Handheld Tranceiver Recommendation

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