Recommend a Good 10 Metre Transciever

Flying

I am think of getting back into HAM and CB radio after a long time out and currently looking for a 10 Metre Base station.

Can anyone recommend one ?

PauloMN

All depends on what exactly you want and how much you are prepared to spend. "Base station" 10/11m rigs are hard to find, you'd be better getting a full HF set if you can stretch to it IMO.

Good mobile HF sets can be got for €500 upwards second-hand from dealers, base HF sets will be more expensive of course.

Don't forget to budget for a decent antenna. No point having a good radio with a poor antenna.

If it is purely 11m you want and something that has SSB and decent 26-28MHz coverage, something like a President Lincoln is probably a good buy.

http://www.ham.dmz.ro/cb/president/lincoln.php

icom

Flying wrote:

I am think of getting back into HAM and CB radio after a long time out and currently looking for a 10 Metre Base station.

Buying a 10 metre base station might not be a very wise investment right now.
Not much propagation on TEN at the moment as we're at the bottom end of the 11 year sunspot cycle. There might possibly be an occasional Sporadic-E opening into Europe during the summer months, but no real DX for another few years at least.

Might be a good idea to look for a second-hand HF rig (try E-Bay) and give yourself a choice of bands. Some good propagation on 20 metres these days, with the band staying open right up until midnight.

gyppo

As the other lads said -
Have a good look at a synthesised HF transciever - avoid older models that are cystal controlled. That way, as well as 10/11M transmit, you have 0-30MHz recieve, and if you went for a HF licence, you can use it on all the other bands.
I'd take a look at something like an Icom IC-725 from Ebay. Very simple to operate unit, excellent recieve, and very good audio on transmit. Only thing is, if you do go down this route, budget for a 20amp power supply too.
Maybe Im biased though - I've had mine for about 10 years now.

Edit: Something like this might be worth looking at:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/icom-726-all-mode-hf-50mhz_W0QQitemZ170105828880QQihZ007QQcategoryZ4674QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Flying

Now thats my type of Radio.

Had the HF License 15 years ago,dunno if it still stands but need to seriously brush up on my TX/DX skills.

Also need to look at a good antenna.

but that seems an all rounder, I may delve deeper into that, thanks guys for the info

watty

US 10m rigs are rubbish and overpriced compared with full HF band radios.
New
Portable FT817 up to 5W
Mobile/Base 100W, FT897 (sort of portable up to 20W).

You can't legally have a 11m & 10m in the same box, except as a receive only*.

I have separate CBs.

My main "base" rig is a very old TS180. It's an excellent basic rig with all the amateur bands and 100W. Not synthesis. Avoid very old synth rigs, VFO is better as the old synths are noisy. The modern ones are ok and DDS is better.

I find a 66ft end fed wire about 10ft to 15ft above ground works fine 80m to 10m using a homebrew KW107 type ATU. It's usable at reduced power on 160m.

I have a 9ft whip and elecraft T1 ATU for the FT817. Perfect 40m to 6m

I also have a Racal Syncal300 (Grinel TR48) 100KHz to 30MHz RX and 1.5MHz to 30MHz continious TX with built in gold wire Drum ATU for 8ft whip. About 30W, uses 24V originally from 19 D cell Nicad, I tried a pair of 7.2AH 12V gel batteries but now using 18 C cell NiMh, which is about the same capacity as the original larger cells. NiMH is slightly higher volts than NiCd, so two "12V" packs of 9 cells each works and allows charging from 12V / 13.8V etc.

The FT857 is new often cheaper than a S/H Ic706G MkII and slightly higher spec. The FT857 is a good all band all mode for mobile use, but I think the FT897 is worth the extra money as bigger heatsink and more versatile, except for car (The IC706 and FT857 have detachable front panels).

An older All HF all mode of decent type is about 350 Euro.


(* well technically you can as long as it is only used to TX on Amateur bands, even at 5W it is illegal to use for CB TX. Amateur users may use any gear including home built or modified ex CB, CB may only use type approved unmodified just like PMR446, except you can add your own non-beam aerial)