light weight. I was on a 150 foot tower and dropped it . Other than the crystal broke and a frame around th ecrytal broke, the radio still worked, changed frequencies etc; you just could not display the whole screen. Sent to Yaesu repair in California and $117 dollars later, good as new. I don't use it much anymore as the CCR's offer more features that I use. I use the 88-108 FM receive band to listen to music or whatever. The radios revert to normal vhf or uhf if a call comes in. At night, the light comes in handy for locating something you have dropped or lighting a car door lock at night. I have use the SOS light function once to attract attention on the freeway due to car problems. While the big thrtee more have more sensitivity, I have never noticed or missed a call when I was at an ARES event. Some have suggested you buy a mobile as HT's in general are weak on power. There are some HT's that advertise 8, 10, or recently I saw a 12 watt with a 4000 ma battery. I think these would be okay if you had a speaker mic and held the radio at arms length away from your head and eyes. Years ago the ARRL said 5 watts about the most you should use. So you can spend more, on one of the big three or here are CCR's that run from $110 and down. The $110 figure is important in comparison to fixing a big three radio. Usually repairs are $75 and hour plus parts. With a CCR, you salvage what you can, the battery, antenna, etc, and buy a new one. I have had some of mine for three years or more and none have failed. I have added a new battery or two, thats it.

 

[AK9R]

FM broadcast receive and flashy lights are not features exclusive to the "cheap, Chinese radios". There are Yaesu models that have had both of these features and Kenwood models that have FM broadcast, AM broadcast, and shortwave receive.

The Chinese are copycats when it comes to technology. They find ways to build things faster and cheaper than other electronics manufacturing countries. I'm sure the Chinese radio and electronics engineers are very bright, but their management seems to think that usurping the intellectual property of others is the way to do business.

Just wait until the Chinese start selling their cars in this country.

 

[teufler]

What gets me is the Chinese seem to low ball their radios. You only have to be alittle lower, not 50 or more percent lower. As for features on the BIG THREE, its been awhile since I looked at them, I was not aware that they had these features. One feature I have not located in the CCR radios is APRS. pERIODICALLY I look at Blogs on the Chinese cars or the Indian cars. They have some good looking cars, that seem to sell well in the areas they are offered. I'm sure if they meet our safety standards, the standards will be adjusted to a new standard. I had read of one Chinese car that might be imported over her this year or in the fall.

 

[Rred]

The Chinese wisely follow the teachings of Sun Tzu, whether it is government or industry. (And the two are often tightly related.) Steamroll your enemy. Steamroll your competitor. Overwhelm them and crush them into the ground, and you win faster and with less cost in the long run.

So, why make the choice of product debatable, or even considerable? Make it such a big difference, that instead of worrying about things like a dealer network and warranty, people can just say "that's a disposable radio at that price" and make it a no-brainer. (Not quite true but that's how many see it.)

APRS? Even Kenwood took a lot of flack for that. They made the THD7 with APRS capability, sure, but they also got hammered because that radio could do "one ping and one ping only" (to quote Red October) and it was unreliable handling more than one packet in any kind of packet mode. In plain APRS mode it worked, yes. But how many hams use APRS? How many irk Bob B. by using it for vehicle tracking only?

I'm afraid the inevitable "siren" and flashlight on those Chinese radios somehow is a bigger sales feature. Damned if I know why...I'm holding out for one with a good espresso machine built in!

 

[N4KVE]

I'm afraid the inevitable "siren" and flashlight on those Chinese radios somehow is a bigger sales feature. Damned if I know why...I'm holding out for one with a good espresso machine built in!

How about a camera like my cell phone has. Seriously, how about a receiver with some selectivity so it's not an intermod sponge. Maybe a US based service/repair center. Yeah, but then they wouldn't cost $35. Wait, we have that. It's called Icom, Kenwood, or Yaesu.

 

[AK9R]

They made the THD7 with APRS capability, sure, but they also got hammered because...it was unreliable handling more than one packet in any kind of packet mode. In plain APRS mode it worked, yes.

The transmit buffer issue you describe was a result of the Tasco modem that Kenwood chose to use in the TH-D7 and TM-D700. It only was an issue if you used the internal TNC for regular packet work. When used for APRS, there was no issue, that I'm aware of. Kenwood fixed the issue in the TH-D72 and TM-D710 by using a different modem that did not have the transmit buffer limitation that the Tasco modem had.

I suspect that the Chinese radio manufacturers don't see APRS as a feature worth providing. In other words, the effort they might need to expend to reverse engineer Kenwood's or Yaesu's designs for APRS functions would not, in their minds, be recouped by additional sales. They are designing and building radios down to a price point and using single-chip radio designs as much as possible to keep their costs low. If the chips they are using don't have the necessary I/O or memory space to provide a feature, then it doesn't get included.

