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Equipment

The newest acquisition is the FT-857D. With this, I have added 2m SSB as well as 6m to my capabilities, and HF monitoring also. Using loop antennas for the horizontal portions of 6m and 2m. See the station pictures page for details.

My primary radio is now the FT-8800. I now have 3 of them-one in each mobile, and one for home usage. So far it has been a very good radio. It is a dual band (2m/440) radio with dual watch, so I can monitor/talk on 2 repeaters and switch between them with the push of one button. Although difficult to program (I basically had to program it twice!) it has been a good radio with solid signal reports thus far. It has more memories than I will ever need! To improve on programming, I bought a cable to program it with as well as software. I can now add frequencies to it in seconds. The same cable works on my FT-7800, so with the purchase of the program for it, I can now program both of them reliably. I use the radio at home to crossband to a VX-2 in the yard while I'm out there working. This radio is excellent and I would highly recommend it.

My "New" dual band HT is the Yaesu FT-60R. So far this has been an excellent radio with good signal reports from all I have talked to on it. This replaced the old Alinco DJ-580T that I had before. I was looking at getting a smaller, easier to carry and more compact radio. This radio is compact and works great! Like the FT-8800, it has more memories in it than I will ever need. This is a solid radio, and except during the week when I take the 202 to work, this is the radio I usually carry around. I may eventually look into a programming cable for this radio, but programming it isn't too hard, and I'm only adding in a repeater at a time now, not a laundry list like I did when I first got it. So far it continues to be my workhorse radio, I take it everywhere except into the yard, I usually take the VX-2 when I'm around here as it doesn't take more than 100mW or so to get into the crossband when I'm using it.

The original radio I had when I started Ham Radio was a Radio Shack HTX-202. I have had the radio for 2 months now. I kicked myself when I sold my first one (being as it was my first ever radio I used) and was glad to be able to find another one. I won't be making the mistake of selling it again! This radio has been really solid. I have 2 battery packs for it now that take AA cells so when the cells begin to degrade I can swap them out and basically re-create new battery packs for the radio. I will also be using this radio for APRS when I'm in the car or out at an event. UPDATE: I now have 2 of these radios, and have dedicated the second one to APRS so I don't have to constantly take that setup apart and put it back together again.

The HTX-404 is also an excellent crossband radio. I use it in situations where I'm afraid I'll break the VX-2 and I'm out in the yard doing stuff. It works really well also, though the dummy load err antenna it came with was less than desirable. So I replaced it with an aftermarket one to improve it a bit.

Although I'm no longer on packet, I still have the FT-11r. This is a excellent little radio. I found out though that when I removed it from packet service that the battery wasn't really charging well anymore-not surprising considering I've had this radio since 1994! I found a replacement, larger capacity battery for it on the internet for $45, so it is now back in service. It is a good radio that I alternate with the other 202 in being taken to work. The only drawback is that if you set it on a table and try to use a speaker mike with it, it tends to fall over, unlike the brick of the 202....

The newest radio addition is the Yaesu VX-2. I tell you what, for such a small package, what an amazing radio! I use the wideband receiver in it more than anything else, (I hook it to an external antenna) and its just amazing what you can pick up. Excellent little crossband repeat radio also. It has also come in handy as a simplex radio-it will work for a few miles if need be. Excellent little radio so far.

The weather station I use. It pipes data to FindU.

Although with all of this equipment I don't use all of it every day, I like the fact I have a few radios to choose from. It also comes in handy now that my wife is licensed, as she can carry a HT also if need be. They all don't get everyday use, but I do my best to make sure they all get used as much as possible. The Radio Shack radios I mostly got for the nostalgia, but get used also as they are very solid. I get the most usage out of the 8800's and the FT-60, though. My wife likes the 60 also, so it may be in the near future that another gets acquired, as we seem to want to both want to carry that one.