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Reviews For: Standard C168A

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Hand-held

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Review Summary For : Standard C168A
Reviews: 4MSRP: 370
Description:
VHF Handy Transceiver
Product is not in production
More Info: http://
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0044.8
ON3RT Rating: 2010-11-03
Resale value for Standard C168 in working condition Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Final update on my Standard Communications C168 hand-held transceiver :

After more than 15 years of reliable service : some of them in extreme conditions ranging from hot & humid Asian rain-forests to freezing and snowy Alpine terrain) and hundreds of voice and data (packet-radio & SSTV) QSOs; it was with a pinch of sadness that I finally parted ways with my Standard C168 VHF FM transceiver.

Little did I realise that this unit is a prized collector's item. Imagine my surprise when this 1990s era equipment in working condition found a buyer who paid 120 EUR (around 150 USD) !!!

Best 73s !!!

Ravi / ON3RT

OM = "RAVI" (http://www.qrz.com/db/ON3RT)
QSL Manager for ON3RT is ON5UB
QTH Brussels
Grid Square Locator JO20FU
Member of Radio-Club UBA Brussels-East ON5UB

For more info on ON3RT goto http://www.scribd.com/doc/24421935/ON3RT-QSL-Info

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Earlier 5-star review posted by ON3RT on 2010-09-01

This is a follow-up to my earlier post where-in I mentioned that my radio stopped functioning.
Before discarding the radio, I ran a few tests only to find that the radio was working 100% OK all along !!!
The problem was not technical : dust/dirt that was preventing a clean contact between the DC power plug and jack ! I got the dirt unstuck with a blast of compressed air. Low and behold ... the radio is back in service !!!

At present, battery-cases and other accessories for the STANDARD C168 are expensive because hard to source.

When using non-OEM external DC power-supply unit, it is important to note that the DC-power miniature coaxial plug&pin connector assembly has a 'non-standard' reversed polarity configuration : centre pin is NEGATIVE.

High-power operations with 5 watts RF power is possible only with a 1.5 Ampere DC power-supply unit.

Another limitation is the lack of the optional sub-audible CTCSS module on many handsets. This makes them useless for VHF repeater traffic.

User manuals for the Standard C168 are available for free on the internet.

Standard C168 User Manual :
www.radioamateur.eu/schemi/Standard_C168-C468_user.pdf

On a side-note, STANDARD COMMUNICATION which was part of MARANTZ is now part of YAESU VERTEX which itself has become a part of MOTOROLA.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by ON3RT on 2010-05-25

I've owned this Standard (Vertex) C-168 from 1995. I used it with rechargeable batteries which I popped in&out of the battery-case and also a self-made external power-supply unit.

I've operated this unit under extreme conditions (hot & dusty as well as cold & humid).

The extended receive mods were very easy to enable.

I also built a home-brew BayCom AX-25 packet interface for use with WinPacket and also an audio interface for SSTV and FAX with JV-Fax.

My C-168 served me well until it finally stopped working a few weeks back.
KD8APU Rating: 2004-11-27
I like it! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is a good old radio. Everything seems to work okay. If anyone can help me find a manual I would be very happy. Thank you

remarketpro@yahoo.com
K6NTL-3 Rating: 2004-04-20
Envy Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I call this envy, because maybe 12 years ago when they came out, I envied everyone who had one.

Ever pick up a Yaesu VX-150? Feels thick and sturdy. This radio does too. But back in it's day it was well ahead of the time.

I guess I should mention I got mine used on e-Bay.

The batteries are a bit tough to get, but you can get a very reasonable price at batteryjack.com. This radio is under land mobiles not amateur there. A 700mah 7.2v cost me less than 25.00 .

The radio is small and feels good, sounds good, and is a 5 in my book.

Not modern but worth owning if you like the old brick style in a small metal case.

73, Kevin
KQ6IK Rating: 2003-11-19
Great Hand-Held! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Probably the best hand-held I've ever owned. It's durable and made with a real metal case, unlike some of the newer HTs out now that have plastic cases. You can enter the frequencies in directly by the keypad. Has various scanning modes.

An all around great HT!