[Mobile-Portable] 2M + 70CM Band Rig Recommendations

[Gary Pearce KN4AQ]

I much prefer a TWOBAAT (Two Bands At A Time) over an OBAAT (One 
Band...).  It's not just two bands at once, it's two VHF or two UHF at 
one.  Monitor one channel while scanning on the other side.  Crossband 
repeat.  But if you're VHF/UHF operation is very limited, you probably 
won't appreciate the feature enough to make it worth the extra money.

Either way, the Yaesu 7800-8800 have somewhat better intermod immunity than 
the Icom's.  Poor intermod performance is the #1 complaint about the 
2720.  I'm not sure about the 208H, but my older 207H is poor on 
intermod.  The ARRL lab tests confirm the real-world operation.

Operationally, the Yaesu's have alphanumeric readout, while the 2720 does 
not.  And I think the Yaesu's have more memories.  So they get the nod for 
"power users."  But the Icom's have some nice features that the Yaesu's 
don't.  You can group memory channels in "banks" that group them together 
in some logical orders (the repeaters you use all the time in one bank, all 
the repeaters in town in another, the repeaters you'll use on a trip in a 
third...).  It's a nice feature I use on a couple of Icom handhelds and an 
ID-800 mobile.

Then there's that question of "Will D-STAR take off?"  It might, and an 
analog-only radio will leave you out of that slice of ham radio for 
now.  But it won't be a big slice for a long time.

You'll enjoy any of the radios you're looking at, and wish they had some of 
the features or performance of the competition.

73,
Gary KN4AQ

At 09:42 AM 4/8/2007, you wrote:
>Gang,
>
>I need comments from users comparing ICOM's IC208H to Yaesu's FT7800
>
>AND
>
>ICOM's IC2720H to Yaesu's FT8800. (BTW the new IC2820 is out of my price 
>class)
>
>Trying to decide on a 2 band rig for mobile use. And whether it's worth 
>the extra money for the A/B
>capabilities of the 2720 and 8800
>
>TIA and 73
>
>
>Larry K3VX
>
>
>----
>Your Moderator: Dick Flanagan K7VC, mobile-portable-owner at mailman.qth.net

ARVN: Amateur Radio//Video News
Gary Pearce KN4AQ
508 Spencer Crest Ct.
Cary, NC 27513
kn4aq at arvidnews.com
919-380-9944
www.ARVidNews.com