On Feb 1, 2008 1:46 PM, Clint Bradford clintbrad4d@earthlink.net wrote:
...which handheld do you use or which
handheld is "the best" for sats. It must be full duplex.
There are no new full-duplex HTs on the amateur market. The Icom IC- W32a was the last nit to have true full-duplex.
Knowing that, the feature that is needed in an HT is the ability to RX on one band, and TX on another.
So you have dual-band, dual receive HTs (TH-F6a from Kenwood...user un-friendly VX-7R from Yaesu) that can do it - obviously. I overlook the Kenwood TH=D7A(g) because it is a battery hog and much older technology than what is now avalable in amateur HTs.
Just to be clear, though: the TH-D7A is full duplex, if by that you mean you can listen to one band while transmitting on another. Moving your receive frequency might take a couple more button pushes than the simplest case, but it really is quite easy. Furthermore, it has a TNC built in that can receive the 1200 bps and 9600 bps AFSK transmissions made by many birds. Data from the satellites operating in APRS mode can be viewed on-screen without an attached computer.
Though I'm sure the other HT options are excellent, I'm glad I got a TH-D7A because it has offered a quite easy path to exploring the digital birds and terrestrial APRS in general.
73, Bruce VE9QRP
On Feb 1, 2008, at 1:10 AM, amsat-bb-request@amsat.org wrote:
I would like to know which handheld do you use or which handheld is "the best" for sats. It must be full duplex. Thanks in advance!