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Old 27th Aug 2018, 6:19 pm   #81
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

It is a very "grey" area operating mobile and depends how it is interpreted as to whether or not you get nicked.
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Old 27th Aug 2018, 6:48 pm   #82
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Second hand prices of vhf multi modes would suggest some.resurgent interest
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Old 27th Aug 2018, 7:22 pm   #83
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Saw an IC202 the other day at £250!I used to have one and at that price should have kept it.
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Old 27th Aug 2018, 7:41 pm   #84
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

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Originally Posted by G4YVM David View Post
Second hand prices of vhf multi modes would suggest some.resurgent interest
I wonder if they're actual sale-prices or "floor-bid" prices?

I regularly see 1970s Japanese crystal-controlled/first-generation-synthesized FM radios on offer at radio rallies at crazily-high prices. They don't seem to sell, because I see them re-appearing at different rallies with similarly-crazy prices.

£60 for a 1970s rock-bound 1.5-Watt radio with only 3 or 4 crystal-sets fitted (remember, these don't generally do 'listen-on-repeater-input' unless you buy an extra crystal and assign it to a RX slot), 25KHz channel-spacing and old 1750Hz repeater-tones? You must be joking, when you can get a synthesized Baofeng or Wouxun handheld that does 5 Watts with 2.5KHz increments, and has the CTCSS you need these days to work repeaters, for the same sort of money.
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Old 27th Aug 2018, 7:56 pm   #85
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Correct,you can get a 2M handheld £30 or less,brand new.
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 11:01 am   #86
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

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'...£60 for a 1970s rock-bound 1.5-Watt radio with only 3 or 4 crystal-sets 25KHz channel-spacing and old 1750Hz repeater-tones? You must be joking, when you can get a synthesized Baofeng or Wouxun handheld that does 5 Watts with 2.5KHz increments, and has the CTCSS you need these days to work repeaters, for the same sort of money.'
I use 1970s / 1980s 2M equipment simply because I like doing so, much as I like doing film photography on my 1980s Pentaxes and my 1954 Mess-Baldix 6x6. I like the feel and the touch of my Icom IC260E, my Trio TR7500 (for which I would like a mobile mount, if anyone has one they're willing to part with ) and my Kenpro hand-held KP202 six-channel xtal controlled set, upon which I once had a daily 'sched' biking to work. But I really need a new RX crystal for channel 23.

I bought the Kenpro NOS back around '88 from South Midlands Communications and the other two rigs are off eBay. They didn't cost a great deal. I have a little Moonraker 2M FM hand-held that I bought from Maplins and it's well-made and functional but doesn't exude the magic of using the old stuff.

Perhaps I'm just nostalgic for those carefree days of '81 when I made my first QSO on my Trio TR7200G and a 'borrowed' Liner 2 for SSB? At least I can SEE the components in my old equipment and have a sporting chance of repairing faults and doing mods!
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 11:02 am   #87
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

I have a Beofeng one I bought for £25 brand new from Amazon .
Very rugged heavy dual band .
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 6:17 pm   #88
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

I'm a bit like that with older equipment. Probably because what you see is what you get. I personally can't get on with menus. I like the knobs on the front to have one purpose. I suppose it's also because I used to work on Pye/Storno/Marconi gear when first employed in the radio side of things. They all seem friendly, predictable and familiar. You can also repair them if they go wrong.
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 8:46 pm   #89
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Are you sure that KP202 wasn't new in 1978...Decade error?
<edit> haha you did say NOS. They had it 10 years??!

I remember TR-7500 too. Quite a narrow set IIRC - mobile bracket was very simple contrivance painted in black crackle.

I'm a collector of IC240s for FM and IC202,402,502 for SSB. One IC202 is now on 4m - with squelch added since 4m is hardly busy and I couldn't sit listening to the continual hiss of nobody on 70.2 - as usual.

The worst of the SSB lot is the 70cm IC402, full of SLxxx ICs. I like the others but that one less so.
I don't like the sound of the RX... too much gain/BW + hiss.

I also have an IC215. That has some circuit commonality with IC22A and IC240 in IF/Squelch stages. The RF front End is no-where near the other two.

The synth FM rigs have a 12.5k shift and CTCSS added as required. The crystals of the '215 have been pulled to suit the local channels in use and CTCSS added the same.

Oh and there is a Yaesu FT202 with the same treatment. They all have more soul somehow..

It would be great to give them more use.

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Old 28th Aug 2018, 9:46 pm   #90
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The first 2m radio I bought was an old used AOR 240 1.5W handheld. This was an alternative to the classic Icom IC 2E and it used thumbwheels for frequency selection. It was fully synthesised and had a repeater shift and toneburst. I think I bought it (for about £60) around the time I was first licensed in the 1980s but it was already quite old by then. I think the AOR 240 dates back to the late 1970s.

