20 Best Ham Radio For Shtf (2023 Updated)

good, many built in features and good power and great audio from the stock mic, most cant believe its just a plain stock mic when they hear it. you can program all the hot keys p1- p6 for your favorites.

display work ok if a bit small,, its a really really small radio so not much for knobs and switches its all menus. bad, well its a compact radio and many features are not easy to access, theres a main menu screen and 3 screens accessible by the function button.

pretty much impossible to work those while driving so id suggest programing the p1-p6 with your most used functions then you can access those easier, main knob controls the channel up and down by default, i am not sure if it could be set to volume all the time but that would be handy if it could.

the auto squelch works pretty good though and within a certain range you can talk pretty well with it set on auto setting rfg to au also helps but quickly loose farther stations, set to au also helps , definatly very sensitive on recieve, going deeper in the settings and trying different combinations seem to give good results.

biggest plus is you will be heard, its a loud talker.

Very happy with the unit, it fits my 2019 f250 Limited perfectly. Menu activation is straightforward and covers a multitude of options that would require car more real estate with dials and buttons. Very well thought out and the sound is surprisingly good.

The only negative one might have is you can not install it to far away from the driver as you need to be able to glance at the dial when making changes but seriously if you have a Transport Truck who cares about size !.

Great radio, especially for the money. Quality construction, good size, great display even for its small size. Good filtering, too. I’ve had trouble receiving 11m AM before due to my loud (RF, anyway) radiator fans but this radio filters all of that out for a crystal clear receive.

No joke!! I almost want to buy a second to make a 10m go-box. My first one is a mobile install. Buy one!.

I really do like this radio. First let me throw out Kudos to DX. I have come to the realization that I won’t purchase radios from anyone else but DX. Their customer service and knowledge of radios is superb.

Going to their showroom was like being a kid in a candy store. Back to the Icom. I love the radio and actually switched from the FTM-300DR to this radio. As much as I enjoy digital, when it comes to general use, the Icom blows Yaesu out of the water in my opinion.

The reception, clarity, ease of programming, and functionality of Icom is greater over Yaesu in my opinion. The only dislike I have with this particular unit (IC-2730A) is the amount of characters you can use in the name field (only permitted six).

I loved the screen of the 5100 but it had horrible reviews for vehicle applications after being in summer heat. Too bad they didn’t use a more defined screen for the 2730 but not the 5100. All that being said.

If you want a great radio with great reception and aren’t interested in the digital features, you can’t go wrong with the IC-2730A. The only issue with Icom that I have is the fact that you have to purchase the mounting plate and mounting bracket as a separate purchase.

Come on Icom. it’s 2022. But your radio still kicks butt so.

After going back and forth with two other brands of radios in this class of radios, I decided to purchase the ICOM IC-2730A since it has so many features. Dual band, air band and the crossband repeater all are some of the main features that I was looking for.

I did test the power output with a (Diamond DL-30A) dummy load and all the 3 levels of power outputs from the radio were performing per specifications. The reason I am giving this product 4 stars is because, ICOM went cheap by not providing the face adapter and the mounting bracket.

Almost all manufacturers provide the hardware with the radio and also not mention ICOM is charging way to much for the necessary hardware. It is like buying a major brand car, but the car does not come with seats.

Not sure why ICOM did this?.

10 Meter Radios are not designed to communicate with CB Radios. Unlike a CB Radio, you need to have a license to operate a 10 Meter Radio. The reason for this is because the 10 Meter Radios are allowed to have more wattage/power output than CB Radios.

According to FCC regulations, CB radios are allowed a max output of 4 watts. Since the 10 Meter Band is intended for long range communication, more wattage is needed. The potentially very high power output (radio energy) of 10 Meter Radios can actually damage soft tissue and organs (similar to a microwave) so proper use is important! The FCC wants to make sure that 10 Meter Radio operators understand the importance of operating the equipment properly and following the rules.

Another important aspect of operating a 10 Meter Radio is that they don’t want disruption of other important communications. With their high power output, 10 Meter Radios can overpower CB transmissions and other important local communications.

The 10 Meter Band consists of frequencies stretching from 28. 000 to 29. 700 MHz. This means that you can still use a standard CB antenna- just be sure to get an antenna that has a power rating that will handle the power output of your 10 meter radio.

Out of the box, you will not get Channel 19 with a 10 Meter Radio. CB Radios operate on the 11 Meter Band around 27 MHz with 40 channels. Unlike the 10 Meter Band, access to these frequencies are unrestricted by the FCC, hence the name “Citizen’s Band”.

