WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Hi All,

Passed my Standard theory, regs and the prac today at Ham College so will hopefully be on air as soon as ACMA stick me in their database (soon to be VK6MAH).

Does anyone here have a tri-band HF/UHF/VHF Transceiver that they think would be suited to someone like me just starting out? I'm not looking for something with all the bells and whistles, definitely doesn't need to have the capability of digital modulation modes or anything as I'm just interested in getting on air and talking to others as well as listening to emergency services.

Freqs I'd like to be able to listen to on UHF/VHF
- 460-480
- 150-170

As for HF, I'm not clued up as to whether some radios will only work on 80m + 40m and not 20m or 15m etc, so happy for advice here. Obviously would like to be able to TX on all freqs that Standard can access i.e. 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m and 10m.

Thanks!
Matt

Hi Matt, you might be looking at Yaesu FT-857 or FT-897, Icom IC-706MK2G or IC-7000. As far as I can remember all of those do all bands from 160m to 70cm. Also should be good to receive the other freqs you mentioned. They all sell occasionally on VK Classifieds. Here's an IC-706 on there now which seems to be the going price for a 2nd hand one.

Edit: Looks like the Yaesu models don't do above 164 MHz for VHF receive.

Thanks Rob, shame that the Yaseu doesn't receive above 164. All of them don't do the 470-480 range however this doesn't concern me too much.

The two Icom models look promising, I'll have a look around for a good price on a secondhand one then.

I've read online about people modifying these radios to receive frequencies not listed on their spec sheets. Do you know if this can be done? Is it illegal to do (just RX not TX) or is it frowned upon?

Both Icoms cover 30kHz–200MHz and 400–470MHz RX out of the box. I'm not aware of any mods to receive 200-400MHz (not much there anyway.. occasional military) or above 470MHz.
If there are receiver mods, they wouldn't be illegal... many receivers cover a lot more than that. A good VHF/UHF set might be the go. The FT-7800 covers 108-520 and 700 to 999 MHz AM and FM. The IC-208 covers 118-173, 230-549 and 810-999MHz AM and FM. Both those cover more than I'll ever listen to

Or do the USB DVB-T dongle method

Awesome, didn't know the scanner would be that simple with a DVB-T dongle. Have ordered one so will see how it goes.

Thanks for all the info!