best radio to cut my teeth on

[BigBlue 442]

I am planning on getting my Ham ticket in a month or so. So what I want to know is what radio is a good starter radio. I want a radio that is a little more than basic but not so overwhelming that I have to have the manual in one hand and the mic in the other every time I use it. As far as budget lets say $500.00 I would also like a few Ideas on an antenna. I will be starting out mobile so I need something that I can use near my Pred 10K . As a side note I do not want an antenna farm of my truck roof. Thanks in advance.

Frank

[busman]

BIG BLUE 442 LOOKED UP SOME PRICES FOR YA.
YAESU 857D--769$
YAESU 817D-600$
YAESU 897D-880$
ICOM 703 -700$
THESE ARE NEW RADIOS OFF A HAM RADIO WEB SITE. THEY ARE MOBLES

[linx]

I am planning on getting my Ham ticket in a month or so. So what I want to know is what radio is a good starter radio. I want a radio that is a little more than basic but not so overwhelming that I have to have the manual in one hand and the mic in the other every time I use it. As far as budget lets say $500.00 I would also like a few Ideas on an antenna. I will be starting out mobile so I need something that I can use near my Pred 10K . As a side note I do not want an antenna farm of my truck roof. Thanks in advance.

Frank

Hey blue,

Are you wanting to get a HF rig for future expandability, or go ahead and get a 2m/70cm rig to start with? If you're just wanting to get a 2m/70cm rig for your technician license, there's a tons of great radios out there. If you're looking for a 2m only rig, then the Icom 2200, and the Yaesu 2800 are great 2m only rigs. If you want maybe a 2m/70cm rig, you got the Icom 2820, and 208h, as well as the Yaesu 7800R, 8800, 8900. There's also Kenwoods and Alinco's, but I'm not really a fan of either. I know I'll get slapped for not being a Kenwood fan, but hey, it's just the fact, I don't like them. If you are wanting a HF+VHF/UHF (2m, 70cm) then it's hard to beat an Icom 706MKIIG and a Yaesu 857D. I'm a Yaesu fan myself, but there is NOTHING wrong with a Icom radio. Both are awsome brands, and affordable. I run a pair of 7800R's by Yaesu. I have one in the truck and one in the house. It is truely amazing how small these radios are. In the truck I velcroe'd it to the top of my SWP 2950 and it's about half the size of that radio. I like this radio as well b/c it has a detachable face you can take with you, or so you can remotely mount the radio. It's cool b/c you can put the radio in the trunk or behind your seat, and put the face and an external speaker on your dash, in a cupholder, or even on a little suction cup on the window!

As far as antennas, if you're wanting a 2m or a 2m/70cm antenna, there's no brands than you can shake a stick at. I had a friend tell me to buy a Diamond or Larsen, and I didn't. I bought a 2m/70cm Comet for my base, and for my mobile. Both of them broke in no time. I do not recommend that knock off brand of antennas. My next ones will either be Diamond or Larsen like I should have bought. IF you're wanting to do something like the HF/VHF/UHF radio, then you'll probably have to buy a screwdriver antenna if you're not wanting an antenna farm, but that will be out of your budget. Those antennas are like $500 bucks (ouch!). But you can hook them up to an automatic antenna tuner and tune them up and down and they're actually motorized and move up and down to adjust for the different band/frequency.

My advice is if you're going 2m/70cm is to get a Yaesu 7800R, or maybe a Icom 2820 and get a Diamond or Larsen antenna that is a dual band antenna. You can get those radios for about $250 new, or under $200 used, and the antennas for around $40-100 depending on what you want.

Let me tell you one thing though. With 2m/70cm and talking through repeaters...it really does not make a lot of sense to buy some massive 6 ft antenna when you can get a little 1 ft antenna and do the same thing. I made the mistake mobile and bought a Comet CSB7700 that was like 60" or so, and it was not necissary when you can hit a repeater on a little rubber duckie looking antenna with the same results.