Just keep in mind that, even for CB Radios, the FCC requires users to follow certain codes of conduct and equipment restrictions. Many of them have a band selector knob. Band C is CB. There is a 40 channel bank per band.

Let me start by saying this is a replacement for my handheld in my van. That being said it is a good radio. Other than that yea not so much lol. It definitely works and does have louder audio than other radios of this type that cost more, unfortunatly the audio has that kinda echoey qualitly you get from these.

I put a good mike on my handhelp and it sounds better than this and that is only a $30 radio sooo. I am not even going to comparre to my Icom because well it really does not compare, but as far as features are concerned my Icom does not compare so for a backup or backpak rig it is fully function and does transit quite well nice compatct size and has the removable faceplate option included so once again for features alone it can’t be beat.

I am thinking if I could find a replacement mike that would help but not much you can do for the reciever which has that works great until it has to work and then it falls on its face and no ssb so 10m is basically useless and does not work on 11m so less than useless lol.

Only having it a week, havent given it a proper work out. Thus far all seems to be working well. The audio is really quite good, that goes for both transmit and received audio. Programming even without a compulsive east and straight forward.

I had had the Yaesu FT 8900r for years, this is a fantastic replacement for it.

I have one that failed during a 2m simplex exercise. I was using a homemade 5 element yagi and it was tune for 2m. Antenna tuning likely was off and the VHF finals went low while transmitting on high power.

My power supply is flaky now too and is over voltage with a load. Consider an antenna tuner, a duplxer, or a well tuned 4 band antenna. And stay on battery. or a very well regulated supply. It only has one antenna connection.

This is a good price as when it 1st came out it was over $350. 00. I would consider another one if it was priced lower. It has a single board so it is hard to repair with no schematic. The block diagram is similar to the Yaesu version.

Aside from that, it had really good reports and range when it was working. Programming doable from the mic keypad and menu system. Chirps also worked. Dual listen, dual volumes and squelch.

I’ve had several brands of ham radios, like many new hams I started out on cheap other brands, but you get what you pay for. This radio is easy to program, works great and I’m already loving it. Wish I hadn’t wasted money and time on others.

Extremely underrated HT. Have owned it less than 2 hours and wow. Love it.

Great Radio, well built, night and day different and way better than a Chinese radio, even beyond build quality, the sensitivity and more important the discriminating is top shelf.

I like the Yaesu mobiles, and have the UHF version of this as a home base unit. Others have complained about the fan, but since mine is in the auto, I do not hear it. Strange thing is, the UHF at the house doesn’t run much at all.

My only complaint is the mounting bracket. Alittle deep for mobile installs, had to drill a couple holes closer to the top of the bracket, so there would only be 1/4 inch clearance between bracket and radio.

I use mainly for SKYWARN, and performs excellent.

Great radio, I purchased it primarily for use with a Kantronics KPC-3 for packet operation and the radio has performed very well. ~2. 5, 5, 10 amp draw for the three power levels of 5, 30, and 65 watts.

Firmware has decent feature set, including temperature monitoring. Fan noise is barely audible compared to even just my computer idling, it is NOT loud. The fan starts up around 80F operating temperature and tends to stay on, again no problems here.

The air intake for the cooling system is located just behind the face of the radio on the bottom side, so be sure to have at least a little clearance for this. There is an aluminum cover over the air path that appears to be removable if you desire to dust it out.

Hot air exits toward the rear. The heat sink temperature only gets into the mid 90’s even working at high power, and the internal temperature display reflects this, so the thermal solution appears to be doing its job.

Fast shipping and great packaging from DX as always, thanks guys!.

Arrived quickly well packaged. Seems to be a great radio, is easy to setup. Fine sound quality from speaker. Can hit repeaters 75 to 100 miles away. Only drawback is the constant cycling of the cooling fan on and off even when not transmitting.

Surprisingly small, robust construction. Hugh heat sink! Love the 4 step power levels and 65 watts max. The instructions are a large sheet, not especially user friendly. I watched a couple YouTube videos and had it programmed in minutes! Only cons, the volume and squelch pots must be PC mounted, rather than attached to the case, so the knobs seemed a little wiggly.

I don’t care much for the mic connector either. They will probably be fine, but just my opinion. It does come with all hardware to mount mobile! Highly recommended.

