[CW] What is the best transceiver for operating cw moble ?

[John J. McDonough]

> Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 11:27:10 -0400
> Subject: [CW] What is the best transceiver for operating cw moble ?

> Gentlemen: I would like advise as to what is the best transceiver to use
> while operating CW mobile? Best is defined as the optimum balance of
quality
> and price or the highest quality for the lowest cost. I would also like
some
> suggestions for a moble antenna? I will appreciate all intelligent and
> helpful comments received. -73- Sherrill W. k4own.

First of all, there never is a "best", it depends on a million personal
factors, and "quality" is in the eye of the beholder.

That being said, I have found the Icom 706 to be a pretty decent mobile.
The detachable head allows for plenty of mounting options, the noise blanker
is pretty good at whacking ignition noise.  It's certainly not a 756 ProII,
but the price isn't either <g>.  It has a lot of features that make mobile
operation a little more pleasant.  Although it has VHF/UHF, it isn't really
a very good FM radio for traveling.  It is too hard to set up a repeater on
the road unloess you configured it ahead of time.  But some of the same
features that make it annoying for FM make it nice for HF, so I have a
separate VHF/UHF rig in the car.  But if your only VHF activity is simplex
it's just fine.

http://www.qsl.net/wb8rcr/Mobile.html

The 706 has an adjustable brake on the tuning knob, really a must for
mobile.  It also has a lock button which is handy.  The big display is easy
to see in the vehicle, and the relatively small head can be mounted up high,
although mine is mounted down a ways.  There is a scratchpad memory that
remembers 5 frequencies by pushing one button.  It can be configured to
remember 10, but that's more than I can keep track of!  The general coverage
receiver is nice because, frankly, when the interstate is stopped sometimes
it's handy to monitor 11 meters to find out what's happening.  The mount for
the head is a quick disconnect type of arrangement so it takes just a few
seconds to pull it out and hide it under the seat.

As far as antennas, I have had very good luck with Hamsticks.  However,
there are all sorts of clones out there, and some of them don't work very
well.  I've also had good luck with Hustlers, but they are extremely narrow
banded.  Unfortunately, there is no 80 meter Hamstick ... only 75.

If your vehicle is large, a lot of people like screwdrivers.  They do seem
like a nice thing if you need to be switching bands all the time, but I
don't.  It's pretty much 20 during the day, 40 at night, or 80 if I'm going
to check into a traffic net (which I do a lot from the mobile when the
weather is nice).  So popping on a different antenna a couple times a day
using a Hustler quick disconnect isn't all that big of a chore.  I carry 20,
30, and 40 meter Hamsticks, and 75 and 80 meter Hustlers in the trunk (once
in a rare while I do get into a phone net from the car).  My Hamsticks have
colored tape on them so I can quickly identify the band, and the whips have
matching tape so I can set them to the right position quickly.  The
Hamsticks do require adjustment to move from the CW to the phone sections,
so if you do any amount of phone operation you might consider multiples -- 
they are pretty cheap.  But my only HF phone operation is 75 meter traffic
nets, so that's not an issue for me.

I glued a couple of magnets to the inside of the ash tray lid to match,
polarity-wise, with the magnetic mount on the Palm paddle.  Makes for a
pretty decent installation in spite of no space.

72/73 de WB8RCR    http://www.qsl.net/wb8rcr
didileydadidah     QRP-L #1446 Code Warriors #35