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Reviews For: ADI AR-247

Category: Transceivers: VHF/UHF+ Amateur Base/Mobile (non hand-held)

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Review Summary For : ADI AR-247
Reviews: 34MSRP: 209.99
Description:
AR-247 1.35 Meter (222 MHz) Mobile
Product is not in production
More Info: http://www.adi-radio.com/amateurradio/mobiles/Default.htm
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00343.3
W1SWR Rating: 2006-03-31
Not smart Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My new AR-247 lost it's output power.
Sent it back to factory for repair.
It was 3 months old. They send me another radio with
scratches on case and face. It was an older radio that they had fixed. I kind of like to keep my equipment clean and no marks or scratches just in case of resale. Not happy with them and for the most part as the saying goes ( you get what you pay for )

73
Steve


WA9ENA Rating: 2006-03-29
Solid rig, but details lacking Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I put my new AR-247 on the air in late December, 2005. I immediately noticed that the "Down" buton on the mic was intermittant, but that has improved with usage. I also had a few QSOs during which it seemed as if there was a loose connection in the receiver, but that issue cleared up with usage, too. Then, just one month after putting it on the air, the final apparently died. The rig would transmit for a few seconds and then drop to zero output power, but drawing lots of 13.6VDC current.

The good news is that Pryme stood behind the product. I shipped the rig to them and they sent me another rig in return. I have had the replacement rig for a few weeks, so I am in hopes that it will keep on running. I believe that the replacement rig was another that had been returned. I suspect that repairs may take awhile, so Pryme rotates rigs in order to provide fast service. That's OK with me, as long as the rig keeps going.

Other than the final failure and mic button incident, I am real happy with this rig. Receive audio is good and there's plenty of it, even with the internal speaker. The LCD panel is easy to read and the rig has produced reports of great xmit audio by those folks who know my "live" voice. We have a fair amount of 223.500 activity around my area, so the rig gets plenty of use.

I only have 2 negatives: I find the use of the Memory button to both start and stop memory scanning to be a pain. It might be OK to start scanning, but scanning should stop (and stay stopped) when you hit the mic PTT button. The other appears to be a receiver design problem: Several times, I have copied stations that were half to full scale on the relative signal meter, but which were NOT "full quieting" to the ears. That tells me the receiver has a very weird quieting slope that differs from all other FM receivers in my shack (and I have lots of them).

All in all, I gave the AR-247 a "4" because of the early final failure, the intermittant internal connection (that "cured" itself), the non-standard way to stop scanning, and the intermittant mic button right out of the box. These are balanced by excellent audio, great support service from Pryme, adequate memories, and a mic, that although it is large, is easy for me to hold and is comfortable to use. A few other hams in my area have the AR-247 and their comments have been mixed. One fellow said that his has spent more time on the repair bench than on the air. The others have had no problems. I am enjoying the rig and hope to do so for a very long time.
N0MUD Rating: 2006-01-02
Still a great rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Per my Feb 05 edit, I still give this radio a perfect five. I've had no problems at all. I program the radio just like I do all my other radios, enter the freq, the tone and put in memory. So what's so hard about that, it works just like my Yaesu's do and my Kenwood's do. So what if the mic lights stay on, if that's all you have to moan and groan about then sheesh get a life. I use mine as base unit for now but in time I will shift it to the truck. The only problem I've ever had with ADI they fixed immediately for me. I had a AR-147 and it quit working after two years so I sent it back to Pryme/ADI and they sent me a brand new one, even tho it was way out of warranty. To me this was great service. I was treated with respect on the phone and one thing I had mentioned to the tech on the phone was I needed the radio back in time for hunting season and I had it well within the time frame to program the new one and reinstall it back into my truck. Great service and great radios. Buy one you won't go wrong.

73's Mike N0mud

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Earlier 5-star review posted by N0MUD on 2005-02-23

As per my comments back Jul04, I still have nothing but great accolades for this radio and the company as a whole. I have the ADI AR-247 and per my last comment Jul04 it's still a great radio. I bought this radio for several reasons, the company because of the way they took care of me in the past with their AR-147 2mtr, I've owned the ADI AT-601 dual band which I have sold because I also have the Kenwood TH-F6a triband HT. I bought my ADI AR-247 because of the ease of tuning, ease of use, IE: programing, it is very easy to program. Someone complained because his lights on his mic stay on well so do my lights on my Yaseu FT-8800s, I have three of those mobiles and their lights stay on on the mics. Buy this radio you can't go wrong.