I’ve had the radio for a few weeks and use it almost daily. AM and FM reception are as advertised, the reviews raving about the quality of reception are not exaggerated. Sound quality is very good. It was clearly designed with vocal legibility being the primary goal, so without tone control adjustment music is pretty bland.

However, unlike a lot of radios with adjustable bass and treble, with this radio you can turn the bass level all the way up without it becoming boomy – in fact, turning it up all the way is just about right for music.

Turn the treble to about 2 o’clock, and you’re all set. Set them back to 12 o’clock if talk radio is your thing. I like the thoughtful touches in the design – the wide base makes it very stable when sitting on a tabletop, the rubber feet keep it in place, the carrying handle has a rubber insert for good grip, the display is large and very legible with excellent illumination, adjustable for brightness.

4 D cells should give very good battery life. Only time will tell how long the extremely thin top segment of the telescoping antenna will last. I can see how the top-mounted preset buttons could be susceptible to dust or moisture, so I will vacuum them periodically, which is not unreasonable.

The NOAA weather band is very useful, the 2-meter amateur band not so much, more of a novelty to me. It’s a bit pricey for a tabletop radio, but so far it appears the extra dollars get you a very well-built, good-performing radio.

As advertised, this is an ideal radio for listening. I wanted a receiver so I could listen to out-of-market baseball games at night, and the CCRadio 2E definitely fits the bill. I’m able to listen to the Reds, White Sox, Red Sox, Guardians, Orioles, and the two NY teams at night, with a minimum of deep fades.

I can listen to the two NY teams by day, but unfortunately cannot listen to the Orioles, because of the static. As for DXing, my Tecsun PL-880 with the Terk Advantage loop is better than the CCRadio 2E, mainly because of the static.

I can still DX with the CCRadio 2E, but I prefer using the Tecsun PL-880. All the same, I’m happy with the purchase, because the CCRadio compliments the Tecsun, and I just like the idea of the long life D batteries, which reminds me of my ye olde analog GE Superadio.

Since it weighs a ton, I can’t recommend the CCRadio for travelling, though I’d love to see how it would do on a camping trip, away from all the noise.

The CCRadio 2E Enhanced is very well made. The quality of the materials and fit/finish is very high and has a nice heavy feel in the hands. AM reception is exceptional. FM and weather band reception is also very good and the weather alert works well.

I am not sure if the 2-meter Ham band is working or not – I have yet to hear anything on 2-meters and there are a lot of Ham operators in my area so can’t say much about 2-meter operation. The radio is very much designed for talk radio which is what I bought it for but if you are looking for rich audio for FM then you might want to look at something else.

I wish there was a way to have the screen light come on/off with the radio and have it remember the brightness level the user set when last used but you have to turn the screen light on and off everytime – not huge but having more control would be nice.

Another feature that would be nice would be the ability to charge rechargeable batteries. As it is if you want to use rechargeables you have to take them out of the radio to recharge. Is the radio worth the price? I would say yes based on material and build quality and the excelllent AM reception.

There are other radios available at a much lower price that perform almost as well but are not built as well or with top quality materials. I am pleased with the radio and would recommend it.

So I bought this exact radio , same advertisement as this. I just sent this radio in to have some adjustments done to wattage and oh my , butchered , crushed caps , replaced finals , heat sink grease everywhere, terrible tuning, dont buy from here , you want a Connex , order through Trucks!!!.

I bought this radio a few months ago. At first everything was working fine. I sounded loud and clear. And than 2months later the radio blew out on me. It just stopped working. The power cord fuse started getting so hot that it melt the fuse box.

Only worked for 2 months!! Dont buy!!.

Failed after one week, costing hundreds of dollars in repairs to a system that has been flawless for years. Put my old connex back in line after repairing system. Working fine again! Just dont make stuff like they did in the past JMO.

I have owned this HT for over a month as a stand-in while pondering another HT as my ICOM IC-92AD is down hopefully just in need of new batteries that I have ordered – being over 10 years old. I purchased the VX-6R for its IXP7 water-proof rating – and I’m delighted that it’s small and very tough.

I wanted it to carry when I’m pedaling my mountain bike when in the rain and mud. I did purchase the Diamond SRH320A antenna to use with this HT with Diamond’s BNC connector – but I have returned to using the stock antenna (with BNC connector) because it is almost half the length making the HT much easier to carry.

What ever performance the SRH320A offers over the stock antenna is lost in its length almost twice as long as being relatively unwieldy. I have manually programmed the VR-6X without software; I found the manual sufficient and have programmed repeater stations in multiple banks, for example, either 144, 220, or 440, plus as applicable, in banks labeled SKYWARN, ARES, CLUB, and the regional TRAFFC net.

