- Thread Starter
- #41
Are the mobile ham radios (inexpensive ones if there is such a thing) more user-friendly than the portables? By "user-friendly" I mean easier to operate, or more intuitive for inexperienced users, than the handhelds?
What I'm thinking about is the value of setting up a mobile unit to act as a base station in my home office, so I could listen in and get the basics down? Then, the mobile could be moved to the truck as needed, with the portables we have set aside for back-up if needed. Any thoughts?
They are all user unfriendly until you learn to use them.
There is no simple on off when it comes to ham gear of any kind.
They have PL tones, DTMF tones, offsets are sometime automatic, but some can be changed.
The only way to make them simple is to lock them to a simplex freq and just turn off and on.
Some have knobs for volume and squelch and some use key button combinations.
Understand the basics and then learn the idiosyncrasies of each radio.