Dual band radio

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stanwendy
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Dual band radio

Post by stanwendy »

Hi everyone , Its been a while since I've last logged on, Anyway back last year I done my foundation licence and have since bought 2 kenwood 570d , One for home and one for the house , I also bought a anytone 878plus and have found myself more on tg 2 metre band, I do a lot of high ground walking and the handset has been amazing , I've just bought a sqbm500p antenna for the house and it's great, I'm now going to buy another for the car and portable use, Just wanted to ask for some suggestions on what dual band radio to purchase, Ideally it will be used st home, In the car and portable use would be an advantage , I'm far from loaded but I have a big collection of stuff from my other hobby which I will be slowly selling to raise funds , I dont mind if its £100 or £1000 as I would rather buy once than upgrade at a later date , I may even consider buying two radios if tha may be the best option for my usages, Thanks very much, Any advice would be much appreciated. Mw7cmj.
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Auldgeek
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Re: Dual band radio

Post by Auldgeek »

Seeing that you are happy with your Anytone 878 plus, the obvious purchase would be the mobile version of this radio, the AT-D578UV Plus. Both radios share the same codeplug and operation is almost identical. I have the older versions of each (non-plus) and they work well. My only criticism of the display on the mobile is the size. It's essentially the same display as the portable and the new plus version is no different. It does make it a bit difficult to view the very busy screen!
Anyhoo, using the mobile radio, you would obviously benefit from having higher power. Purchase a spare mobile bracket and powwer lead for the car and stick it in there when mobile. Keep your 878 for portable use.
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stanwendy
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Re: Dual band radio

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Thanks for the advice. I have been looking at the yaesu 817 / 818nd for portable use and also mobile while on high ground, I'm also looking to take an extra battery similar to the golf trolleys , I have a place near me which could supply me with the right battery and size for my usage, As I'm new and only have hf sets and my 878 handset which is great for portable I still need one for the house , mobile and would make sense if I can use portable , The 817 / 818 radios seem ideal but will check the one above out to, Thanks for the advice,
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Auldgeek
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Re: Dual band radio

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stanwendy wrote: 06 May 2022, 09:14 Thanks for the advice. I have been looking at the yaesu 817 / 818nd for portable use and also mobile while on high ground, I'm also looking to take an extra battery similar to the golf trolleys , I have a place near me which could supply me with the right battery and size for my usage, As I'm new and only have hf sets and my 878 handset which is great for portable I still need one for the house , mobile and would make sense if I can use portable , The 817 / 818 radios seem ideal but will check the one above out to, Thanks for the advice,
The 817/818 radios are not dual banders. That's the title of the thread. That's why I mentioned the Anytone. If it's a portable multi band, Multimode radio you are after, then you have a very limited choice. There's your Yaesu radios and there's also the Icom IC-705. For HF or HF/6m, there's a couple of Xiegu transceivers.

What bands do you actually want to operate on?
Last edited by Auldgeek on 07 May 2022, 08:03, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Dual band radio

Post by Alan Pilot »

Thought the 817/818 did hf/vhf/uhf ??? got me thinking.
I have the ft-897 witch does it all and takes internal battery packs.
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Auldgeek
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Re: Dual band radio

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Alan Pilot wrote: 07 May 2022, 06:21 Thought the 817/818 did hf/vhf/uhf ??? got me thinking.
I have the ft-897 witch does it all and takes internal battery packs.
Yip, they do. I had forgotten about the 897. Quite right. Same bands as the 817/818.
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stanwendy
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Re: Dual band radio

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Hi bud yes sorry about that ,They not dual banders, I was actually after a dual bander or if it covers more then all the better , Some do , I've got two kenwood 570dg radios for hf when mobile , I bought the one for the house as i was originally interested in hf only, The radio was so easy to use I thought I'd buy another for the car rather than buying something different, However I find myself doing more portable than anything else , I seem to favour portable more as I'm out with the dogs up the mountains near me quite a lot , I will leave an antenna up the mountain for when I go up in the future, Maybe I should really think hard about my direction, Been making lots of contact on 2 metres and its appealing at moment.
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Re: Dual band radio

Post by Auldgeek »

stanwendy wrote: 08 May 2022, 18:18 Hi bud yes sorry about that ,They not dual banders, I was actually after a dual bander or if it covers more then all the better , Some do , I've got two kenwood 570dg radios for hf when mobile , I bought the one for the house as i was originally interested in hf only, The radio was so easy to use I thought I'd buy another for the car rather than buying something different, However I find myself doing more portable than anything else , I seem to favour portable more as I'm out with the dogs up the mountains near me quite a lot , I will leave an antenna up the mountain for when I go up in the future, Maybe I should really think hard about my direction, Been making lots of contact on 2 metres and its appealing at moment.
In that case, check out the Icom IC-705. While more expensive than an FT-818, it's based on SDR architecture, covers all of HF, 6m, 2m & 70cms. Nice big & bright screen, bandscope & will run on battery or by direct DC connection. Not cheap, but a superb radio.
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stanwendy
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Re: Dual band radio

Post by stanwendy »

Funny enough it's one on my list, It seems a good radio ,
stanwendy
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Re: Dual band radio

Post by stanwendy »

Hi lads I've just picked u a yaesu 817nd from local, Just been speaking through the local repeater and all seems good, Quite surprised how well it picked up through the extra rubber duck that came with it, It already had the local repeater programmed in and there was a net going on, Had good results on on both signal and mod, Hopefully tomorrow I'll check to see what's programmed in and possibly add other frequencies that I may need, Had the radio but the casings a little scratched , Front and back is all good , Had power supply , Charger, PC lead , Two rubber antennas also the AA battery tray and a carry case, I've just put it on charge and its counting down the remaining charge time left. All seems good and I think you could drive a car over this unit , its quite strong . Got the manual but it seems straight forward , Hopefully,
Anyhow I picked this up to try for my needs, No doubt I'll be spending plenty of more funds in time to come, But if for any reason it's not the direction I'm heading for then I've not lost a lot of money, Quite sure I could shift this on without losing to much, I've also got a yuasa 12v battery and shoulder bag which I bought for my other hobby, First job will be sorting the leads from power supply and external battery for quik connection for when portable. Busy day today and my mate is coming down for a couple of jugs and a game of snooker, Got to run the Mrs about tomorrow, That's the probs when you buy something, But hey lets keep her happy, I'm sure on my next four days off I'll be spending some time on the 817, Hopefully,
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Re: Dual band radio

Post by 14CS06 »

Hello

FT-817 Simplified Operating Guide

@+
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stanwendy
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Re: Dual band radio

Post by stanwendy »

Thanks very much for the link, I'll print that out, Thanks again.
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