Your first radio

This is a question I hear a lot from newly licensed hams: "What do you recommend as a first radio?"

This is usually asked by newly licensed Technicians either right after passing their license exam.  I usually will begin the answer with, "well, it depends."  It depends on what you are interested in doing with amateur radio and how far you plan on going in the hobby.

For most new hams I recommend a cheap Chinese HT which they can purchase from a number of retailers for around $35.  While the menu system is a bit confusing and programming can be a nightmare because of pirated USB to Serial chips in the computer cables usually available for a few dollars with them on the same sites.  They are a very inexpensive entry into FM simplex and repeater operation, especially given that only a few years ago you would have had to spend well over $150 to $500 depending on how many bands you wanted and extra features.

Repeaters are a great way for new hams to get their feet wet and avoid getting into trouble operating out of band.  So many people have these cheap radios and the programming software that having them programmed for you is a simple matter.  Once they are programmed with a bunch of local repeaters and a some useful simplex frequencies, you can start talking to other hams and gain some operating experience.

Another recommendation usually involves a mobile or base rig.  For several reasons I usually try to steer new hams away from operating mobile on an HT.  First, with all the new laws regarding cell phone use the interpretation for using a radio in a vehicle can be sketchy at best.  The quote I hear most often is concerning something called permanently mounted devices.  If you have a permanently mounted radio in your vehicle you can most likely get out of a ticket by explaining to the officer you are a federally licensed amateur operating a two-way radio exempted under the hands-free law (carrying your license and a copy of the law is good too).

Another reason not to use an HT inside the vehicle (besides the poor quality of your signal inside a metal box) is the duty cycle of the HT.  HT's are not meant for long extended conversations like the ones we often have while operating during a commute.  Your HT will get HOT!

When looking for a mobile rig there are a lot of different options to consider:

1. What band(s) will you want to operate on?  E.g. 2 meters, 220 MHz, 440 MHz, etc.
2. What brand/features do you want/need?
3. Do you mostly drive at night?
4. Can you operate the rig from the microphone and by touch alone?
5. Do you like the way the unit looks (really, I'm serious).
6. Can you mount it safely in your vehicle?
7. Are you planning on using it in your home also?

Many of these questions are a matter of experience or personal taste.  You might thing something as silly as what the rig looks like shouldn't be part of the decision process, but whether you realize it or not, style and looks play a big part in influencing our decisions.

For context, here's my experience with buying and using just FM mobile rigs:

For my first mobile rig purchase I decided on a Japanese quad-band FM unit (notice I don't mention brands anywhere in this post--I am not recommending or endorsing any particular brand).  My plan was to use this rig in my car and take it out every day and use it also as my base rig.  Smart, right?  2 rigs for the price of one plus the power supply for the house.  I did this once!  Taking the rig out of the car (disconnecting the power and coax) then installing it in the house was too much of a hassle and I've talked to many other hams who've had the same idea and also abandoned it.  So you need 2 rigs.  One for the mobile and one for the house (or 'home QTH' as hams are fond of saying).

Because it was a 4 band unit, there was only a single antenna recommended for it and that antenna also required a lip-mount to the hatch back (or trunk/hood).  Mag mounts were specifically discouraged for this model.  Once I got the unit the antenna required tuning.  This was a pretty simple process for 2 M and 440, the 6- and 10 meter bands were a nightmare!  Plus the 6 and 10 meter repeaters weren't that useful or active.  Oh, and did I mention the antenna was $100 without the mount?  (This antenna actually got stolen off my car while I was on a hike and I had to replace it.)

Now that the radio was installed and I was using it I discovered some other drawbacks.  I worked nights and so was mostly driving at night.  The radio had very tiny buttons on the faceplate and they were not illuminated.  Also, they were separated by plastic ridges and so were impossible to identify by feel.  This got old real fast and so I ended up buying a different model from the same manufacturer that had nice large buttons I could read that also lit up.  I took the quad-bander and put it in my house, though I didn't have a base antenna that would allow me to use the 6 and 10 meter bands and so was relegated to just using the 2 meter and 440 bands.

Eventually our club added a digital mode repeater (again, notice I'm not mentioning brands here you can probably guess which one from context) and there was only one manufacturer that made rigs for this mode so I sold my quad-bander and bought one of their single VFO models for the house.  I picked up a dual VFO model for my car after deciding that the single VFO rig was insufficient for my use (I wanted to be able to monitor the 'regular' FM repeaters in addition to the digital ones).  I eventually sold the single VFO FM/digital rig and now have that single VFO FM rig that lights up nice in the house.  As for the dual VFO rig in the car, I am not in love with it.  I find a lot of things wrong with it that I really liked on the other manufacturer's unit, but they're the only game in town so for now I'm stuck with it.

So, if you want to get a first rig for your car or home, talk to a LOT of other hams.  Ask them what they have and what they like or dislike about them.  Ask to see their installations, you'll get more ideas for what will work for you that way.  There are a lot of manufacturer's out there and rigs aren't cheap!  So do your research and try to learn from other people's experiences.

73, Kevin AB2ZI