Message-Id: <20031229174906.LBAB1950.imf19aec.mail.bellsouth.net@[68.212.97.50]>

JOhn wrote:
   >I still have my old FT-51HP, but the reason for
   >that is, it's the last thing my parents gave me for Christmas
   >before my father died so I'll hand on to that as long as I can, but
   >I still haven't touched it in months always preferring the TH-F6A
   >and Icom T90A and now, some times my Icom P2AT if I'm in the garage
   >or something, like today I'm playing Mr.. Fix-it around the house
   >and yard so that radio's with me, mainly because I paid next to
   >nothing for it and if I drop a car on it, or wack it with a wrench,
   >it doesn't matter, in fact, I have 2 of them so if 1 breaks I just
   >grab the other one.
I ahd an ft-221r dual band ht and actually liked that radio.  NOt much
out of band coverage, enough for the local police anyway and the
keypad got flaky on it.
AS I have a little vision I liked the 221's display, nice big numbers,
easy to read.  THe extra row of keys on the keypad could confuse one
but they meant for not a lot of nested menus.
John sounds like his handhelds might live in a world similar to some
of mine.  I carried an Alinco 580 until it died running newspaper
routes fishing and all sorts of places.

THe htx-202 was a pretty rugged little radio as has my xyl's Icom 02
been.

After the 221 and the Yaesu I made it a practice never to hang
anything but a rubber duck or small whip from an ht.  NO matter what
you do to avoid straining the bnc or sma connector on the radio it
seems sooner or later you get to get into the radio and do something
with the antenna connection.  I just replaced the SMA a few months ago
on my Kenwood thg-71a.

THose are my two major criteria for choosing an ht.  ease of use
without having to interface with a computer and ruggedness.

73 de nf5b



Richard Webb

Electric Spider Productions
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

--- Benjamin Franklin, NOvember 1755 from the
Historical review of Pennsylvania