Posted: 11/23/2009 4:33:29 PM EDT
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Got my tech back in the summer, and the extent of my Ham experience is me working with a handheld Kenwood unit. Looking at some of the units, some of them are mighty fancy. I realize that there is no one antenna that can do everything...does that apply to radios also?
What are examples of good SHTF rigs? Is an amplifier necessary? In addition to a base unit, do I want a mobile and a handheld? Or just one or the other? I'll have more questions I'm sure...but this is it for now. |
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Are you interested in the HF bands also? Or just VHF/UHF? Second, whats your budget? I like my Icom IC-706mk2g. It does HF/VHF/UHF all modes 100watts on HF. I consider it my SHTF rig. An amplifier isn't necessary, but buy a HF rig with 100 watts output, no QRP rig.
I think a mobile rig for the mobile. A HT just won't cut it in the vehicle. It can be done and I've done it, but it's a PITA. Use the HT for walkin' around. There are dual,tri and quad band antennas, but the most common is a dual band 2m/440mhz for the mobile. Base antennas come in all different configurations. I use a dual band antenna for VHF/UHF and separate antennas for HF at the base. Tell us what bands you are interested in and your budget and we will help you spend your $$$. 
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I'll have more questions I'm sure...but this is it for now. here is some bedtime reading for you, which covers all of the questions you posted above and a lot more as well: http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=22&t=604477 ar-jedi |
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Quoted: Are you interested in the HF bands also? Or just VHF/UHF? Second, whats your budget? I like my Icom IC-706mk2g. It does HF/VHF/UHF all modes 100watts on HF. I consider it my SHTF rig. An amplifier isn't necessary, but buy a HF rig with 100 watts output, no QRP rig. I think a mobile rig for the mobile. A HT just won't cut it in the vehicle. It can be done and I've done it, but it's a PITA. Use the HT for walkin' around. There are dual,tri and quad band antennas, but the most common is a dual band 2m/440mhz for the mobile. Base antennas come in all different configurations. I use a dual band antenna for VHF/UHF and separate antennas for HF at the base. Tell us what bands you are interested in and your budget and we will help you spend your $$$. Pretty much what he said. Budget plays a huge part in how you want to set things up. I have the multifunctional FT-857D (about $750) with an ATAS0-120A (about $350) mobile setup... My ATAS-120A (auto-tuning, self-adjusting screwdriver, ¼ wave antenna) Tx's 40m-70cm (7/14/21/28/50/144/430Mhz). Only drawback is that the antenna only works with certain Yaesu models, such as the FT-857D, 897D. My FT-857D can: Receive: 0.1-56 MHz, 76-108 MHz, 118-164 MHz, 420-470 MHz Transmit: 160 - 6m (includes 60m), 2m, 70cm. Rig Power: 100w on 160-6m; 50w on 2m; and 20w on 70cm. Info: Does CW, SSB, LSB, USB, AM, FM, Digital, Packet, RTTY, PSK-31, WeatherFax Monitoring, and lots of other things that this rig can do (such as split VFO, ARTS, beacon txt, CW training, connect to your PC, etc). It's very multifunctional. I'm currently working on a project to turn this setup into a SHTF EmComm box; however, I ran into a little snafu a few weeks ago. As soon as I have all the parts and everything is smoothed out, I'll redo the thread and post pics again. ETA: I just realized ar-jedi posted before I did. Read that thread! I got a lot of very useful information from it. From time to time, I still reread it to see if I had missed anything or use it as a reference. |
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Last year I decided to get serious about emergency comms. An ice storm in 1998 left my family without power for over 21 days, and natural gas and city water were out for nearly two weeks-I didn't have cell service during much of that time either. The 2008 ice storm knocked out power for just over a week, with no cell service for a little over a day. For obvious reasons, not being able to communicate with the outside world was unacceptable.
