I told you guys yesterday that I purchased a new handheld transceiver to replace the 10 year old Icom T7H dual band my wife bought me for Christmas back in the day. I love the Icom but it is certainly showing it's age.
The radio I picked up is the Quad-Band Yaesu VX-8DR Submersible VHF/UHF Amateur Radio Transceiver
The first thing I really like about the Yaseu is the form factor, it is small...but it isn't too small if that makes any sense. The radio feels well built although the move by radio manufacturers away from mil-spec stuff makes it seem like it would be less tolerant of abuse than my old Icom T7H. This radio is SUBMERSIBLE though! I personally am not going to test it that with mine :)
The second thing I really, really like about the Yaesu is that it is QUAD BAND! For the money you just aren't going to find another quad band radio like this. If you are a technician this radio is a perfect starter radio because it covers 6 meters/2 meters/1.25 meter aka 222 band/ and the 440cm band.
The radio has many, many features but some of the ones I like are:
- Memory stations may be displayed with 16 digit Alpha-numeric tags
- CW Training
- Emergency Automatic ID system
- Emergency Strobe/Beep and Busy strobe LED functions
The alpha-numeric tagging is great. You can label both memory banks AND individual memory slots. I personally have 1 bank for each band and than one unified bank for NE Ohio. I have also programmed all the repeaters in memory with their assigned call signs, so those appear on the display along with the frequency and I can always tell what repeater system I am on.
Below are the frequency ranges for receive and transmit:
Frequency
Range Receive: |
0.5 - 1.8 MHz |
1.8 - 30 MHz |
30 - 78 MHz |
76 - 108 MHz |
108 - 137 MHz |
137 - 174 MHz |
174 - 222 MHz |
222 - 225 MHz |
225 - 420 MHz |
420 - 470 MHz |
470 - 800 MHz |
800 - 999 MHz |
Frequency Range Transmit: |
50 - 54 MHz |
144 - 148 MHz |
222 - 225 MHz |
430 - 440 MHz |
My biggest gripe with the radio is the 7.4 volt 1100 mAh is OKAY but I bought the upgraded 7.4 volt 1800 mAh and that is WAY better. The latter battery lasts twice as long and in my opinion is the battery Yaesu should INCLUDE with the radio not make you purchase separately.
The other gripe I have is the programming software is a necessity in my opinion because it makes the alpha-tagging thing way easier and it is not included with the radio. To be fair, most radios do not come with programming software but Yaesu could really stand out here if they bucked the trend because let's face it...this ain't exactly a cheap radio.
Those are really the biggest gripes I have with the radio. So to sum it up, I wholeheartedly can recommend the Quad-Band Yaesu VX-8DR Submersible VHF/UHF Amateur Radio Transceiver
That is all....
Thanks for the review. My wife and I both just completed our technician exam and Im I planning to get two HT 's and a mobile. The consensus on radio reference is get the General license and operate HF, although there are few options in HT and mobile, if any.
ReplyDeleteAWB
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of HF options for mobile like the Icom IC-7000 or the Yaesu FT-857ND.
There are no HF HT's they would be utterly useless as the antenna's are substandard for that kind of frequency transmission. They don't make HF HT's for that reason. The best you will do in HT's is 6 meters and that will be FM only, no SSB.
Flea
We run mobile HF with a Yaesu FT 857d. there is no 857ND by the way... We can work stations all over the country and all over the world as a matter of fact. The radio also has 2 meter and 70 centimeter capabilities for local repeaters, etc.. Just a thought for a powerful mobile platform.
ReplyDelete73,
www.AB9NN.com/store