Handheld Tranceiver Recommendation

I am thinking of purchasing a hand held radio (tranceiver).

Can anyone recommend one ? I am a student pilot.

Please reply to this newsgroup and not via email.

In a previous article, nospamPlease said:
I am thinking of purchasing a hand held radio (tranceiver).

Can anyone recommend one ? I am a student pilot.

No, but I can categorically state that you must not, under any
circumstances, buy the Sporty's one. It's a horrible piece of crap. The
display is almost unreadable under most lighting conditions, it loses all
its memory when you change the batteries, and the range is laughable. Oh,
unless you want to buy mine used, in which case they're great.


--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction into a
battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day."
- Calvin discovers Usenet

Paul Tomblin wrote:
No, but I can categorically state that you must not, under any
circumstances, buy the Sporty's one. It's a horrible piece of crap. The
display is almost unreadable under most lighting conditions, it loses all
its memory when you change the batteries, and the range is laughable. Oh,
unless you want to buy mine used, in which case they're great.


I must respectfully disagree with Paul. I actually returned an
Icom A23 in favor of the Sporty's SP-200 for the following reasons:

- A23 would not transmit across my living room on alkaline batteries;
the SP-200 reaches the tower 5x5 out to 5-6 miles on alkalines, with
no external antenna (although my aircraft is composite, not metal).

- SP-200 displays a CDI for localizers, A23 does not (only VORs).

- Although the SP-200 display is more sensitive to viewing angle,
the CDI portion is much larger than that of the A23. I tried both
in the cockpit in flight, and I found the A23's tiny CDI display
very difficult to view while flying the aircraft.

- I actually prefer the SP-200's larger size, and the SP-200 with 8 photo
lithium AAs weighs about the same as the A23 with 6 alkalines.

Whatever your favorite, I highly recommend that you TRY before you BUY.
Find someone who owns the model you're considering and try it out.


Happy landings,
Ross Oliver

NospamPlease,

I am thinking of purchasing a hand held radio (tranceiver).

Can anyone recommend one ? I am a student pilot.


Vertex/Yaesu and Icom are the two brands that come to mind. I don't
like the antiquated (IMHO) design of the Sporty's unit.

What do you want to do with it? I'd humbly suggest there are quite some
things a student pilot might want to spend 250 $ on before getting a
handheld radio.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)

(snip)

What do you want to do with it? I'd humbly suggest there are quite some
things a student pilot might want to spend 250 $ on before getting a
handheld radio.

As a student pilot on my dual cross country, both radios in my
instructor's plane failed on approach to the Lewiston, Idaho airport. He
whipped out his handheld, dialed in the tower frequency, and we were back
in business.

I purchased a Yaesu VX 120 Pro II the following day. I used it as a
student to listen to the ground, tower and approach chatter, and get the
ATIS while driving to the airport. Finally, when I purchased an aircraft
with only one nav/com, I used it as a second radio in the cockpit to
listen to the ATIS while keeping my my radio on the communications
frequency.

Even after I upgraded to two radios in the plane, I never leave the ground
without it...remembering that one flight when everything went toast.

- - - - -
Al Gilson
1964 Skyhawk
Spokane, WA USA

--
Al Gilson
Spokane, WA USA
1970 VW Convertible
1964 Cessna Skyhawk

Can anyone recommend one ? I am a student pilot.

Watch Ebay for a used ICOM AC-20 or -21. They are bigger than the new ones,
but bulletproof. You can probably pick one up for peanuts, compared to a
new one.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Yaesu. Amazing unit and you can get them for very good prices on Ebay.

--
Thank You,
Ryan


"nospamPlease" wrote in message
...

I am thinking of purchasing a hand held radio (tranceiver).

Can anyone recommend one ? I am a student pilot.

Please reply to this newsgroup and not via email.

We just received our new ICOM - A-23..

Ist impresions are very good, nd the VOR actually works!

Well.. at 3000 feet and 44 miles anyway.. (As far as we
tried it so far), and it gave us the same radial as the panel unit
in our 172.. Actually did an intercept with it... tiny numbers of
course, but a tiny radio...

We shopped harder than most (I thin. Posted here, got several
opinions.. the ICOM seemed to come out on tip, for what we wanted..

Very good so far...

Dave


On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 16:09:26 GMT, nospamPlease
wrote:


I am thinking of purchasing a hand held radio (tranceiver).

Can anyone recommend one ? I am a student pilot.

Please reply to this newsgroup and not via email.

I would buy a Vertex 5 watt radio with any nav feature. If the radio
is only for backup, then you might want to consider alkalines, but I
like the rechargable because it's my only radio. The version I own is
a Yaseu, predecessor of the Vertex.

Others will tell you Icom. Before the Yaseu, I owned a Sporty's, but I
didn't like it. I found the nav feature useless, the whole thing
rather bulky and heavy, the display not easy to read--and it ate
batteries.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: -- put Cubdriver in subject line!

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

I have an older Icom and I tried the new Vertex model that a couple of
friends got. Both do the job. The Vertex seems like a very sexy little
radio, but side by side the Icom was noticeably more sensitive (could have
been just normal unit to unit differences and not model specific). If I had
to get one today I would probably lean towards a Vertex with 2m capability.


"Cub Driver" wrote in message
...

I would buy a Vertex 5 watt radio with any nav feature. If the radio
is only for backup, then you might want to consider alkalines, but I
like the rechargable because it's my only radio. The version I own is
a Yaseu, predecessor of the Vertex.

Others will tell you Icom. Before the Yaseu, I owned a Sporty's, but I
didn't like it. I found the nav feature useless, the whole thing
rather bulky and heavy, the display not easy to read--and it ate
batteries.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: -- put Cubdriver in subject line!

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com