2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions - VHFUHF Forum at eHam.net

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eHam.net Forum : VHFUHF : 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions

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2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by DWEISS on May 18, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Can anyone recommend a decent and relatively inexpensive multi-mode 2 meter rig for home based use? I'm not interested in hand-helds or the miniature rigs for mobile use, but rather a decent table top type of system that will enable me to operate 2 meters on at least FM and SSB, preferably even additional modes. Any suggestions? Thanks, -Danny. AB3EQ

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by G8UBJ on May 19, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
There are quite a few single band muli-mode rigs for 2m but I don't think any are now in production, most make multi band rigs these days... If you want the best of the best for straight up performance get the FT-225RD with a Mutek front end.. Other contenders are - IC-251 FT-221 Ft-480 Trio TS-700 or 700SP Trio TR9000 The TR 9000 and FT-480 are mobile rigs so you may want to avoid. There are others have a look in the reviews... 73 G8UBJ

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by NE3R on May 19, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Inexpensive 2M SSB isn't easy. My club has an Icom IC-271A - it is a great rig. 73 de Joseph Durnal NE3R

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by WB2WIK on May 19, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Nothing on the market right now that covers only 2m FM-SSB. The older rigs that were very good included the IC-275A and 275H, the IC-271A, IC-251A, FT-225RD, TS-711A and several others. They're all old now, with the newest ones (like the IC-275A) being about 20 years old. They didn't last on the market only because they're too expensive for single-band rigs. Now you can buy a TS-2000 which covers 160m through 432 MHz and does it quite well for less than $1600 brand new. In IC-746PRO covers 160m through 144 MHz for less than that. By comparison, my old Yaesu FT-736R, which covers 144 & 432 MHz all modes (stock) was nearly $2000 and covers only those two bands without optional modules. Now, I did install the modules for 50 and 222 MHz, so it covers 4 bands. I've been offered over $2000 for it, today, and the rig's 21 years old! For 2m FM-SSB I'd be tempted, today, to go for a TS-2000; it's a lot of rig for a relatively small price. WB2WIK/6

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by DWEISS on May 19, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Just to clarify my original posting: I'd be perfectly happy to find a multi-band rig that met my other specs, what I'm looking for does not have to be confined solely to 2 meters. If a multi-band box is comparable to a 2 meter only system in price, I'd be perfectly happy to have the additional capabilities! What is critical for me is to have more than just FM capabilities - I want at least SSB and FM, perhaps more if it is available at a reasonable price. Thanks for the thoughts so far, I hope this helps to focus what I'm looking for a little better. -Danny.

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by K9GTJ on May 19, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
Danny, The Icom 746Pro would be an excellent choice. It has good performance and on 2 meters includes a full 100 watts FM or SSB. The HF from 160 to 10 meters plus 6 meters also works well and the rig has most used items available on the rig and not buried in a menu someplace. These are a popular rig but some hams do upgrade so you can find these on the used market too. Add a Tigertronics USB Sigmalink for $99 and you can work almost any mode and any band. Jim -K9GTJ

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by AA5JG on May 19, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
IF you look around you should be able to find a used Yaesu FT100D for $500 to $550. That will give you HF, 6m, and 70cm in addition to 2 meters, and 50 watts on 2m. It is a pretty good HF performer as well. I have used one off and on for the past 6 years and have worked 225 countries with it, as well as Worked All States on 6m, about 25 states on 2m, and even made one 2 meter EME (moonbounce) contact with it! 73s John AA5JG

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by K9KJM on May 30, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
The Kenwood TS-2000 is THE top rig to get for doing "It all" Not only 160 meters thru 440Mhz, (Up to 1.2 Ghz with the optional module) But the TS 2000 will CROSS BAND repeat, Not only VHF to UHF, But HF (Including 6 meters) to VHF or UHF!!!!! A Very neat feature! The TS 2000 is now selling for 1100 dollar range good used, 1450 brand new. Worth every penny.

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by AJ4DW on June 5, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
If you're looking for a table-top 2m SSB-capable box you're not going to find anything modern that's "relatively inexpensive" (unfortunately). Yaesu has a few HF to 70cm rigs which run around $700-800, but they're all "mobile" rigs. All of the other HF-70cm rigs run from $1200-2000+ new. Here's a link to Universal Radio's page of discontinued VHF/UHF all-mode radios: http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/hammdisc.html You might want to see which are available here or on QRZ or on eBay. I bought a Kenwood TS-711a, which is a 2m all-mode (mono-band). They're going for from $450-$600 on eBay. Nice radio. Good luck... shopping is half the fun! 73 de Carl AJ4DW

RE: 2 Meter Home Rig Suggestions	Reply
by N8EKT on June 7, 2008	Mail this to a friend!
I have owned most of the older 2 meter multimode rigs. The Icom IC-290 was a very good rig The Icom IC-260 also The Kenwood TR-9000 was also an excellent radio. What separates a good SSB rig from the others is the receiver. And these three radios had EXCELLENT front ends.

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