[amsat-bb] Re: current handheld

[Jeff KB2M]

 Years ago I did a test of the various handheld radio's available for sat
use. I rated the TH-F6A a distant last. Reason is that its front-end is very
sensitive to inter-mod. The test was performed in front of HRO in DE. See my
HT test report on my webpage. It can be found by navigating to QRZ.com then
lookup kb2m. I also remember when I was on a business trip to Houston. While
there I meet with Jerry k5oe, Bruce kk5do, and Al n5afv for dinner(I have a
picture of the group if anyone is interested). After dinner we went to the
parking lot to work an FM bird. As my F6A was deaf from the urban inter-mod
I had to borrow someone's HT to finish making a contact. When I got home I
sold the Kenwood. It might be good out in the country, but it sucks in the
city!...

73 Jeff kb2m


-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
Behalf Of Tim - N3TL
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 15:15 PM
To: 'Bob- W7LRD'; amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: [amsat-bb] Re: current handheld

Hi Bob,

The new Alinco is the only current-production HT that will operate full
duplex; but like others, I hear rumblings about a TH-D7 replacement from
Kenwood later this year. The D7 was full duplex.

Posters here an elsewhere haven't given the Alinco high marks for its
abilities to work the FM satellites. I haven't tried it, so I hope those who
have some experience with it will respond to you.

All of that being said, I would recommend the Kenwood TH-F6A from the group
of currently available non-full-duplex radios for one major reason - its
general coverage receiver is all mode. I borrowed one from a ham friend
several months ago and, over the course of a weekend, use it as my receive
radio with a FT-817ND as my transmit radio to make multiple contacts on all
of the then-active linear satellites (AO-7 Mode B, FO-29 and VO-52). It
performed very well as I worked all passes without a receive preamp for
either VHF or UHF.

It will work the FM satellites, while providing the bonus of giving
newcomers a chance to copy AO-7, FO-29, HO-68 in linear mode and VO-52. I
suspect that when they've heard a few passes of the linear satellites, they
will be interested in trying to get on them.

I hope this is helpful.

73 to all,

Tim - N3TL
Athens, Ga. - EM84ha

-----Original Message-----
From: amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org [mailto:amsat-bb-bounces at amsat.org] On
Behalf Of Bob- W7LRD
Sent: Sunday, March 07, 2010 2:10 PM
To: amsat-bb at amsat.org
Subject: [amsat-bb] current handheld



I have been asked- "what is the best current handheld for FM sats"?  What
are we using?  I have an old IC-w32a, no longer in production. 

73 Bob W7LRD