I started off buying a couple of CBs, then a bunch of blister pack FRS/GMRS radios. Their performance was less than stellar (to say the least), so I ended up getting my GMRS license and buying a pair of Icom F40GT UHF handhelds. The F40s were a lot better, and very easy for my wife and daughter to use. That said, without a local GMRS repeater nearby their utility was still pretty limited. This is what finally drove me to get off of my rear and learn about HAM radios. The first thing I learned was that Morse code was no longer a requirement for licensing, and that there were several active radio clubs in my area to help get me started. Long story short, I got my tech and general ticket earlier this year, and what began purely as a utilitarian desire for reliable emergency communications has blossomed into a very fun hobby 
I got by for many months with a very basic Icom IC-V8 VHF 2m HT. The IC-V8 has an aluminum chassis, is built like a tank, and can run on AA batteries if needed. Later I upgraded to an IC-V82 HT for D-STAR capability, and just recently I purchased an IC-7000 to use as a base rig. The 7000 is an HF/VHF/UHF "shack in a box" type of rig. It's very similar to the IC-706MkIIG that many members of this forum run, just with a few more doodads on-board like IF DSP. My "shack" and antenna setup is pretty lowbrow compared to most of the guys here, but so far it suits me fine: 
Not shown, second antenna connector hooked up to a Diamond D130J discone antenna for 6m transmit and wideband receive attached to an Icom tuner. "Stealth" antenna setup, a Diamond X50A dual bander in the attic: 
Newly completed portable EMCOMM dual band antenna: 
The antenna is an Arrow dual band J-pole attached to a fiberglass entension pole and PA speaker stand. I cut the handle off of a paint roller to use as a quick release. The next step for me is to learn about packet-I'm greatly looking forward to jumping into that 
73 de CJan 
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Ameritron AL811A amp. Necessary? Absolutely not!!! Icom IC-718. HF rig, 100 w. Goes up to 30 mhz. I had a FT-897 before that had 6m, 2m, 70 cm in addition to the HF bands. I don't miss 6 meters, nor do I miss 70 cm. Set back behind the rest of the gear (on the right side of the photo) you can see my 2 meter rig, a Yaesu FT-2800M. Still rearranging the furniture after installing the amp, the big box in the back. Power meter on top of the amp. This is a Daiwa CN-801HP. Reads power up to 2 kw, and SWR. VERY nice. Necessary? No, there is a fair SWR meter in the Icom 718. But it IS needed for running the amp, during tuning. On top of the HF rig, the 718, is the Samlex SEC-1235M. I got that as much for the meters as anything else. Has voltage and amperage meters. But it has 30 A continuous, 35 amp surge rating. The Samlex SEC-1223 (I have one of those, too) would do as well (23 A cont. / 25 A surge). The power supply powers the IC-718, the meter light, and the West Mountain CLR-SPKR, a nice powered speaker with DSP (Digital Sound Processing... a noise reduction thing). Necessary? No, but really nice! I can hear and understand things normally not received. Amazing! I had the FT-897, and though it had 2 meters, too, I often wished I could monitor 2m while working HF. I prefer two radios rather than trying to make one do it all. Not seen, I had the LDG IT-100 tuner in the station, but replaced it with an AT-1000 (higher power, for the amp). But the AT-1000 was DOA. I have shipped it to LDG for repair. The IT-100 can be used with the radio only, but only rated 125 watts, not enough to use with the amp, which is 800 watts. Basics? HF radio, power supply, tuner. There is a similar tuner for about the same price, and ratings, the LDG Z100 Pro. It differs in that is is a little larger and can be run from separate batteries (installed internally) rather than drawing from the radio. This might be good for portable rigs. But this tuner uses such little power it is a non issue to me. Whereas the IT-100 is for the Icoms only, the Z100 Pro can work with Icoms and other brands, so might be a better choice if you might be changing rigs later. As I said, I HAD a Yaesu FT-897, supposedly a better radio, but it was so difficult to operate it just wasn't fun. User friendly, it wasn't. The infamous Yaesu menu system whipped my butt. I have FUN with the Icom 718. And the two radios sound just alike on the air, I am told by others who listened as I swapped coax back and forth. Both are 100 w. I'll take the Icom 718 over the FT-897 any day, thank you. Antenna, a multiband dipole that gets me plenty of QSL cards and good signal reports. Has elements for 75, 40, and 20 meters. The tuner easily tunes up for 17, 15, 12, and 10 meters. Oh, there are TWO clocks on the wall... one local time, the other UTC aka Greenwich Mean Time. That's for the log. Everyone uses UTC / GMT Date and Time for QSL's. Two cheap wall clocks, and I have label maker stickers in the middle saying which is which. |