73's de Mike NØmud
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Earlier 5-star review posted by N0MUD on 2004-07-25

I've had my ADI-247 a couple of months now and this is my 3rd ADI mobile. The first two were the ADI 147 2 meter rigs and when the first 2 meter quit working and was way out of warrenty I called ADI told them what was happening and could I send it to them but I needed it back before hunting season the tech said no problem, so I sent it to them. They got it, sent me an email letting me know they got it, and when it got to be just two weeks to hunting season I called them and they couldn't find it. So they said not to worry they would send me another one and yes they did and it was a brand new radio and I got it well within the time frame before hunting season. Now I needed it because of my health I have it when I go up to the high country here in Colorado and if an emergency I have my radio. Because of the excellent service I received from them by replacing my lost rig with a brand new rig I have the highest regards for the ADI company. The only downfall was I had to program the new one but the rigs are so easy to program that within a half hour I had all the freq's put back in the new one and I was set to go. Again it was way out of warrenty and they replaced it with a new one, now who else can say their Brand named Rig would do something like that. I never questioned them as to what happened to my lost rig, didn't need to.

73's Mike, N0mud (yes it's a vanity call)
KD2UFO Rating: 2006-01-02
Not bad Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased this rig lately. After tuning a J-pole for it, I was on the air. Love the mic. At 6'5" I have big hands, so mic fit perfectly. After transmitting for approx 10 mins on low power I noticed that the rig would "shut transmit" down. As I am using this a a "base" station, I elevated the unit to allow more airflow, and put a more heavy duty power supply on the unit. After corrections, problem has not repeated itself.
N1IZE Rating: 2005-06-08
terrible Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had the same issue as AC5PS the crackling. I had the rig for about 1 month it worked great would run it only on low power, since the reapeaters are really close. I am a quality manager with a background in plastics, composites, non-ferrous metals and electronics. This is the type of quality adi has-
solder, box, sell for cheap.. as you can see there is no functional testing their performing i.e. quality control. U can read this is many of the disappointing articles. In fact I had a fellow ham drop me an email and say "don't buy the rig" I had already purchased it. I am sending the rig back to AES and told them to credit my account and I would purchase another 220 rig, anyone have suggestions. One of the better rigs I had many moons ago was the ICOM IC38A.. so any suggestions..?? my email address is actman81@yahoo.com...

My advice DON'T BUY THIS RADIO OR ANY ADI PRODUCT UNTIL BETTER QUALITY MEASURES ARE PUT IN PLACE AT THEIR COMPANY
WA6OWH Rating: 2005-04-14
Nice looking radio Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Mine us a used 220 radio and it works great. Yes the mike is a little strange... big but I like the illumination on all the time as I have a dim shack so it makes reading the buttons easy. I also like the low price and beautiful display. Mine runs cool and quiet 25 hours a day... hope it keeps working. Only reason I didn't give it a 5 is because the memory programming is a little awkward and the red light by the on/off switch is very bright (minor gripes). Good radio ADI- keep it up.
KD7EZE Rating: 2005-02-23
Another good radio Time Owned: more than 12 months.
First off, the pic at the top of page one is not an AR-247, as the 147, 247, and 447 all have lighted TT mics. Also, the info link is outdated and dead.

Good radios. I have the 146, 246, 446, and the newer 147, 247, and 447. Never had any problems with any of them. I do recommend using an external speaker with them, but aside from that they have performed full bore. Through the cold snowy winters, high humidity hot summers, and over some of the worst unpaved roads in the country, nothing but dependability and good service.
KB7EFZ Rating: 2005-02-22
Poor design? Bad UI! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hmmm... After spending 1.5 years with two of these and a Kenwood 3530, I have to say that the Kenwood is, while quirky, old, and lacking some 'features', quite a bit better radio than the ADI.
The ADI's have a squelch that can't be set 'right' (inadequate hysteresis), the Kenwood has a great squelch. The Kenwood has clear, room filling audio, the ADI's are hard to understand.
The ADI's have a saving grace - they're ~$200. If Yaesu were smart enough to have released the quad-band rig as 2/222/440/1.2, none of us would have heard of Pryme. And yes, I also detest the mic, and to add insult to injury, the lamp can't be turned off on the mic. Get real. While on the subject, what in the name of goodness is direct frequency entry from a mic keypad good for on a radio that only needs to cover 3 MHz? And by the way - if Yaesu had put 222 all-mode in the FT-100D, we'd also not know about Pryme, and the value of IC3xx rigs would also plummet :-)
Did I mention that testing CTCSS codes for repeater access takes many seconds per tone, unlike a real radio that allows you to transmit without leaving the tone selection function and allows you to change the tone between blips on the mic using the up/down keys on the mic? On the ADI, you push something, hold something, make an adjustment, leave the setting function, and then TX. Then you do it again. Hmm... There are a lot of tone frequencies. I never noticed much before having to use this rig to figure out the tone for a remote 222 repeater.
Ok, enough said, the only reason anyone would buy this rig is that it's the only game in town.
VE5NAT Rating: 2005-02-22
awesome Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
as I said with my other ADI rigs, heat could be a problem but it isnt(I have a fan should need be). Transmit is fine. These rigs can by far handle long days. I recommend it for ARES people.
N1XHF Rating: 2005-02-19
good rig Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had one for about 2 years now and have had not problems with it! Sounds to me that W8GND had no idea what SWR is if he continues to have rigs of all makes that fail.

Good rig for the money!