Plus other banks set for FM broadcast and Airport freqs. I’ll probably add more as these banks ease remembering (6-letter names are sufficient if used for locals, e. g. , WOODBG, for Woodbridge (VA).

Software may ease re-numbering station memories as scanning can be also accomplished by range of memory numbers as well as banks; however, the banks serve me sufficiently. Buttons are small because the HT is small – so, no complaints; the battery life is quite good so understandable the very very low 200 mv output equates to really, really low volume along with a rather raspy, unpleasant tone eased a bit with my constant use of matching waterproof speaker/mic, i.

e. , this is not the best HT for casually chewing on a net – but gets the job done in understanding conversation even when driving in my rather quiet Forrester. I have programed the lower-left corner “WIRES” button to show DC supply voltage especially nice to leave on to see how transmissions impact battery voltage in warning of draining battery life.

Currently have the intended program button, P/DMR below the power on/off button set to lamp that enables some added light if needed when sorting through my bike bag at night when in need of tools (yes, I pedal night and in the rain, too – the best of times!).

Don’t complain, just skip the manual about WIRES II and the two net groups identified because Yaesu no longer supports WIRE II as an analog system. So, that part of the manual is non-consequential in that it is otherwise insufficient to explain in use of something that is no longer technically feasible.

I’m going to get one of those windup 23 foot shortwave listening antennas out of curiosity as this HT has a lot of city-name shortwave channels in a special bank (which you will not hear with stock antenna) as well as weather channels in another ( very sufficiently heard as VHF).

I might well reprogram the one button below the power on /off to access the one-best NOAA weather channel for my region (the HT does not support NOAA S. A. M. E. “county warning” technology – but then few receivers do).

I use the case, adequate but not special as a cover over the HT, used to hopefully slow any wearing of the button markings. I followed the advice to lower the key/display lighting. To add to the bad, in addition to low fidelity (but quite discernible) tone and now expired WIRE II, do get the fast charger; get the 12v DC power cord for use in the car as it boosts the 200 mv to 400 making for better volume/clarity in an auto while also charging the HT – otherwise, as warned in the manual, the HT must not be operated when being 7+v charged from the electrical outlet.

I purchased the barometer option thinking I’d use it for altitude: the indicated altitude is not the same as GPS-dtermined, as it is dependent upon barometric pressure that certainly changes over several hours; so then does the altitude; however, the barometric pressure has stayed within a couple of percents of that indicated at the international airport – over 2 week periods: wow, that’s accurate! I”m very satisfied as the barometric pressure is my set wake-up feature setting including when HT display would otherwise fit to sleep thus indicating an impeding weather front, confirmed by use of the programmed weather channel.

I could write more; but, to again attempt summary; I have lost immediate interest in getting another HT/hot-spot, eventually to access a digital node(s); but for near immediate needs, the VX-6R is OUTSTANDING at an unbelievably low price.

I’m giving this 5 stars because I believe it is a solid product. I found it to be very intuitive to use and program on the fly. I swapped out antennas and in my area it has solid reach for an ht. I have had one issue that I need to resolve.

My battery cracked where the latch secures to it. This should not have happened. I currently only have the battery that came with the unit and have not operated the latch since I installed it around 3 months ago.

Field repaired it with a piece of tape until I can get to dx and pick up a new one.

This is my second VX6R. The first is still going strong after a decade of use and a recent trip to Yaesu for minor repair and new keypad. The new one is for my XYL that recently became a technician. They are great radios for outdoor enthusiasts emergency communications users.

It is water resistant and able to take more that a few bumps and tumbles. I only wish it did a full 5 watts on 1. 25 meters and had a better belt clip. Though there are lots of pouches it fits in well.

So far everything works as advertised. I don’t find that programing the BF-F8HP is that difficult as stated in some (many) blogs. Very nice the fact that batteries, antennae, accessories etc. are interchangeable with UV-5R.

A very good product for the money.

I already have an older UV-5R. I saw this for a great price & figured I would snag it as another back-up radio. I have no intention using it for the additional output power. I had two 3800 mAh batteries laying around & a spare antenna from my UV-5R.

I felt the need to put a radio to the the accessories. I am only using it right now to focus on listening to certain scanner frequencies when there is bad weather or other events. Everything sounds very clear.

