I have been thinking really hard about participating in the ARRL January VHF Contest on the air during the weekend of January 19-21. It seems to be very interesting, but there is one major kicker: my reigon does not see too much heavy duty VHF operation over 50Mhz. The only radios that I happen to own for this purpose are my BaoFeng UV200 2W 2M/440 HT and my hulking Icom ICV82 HT for 2M at 7.5W. I really can not partake as a rover station in a car, because I did not buy an antenna for the car.Lastly, I did not consider the purchase of an output amplifier, since I am returning to college and I had to spend some of my money on the semester's textbooks. What to do, what to do? I will try to throw out what I can for it and be prepared for the best.
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For today's equipment overview, I will be looking at the BaoFeng's UV3R family of radios (which will include the UV100 and more particularly, I'll be focusing on the UV200 that I own.)
Small, but is it worthy to be an HT?
At first glance, it may seem to be a knockoff of Yaesu's VX2R and VX3R Lines of radios: it is. This Chinese made radio offers easy access to 2m (144-148Mhz) and 440Mhz. at a decent price. I got mine last Febuary for $41, and had the 2m and 440 antennas as well as a headset (which is now broken) and the belt clip and battery charger. On high power, it transmitts with 2W, and on low power, an amazing 0.5W. It also has a flashlight, unlocked transmit outside the amateur range for emergency use (you can legally transmit on the Family Radio Service channels using this radio in the US if you do not have an amateur license), a flashlight, and FM broadcast receive. The major drawback to it is the supercompact size, having to set the repeater offsets manually (apparently this radio wont let you do that) cheap feeling and pathetic battery life that this radio has. I am planning on modifying it to support 3 C or D cell batteries for extended life and being able to switch them out without having to use a charger (which mine failed) For a beginner amateur operator who got his/her technician licence, it would make a budget radio, but for myself, I would get Baofeng's UV-5R series for 2m/440. Personally, if you can afford it, a Yaesu FT-250R or Icom ICV82 for 2m use on its own.
People who are new to the hobby who just get their technician license often use repeaters, and on repeaters, there are usually nets. Some people ask me: what are nets? In short, it is an on the air gathering of amateur operators, either in a formal or informal setting. Most of the nets you find on 2m are informal nets, but there are a few formal ones on the air. For example in my local area, Sully's International Rooster Roster has a set of formal rules and guidelines that one must follow to check in. Another local net that is around me, known as the Seaway Net, is an informal net where local operators can talk about their day. Each net has an operator known as the control operator who coordinates and runs the net, announcing it to order, and closes the net when it is finished.
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