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Reviews For: Mirage BD-25 VHF/UHF HT Amplifier

Category: Amplifiers: RF Power - 6M/VHF/UHF+

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Review Summary For : Mirage BD-25 VHF/UHF HT Amplifier
Reviews: 2MSRP: 165.00
Description:
MFR Description: For dual band FM HT's. Up to 45 Watts on 2 Meters and 35 Watts on 440 MHz with .5 to 8 Watts input.
Mirage's FullDuplexAmp lets you talk on one band and listen on the other band at the same time. Requires compatible HT.
Has automatic band selection. has frequency Band and Power on LEDs. Reverse Polarity Protection, On/Off switch.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mirageamp.com/mirageamp/products.php?prodid=BD-25
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0023.5
KD0EMI Rating: 2008-12-14
Works Great for IC-91ad Mobile HT Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have used this for six months or so with great sucess.
I made a coiled loop wire (like telephone cord)for the 10-12 volt feed with a jack on the end.
Charges the radio fast or slow. The 13.8v fast setting is high enough that the radio drops back to .5watts so I leave it on the 10.? volt setting and can run all day.

The old ht base that would normally fit into the radio as a false battery is electrically disconnected. A slot is cut into the top and the belt clip from the radio fits nicely into it.

Very handy HT with full output on the linear.
KC0ORP Rating: 2003-09-03
Limited Use Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The Mirage BD-25 is one of the few dual band amplifiers that will accept less than one watt input power. It also draws seven amps, making it useful for vehicle use from a cigarette lighter plug. It also has a docking adapter, with power. This adapter is only useful for a limited number of older HT's, as it does not support newer Yeasu/Kenwood/Icom products. Amplification is FM-only, and there is no pre-amp for recieve. The adapter has a BNC to connect to the HT, and an SO-239 to connect to the antenna.

Test results, on an Icom T-90A, using a Diamond V2000 antenna with less than 1.1:1 VSWR were as follows:

Input 0.5 W VHF, 7 W VHF output.
Input 5.0 W VHF, 41 W VHF output
Input 0.5 W UHF, 1.6 W UHF output. (!!)
Input 5.0 W UHF, 20 W UHF output.

Note: the amp recognized 6 m as "VHF", but did not pass the 6 m RF.

There was little degredation of recieve audio when connected.

Since the major attraction of this unit vis-a-vis the BD-35 is that it accepts less than one watt inputs, the performance is disappointing, to say the least. Performance at five watts was accetpable, but the point is to NOT use the soul-sucking current drain of full power transmit. (It's not like it takes fifteen hours to recharge my HT or anything, and the docking station won't work with it....) The odd shape of the adapter also make placing it in a vehicle challenging.

I spent half the money of getting a dedicated dual-band transciever, to obtain fractional performance gains at best at low power. This amp gets traded/sold at the first opportunity.

Wally, KC0ORP