Quote:
Originally Posted by beemerphile
2M beats 70cm in most areas in terms of the density of both regular and internet linked repeaters. 70cm is a wasteland around here and I think the .gov is thinking about making off with some of it.
The only thing I use 70cm for is "house to tractor" wife calls.
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Probably depends on the area. Here in the big mildew city, "Houston"
both bands are pretty saturated with machines. If I had to choose one
band, I would go 2 meters. But in areas like this, having a dual bander
can be a plus. One reason are some of the repeater systems are linked
together and can be accessed from both 2m, and 70 cm.
The Salt grass link system is one example. If you were traveling around
the south Texas area, having both bands gives you a better chance of
accessing that system as you move from one area to another.
IE: I usually use 2 meters here local to access that system, but if I were
driving a bit out of town, often the 70 cm machines will let you stay on
on the link when you start losing some of the 2 m machines.
So I think having a dual bander can be handy even if you tend to favor
2 meters in the long run. And like I say, most dual banders will receive
a much wider range extending into the UHF spectrum, which can be handy
for PS use. IE: I can use any of my UHF capable radios to listen to the
Houston Police Dept. They are still on 460 mhz, and a holdout from the
trunking systems many dept's have gone to the last few years.
So to me, that is very handy, but the value would vary depending on
the frequencies his local services use. When I'm up at my place in OK,
they use the VHF high band, and the same radios can generally receive
those also.
Out of all my radios, my little Icom IC -706mk2g is probably my favorite.
It can work on almost any band worth listening to, in any mode.
I work mostly lower band HF myself.. 40 meters in the day, and 75
meters at night are my usual routine.
I have dipoles strung up in the trees at my OK place, and keep the
coax rolled up on a tree branch. When I get there, I just unroll it and
hook it up to the radio, which I power off my car battery.
A short video showing the 706 on 75 meters tuned to a OK weather
net I tuned across.. That particular day, the bands were in pretty good
shape and I tuned stations on every single HF band from 75 to 10
meters. That little radio can receive almost anything worth listening to.
http://home.comcast.net/~disk100/radio.wmv
Some of the other bands..
http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/40.wmv
http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/20.wmv
http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/17.wmv
http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/15.wmv
http://home.comcast.net/~disk200/10.wmv
A handy device to have when you are out in the woods in the
middle of nowhere.. I bet ham radio is getting a workout in Japan
right now.. Loads of hams in Japan. So even if all the cell phones, etc
are out, many of them are still communicating.