Ham gear and cost

Ham radio is not the cheapest hobby in the world.  But it doesn't have to be outrageously expensive either.  Transceivers run from $25 Baofengs,  to $7,000+ Kenwoods or Flex radios.   I don't presume to know a whole lot about anything just yet, so I will just share my experiences and observations.

First off, I don't have a whole lot of disposable income to devote to this hobby, so I'm trying to make my money go as far as possible.  As I said in the last post I started off with a Baofeng handheld radio.  It has done me well and I still use it all the time.  I did add a better whip antenna to which I also added a tiger tail counterpoise.  With 4-5 watts I have no problems hitting repeaters 20 miles away and getting acceptable signal reports.  The antenna cost almost as much as the radio.  And from what I've picked up this isn't a bad ratio to keep in mind, the antenna is often more important or at least as important as the radio itself.  On the down side of this radio, I do have to be careful where I'm standing and how I hold it in order to keep an optimal signal going out.  So, while this is a great radio, it isn't the be all end all of my ham equipment. (radio + extra battery + antenna = $50)

Next on my list was to get a better antenna.  I live in an apartment and so large outdoor antennas are out.  After much research I decided the best option was to get a ladder line slim-jim antenna.  I chose the one made by N9TAX and sold on eBay with the additional 16' of coax.  I have spent so far.  The antenna works great and it is dual band (2m, 70cm) so at the moment it can work on any of my radios.  SWR is between 1-2 between the full range of these bands.  (antenna = $28)

Then I decided that a mobile radio would be a good base station or home radio for me.  Living at one end of the San Fernando Valley I can only reach repeaters 25 miles away max due to being, well, in a valley.  After hunting on swap.qth.com, eham.net, and everywhere else I could I picked up a 2 meter radio off of eBay.

The radio is an older Alinco DR-1200t.  The guy I bought it from had cleaned it up and replaced the burned out front panel lights.  I got this radio cheap, but... then I started to learn how easy it is to sink a lot of money into this hobby without noticing it.  The DR-1200t came without a microphone as it was sold as a packet radio.  So I needed a hand mic.  Then I also needed a power supply.  Oh, yeah, at the same time was having issues with the slim-jim antenna, so I needed an SWR meter to figure that out (turned out to be a bad adapter, not the antenna).  About this point I'm thinking...What have I got myself into?  Well, I managed to get a great deal on an 11A power supply off eBay.  But, had to bite the bullet and pay full retail for the mic and the SWR meter.

I figure the SWR meter will be with me for a long time so not a problem.. oh, yeah, had to pick up a multimeter as well.  But, for all that I was up and running with a solid 2 meter rig that got great signal reports and, a piece of equipment that I can later re-purpose as a digital packet radio for APRS or something, who knows. (Radio $50 + Power supply $25 + Hand Mic $40 + SWR meter $50 = $175)

Then I realized that most of the people I wanted to tals to, and most of the "action" in my area was on UHF.  Dang it! So, I began searching for a 70cm rig, or a dual band rig.  [rant] Why are dual band radios twice as expensive as single band?[/rant].  With patience and diligent searching I found a TYT TH-9000 440mhz radio.  This one had been used for GMRS(on high power 65 watts, WTH?) and the previous owner cut the power cord down to about 4 inches (why?).  But it came with everything and a programming cable, so not a bad trade off.  I got it all programmed with Chirp and it is working great.  Currently I have to swap the antenna and the power supply from one radio to the other, but it's not really a problem yet. (radio $55 + Chirp $0 = $55)

So, at the end of the day I have spent $308.  I have a hand held and two mobile radios and a few pieces of equipment that I will use for a while no matter what I do with my license.  It's near impossible to find a top 3 dual band radio for what I've spent so far, and you would still need to add a power supply and antenna.  From what I have been told and seen for myself the HF gear runs about the same.  The HF buy-in seems to be about $400 for a decent rig.  Going digital has about the same entry price tag, maybe a little less or more.  Now I have to decide which direction I want to go since I have both options available.

What I have learned is that you don't have to spend a lot of money.  In order to save money, be smart and do your research.  Talk to local hams and listen to their advice.  Then make the decision that makes sense to you.