[Tandy] HTX-420 -- in stores soon.

[A10382]

Hi Folks,

Response to my email query, received today, from RS corporate, about the
availability of the HTX-420:
==================
"I was informed by the Buyer that the first shipments of the 19-1108's have
just arrived in Quality Assurance Control (LAC) and once tested, they will
be moving to stores soon. "
===============

This is good news:  If the radio lives us to its specs (there a few
conflicting items in the ads, catalogue, and the user manual -- which is
on-line), then it should be worth the price.

In comparing the specs and physical appearance to other manufacturer's
units, the radio appears to be a Kenwood that probably never made it to
market.  The case, size, speaker style & location, key arrangement, antenna
placement, and features seem to overlap one of the later Kenwood HTs.  My
guess is that it is a low cost, feature reduced, Kenwood D7 sub-model  -
with what looks like a poor antenna for 2M/440 combo.  The antenna issue is
easy to fix - there are a lot of very good dual band ducks for $25.   On
balance, you probably are getting a better battery than the typical stock HT
one.

On every HT that I have owned - new or used - I ended up replacing the
antenna and battery and then adding a desk top charger, a AA tray, a case,
and a car cord.  All of this makes a $300 HT actually cost  about $450 to
500

On another note:  Although the radio can be expanded to Tx/Rx on up to
470mHz, it does not appear to be legal for use on FRS or GMRS.  There are
specs for both of these services that the unit does not meet.  The removable
antenna makes it illegal (even at very low power) for use as an unlicensed
FRS unit.  The GMRS bands also require a frequency stability, due to tight
channel separation, that most amateur HTs and bases do not meet.  If it is
out of GMRS spec, then you will likely be spilling onto adjacent channels
and will get some howls from other licensed and public safety & business
(grandfathered on GMRS) users.

For those of you interested in usage in this venue of the HTX-420 radio, the
magazine web site: (  http://www.gmrsweb.com/gmrs.html ) and the Bulletin
Board & User Forums ( http://www.gmrsweb.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi ) are a
great introduction and pointer to a wealth of other related sites.  There is
a lot of info on the forums about the better RS radios - one that goes to 5W
(5W for HTs & 'small bases' and 50W for 'large base systems' and repeaters
are legal for GMRS).

There is a lot of interesting stuff on the problems that these bands are
having from unlicensed operators and the lack of FCC enforcement.  This is
something that affects us all and can easily spill over into amateur radio.
Most of the non-ham population lump all non-government radio comm together
as 'hams' - giving up a bad rep when we don't deserve it.  Cheap 'bubble
pack' radios (unlike expensive amateur ones) make piracy from a uneducated
user population a real problem.

The newly designated license free 5 MURS channels (151-154mHz) seemed to
have been opened by the FCC because they could no longer police the
'job-site' business band radio users.  The same will probably happen to
GMRS - 10 million radios sold last year and only a  few thousand applied for
the $75 5-year license.  Have you ever seen a RS store employee caution
someone that needed an FCC license for the amateur HT radio they were
buying?  Nah.. they just want their commission.

See the qth reflector list: "ham-policy (
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/ham-policy )  for topics on amateur
rules, regs, and policies.  This is the place to discuss the potential
effect of legislation and government rules & regs on our hobby (amateur,
SWL, scanning, etc.).

73
Frank

 ._._.