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Reviews For: Icom T21A

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

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Review Summary For : Icom T21A
Reviews: 1MSRP: $349 when it came out
Description:
2 meter HT from mid 1990s, with 70cm receive only.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.rigpix.com/icom/ics21e.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0014
FORMER_W5TD_JOHN Rating: 2006-06-12
Pretty good rare HT Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I picked up one of these HTs in a trade recently, and it seems to do a pretty good job. I can't find much about it on the internet, and you can't find aftermarket batteries for it, so I am guessing that it didn't sell too well. Rigpix didn't even have a listing for it, they only had the S21, which is the model without the keypad.

Pluses:
1. Has a built in clock. Every HT should have one
2. Does 6 watts out at 12 volts
3. Receives on 70cm, and will do crossband duplex receive, so it should work good on Mode J FM sats
4. Fairly easy to use. Similar to most other Icoms to set up.
5. Gets good signal and audio reports, and the receive audio is plenty loud.
6. It is a nice size, a little narrower than HTs today, but also a little deeper. Fits nicely in the hand, though.
Minuses:
1. Finding replacement batteries is next to impossible. Try to get the AA battery case or plan to rebuilt the one you have.
2. The stock antenna is really small and looks like it would be useless. I replaced it with the antenna from a FT50.
3. The keys on it are really small, and it is kind of hard to read the labels written above them.

Overall, a decent 2 meter HT with wider receive, and it will get the job done.