Tag: review
-
BTECH GMRS-V2 Review: A Budget GMRS Handheld Worth a Look
Part of our GMRS Radio: The Complete Guide. BTECH has built a solid reputation in the ham radio side of the budget radio market, and the GMRS-V2 is their dedicated GMRS-only handheld. Since it is not trying to double as a ham radio, it can lean fully into GMRS-specific features without the compromises that come…
-
Best HF Radios Under $1,000: A Buyer’s Comparison
Part of our Where to Spend Your Money guide. I get asked some version of “what HF radio should I buy” constantly, and the honest answer depends heavily on budget. Under $1,000 is a real, well-served category with genuinely capable radios, not just compromises. I own three of the radios I am about to talk…
-
Handheld Radios (HTs): The Complete Guide
A handheld is how most people start in this hobby, and for a lot of us it never really stops being the radio we reach for first. But “HT” covers a huge range of gear, from a $25 Baofeng to a $500 GPS-tagging DMR radio, and picking the right one (then actually programming and accessorizing…
-
Pi-Star vs. WPSD: Why I Switched My DMR Hotspots
Part of our Getting On The Air: Modes, Operations, and Making Contacts guide. I ran Pi-Star for a long time before switching over, and now every hotspot I own runs WPSD. Both projects do the same underlying job, but a couple years of running both back to back has made the differences pretty clear to…
-
RT Systems Programming Software: What It’s Good For (and Where I Skip It)
RT Systems is the programming software I reach for on most of my radios, but not all of them. Here is where it earns its keep and where I switch to manufacturer software instead.
-
The Yaesu FC-80 Tuner for the FTX-1 Field: Does What It Says
My take on the Yaesu FC-80 automatic tuner for the FTX-1 Field Head. It’s not a G90-level internal tuner, but for a 3:1 mismatch it performs quite nicely.
-
NanoVNA: The Budget Antenna Analyzer That Punches Above Its Price
A real vector network analyzer used to mean a serious piece of lab equipment costing thousands. The NanoVNA put most of that capability in your hand for under 100 dollars. Here is what it actually gets you.
-
Ailunce HD2 Review: A Great EmComm Handout Radio, With a Warning
I use the Ailunce HD2 as a preprogrammed EmComm handout radio, but there’s a documented spurious emissions problem you need to know about before you buy.
-
IC-7300 Mark II vs Icom’s Higher-End Radios: When You Actually Need More
Where the IC-7300 Mark II tops out, and what actually justifies stepping up to something like the IC-7610 or IC-7851.