Like most of my radios, I've still got it here 'somewhere' but it hasn't been used for decades. I should also still have the charger, the leather case and the original brochure and schematics somewhere. It was a very good handheld and I think it covered 140-150MHz in 5kHz steps but I can't remember now. I used to bring it with me on weekends when out on my dirt/enduro bike as a means to call for help (via the local repeater) if I broke down or got injured half way up a hill or along some remote trail somewhere. It's an old friend in this respect as it went everywhere I did on that bike
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 9:56 pm   #91
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

First rig I got was a Jim Fish G4MH tx and modulator, tuning high to low for any calls.
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 10:09 pm   #92
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Quote:
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Are you sure that KP202 wasn't new in 1978...Decade error?
<edit> haha you did say NOS. They had it 10 years??!
They certainly did! A couple of other amateurs at work snapped them up too. They came with only three channels fitted and I bought the other xtals from Gollege or somesuch. No charging stand or batteries though, although I remember enquiring at the time.

I have an old 156MHz hand-held 'fish-phone' in my locker that is architecturally similar to the KP202 but with a different case: black and chrome grille.

I've had a couple of IC240s: first one was a lovely set but I eventually sold it. The second set had a pig of a fault on it and I spent hours working out when I transmitted on one channel, it actually went out on another one! But it only did this occasionally. I Always fancied a 24G with the decade switches.
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 10:31 pm   #93
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Good memories here.
I knew someone with a KP202 but never had one myself. Good that my memory was not duff. I bought my FT202 the same with 3ch fitted - add 3 of your choice.

Local shop had the early import one in 2nd hand pile, 145.0, 145.32, 145.50 fitted (I think - memory help!).
I chose it since the loal natter channel was 145.0 - rest were just a bonus.

That one I no longer have. My present ex Bay-of-Evil one is later, 145.50, 145.525, 145.55MHz fitted as standard.
I have added some R6 xtals pulled down to R5 +1/2 which interests me. The 455k filter was no good due to a strong local box
12.5k away from what I want to monitor. I fitted the next narrower 455k filter and that is solved.

Many of these rigs also came out in PMR formats - good to find - to use as is or else for spares.

Throwing in a marker for Standard made 2m stuff - before they were got by Philips and then by Yaesu maybe - or the other way around? I have a C7800 70cm FM, there was also the C78 and maybe C58 - all synthesised.

What was the Standard made 10ch Xtal rig of the '70s about 10W - very small front panel size - about 2x the average handheld? Arrgh! With edgewise S meter.

The fun of it was getting the crystals, fitting them, tweaking them and then finding out who were the new stations to work on that frequency.

Also had <edit - and I still have> a TR2200GX with a VFO30G since the xtals were a drain on the bank balance. Good for high to low stations. On CB such VFOs were later called "sliders" and then MC145106 synthesiser add ons happened!

Last edited by Jon_G4MDC; 28th Aug 2018 at 10:42 pm.
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 10:43 pm   #94
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Went out mobile this evening and heard several S channels in use, also a few callers on ssb. Maybe there is new life on 2m. It might be worth supporting it.
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Old 28th Aug 2018, 11:04 pm   #95
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Very good news there David 'YVM.
I live in hope too. My main problem with joining in with the activity I hear is close to this report from Austria..

https://translate.google.com/transla...%2F&edit-text=

It is hard to put an opinion on this in modern times - when opinions are only allowed if they fit in with the mainstream. Mine are borderline or else outside.
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Old 29th Aug 2018, 10:04 am   #96
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

I must admit I have heard a little more activity on FM this year, there have been a few holiday makers on mobiles or hand held's. One chap was up at Hardy's monument with a very long antenna, 7/8 over 7/8 I think but he was working into the north, I heard him work a lot of stations I couldn't hear with a 7 element beam, I did work the Hastings stations he was working though.

Most of the day though 2m is dead here, I have just listened round, all I heard was one repeater callsign. There are flurries of activity in the mornings and evenings, probably people going to or coming home from works and there are a few nets in the evenings but most of the day its completely dead.

On November 1st last year there was a terrific lift, I worked stations in Belgium and Holland at S9 but very little local activity.

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Old 29th Aug 2018, 12:06 pm   #97
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon_G4MDC View Post
What was the Standard made 10ch Xtal rig of the '70s about 10W - very small front panel size - about 2x the average handheld? Arrgh! With edgewise S meter.
Was it this one Jon? A Standard C8600 - 12Ch 10W crystal controlled. I still have one sat monitoring S20. Pretty radio but somewhat deaf compared to modern rigs though
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Old 29th Aug 2018, 4:41 pm   #98
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Hello John, no it wasn't that one although I know those.
I was given the carcass of one for parts. It still had most of the crystals which
was the best part of the windfall.

The one I was thinking of was smaller - with an almost square front panel.
I decided to look it up. It was a C828-M. Quite a novel set with a 22MHz first IF and only a single crystal per channel.

Looks like they mixed modulated 22MHz or 21.4MHz oscillators to produce the TX drive.

If I see one I am going to have to buy it!

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Old 30th Aug 2018, 8:53 am   #99
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It must be only in UK that 2m is dead. When I listen to foreign WebSdr sites I hear plenty of activity. Not as much as HF but enough to chat with somebody if you have nothing to do. If I ever buy a 2m handheld it will be for when I go on holiday.
 
Old 30th Aug 2018, 9:05 am   #100
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Default Re: Users of 2 metre Amateur Band?

Lincoln Short Wave Club should be on tonight and I will try my handheld VT65 and see if I can get a FIRST contact!
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