I have a used IC-820H that was picked up for a few hundredbucks. It's really not that big and I use it to rove by having itin the back of my SUV with the tailgate up and plugged intothe accessory jack back there. Arrow is on a tripod and theback of the SUV makes a nice place to rest my butt. The 820works all-mode and is Full-duplex. It has worked great for mewhile roving almost 120 Grids since 2012. You can see mysetup on my QRZ Page. There are a lot of these older rigsavailable on the typical used market sites for very reasonableprices. Check them out and broaden your horizons (HIHI). GL/73, Bob K8BL
On Friday, July 19, 2019, 07:09:10 AM EDT, Roy Dean via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
What I can't understand is that people continue to shame other hams for not operating on the linears. Having only just recently obtained the equipment necessary to work the linears (and then, only at the shack, my equipment is not portable in any way), I can say that it was not cheap nor easy to do. Working the FM birds is both far cheaper and easier, for sure.
Those that are stuck on the FM birds are likely not doing it by choice. It's all they have. Please keep that in mind.
--Roy K3RLD
EO-88 is in a low inclination orbit and so stays close to the equator. Many of us in the northern part of the continental U.S. and Canada cannot access it because it never passes far enough north for us to be in the footprint. That said, it can sometimes be lonely on linear satellites on passes that cover much of the continental U.S. I can’t understand why people would prefer to step all over one another on a single channel FM bird rather than spread out on a nice passband. Yes, the linears require a bit more effort, technical skill, and possibly a bit more of a monetary investment. But by finding some bargains on used gear and learning a bit more about how things work, they are well within reach of the average ham.
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