Hi y'all,
This should present an interesting problem to someone :)
I just purchased (for $45 inclusive of shipping) a Santec ST-144
handheld...complete with manual, rubber duckie, two speaker/mics,
headset, drop-in charger, DC charger, DC adapter (so you can run it
from your car, one presumes), leather case, the NiCD battery (which
doesn't hold a charge--but those are cheap or can be rebuilt)...and
the original boxes...though why I care about the boxes is a mystery.
Anyway, quite the deal. I almost bought one of these (except with
only the radio and a wall charger, no manual) way back when I was
only licensed a couple years and getting my first HT...but I didn't
buy it after all.
Here's what I remember about the radio:
It's a big brick radio. Yeah, about that size and shape. The battery
pack is internal, i.e. inside the actual radio, so you can't easily
just swap it out when it dies and keep yakking. It was old enough
that it had a number of switches on the front, one of which set your
offset, but new enough that it had direct frequency entry from the
keypad. One thing that I thought was very cool at the time was that
it had three power levels, which I later found out were 250 mw, 1.5w,
and 3.5w. And there, my knowledge ends. I'm presuming this rig is an
early-to-early-mid-'80's vintage, but that's only supposition.
What I really want to know, though, is...did it have PL tones (encode
if not decode) standard, or were they an optional feature? I know it
did have the capability. At least, I assume that that's what the
extra click on the squelch knob was for!
So why'd I buy the thing? My excuse is that it's meant to go to my
nephew, who's expressed an interest in ham radio. Whether it will get
there or whether I'll actually just keep it instead--who knows?
--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV : Executive In Training! Watkins Manager #361534
Shop our catalog of timeless Watkins products at www.tastyshop.net
And see how becoming a Watkins associate will improve your family's
quality of life at www.tastybiz.com
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