Hey all,

Anyone have first-hand recommendation for a budget Ham radio to put into a Jeep? Some of then ones out there are $700+ and I don't want to spend that much my first time out (yeah I'm cheap)./

Thanks!

Mike

 

The guy you want to ask about that is on another forum, XJTalk. He runs hams and knows about them. Contact Mudderoy on that forum

 

I run a BTECH UV50X2 in mine. Works fine and runs about 160. It replaced a Yeasu FT90R that now lives on my bench as a base radio. The UV25X2 is a bit cheaper just under 120 dollar I think but a bit less power. I wouldn't go any lower than that for a decent mobile radio. I could set you up with a little 24 dollar Handheld that will get the job done when you add in an external antenna but IMO it's not very convenient and kind of bulky compared to a dedicated mobile unit, you'd also be giving up a 5-10x power increase by going with the handheld over the two radios listed above.

If you got the coin the "big three" make some great stuff but I'm on a budget and they are well outside of it. Baofeng/BTECH gets the job done for me for trail comms without breaking my wallet in half.

 

Mike, what is your budget?

 

Hey I was thinking in the $100 to $200 range.... what sort of range do these radios have?

 

For a mobile youre going to be into a Chinese unit for that price new. You might get lucky and find a "big three" radio used for that cost. Probably single instead of dual band.

Highly dependant on terrain amd antenna setup as far as range. Ive gotten a 98 mile simplex contact on a 5 watt HT from a 8000 foot ridge line out across the califonia desert. And had around a couple of miles in the Arroyos in that same desert and very rough mountains with a stretched put convoy of Jeeps using a mobile radio. Figure 12 to 30 miles depending on antenna and terrain.

I can hit the repeaters close to my work from my house on both VHF anr UHF about 40 miles straight line.

Repeaters can alwo greatly extend your range.

 

My brother has a handheld Kenwood which ran about $500, but that was 10 yrs ago. Seems like a nice unit tho.

 

The cheapest non chinese dual band Handheld you are going to find out there right now is the Yeasu FT60R. It runs about 150-160 dollars. It is a nice unit for sure, and tough but you can buy 7 UV5Rs for the same cost, a 25 watt UV25X2 mobile from BaofengTech with money left over for your antenna and mount or the 50 watt UV50X2.

With your 100-200 dollar budget assuming you want something actually mounted in the Jeep and not just a handheld I would go with the UV25X2 or UV50X2 (the 25x2 is a lot smaller and may work better for you for packaging reasons) then spend the rest of the money on a good antenna, coax and mount. The antenna is the heart of your system. The best radio in the world will fall flat on it's face if you can't get a signal out,

I really like my Comet antennas. I have a SSB5NMO and a SS680NMO that I switch out depending on situation (the 680 is shorter than the ssb5 so I use it in wooded areas more often). I run them on a fender NMO mount.

 

Midland just recently got into the amateur radio market with their copy of a Chinese radio. https://midlandusa.com/product/dbr25...two-way-radio/
Regular price is $149.99 however using the overlandusa promo code you can get it for $119.99

Whatever radio you go with get the antenna up high. For VHF/UHF antenna height is king. The best place to mount the antenna is on a NMO mount through the roof.

 

Its a rebadged AT-778. Its got pretty good reviews. About 120 to 130 on amazon so that midland with promo code is a decent deal.