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write your own review of the ADI AR-147.
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KI4SDY
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 29, 2007 19:19
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THESE ARE GREAT LITTLE RADIOS!
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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It is no coincidence that these radios have the controls in the same place of and resembles the Kenwood TM-241A in size and features. It is the same radio! Often people dog a product because it does not carry the most favored brand name. I am sure some Kenwoods have failed, but their rating remains high. If only 30 or so ADIs have had problems out of the whole production run, that is excellent! They are bargains to be sure.
I have not had a bit of problem with mine and it performs just as well as my Kenwood TM-241A. Receive and transmit is excellent and the operation, like the Kenwood, is very straight forward. I love the large well lit mike buttons. I wish my Kenwood had them.
Mine does not run hot, even at high power with long transmissions. It is a very good radio.
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W2KIT
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Rating: 4/5
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Aug 15, 2006 16:28
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works fine
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have the AR-147 plus the 220 and 440 versions. All three radios have performed well. The only negative experience was a mike that became defective.
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N9IXX
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Rating: 3/5
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Aug 2, 2006 20:46
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Works great if its not in a vehicle
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I own 2 of these radios one as a base (never had any problems with it) and one in my mobile(had sent in for repair, or replacement once already for display problems). They replaced it under warranty no cost except to ship to them and has been working in the mobile for 8 months now.
Recently some buttons on the mic quit working now, but not a real big deal they are not the critical ones.
On to the performance. This radio receives nothing but praise on its transmit audio quality, however it does run rather hot on long QSO's even at the lowest power setting (5 watts). That aside the finals have never failed due to heat related problems.
Receive is also very good some intermod problems on the mobile radio, but the base is just fine!
Radio is easy to program and just as easy to use.
If you are looking for a reasonable priced base unit go ahead this unit should do great for that!
Now for the mobile this is where you are quaranteed to have reliabilty problems would not recomend this radio for that even though I know it is built for that reason.
I really do like these radios though and will continue to use them and repair them as long as the company is still around!
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KE5HCD
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Rating: 4/5
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Apr 21, 2006 02:38
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1 month review
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I've had this radio for a little over a month now and I really can't complain about it.
Only issue is this morning the PTT button started to fail on me. I opened the mic up, and the rubber sponge cube that mashes into the microswitch had a rather pronounced dimple in it. See, I've got a bad habit of being heavy handed on the PTT button so it's my own fault and pretty easily corrected by reversing the cube.
I'd call it a 4.5 if that were available, but this is also only my 2nd radio, so I've not got much to compare it to.
But now that I've learned how to use it inside and out, I'm considering latching on to its 70CM brother.
Yeah, the face gets a little warm, but that's also the price of running the display on high 24/7.
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N0MUD
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 9, 2006 22:29
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Fantastic radio & company
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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When my ADI-147 went south on me instead of complaining I sent it back to ADI with the stipulation that I get it back before hunting season. Well when it started getting close to hunting season I called and they told me they couldnt figure out what was wrong and they sent me a brand new radio. Now mine was well over the warranty period when that happened. I never expected them to just give me a new one but they did and I've been very happy with the radio and the company ever since. I also have owned an ADI 600D dual band/dual receive. I still own two ADI's Ht's a 201/401 and have never had a bit of problem with either one. I say if yours isn't working then send it back to ADI/Pryme and get it fixed so your blood pressure will drop back down to where it is supposed to be.
73's N0mud
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KC2FTN
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 9, 2006 20:24
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Not too shabby !
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I've had this rig in my vehicle for about five months now and it has performed flawlessly. It has even made it through the brutal -25/30 degree Winter here in Northern New York with absolutely NO problems whatsoever.
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W4FJF
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Rating: 0/5
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Jan 23, 2006 00:55
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JUNK!
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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The ADI AR-147 is a liability in the mobile or the shack. The displays fail or scramble, the mic is an engineering failure, and the internal speaker is a joke. In my 25 years as a ham, I have never seen a radio more prone to failure when you need it the most. I am not usually so critical of any manufacturer, but I have two useless AR-147's that lasted just long enough to get out of warranty, then fail miserably. I can't try to fix them myself, as my hands are not steady anymore, and I'm disabled so I cannot afford to have them fixed. I dare the manufacturer to replace my useless AR-147's with new equipment. That is the only way that will change my opinion of ADI.
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DDD4D
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Rating: 2/5
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Sep 25, 2005 21:20
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Frequency Read Out Problems
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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I have three ADI AR-147 radios and I like the radios a lot, but they have problems with the frequency read out like several have talked about. I took the front off of each radio and soldered a wire on one of the grounds one the back of the read out screen and took it to a ground inside the radio. I also soldered where the metal frame touched each grounding pad. I have had NOT one problem since these mods in any of the radios. I was having a lot of problems with all of them before this. N0LOG
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AA2HA
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Rating: 1/5
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May 8, 2005 11:05
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Junk radio and no tech support
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I should have known better. The radio, out of the box, had distorted audio. It had been set too high at the factory. Repeaters couldn't even decode DTMF with the audio this high. No schematic is provided with this radio. I called ADI twice to speak to tech support. I just wanted to know which pot was for the audio level. They never called me back. I sent several E mails to them which were never answered. I cant believe they care so little about their customers to not so much as return a phone call or e mail about a brand new radio.
The receive is horrific also. I have performed side by side tests camparing the ADI to my Icom and Kenwood. It is between 6 and 9 Db lower in receive( as compared my other radios) Some repeaters That I use (around S-3 or so) arent even received at all on the ADI!
The VCO is a lousey design. ADI has a momolithic receiver and if the volume is turned high, feedback can be heard through the speaker. This can be corrected by using an external speaker, but you shouldnt have to. And with the single conversion receive, the radio will receive plenty of intermod from pagers and the such. This isnt a problem in rural areas, but here in the NY City area its almost not usable.
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KD7EZE
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 15, 2005 05:27
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No Problems
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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First off, the radio in the pic is the 146, as the 147 has a more rectangular mic with larger, easier to use backlit buttons. I own a dozen or so of these fine radios, and have yet to have ANY problems with them. They are being used in repeater service, as base stations, and mobile on some of the worst (roughest) roads in the country. I've had no problems with extreme heat (over 100), or cold (below zero). I made a couple of modifications: I installed a microswitch in the radio to completely disable the backlighting, and rewired the mic so the button backlighting only comes on when the switch on the back is in the unlock position.
I have made the same mods to both the 247 (220 MHz), and the 447 (440 MHz) rigs, and use them in the same ways mentioned above. I can't comment on the computer programming software, as I've seen no need for it, being that the radio is just too easy to program manually. I have gotten the best bang-for-the-buck out of the ADI radios, and would recommend them to anyone. :)
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