We Hams need more radios.. Not big fancy expensive shortwave radios. Not cute little cheap walkie talkies. We need data radios. It's the data age yet for ham radio the good stuff was on the market twenty years ago.
Options
- UHF, VHF, 50 MHz, 144 MHz, 222 MHz or 440 MHz.. We need them all! Various bands have different rules and characterists. Given that, 440 MHz would be the best start.
- Variable programmable frequency operation please. Crystals are so expensive and so slow to order. Ideally frequency could be set by program operation but that's a Want and not a Need.
- Power - not a lot, not a little.. 5 watts might be low. Couldn't go wrong with 10 watts.
- Voice and Data. Older radios had voice modes. That's nice but not needed.
- Examples of the past
- Kantronics D4-10 10 watts on 440 MHz. 9600 or 19200 modulation. Add programmable frequency operation and a reasonable price - this would be a break through product. Febo Notes
- Kantronics D2-2
- MFJ 9641 (220, 144, 440)
- Ritron embedded radio - http://www.ritron.com/pdf/dtxpl.pdf
- 1200 baud support, like voice, would be nice but it shouldn't distract from the primary goal of a good reasonable speed data radio.
Other Notes
- Can any of the existing radios with 6 pin DIN data jacks support speeds higher than 9600? For example, will the Kenwood D700 or D710 support 19200?
- Alinco single band radios with 9600 data input/output -
- Modems for higher speed radios:
- SCS DSP Tracker TNC - 19200 G3RUH - Farallon (free shipping and same price at HRO)
- UZ7HO Soundcard - http://uz7.ho.ua/packetradio.htm
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