Operation is easy.

learning how to program this set up. a very good radio. nice design a little heavier. but that’s for your protection ! so it will survive some abuse ! this is a cool one for around S. W. Idaho !I don’t have a license yet so just listening.

is worth the bucks. enjoy if you get one.

Only feature missing is priority channel option. It mimics the chipswitch to the T otherwise. I still run with the hr2510. Anyone who knew Doc, I worked with him and know his secrets to the 2510.

I ran a Top Gun Quad Five for a couple of years & was beset with road noise in the receiver. I switched to this mobile & all of that went away. Lots of Features, Great Display & Small Package. Awesome HF Mobile.

I have been enjoying the band openings with it. President has got it right with this version! All the latest upgrades & improvements. Just add a 1K 1/2 watt Resistor & program sequence & you are good to go.

Great radio, easily expanded to include CB frequencies (clip a single wire). The 50 watt output is a bit optimistic except for CW and possibly SSB. But AM will be half that at best. The selling point of this radio is that its all mode on 10 meters.

Which is important for new Tech Class ham’s who are limited to SSB.

For perspective, I’m a new amateur. I picked up the tech license about a year ago. Started with a Boofunk HT, and wanted an upgrade. I got this because I wanted a good portable for 2m/70cm, and I wanted to encourage myself to take that general exam.

I’ve got several ancient pieces of Yaesu gear that I intend to restore and I like consistency. Ok, so now that you know a little about my background. I love this radio! It’s been so much fun to operate, and just reading the manual was educational.

I can’t remember the last time I bought an electronic product that came with such a useful manual! There was even a service manual with full schematics and parts lists! That’s the first time I’ve bought any commercial product and found schematics.

The radio has lots of features I like already. As I’m still learning in general, it will take me a long time to be truly familiar with everything this radio does. The touchscreen display is nice. I’ve never found myself annoyed because it registered a touch incorrectly (or not at all).

The “mars” mod that opens up 11 meters among other things was super simple. There are a few negative things about the radio. Perhaps it’s just my inexperience, but I wish the memory would also store output power settings.

For example, I’d like to have the output power automatically drop to 5 watts if I switch to a memory on 11m. Some repeaters are close to me and I also run 5 watts to them. Others are further away and 50 watts is more appropriate.

I really wish the memory stored output power. Also, many of the features are disabled on 2m/70cm. Some you don’t really need but others would be really nice. Both metering and audio processing are like this.

All in all, it’s a great radio. My gripes are minor, and could be entirely a result of my inexperience.

Overall, a great handheld. Good output, good receive and loud enough for noisy environments. Inadvertently tested robustness a couple of times and it’s holding up very well. Excellent battery life too.

Two small criticisms: 1. Maybe it’s been updated, but when I bought, the manual was unclear on how to save frequencies to memory. Got it figured out eventually, but that was not great. 2. Display is small and hard to read, even with backlight on.

However, once programmed, it’s not that relevant. Overall, love it and wouldn’t trade it.

This radio is great because it does classic analog Hf VHF UHF but it also does Dstar digital as well as connecting directly to PC or Mac for other digital modes, such as FT8, JT9, etc. This radio even decodes RTTY in stand-alone mode with no external computer.

For the time being, this is the rig to get if you want to play with digital modes in my opinion.

This came as a complete setup and I am rating the radio IC-7100. It performs as it should and I have received signal and audio reports that are outstanding. It is easy to use and setup with the touch screen and menu selections.

Very easy to program.

I-com 7100 is a perfect radio for over all ham use. It does everything and more a person expects. The only draw back to it is the Manual is very hard to follow. Some elements of the radio are hard to learn how to use.

I used the YouTube videos to learn how to operate it.

This was the very first radio I’d bought from DX Engineering. Since I am new to amateur Radio, I was looking for something easy to use (Portable as well). But I love this radio, it is high quality (Made in Japan) and all of the buttons are not too small (easy to press).

I would recommend this radio for new hams who are looking for a starter Radio. It also has a good receiving system and a good built in speaker. Only downside was that it does not cover the 6 Meter band.

I can’t say enough good things about this rig! First off, the recieve quality is excellent. The level of settings customization on RX and DX is unparalleled. The SQ, NB, DNR, Shift, Contour and Notch settings give you the power to pull even very weak signals out of the noise and make them sound crystal clear.

FT8/FT4/all other digital modes have been a dream on this thing. For some perspective, my first rig before this one was the QRP Xeigu G90, which no doubt I would recommend to any new ham looking to get started in the fun that is HF.