 

[reedeb]

I have a UV5 R bought it to replace my RadioShack HTX 202 that had died. It is a good receiver and I can get out and chat with folks in many parts of North Texas. [ DFW region]. small enough it fits in my pocket or in my EDC carry bag I can monitor HAM as well as Dallas Police and Fire [and on occasion Dallas County Sheriff I like the feature of listening to FM radio also and the flashlight comes in darn handy at times. Got the starteer kit for a great price and can get more accessories later with out ruining my extremely tight budget [Social Security Disabilty don't give ya a whole lot]

 

[radiomankc]

Yaseu R65 all the way

 

[robpur]

Which radio to buy has as much to do with how it's going to be used as it does with the radio itself. Live close to the repeaters you plan to use, and under good conditions, then a cheap Baofeng UV5R would be fine. Are the repeaters far away, do you plan to travel with your radio, or operate in an environment with a lot of RF noise, then a better radio could be an advantage. However, I have not seen much difference between four to five watt HTs compared to their higher power brothers. Replacing a crappy stock antenna has more effect than added power. Oh, and the UV5R has a crappy antenna. Also, do you plan to use both UHF and VHF? If not then a single band commercial radio could yield higher quality for the price.

This is a little bit removed from the kind of equipment you are looking at, but it's something to consider. What about DMR? Do you have any DMR repeaters in your area? If not, then you could set up a DMR hotspot. DMR allows you to talk all over the world with your HT, with good sound quality. The down side is that DMR radios are single band so if you want to work both UHF and VHF then you would need two radios. The repeaters around here are pretty dead and there's nobody to talk with. I can go a month or two and not hear a single QSO on the three local repeaters above my house. Back in the early '90s the repeaters got a lot more use, and on weekends it could be hard to break in due to all the traffic. DMR solves that problem with wide area coverage. If there's a lot of traffic on your local repeaters then the networking aspect of DMR may not be an advantage to you.

You can find a list of DMR repeaters here.

https://dmr-marc.net/repeaters.html

I just purchased a pair of TYT MD-380s for $100 each and I'm quite happy with them. They perform as well as my Icom and HYT commercial radios in analog FM mode, and have the added benefit of DMR. I've been so impressed with them that I plan to phase out my analog equipment. I did a simplex range test and in analog they performed as well as my other analog equipment, and went a little further with DMR. The advantage of digital is that the sound is crystal clear right up to the range limit, while analog gets progressively scratchy and noisy until it's no longer understandable. The difference between DMR and FM is like the difference between AM and FM. It's just a clearer and better way to communicate, and I believe that over time DMR, or some other digital mode, is going to replace analog FM in much of the UHF and VHF amateur spectrum. There's no DMR repeaters around here, but I plan to set up a SharkRF openSPOT DMR hotspot to join the network.

 

[wrath]

How about a camera like my cell phone has. Seriously, how about a receiver with some selectivity so it's not an intermod sponge. Maybe a US based service/repair center. Yeah, but then they wouldn't cost $35. Wait, we have that. It's called Icom, Kenwood, or Yaesu.

A camera on a speaker mic, I can think of a lot better things to do with $150 than get an ultra low resolution picture with my speaker mic , if you need a photo get a camera , if you want to communicate get a radio but the love child of a radio and terrible camera , I'll pass even if it was free ,and that's coming from both a professional photographer and ham .That mic is an abomination as are Yaesus "top line" HT'S & mobiles, they forgot how to make radios like they used to , I like the sound quality of Fusion over dstar ,but toy radios with fancy expensive mics nope .

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

 

[Rred]

Actually, I don't think ANY appliance companies (radios, TV's, etc.) much less camera companies have a US service or repair or warranty operation. Typically not watchmakers (i.e. Rolex) either.

Those big companies DO NOT operate in the US at all. What they do is make exclusive geographical territory agreements with other companies, so you don't deal with "Icom" in the US, you deal with "ICOM USA" which is a totally separate entity. The US entity buys the exclusive rights to import, market, and distribute the goods here, and as part of that deal they agree to provide their own warranty and service arrangements. That's right, your ICOM (etc) radio is the US is not warrantied by ICOM, it is warrantied by ICOM USA. There are few rare exceptions, where "authorized" goods are indeed warranteed globally by all authorized distributors, but that's all part of the contract terms that are negotiated by each distributor.
Chinese radios? Too late for that. They sell them to anyone who wants them, and that's why there are a half dozen "genuine" and "exclusive" BaoFeng radio models in the US, with varying (or no) warranties. There is no one who is crazy enough to spend the big bucks trying to buy a national distributorship here, when the radios aren't even certified for sale in the US market, by and large.

Cameras? Right, like the cheapo radios could legally broadcast the photo data over the air, on most of the services they are being illegally used for? Radios sold for FRS and GMRS mis-use really don't have any excuse for cameras.

If you understand the way international import/export is done, there are very good reasons why this stuff is exactly what it is.