Hi Steve and all, none of the yaesus, are actually technically Handheld, 
although, the 817&817ND, are, designed to be hung from a shoulderstrap, over 
the shoulder
and or around the neck/ packable or portable, the ft897 is somewhat larger 
and similarly packable portable.Both the 817series and 897 series, have 
internal batteries, but the 817 , will, regardless of power source, only do 
five watts max.
the 897 will do up to a hundred watts and/will only do up to twenty watts 
with bats in them.
The 857, though having no internal bats, is, I've been told, about the same 
size as the 817, and can be turned down to qrp levels.---I've never had my 
hands on any of these Yaesus except for the 817&817ND.
But with any radio which doesn't afford internal batteries, a good way to 
bracket a lap top or similar rechargeable battery to the side of the 
radio/Icom703 or 706, 857, 817, Kenwood TS50, or similarly size radios, is 
outlined by AD5X, Phil Sollis/spelling may not be right, but his website is 
ad5x.com
With many Yaesu and other radios, You don't have a tuner, but if using say 
the Super Antennas MP1, the Bluestar/which is, I'm told/never felt one, very 
similar to the mp1, and a good bit more expensive, the miracle whip, 
Wonderwand, ATX walkabout, and other similar antennae, you have an 
adjustable by signal to noise level, way to more or less tune your antenna 
to resonance and keep the SWR from getting too far out of tolerance.  It 
helps to tune the received signal to max noise, then if you have an swr 
meter, check yourself to see how close you've come with your hands and ears. 
Also, one of the devices which generate a noise that you tune the antenna to 
a noise null, can help you to do this in another way.  MFJ, Tentec, and a 
couple of others whose names I forget, make such devices.Danny.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2009 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: Kenwood TS2000


> It's portable enough if you don't need to take a power supply.  But, if 
> you
> want something really portable, the Yaesu FT-897 I think is a hand-held. 
> But,
> the drawback with that rig is you have real marginal performance on the 
> lower
> HF bands.  You simply need a great antenna when only using 5 watts.  The
> second drawback is there isn't any accessibility features in that model as 
> far
> as I  am aware of.
>
> The Icon 703 is a low-powered mobile rig.  It needs a power supply; but 
> does
> have some talking capability like frequency readout; it is not as 
> talkative as
> the Ts-2000 and the 2000 is not as talkative as the 480, though it is 
> close.
> The advantage of the TS-2000 over the TS-480 are all the extra features 
> you
> get, built-in TNC, VHF/UHF coverage, the optional 1.2GHZ module, etc.
>
> As with most things, there are a bunch of trade-offs to consider.
> Steve, K8Sp
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Sarah Alawami" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 9:08 PM
> Subject: Re: Kenwood TS2000
>
>
> Wo. That to me is not portable . I'm looking for something more handheld 
> and
> is accessible to a point. I know nothing out there is 100% accessible so 
> I'm
> not holding my breath. If I'm wrong on that last statement then feel free 
> to
> correct me.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Kevin Minor
> Sent: Friday, May 08, 2009 4:51 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: Kenwood TS2000
>
> Hi Sarah.
>
> I have a TS-2000, and it is technicly a portable radio.  It has a handle 
> on
> the side of it to let you carry it.  It weighs around 18 pounds, if I
> remember the specs right.
>
> That's the good news.  Now for me, the realist.  For me this radio isn't
> portable.  I'd have to carry not only the radio, but the power supply as
> well, which has to be at least 20 amps continuous if you want to operate 
> the
> rig at full power.  I'd also have to bring an antenna or two to allow me 
> to
> use the radio on HF and VHF/UHF.  I don't know how you'd plan on using the
> radio, but if portability is what you're looking for, I'd look at a
> different radio.  For me, the 2000 is just what I want.  I'll have to look
> for a low band antenna when I go to Dayton.  The apartment antenna that I
> purchased just isn't cutting it.
>
> If you have any other questions, let me know.
>
> 73
> Kevin Minor, N8EGA
> [log in to unmask]