Amateur Radio

I have recently gotten my Amateur Radio license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). This allows me to operate radios that can communicate all over the world. I personally prefer to talk on repeaters in local areas. These repeaters are used for general chit-chat, as well as in emergencies for coordinating information. I have always been interested in public safety radios and felt that this was a nice hobby to accompany that.

My Equipment

I own 5 different radios, each of which I’ll describe below.

Yaesu VX-7RB

My latest acquisition! I purchased this radio second-hand for around $200 (Mar 2010). It is in decent cosmetic condition, though it does look like it’s seen some use. It functions well for listening. I hope to get some TX time on it soon. It will become my primary handheld rig, with the FT-60R being a backup or jump rig. The battery is much smaller on the VX-7, so I worry that it won’t hold as much of a charge as the FT-60R. The dual-receive is nice, and allows me to be on two frequencies at once, and operate on one or the other.

Yaesu FT-60R

My FT-60R

This is my FT-60R, my main handheld radio. It has capacity for 1000 channels, and operates in both the 2 meter and 70 cm bands. I’ve attached an external magnetic-mount antenna, the MFJ 1722S (Dual Band Mobile MagMount) for use in my apartment. Definately gets better reception than the rubber ducky antenna that comes stock. It is a great little radio that I got a very good deal on at Radio City in Minneapolis.

Yaesu FT-2600M

This is my primary mobile radio when I go on long trips. It has 170 channel capacity, and operates on the 2M band. This was my first major radio purchase in my ham radio career. It also forced me to buy an antenna (MFJ 1724B) and a power supply. The whole kit and kaboodle cost around $200 when all was said and done. I got the radio off eBay, also being my first eBay purchase.

The display of my FT-11R

Yaesu FT-11R

My first radio, purchased in a hurry after I got my call sign and before I had to leave for a week. It is an older 2 meter handheld that started to have issues, prompting me to get the FT-60R. The speaker seemed to stop working periodically, but the rig works fine if it is stationary. Makes it not very useful for a mobile handheld. I now plan to use it for a low-power Echolink node in my apartment, mostly to speak between the FT-60R and Echolink. I have modified the FT-11R with a couple of leads to be powered by an external source. Because I couldn’t find any documentation on it (it’s older than PDFs), I kind of had to guess which pins were external power. Luckily, I guessed right and now it can be powered by an external source.

My PRO-433

RadioShack PRO-433

While not a ham radio, this is just as useful. It is my 1000 channel police scanner. I use it to monitor the local repeaters, as well as listen to local public safety groups. Unfortunately, in my area, everything except the ambulance service has switched over to APCO Project 25, and I’m not ready to shell out $500 for a new scanner to just hear that. I’ll stick with this until maybe the prices come down, or I can get a used one for cheap.