(15 August 2012, 19:52)Paul Wrote: Tried one of the Alinco range. DX something. 100k-1300Mhz. Bit fiddly and menu unfriendly.
Good for close range but better when plugged into a discone antenna although I needed a SMA adapter to Female BNC for the discone connector.
AM, NFM, WFM. No SSB, No clarifier and pure CW is hard to decode.
Battery pack didn't run out for the couple of hours I was playing with it BUT it was a battery pack.
So it has a mains charger. I don't like that in any gear.
Anything I can't jack an external power source into or use either AAA or AA rechargeables is not for me. After all no mains, a bespoke power pack, what can you do to keep it charged in the field?
Personal preference I suppose.

(15 August 2012, 19:20)The Local Ned Wrote: As regerds my devils advocate posting again - I wasn't aware of the fact that HAMS regularly trashed others equipment - I knew about the foxhunting side of things ( like hide and seek using radio broadcasts ) , but it gives them no rights to trash others equipment.

If it happened up here there would be a few HAM operators with broken fingers in a very short period of time - as well as a mysterious outbreak of HAM antennas being pulled down , cables cut and other slightly more shady happenings.

I must admit though - I've done it myself in the CB'ing days , users that would not move channel and were bleeding through , some who thought they were John Peel playing music...all of their cables received attention , and some of their antennas too....but these were anti-social a$$holes , not other users who weren't upsetting anyone or preventing others from using their radios.

Anyone setting up these repeaters will be liable for HAMS shopping them to Plod and Ofcom make no mistake , and secret codes - especially dtmf wont stay secret long I think too LS.

One thing we've all seemingly shunted aside - if most of our comms are with CB , PMR - why not just adopt whatever standard you will use - either/or , and use a WIDEBAND SCANNER for the rest ? some of the modern scanners have huge range of bands and freqs to scan...for example - A BOL has a local personal comms system of 4W powered PMRs , with a homebase PMR external antenna , adequate for their 5 to 10 mile needs ? They have a wideband ALINCO scanner that can scan CB, HAM , PMR , MARINE , AIR and other freqs , as well as commercial radio broadcasts too. Anyone talking about anything near or far might be intercepted by a scanner such as this - it negates the need for 2 comms systems entirely , only those with a need to contact further afield would require something else.

Discuss please - maybe LS or Paul have knowledge of these ALINCO scanners - everything I've read about them is positive.

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Alinco Scanner

(15 August 2012, 19:52)Paul Wrote: Tried one of the Alinco range. DX something. 100k-1300Mhz. Bit fiddly and menu unfriendly.
Good for close range but better when plugged into a discone antenna although I needed a SMA adapter to Female BNC for the discone connector.
AM, NFM, WFM. No SSB, No clarifier and pure CW is hard to decode.
Battery pack didn't run out for the couple of hours I was playing with it BUT it was a battery pack.
So it has a mains charger. I don't like that in any gear.
Anything I can't jack an external power source into or use either AAA or AA rechargeables is not for me. After all no mains, a bespoke power pack, what can you do to keep it charged in the field?
Personal preference I suppose.

(15 August 2012, 20:26)The Local Ned Wrote:

(15 August 2012, 19:52)Paul Wrote: Tried one of the Alinco range. DX something. 100k-1300Mhz. Bit fiddly and menu unfriendly.
Good for close range but better when plugged into a discone antenna although I needed a SMA adapter to Female BNC for the discone connector.
AM, NFM, WFM. No SSB, No clarifier and pure CW is hard to decode.
Battery pack didn't run out for the couple of hours I was playing with it BUT it was a battery pack.
So it has a mains charger. I don't like that in any gear.
Anything I can't jack an external power source into or use either AAA or AA rechargeables is not for me. After all no mains, a bespoke power pack, what can you do to keep it charged in the field?
Personal preference I suppose.

Thanks mate - reason I took the alinco as example was that it could possibly be easy for a novice to scan and lock their preferred bands for listening into for info/intel.

CW at least , and perhaps too - SSB , I think would be more for advanced users , I'm thinking more along the lines of the average prepper who has a CB 27Mhz but maybe wants to listen in on local PMR users or similar , or can pick up HAMS too.

(16 August 2012, 11:42)Paul Wrote: That model has got some good press. Good reviews.

As for modifying it? As always I caution folk. Get caught = bye bye gear and the option of a hefty fine.

BUT, for the interested, here is a link to a site showing precisely what you SHOULDN'T DO.

http://www.kb2ljj.com/data/kenwood/TH-F7.htm

(16 August 2012, 17:45)The Local Ned Wrote: Thanks guys - as I've said before - I know exactly what I need and want - others may not , and they may be looking into a wideband scanner as a halfway house solution - i.e not wanting to meddle in anything other than CB , but with a desire to receive PMR and other broadcasts in other bands. I will be buying a couple of baofeng 888s as personal comms , and later on a uv-5r as a makeshift prtable/base solution.

I quickly made a wee DOC to give an idea what I mean , please dont knock it - it was done in under 10 mins LoL.