Handheld Vs Basestations

[Ant]

So, what are the main benefits over a basestation compared with a handheld? May seem like a stilly question to some, but genuinely want to know. Will be on 2m and 70cms mostly.

[Mitch]

Handhelds usually have a much more sensitive receiver because they're mostly used at ground level or thereabouts. If you connect one to a base aerial then the receiver can be overloaded easily with nearby frequencies and harmonics. Besides, they don't sound so nice with a small tinny speaker or speaker mic. A base radio is just a mobile rig and power supply in the same box, with better filters too normally. If a handheld worked as a base radio, then base radios would have handheld pcb's inside instead of better spec'd mobile circuit boards.

They can be used of course, I did when I first got my licence, but it was on a crap aerial lol, I still used to get rx issues though (mostly de-sensing), and the radio got too hot to hold after a long over as well. I tried an Alinco DJ-G5 I'd had decades, and several dual band Baofeng's, all as bad as each other tbh. Basically, radios are built differently for different jobs. HT's are great for starting out with given how cheap they are, everybody should have one. By all means use one if you have it, then if you don't take to the hobby you've not spent shed loads on a new ornament.

[ch25]

Most (if not all) of the handhelds can't handle amount of signals coming from base antenna. They are designed to work with negative gain short whips, so receiver circuits are set to be very sensitive.
Base radios and mobile have better input circuits, filtering etc, not mention higher power and better ergonomics.
Chris

[Ant]

Thanks. Gives me something to think about. No idea of budget at the moment.

[Ant]

What are the views on the cheaper options such as Anytone and Wouxun? I don't really want to spend Icom money at the moment.

[ch25]

You get what you pay for.
Cheap crap, overloading under base antenna.
Chris

[Mitch]

Buy second hand to start with, better quality, cheaper price, better resale value.

[paulears]

If you have a decent antenna, it will do a pretty good job on adjacent channels. In my area, there's an old paging system just above 150MHz and while a base station or decent mobile has the ability to deal with close strong signals, many hand-heads don't. With their low short range and less than idea aerial systems, out of band signals don't cause too much grief. Stick them on a decent antenna and signals appear all over the place - appearing on frequencies where they really aren't. These signals can also saturate the front end and make the radio deafer than it really is. Base stations and mobiles usually have spinning dials that mean you can hunt too and fro to find occupied channels. Handhelds at best have up down buttons and they're often very slow. A few have knobs, but again, you can be winding away for ever. Proper base stations have quick ways to speed things up. They have direct access to the features by lots of buttons, hand-held might have these features but they will have those terrible menus systems to access them - a real pain.Hand-helds can be useful used at home, but every single one I have had has been compromised as a base station, even the expensive ones. They work, and if they're going to be on the local repeater with an external mic plugged in, they're not a problem. The cheaper ones, however, perform really, really badly with a decent antenna connected. The squelch opens when nothing is there, weak signals vanish when the local pager perks up, and quite a few of mine buzz like devils with a digital system nearby. It so much depends on what you want.

[lambrettadave]

As a above a downside to handhelds is the display screen size and trying to make out some of the features on the small displays.

And then there's the little buttons....

If you want a handheld and you have an idea of which one you are interested in I would advise you to download the manual for it to help you sum up the Pros and cons over other models.

If you are on a tight budget just buy a handheld or a cheap mobile set and build up from there.

[Ant]

Display screen isn't an issue for me, once I've put the frequency in, I can't imagine what I'll be looking at it for.

So from what I gather, practically for me, it'll be mostly if I want some other features, power and quality of the RF sections.

[lambrettadave]

Handheld or base.....

You could look at say a ft817 or a 818 which would be a good compromise between a base or a handheld

[lambrettadave]

Spotted these

Which are cheap enough

https://www.amateurradiosales.co.uk/handhelds?page=2