jacoby@kpno.UUCP (10/15/83)
I recently read the news on HT advice, and felt I should point
out some lesser known facts about the ICOM 2AT.
1. One of the most important aspects of an HT is its
battery lifetime. How often have you heard someone
sign off due to low batteries. The 2AT allows use
of standard alkaline cells which provide about 4 times
the operating life of the nicads. This is especially
important if you have an emergency situation.
The reason alkaline cells will work in a 2AT and not many
other HTs is because the ICOM has an operating voltage
regime of 6 - 16 volts, whereas most other HTs require
a fairly tight 8 - 10 or so volts, and alkaline cells
tend to slowly drop in output voltage with time.
Also, because the 2AT is a simple no-frills HT, the current
drain is relatively low (squelched: 18ma, receive: ~40ma.)
2. The 2AT has one of the most sensitive receivers of the HTs.
This is only important if you plan to operate simplex much.
I once had a simplex QSO over 275 miles to a Yaesu FT-207R.
I could copy 100%, but I was only marginally detected.
(Both of us were on mountain tops at the time. Otherwise,
there were no abnormal conditions.)
3. Perhaps because of the receiver sensitivity, intermod is
particularly bad with the 2AT. This is only a problem in
heavy rf areas with external gain antennas.
In addition, I would recommend for any HT user that the rubber duck
antenna be ignored. At least use a quarter-wave whip, and I find
a 5/8ths wave (esp. Vocom) to work as advertised. That is, you
DO get about 10 db gain over the rubber duck. That's a big
difference.
george jacoby, kitt peak national observatory, 950 n. cherry ave, tucson, az
WD6BBQ (602) 325-9292
{{{ucbvax|utah-cs|purdue|mcnc}!arizona}|unc|hao}!kpno!jacoby