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just remember that as a tech you have VERY LIMITED HF access(most, if not all is CW only). if you want that you need to upgrade to general. Having a very polite net control tell me in an email, in answer to, "I'm studying for a ham license, how do I join your net?" replied, "When I ask for checkins, just say your call. I'll, or another net control will acknowledge your call. But remember, you have to have at least a General to use phone on the HF bands." So, I said to myself, "Self, you need to study a little harder!" And I set my goal a little higher and made it. |
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just remember that as a tech you have VERY LIMITED HF access(most, if not all is CW only). if you want that you need to upgrade to general. Having a very polite net control tell me in an email, in answer to, "I'm studying for a ham license, how do I join your net?" replied, "When I ask for checkins, just say your call. I'll, or another net control will acknowledge your call. But remember, you have to have at least a General to use phone on the HF bands." So, I said to myself, "Self, you need to study a little harder!" And I set my goal a little higher and made it. IDK how i missed it but we, as techs, do have a small section of 10m. 28.0-28.3 on HF. other than that its CW in an even smaller section. |
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IDK how i missed it but we, as techs, do have a small section of 10m. 28.0-28.3 on HF. other than that its CW in an even smaller section. Don't let yourself get excited over that tiny slice of phone privilege. 10 meters has not been opening up much lately. 15 minutes here, 5 minutes there. And nothing on 6 meters. Dead. 12 meters is no better. Rumor has it that when we get some sunspot activity going that will change, but for now, if you want to use phone for HF you need the General ticket. I happened to slip by and passed the Extra, too, barely, but I passed. But truthfully, I would have been just as happy if I had only made General. That really gives you the best bang for the buck. And if you can pass the Extra later on, good for you! But the General is not much more difficult than the Tech, and with the online study guides and practice tests, you should be working on it. So, give it a shot. |
This will really do well for you for a station:
Bottom to top, the Icom IC-718, a popular rig. The 718 covers the HF ham bands up to 30 mhz (10 meters). You can pick these up used, very good condition, around $400-$450. On top of that is the Samlex SEC-1235M power supply. I got this as a little overkill, and liked the meters. It is rated 30 A continuous / 35 A surge. But the same size, the Samlex SEC-1223 is 23 A cont/25 A surge, and will work as well for you. Very popular, ar-jedi approved, and used by many in my club, too. On top of that is the LDG IT-100, which replaced the AT-7000. It is made especially for Icoms, but the LDG Z100-Pro will work as well, is about the same size, and will work with other brand of radios as well. Specs are the same. These three items are the necessities... transceiver, power supply, antenna tuner. Some will say you can get by without the tuner, and while that may be true with a well trimmed antenna, in the real world things are often less than ideal. You need the tuner. Topping it off, the West Mountain Radio CLR-SPKR. This is an amplified speaker with its own 2w amp, and a DSP noise reduction chip. This thing REALLY works well, making otherwise unlistenable signals clean enough for good copy. While I will call it optional, this (or GAP Hear It speaker) should be at the top of your Christmas list. All of this is running through the West Mountain Rigrunner #4008 (8 outlets) power strip. Everything is equipped with Anderson PowerPole connectors and plug right in easily. The strip is fused with blade type automotive fuses, easy to get anywhere, any time. I'm down to just 3 open sockets, and beginning to wish I had the #4012 (12 outlet) model. I am darned glad I didn't buy the #4005 (5 outlets). And since you won't be transmitting on two radios at once, you could add a 2 meter rig to monitor while using your HF rig, and vice versa. Either the Samlex 1223 or 1235 will have enough reserve to do this since a radio on receive is usually under 1/2 amp. or this 
Yaesu FT-897 (the -897D is the current model), with FP-30 power supply screwed in the bottom. You can't see it, but it's there. The FT-897 covers the HF ham bands, 6 meters, 2 meters, and 70 cm. And on the side of the radio is the LDG AT-897 automatic tuner. That makes for one compact, easy to carry rig. Stacked on top, optional but very nice, is the LDG FT-Meter. Really makes it easier to read power, swr, signal strength, etc. That would also make for a nice, portable, minimalist system. You would need some batteries and a mobile power cable to plug in, bypassing the built in power supply. A rig like this running 100 w SSB phone will run quite well from the RBC-6 batteries. Ebay, Gruber Power Services, find their store. A Battery Tender Jr plugged in at all times when not using them will keep them up and free from sulfation. 
