HAM for newbies
- Thread starter justintheegreat
- Start date
Member III
The FT-70 HT has been on sale recently. It's a good little radio and I've yet to hear from anyone who has one that doesn't like it.
For mobile, look into something with dual watch. The FTM-400XDR has been on sale recently if you are interested in APRS and the TM-D710G goes on sale randomly as well.
You can buy the TM-V71a is the same as the 710 but without the APRS head unit. You can go back later and add the 710 head unit when you are ready to get into it.
Cheap radios are ok. I have a Baofeng UV5RA and a TYT TH-9800 that have been fine radios. I am currently upgrading to a TM-D710G and looking at the FT-60R or FT-70R for a better hand held.
For mobile, look into something with dual watch. The FTM-400XDR has been on sale recently if you are interested in APRS and the TM-D710G goes on sale randomly as well.
You can buy the TM-V71a is the same as the 710 but without the APRS head unit. You can go back later and add the 710 head unit when you are ready to get into it.
Cheap radios are ok. I have a Baofeng UV5RA and a TYT TH-9800 that have been fine radios. I am currently upgrading to a TM-D710G and looking at the FT-60R or FT-70R for a better hand held.
Member III
I think a mobile is a better way to start out. An HT is fine but it can be finicky, how you hold it and it's relation to your body can have an effect on how the radio performs. Also if the little HT isn't quite making it into the repeater and/or you have weak/scratchy audio you may find it difficult to make contacts or talk to someone and this can be disappointing for a new ham.
Sure you can put an external antenna on an HT to get better signal out at the house or use it while mobile. If using it mobile you will probably want a hand mic and power adapter and now you have 3 cords running in 3 different directions and to me that seems messy.
It's your money and your radio(s) so YMMV and do whatever you think will work best for you.
And for what it's worth, I started out with an HT but since I operate mobile most often it didn't take me long to realize I needed something different. Now I have 3 mobile radios (HF, VHF/UHF, APRS) and an HT or two in the Jeep.... watch your step, it's a slippery slope.
Sure you can put an external antenna on an HT to get better signal out at the house or use it while mobile. If using it mobile you will probably want a hand mic and power adapter and now you have 3 cords running in 3 different directions and to me that seems messy.
It's your money and your radio(s) so YMMV and do whatever you think will work best for you.
And for what it's worth, I started out with an HT but since I operate mobile most often it didn't take me long to realize I needed something different. Now I have 3 mobile radios (HF, VHF/UHF, APRS) and an HT or two in the Jeep.... watch your step, it's a slippery slope.
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Traveler I
Member III
I'm new to the ham thing too. Will probably take the test in a month or two.
Can some one tell me how useful APRS is for overlanding? From what I have read it seems cool and would be useful for friends or family to follow along like they could do with a In-reach or Spot. But will that only work if connect to a repeater or some other service? What are the chances of reaching someone on ham? Lets say you are out at Racetrack in Death Valley on a Tuesday will you be able to reach someone? I'm sure on a weekend your chances are better.
The FTM-400XDR looks cool but are some of those features only useful if everyone in your groups has The FTM-400XDR? Like where you can only talk to people in a group. Or see other hams on a map, is that only hams with the same radio? With APRS? Or with any digital radio?
Thanks,
Todd
Can some one tell me how useful APRS is for overlanding? From what I have read it seems cool and would be useful for friends or family to follow along like they could do with a In-reach or Spot. But will that only work if connect to a repeater or some other service? What are the chances of reaching someone on ham? Lets say you are out at Racetrack in Death Valley on a Tuesday will you be able to reach someone? I'm sure on a weekend your chances are better.
The FTM-400XDR looks cool but are some of those features only useful if everyone in your groups has The FTM-400XDR? Like where you can only talk to people in a group. Or see other hams on a map, is that only hams with the same radio? With APRS? Or with any digital radio?
Thanks,
Todd
Member III
APRS can be quite useful but for your position to reach the interwebs you must be able to hit a digital repeater which is within range of an internet gateway.
APRS can be useful in a group setting where a digi-peater is not needed.
Death Valley National Park is void of digi-peaters. Now whether you could reach another ham on the radio is hard to say, depends on hams in the area and if they monitor any local repeaters near DVNP.
However, with HF capabilities one could increase their chances of reaching help if needed, but a Spot or In-reach may be a better option at that point as HF can be a costly investment if you don't plan on dabbling in the ham hobby. You can do APRS through a couple of Satellites and the International Space Station but that is only when one is flying over.
FTM-400XDR.... Seeing other hams on a map, that is just APRS and you can see anyone running APRS not just those using the 400. It does have a Digital Voice mode called System Fusion that can really only talk to other Yaesu radios that also run the System Fusion digital mode (maybe with some exceptions), but the radio does normal analog as well so it can still talk to other analog ham radios regardless of make. It also has Digital Group Monitoring which I believe it also a Yaesu only thing if the radio comes with that ability.
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