I'm looking at getting a handheld tranceiver for now that I've got my HAM license. Any HAMs out there have a radio model they really suggest or warn against? I'd want something rugged, with good battery life and preferably either a dual-band or tri-band. Price isn't too much of an issue, since I've kind of planned for the expense, but I'm looking at around $300.

First congratulations on your ham license.

My wife and I have a pair of Icom T90a's which we bought a few years back. Triband, 2m, 70cm, 6m, 5 watt output with good battery life and small compact size. We like them quite a bit, but I have not done any study on any newer radios since I bought these.

Sort of a pain to program, but easier with the very crude programming software. A bit of intermod in the city, but overall not bad. Wide receive including other ham bands, TV, AM, FM radio, NOAA weather, (all but cell phone).

Needs a good antenna....Smiley Antenna's are now my favorite (5/8 wave 2m, 5/8 wave 440 and a dual band. We have not used the 6m band at all.

We bought a spare Li-ion pack and AA holder for each radio.

Our emergency comms group is farily well represented with Kenwood and Yaesu radios of similar capabilities, so I think as long as you stay within these brands you almost cannot go wrong.

About the only thing I have noticed with all the folks in our comms group is that the more compact and complex radios are pretty easy to forget how to program. The little quick guide laminated cards are real handy to slip in the radio pouch.

Almost every handheld I have ever seen comes with a totally useless antenna....junk it and order a decent gain antenna right away. I have used Pryme, Maldol, and the new Smiley's. The thin wire Pryme RD-98 is a great antenna, but the precision tuned Smiley's are much better....even if of old telescoping style. I also have made tiger tails for these radios which can help a bit too.

http://www.smileyantenna.com/

I've been wanting to get one myself but so many are coming with Lithium Ion which I don't want because I don't want to have to buy a new battery every 2-3 years even if they are lighter.

The Yaesu VX-7R is really great. It is dual receive and also receives TV, AM, FM radio, NOAA weather. It is extremely rugged, and is rated to be submersible to three feet for a half hour!
I got one recently for $300 from hamcity.com after some research. It is one of the best you can get, and I love it so far.

http://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=Dis...mp;isArchived=0

I have learned to mistrust the ham manufacturer's battery packs over the years. They just don't use very good quality cells inside, whatever the technology. And they charge an awful lot to buy their custom-fitting short-lived packs. So I would say, if you can, try to get a radio that has an accessory form-fitting pack that can take AAs, for use as a backup (or even regularly, but with less power output).

I take the dead packs apart very carefully and rebuild with my own choice of cells after they die. Way cheaper, and not one I have rebuilt with quality cells has ever died. But then, if you're a ham, doing thngs like this is what it's (meant to be) all about...

You sure are right about the programming of these radios. I would never say I have the best memory, but these things have so many functions and the programming of some of the important functions is really obscure. I wish they put their user manuals in Word or pdf etc. format. Maybe some do? I actually typed the manual for mine into Word, shrunk it down a lot so it all fit on one page both sides...I use it all the time. Must be getting old...

I just got my HAM Tech license a few months ago.

I also have the Yaesu VX7 radio and like it quite a bit. Here is a webpage with reviews for this radio:

http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/2350

Justin

You can go to Eham.net look for the reviews and check there for handheld reviews I have yeasu and love the radios alot.

Lee

The problem I'm having is being able to buy a radio wihout the Lithium Ion pack. All the ones I find they come with the pask then you have to buy the AA pack seperate so I'me paying for a soon to be useless Lithium Ion pack that I don't want or need.

What I want if the ham equivalent of this. I have one of these I bought used for $40. The battery pack slides off and then pops open to hold 6 AA's. Then I bought two more packs which were designed to hold 8 AA NiCad's and filled them with Sanyo Eneloop NiMH and it works fine. So I have one pack to use while the other is charging and I can use the NiCad trickle circuitry built into the packs if needed or pull the AA's out and plug them in a good charger. Used it a few weekends ago when I met a friend in a state forest. We were past cell phone service so I handed him that handheld CB so we could talk back and forth as we drove around trying to find the shooting range.

I've been using the Yaesu VX-5 (a precursor the VX-7) for a while now.
I hate it.
It's got an obtuse, insane programming process, you can inadvertantly press buttons that leave the radio inoperable until you press a totally different sequence other buttons to clear the action of the first button press.
The function menus are in no particular order, features you'll never use (like setting the Barometric Pressure Offset for the optional altimeter) are at the same level as setting the squelch (which can ONLY be accessed via a multi-step process).
As a ham radio, it's OK - I can talk and be heard on local repeaters.
As an AM Broadcast Receiver you'll better with a crystal radio set made from a razor blade and oatmeal container.
It's fair to poor on other receive bands like the 150Mhz and 450Mhz bands. It does pretty poor on Aviation bands.

Kenwood makes a much more useful and practical radio in the TH-F6A. At about $320, it's comparable to the VX-7, however, I find this to be a radio that I can actually USE. Not only that, it's small. The TH-79 (a dual-bander) is pretty good too, a bit bulky, but you can find them for $125 pretty much everywhere.

I did a quick search on the TH-79 and it says discontinued which must be the reason for the low price as everyone must be clearing them out.