This rig, though, is like moving to a Cadillac after driving a Ford Pinto for 10 years. On the G90, which I had grounded along with its 100w amp (the XPA125b), the sensitive electronics (including the GCFI outlets in my home) operating around it would sometimes bug out depending on conditions and frequency due to RFI and EMI.

This absolutely does not happen with the FTdx10, whether I’m running 1w or 100w — 0 RFI or EMI. The tuner on this thing is fantastic with my Chameleon EMCOMM III-B. From 10m – 160m, it tunes it up perfectly.

The waterfall and built-in oscilloscope are quite helpful. Having the touch screen is a built in bonus, allowing you to easily switch between monitoring power, AC, SWR, etc. There are two built in preamp settings and at least three different levels of attenuation to utilize depending on conditions.

I promise you will NOT be disappointed with this radio. It’s in my shack to stay!.

Pros: I can’t gush enough about this transceiver’s receiver quality. I can pull stations out of the noise like never before. The trans mitter is also excellent. The build-in antenna tuner works so well it handles a couple bands without the need for an external tuner for my doublet antenna with 450 ohm ladder line.

Another pro is its DVI interface so I can control it from my desktop monitor with a moust and keyboard. Now for the cons: I need to dedicate a mouse and keyboard to the unit, since it doesn’t know how to handle a USB switch.

It was, IMO, a poor design choice to place so many buttons around the dial where you’d likely to hit the dial when pressing a button and getting pushed off frequency. I’ve gotten used to hitting LOCK every time I tune so that won’t happen.

In addition, I prefer ICOM’s method of moving in 1 kHz steps. It’s on or it’s off. With the Yaesu, it’s only on for a while and turns off by itself. And if you accidentally touch the inner tuning dial, it goes off immediately.

I bought this radio to get back into HF & contesting. It performed awesome during it’s first contest, the 2022 IARU HF World Championship. On just a mono band 1/2 wave inverted V – 20m dipole up 30 feet, I did 51 different countries without hardly any work.

Now all I need is more antennas so I am not limited to just 20m. I was stuck between the 7300 and this one, I decided to spend a little more and get this FTdx10 and I am happy I did. Note – everyone says Yaesu is not as intuitive as say Icom.

That is true for the 857 or 817 that doesn’t have a lot of real estate to work with. This radio is not like that, it is super easy to use and a pleasure to live with. Also one last thing, you have to tune the 3d waterfall to get the most out of that feature.

All you do is use the function knob to set the gain or attenuation so that it looks like a lawn with background noise being blades of grass, and signals being the trees. It takes less than 5 seconds and makes the 3d waterfall much more useful.

A lot of the video reviews don’t show this. Hope you enjoy yours!.

This is a good upgrade from the typical beginner radio. It’s easy to program from the front panel, or from the computer. The receive quality and sound quality are both very good for this price point.

Battery life is very good and I like that the belt clip attached to the radio. The best quality so far, however, is how rugged it has shown itself to be. In the short week that I’ve owned this radio, I have managed to drop it hard at least three times and it’s survived spectacularly.

This is a radio with very clean sounding receive audio through my vertex external speaker. TX audio is turned up super loud but clean and natural sounding. Too loud in my opinion. Using it as a base station, TVs and conversations can be heard on transmit from the next rooms.

To save clipping, I speak with my mouth about 3 to 5 inches from the mic. Sub audible tones are audible. I understand VR 107 will turn down mic gain, but I’m not fooling with that. A nice looking unit that reminds me a little of Icom’s IC2000H.

Like that Icom, I have a problem with crackling on transmit. Board mounting screws loose? I don’t know. The radio seems to be designed for packet. Maybe that’s the better way to use it.

We are running a couple of these on high volume VARA FM gateways, with either RIM9600 or DRA boards. Hardware installation is quick an easy: connect the RIM9600, turn on the radio, set power to medium and put radio in digital mode.

On the software side, turn off the AGC in Windows, adjust the audio output and input levels and have fun. Using UZ7HO we also have Packet 1200 running, as a backup function for Winlink. The screen is easy to read and the knobs are solid.

It is a good radio, which can handle lots of traffic, especially on medium power.

Relatively easy setup out of the box, everything needed was included, well packed against damage, and worked perfectly with no issues. I especially like the real microphone connector instead of an RJ45 that requires exceptional care.

The switches on the microphone to turn off unneeded function are also a nice feature. A friend on simplex who used to be marginal is now full quieting so the box also has ears. This was my first Alinco product.

I believe it was a good decision.