That's the Battery Tender 800, but the Junior is probably a better choice. I have the 800 screwed to the wall just out of the picture in the photo with the big amp, charging my 2 sets of RBC-6 batteries (also ar-jedi approved). The Junior is 750 ma, so it is really very close to the 800, which is really a "water resistant" outdoor model. The Junior is a "wall wart" type, and cost less. They were out of Juniors the day I bought the 800, or I would have gotten that one. Well, there are two minimalist setups. I sold the FT-897. The menu system just got to me. The Icom is a lot more fun to use. |
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I'll take the Icom 718 over the FT-897 any day, thank you. man the battle stations! go to DEFCON 1 now! lock and load!
ar-jedi On ARRL Field Day I left for a couple of hours. I handed the Icom IC-718's mic to two other hams, one an experienced General, the other a new Tech, simply saying, "You guys have fun." No manual, no verbal instructions. I came back two hours later to a full page filled out on the log, and smiling faces. They had no difficulty. The experienced General liked it so much he went home that night and ordered a 718. I could not, would not have done that with the Yaesu FT-897. It is just too difficult. The controls make no sense whatsoever, as if it were patched together by a committee that the members did not know each other, and didn't like each other anyway. The ability to work 6 meters is not much, as in a year of being a ham and 3 years before of listening, I have never heard anyone on 6 meters. Not once. And for the difference in price between the 718 and FT-897, you can easily afford a separate 2 meter rig. The reason I could never get PSK31 to work with the FT-897 is because I was trying to use the digital mode settings in the radio. The Icom 718 has none of that, and PSK31 setup is easy. I just don't "get" the FT-897, sorry. If I were going to spend more money on a radio, I'd go for one of the Icom models, such as the IC-706 MkIIG, IC-7000 (mentioned by another poster) or IC-746. –––– An aside... when I sold the FT-897 I immediately purchased a second Icom IC-718 from a guy who had won it at last years local hamfest. He had run it a half hour just to check it out, put it back in the box. He had a desk full of radios already, just didn't need it. I got a good price on what was essentially a new 718. I had sold the FT-897 (and included the LDG-897 tuner and Yaesu FP-30 power supply) online in 15 minutes, money in my Paypal acct. That covered the cost of the 2nd 718, and there was enough left over to buy another LDG IT-100 tuner, and a Samlex SEC-1223 power supply. And a few bucks left over. I am now in the middle of installing those three items in a Pelican 1550 case. This will be my HF portable, emergency, SHTF rig. There will be enough room, I think, to toss in a Carolina Windom or some other simple antenna, and roll of coax, if I leave out the manuals. Otherwise, I'll toss the antenna stuff in a gym bag with the RBC-6 batteries. When done with all this I'll post pictures. |
Early setup:
Kenwood TS-520s, B&W antenna tuner, MFJ RTTY/packet modem, AEA PK-12 TNC, RS scanner and power supply, Drake TR-22c, Icom handheld, Mossberg 500 and 22 rifle Then it turned into this: 
Traded the 520s for a TS-940s, added an MFJ QRP CW rig and an RS 2m rig Then.... 
Kenwood TS-940s fed by a condenser mic going into a behringer tube preamp into a compressor into a (switched out) 1/3 octave EQ into an MFJ isolation transformer. Yaesu FT-897. Yaesu 7800 and RS HTX-212. Winkeyer USB and some guns 
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