Amateur radio/cb unit

Hi guys,
im running an in-car mounted midland CB at the moment.

As part of the Rover Rescue group a few of us are soon to be taking our foundation licence to be able to use amateur radios (better distance while on call outs etc)

anyone recommend a good entry level hand held unit?
Or can you get the set combined with a CB set all in one to mount in the car.

cheers
Joe

Not a handheld, but for the car I'd recommend the Yaesu FT-1500M 2M unit. Had the rig for about 5 years now, and it's been absolutely fantastic. Built tough too so perfect for the rough and tumble of off road! Unless you were thinking of using 70cm?

I have a spare wheel mounted 2m flexi CB antenna at the moment, was hoping I could utilise this somehow? maybe not? Im yet to go through the course and understand the 2m 70cm info. Is the Yaesu FT-1500M 2M unit compatible with CB channels also?

Nope, aerial no good, CB is on 27MHz, 2 M is on 144MHz, you,ll need new one, cabling should be OK, as would be the mount, most have SO249 connectors.

Same answer for CB compatibility, though you can buy a dual band 10M 2M rig that covers the CB bands with a few snips of links!

Recommend two rigs and two twigs.

Graham G6JAP

Geep said:

Nope, aerial no good, CB is on 27MHz, 2 M is on 144MHz, you,ll need new one, cabling should be OK, as would be the mount, most have SO249 connectors.

Same answer for CB compatibility, though you can buy a dual band 10M 2M rig that covers the CB bands with a few snips of links!

Recommend two rigs and two twigs.

Graham G6JAP

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Thanks for that Graham,

i think then maybe I would like to go hand held dual band as using it outside of the truck will be usefull on searches etc,
Can you recommend an entry level 2/70cm dual band hand held at all?

joe27979 said:

Thanks for that Graham,

i think then maybe I would like to go hand held dual band as using it outside of the truck will be usefull on searches etc,
Can you recommend an entry level 2/70cm dual band hand held at all?

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Can't recommend anyone in particular, but I'd stick with Alinco, Yaesua, ikon or Kenwood. But I must admit the ones on EBay from the HK sellers look tempting at the price, but not sure about Tax/Duty implications.

Maybe there is an Amateur Radio club in your area, go onto the RSGB site and have a look. Be warned though, hams can be as boring/interesting as Landy owners

Hi,

I'm very happy with the Motorola Radius GP 300s that I've been using for years.

Old technology maybe - but it's virtually indestructable (as long as you don't drop it in a river!)

Standard UN, NATO, as used by all the ex-mob guys.

Plenty cheap on eBay and they don't need rocket scientists to fix them. Lots of spare bits too.

Easy to set up your own channels - I imagine that any helpful comms business will do it free for a charity or rescue club.

You can get a six-way multi-charger and a base station if you go that way.

Link here:
Motorola Radius GP 300 Walkie Talkies | eBay

Good luck,
Singvogel.

hi older hand helds are better like alinco or Icom as long as you get one with a decent battery pack or even get a spare one do not get the sets from HK there emissions are terrible while buying a antenna get a tripple band one 2/6/70 I have a quad band radio yeasu 8900 2/6/10/70 with the extenion kit so the base of the rig is in the rear back door and the head unit is up front but some times I put my yaesu 857 in when going on Holiday with a FC130 tuner and a 10 mtr fiberglass fishing pole with a wire and strap it to the back when stationary of course and work the world and being a new licecens you are limited to 10 watts but you can still work the world on that as I do even though I can use 400 watts erp hope this helps
G0VVT

The Yaesu FT817 is a very versatile rig and will give you access to HF bands for when you pass your exam. A 10-30w linear for 2m would be a good buy for mobile use, cheap enough on ebay, microwave modules, bnos, microset, all ok. I had one for a few years. Now have the 897, cracking set.
G6BCC

Hi Joe,

Having read the later posts, I can see that you guys are into something very different from what I thought.

In your first post you said you were using CB at the moment so I thought you wanted something better but still simple.

In the Middle East we were using Yaesu kit and it was very good.

In Kosovo, which is pretty mountainous, we stuck with the Motorola GP300s I mentioned. We had 2 batteries and were on call 24/7.

In my team there were 30 of us and we were in constant contact either directly or via our base station, or a mobile-relay unit in a Defender which we sent up the nearest mountain track as far as he could go.

We had coverage all the way from Mitrovica up north all the way to the Macedonian border.

It looks like you guys are going for greater things.

Good luck and enjoy.

Singvogel.

joe27979 said:

Hi guys,
im running an in-car mounted midland CB at the moment.

As part of the Rover Rescue group a few of us are soon to be taking our foundation licence to be able to use amateur radios (better distance while on call outs etc)

anyone recommend a good entry level hand held unit?
Or can you get the set combined with a CB set all in one to mount in the car.

cheers
Joe

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Not that I would suggest anything naughty, but if you got a ranger 2310 it can be doctored to cover the cb freq's as well ... and it's a very good set.

bit the bullet and got an entry level hand held until I get a bit more competent:
Yaesu FT-60R

well do but do not use it until you have passed you test I would also recomend you never get a doctored radio to do both if you get caught you will be in serious trouble to use a cb it has to be a cb and plated or used to be 27/81 thats when they became leagal I do not know what they have dated the later ones and also you can now use ssb on cb but only certain frequency I can find out if you need to know also if you are in rover rescue it is a nation wide reconition and it would not do to bring a bad negitive against them if you need any more help please ask I am a news reader for the rsgb anmongst other things and used to be a qsl manager
G 0 V V T

I use a Yeasu ft7800R (2m/70cm) in the car and an Ahlinco DJ-V17 Handheld (70CM) The Ahlinco has been opened to transmit across it's full receive range. 30Mhz to 175Mhz :0 Offt the top of me head..

redhand said:

I use a Yeasu ft7800R (2m/70cm) in the car

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now go wash yer fooking mouth out !!!

Thunderpole do a 10mtr rig that is software programmable and all the CB Channel freq's can be programmed into it.

K-PO DX-5000 | Mobile 10 Meter Radio | Amateur Radios | THUNDERPOLE

robint said:

now go wash yer fooking mouth out !!!

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It has 5 doors windows all round and carries upto 7 Passengers.. It int a bus so it must be a car.. (Albeit A big car)

intek opened up to transmit other frequencies

redhand said:

Thunderpole do a 10mtr rig that is software programmable and all the CB Channel freq's can be programmed into it.

K-PO DX-5000 | Mobile 10 Meter Radio | Amateur Radios | THUNDERPOLE

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Forgive my radio noobness! But if uk cb is max 5w output, would this set be legal in the uk, as id get this for cb use, then go the ham route too n the future. Also, would you have to switch between antennas. I'd have it mounted in the disco by the way!

cox325 said:

Forgive my radio noobness! But if uk cb is max 5w output, would this set be legal in the uk, as id get this for cb use, then go the ham route too n the future. Also, would you have to switch between antennas. I'd have it mounted in the disco by the way!

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Errmmm The sets legal as a 10mtr transceiver. programming the CB channel wavelengths into it and then transmitting on them isn't