Subj : Handheld Tranceivers
To   : Daryl Stout
From : Andy Ball
Date : Mon Dec 04 2000 03:09 pm

Hello Daryl!

  DS> Check with your local Ham Radio club to determine
    > repeater coverage in your area. Obviously, no point
    > getting a rig with a band that isn't covered in your
    > area. :)

I've heard two local repeaters, on 2m and 70cm.  Neither seems to have very 
much traffic.

  DS> ...a running joke is that Icom stands for I) C)an
    > O)nly M)onitor...and that "came true" awhile back...
    > an old Icom HT I had would still receive, but would
    > no longer transmit!!

Do you still have that one?  It might be something as simple as a dry joint.  I 
suppose it could also be down to the battery (assuming TX power requirement is 
higher than RX). What happened when you tried to transmit?

  DS> It's also good to switch between NOAA Weather Radio,
    > and a SKYWARN Net in the area, if it's activated.

I don't know anything about SKYWARN, what can you tell me about it?

  DS> The only bad thing with the 100 and 102 is that it had
    > an pixel display (no ANSI)...

Are ANSI and colour commonly used in packet radio?

  DS> The bad thing about Ni-Cads is that they develop a
    > "battery memory affect".

I've been using NiMH AA rechargeables lately, which are supposed to be free of 
that problem. I deep cycle them every now and again though.

  DS> I live in a neighborhood that's notorious for
    > lightning strikes during thunderstorms, so I just have
    > a magmount antenna in the shack.

We get a lot of storms, especially during the summer.  We don't have a lot of 
room, and I don't have a lot of cash, so I will probably have to think quite 
hard about suitable antennae.

  DS> I run a Mirage HT amp for VHF Packet (to provide
    > enough "oomph" <g> to get into the simplex packet
    > frequency), but the HT remains on low power (1 watt).

I imagine you'd want the HT on low power if you were feeding it into a power 
amplifier!  <g>

  DS> However, some nights, I can get in without the amp...
    > and the max output power I have is 5-7 watts.

I imagine the power amp helps compensate for the mag-mount antenna.  If you had 
a directional antenna, do you think you could get away without the power amp?

73,
  - Andy.

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