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Which HAM radio to buy? (Read 2678 times)
John Vanos
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Which HAM radio to buy?
11/29/2 at 12:26:31
 
I want to buy a HAM radio and hopefully get my license sometime soon.  I have 2 questions:

1.)  Which HAM would people recommend?  Is there a site that sells used ones?

2.)  Does anyone know if RSO is going to run a radio course again this year?

TIA
John Vanos
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Robert Roaldi
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Re: Which HAM radio to buy?
Reply #1 - 11/29/2 at 16:09:43
 
Since I have a HAM radio for sale, I may not be a trustworthy giver of advice, but here goes anyway.

First, if you go to "www.rac.ca" you will find links to a number of HAM radio stores in Canada that have web sites. Many of them have used equipment. Also, many of the HAM clubs have classified ads sections on their web sites. You should find links to the clubs from the above site too.

To figure out what kind of radio you need, you need to figure some things out. The kinds of radio used in rally generally fall in some simple categories.

They are hand-held units powered by batteries. They are handy, light, and small but are limited in output power, generally 5 watts maximum. There are some rallies where that's plenty of power to reach the repeaters but there are others where it may not be. Prices go from $200-$500 or so depending on the power output and whether they are single band or dual band models.

Then there are mobile radios that are generally placed in a car and powered by the 12 volt system in the car. They can output anywhere from 35 to 60 watts, so they can transmit farther. Prices can go from $250-$800.

You will likely be concerned with 2 amateurs bands to start with. 144-148 MHz, or 2 meter band and 444-448 MHz, or 70 cm band. By and large the performance rallies are held in areas that are covered by 2 metre band repeaters, so you could get away with only buying a 2 metre radio. It is occasionally handy to be able to use the other band for local comounication between two stations at a rally when you don't want to intrude on the repeater traffic.
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