As far as running with the Pred 10k...my 2m/70cm antenna has always been about 6" in front of my Pred with no problems whatsoever. I had no problems with SWR's and had no problems with them bleeding on each other.

That's about all I can think of right now, lol. Good luck.

[BigBlue 442]

BIG BLUE 442 LOOKED UP SOME PRICES FOR YA.
YAESU 857D--769$
YAESU 817D-600$
YAESU 897D-880$
ICOM 703 -700$
THESE ARE NEW RADIOS OFF A HAM RADIO WEB SITE. THEY ARE MOBLES

Man so much for my budget lol and I thought CB=constantly broke. I had a feeling $500 was going to be wishful thinking. I guess I could always see what I can get in a nice nearly new rig.

[King Mudduck]

$500.00...would be hard to find one new for that but on eBay you can find really nice rigs for $500 or less all day long!

[linx]

$500.00...would be hard to find one new for that but on eBay you can find really nice rigs for $500 or less all day long!

For a HF rig yes. For a VHF/UHF for a technician license, then I'd say $300 is do-able, lol.

[busman]

BIG BLUE 442, GO CHECK OUT THAT E-HAM WANT ADDS. I DONT KNOW THE WEB SITE. JUST GOOGLE IT. THEY GOT HF STUFF ON THERE.

[80 meter man]

I hate to say this but I don't think there is a newer ham radio out there that you wont have to have the manual in one hand for quite a wile! I've had a Kenwood TS-2000 for a year and a half now and if I need to adjust some thing out of the norm I still need to get the book. I keep every manual I own right under its respective radio. There are some radios that are easier than others. Remember all this is IMHO some guys might never have to look at the book ever but me all the time. The hardest radio I have to operate is a very popular radio and I hate to say its name because I'll get a lot of people mad but again this just IMHO My Icom-706MKIIG is the hardest radio I have to operate with out the manual. Now I'm not saying anything bad about the 706 it's a great radio it works very well but, it's called a menu driven radio. Almost nothing is adjusted by knobs except the volume and frequency. Most all other features you will have to go into the menu. Now on the other hand my Kenwood TS-2000 that I talked about earlier has many more knobs and panel mounted controls. To be fair here the 2000 has 4 times the space on the face of the radio to mount knobs and switches. Even with all these panel mounted controls I have to use the book a lot when using things like the band scope, some scan features, using the radio as a repeater, etc.. Using the radio as a repeater is an amazing function!!! You can listen and talk on your favorite repeater with your dual band hand held radio! You sit in your back yard and talk to your own radio inside your radio shack. Then your big radio in the shack will retransmit your signal over your favorite repeater frequency. Then when someone else talks on the repeater your shack radio will retransmit that signal to your hand held radio. All this is done almost instantly so you notice little lag. I find I see a little lag when I key my hand held. I have to wait a second to talk. No biggie. All HF base radios don't have this feature. If your interested in it it's called cross band repeat. Some radios will do it on VHF/UHF some will go from VHF to HF etc... You need to do your home work on each radios features before you buy. I'm not sure but I think the 706 does cross band repeat? I've never used it on that radio. My main base radio is the Kenwood TS-2000 and that radio does cross band very well. The communication between your hand held and your base radio is not privet any one transmitting on the same frequency that you pick for the hand held to communicate with the base on will be relayed also. So you need to be careful. This feature is not just for hand helds. You can set up a mini repeater for your neighborhood but if it bothers anyone you will have to shut it down. If uncoordinated repeaters bother others you have to shut them down because yours is uncoordinated with the frequency people.The 706 has to be menu driven to pack all its features into such a small package. That's why I like big radios. The bigger the radio the more knobs on its face. Usually! If your not good with switching back and forth between menus be careful when buying a smaller radio. All of them will be menu driven. Of course were talking HF radios here. There are some small 2 meter radios that have minimum menu features. I would also recommend the Icom-718 as a low cost feature rich first radio. I have to stop typing now. Good luck to you!!!!