Hand Held Transceivers ARRL Book Section 3.4

The HT Some people call them walkie talkies –Most amateur radio operators consider that a word for a toy Can also be called Hand Held Transceiver, Hand Transceiver, or HT (anyone want to guess what HT stands for?)

Warnings People may think HT is a great mobile first choice – its not –We are very spread out, power of an HT will really limit you –An HT has 2.5 to 7 watts of power, a mobile has 25 to 75 watts –HTs are generally limited to battery packs that last only a few hours – they don’t have the staying power for a long emergency operation –People may buy used equipment – HTs have often been handled rough and have much higher risk of being bad. Chris said mobile first for a reason

More Limitations HTs marketers try to put out cheap packages – antenna is a short cut area – a crumby antenna is a great way to waste power –Short stuby antenna on an HT is called a rubber duck A Rubber Duck Antenna does not transmit a signal as efficiently as a full sized antenna (T9A04) One Way to get a stronger signal from a hand held is to use an external antenna (T7A03) –Most radios have plug at top called a BNC connection –Can get a full size antenna with a BNC connection or a BNC connection adaptor –There are a few HTs that have SMA plug connections

Polarization Perils Mentioned that radio waves in fact have a magnetic wave and an electrical wave –Which one faces up is very important –Most mobiles and repeaters using FM are vertically polarized – ie antenna faces straight up and down. (most side band work is horizontally polarized) If one antenna is vertical and the other is horizontal the signal between them can be 100 times weaker (T9B08) Problem for Handheld – it is easy to tip the antenna off vertical –When trying to reach a distant repeater keep the antenna as near vertical as possible (T9B07)