The Radios - Page 2

A few more bits of kit that I've had the pleasure of owning over the years.

Back to The Radios - Page 1.

On this page we have the following :

Yaesu FRG-9600 VHF/UHF Scanner

Not a bad little radio this.. A bit deaf compared to others at the time but it worked well. Dad used it for several years to monitor all sorts of stuff on VHF and it never missed a beat.

I gave it away to a very dear friend of mine who became rather housebound and, as far as I know, he used it until the end of his days.

Yaesu FRG-7700 General Communications Receiver

This was one of those radios that, back in the 80's, I really, really wanted. Obviously, pressure on the piggy bank was too much and I never managed to get one. Then, one Sunday afternoon, not so long ago, one arrived via the back door and I was hooked once again.

Mine has the matching FRT-7700 ATU making it possible for a bit of random wire poked in the back to pick up well on most bands.

Currently, I'm using it to take SSTV on 14.230Mhz as well as the general chit-chat across all H.F. bands.

Trio TH21e and TH71e Handhelds

The Trio/Kenwood TH-21e is one of the very few bits of kit that I've hung on to over the years. Odd when you think it all but redundant these days. Still I wasn't to know that at the time.

1Won high power, 150mW on low, thumbwheel frequency selection and little else, it has given really good service in the past. No idea what I'll use of for now but it may prove useful when working on antennas etc down South... especially for ordering up cups of coffee!

The TH71e was exactly the same as the TH21e in all respects apart from the band. the 70cms version was nice enough but it didn;t last long with me as, at the time, my QTH was very poor for UHF operations.

FDK Multi 700EX VHF 25W Mobile FM

The FDK Multi 700 was my first mobile radio; way better for mobile operations than the Yaesu FT-208 handheld I'd been using previously. It had a fairly unique completely variable power output from 1 watt, all the way up to 25 watts rather than the simple Hi/Low you normally get.

Built like a tank and dead easy to operate, the FDK was fantastic. It eventually got replaced when I wanted to get in to SSB... the FT-480 was a poor replacement.

Kenwood TR-9130 and TR-9000 VHF Multimode VHF Mobiles

Kenwood/Trio made some of the nicest looking equipment back in the 1980 and the VHF multimode that everyone wanted was the TR-9130. 25 Watts, all mode mobile with dual VFOs and band scan, the 9130 was in great demand.

My Father had one and it now takes pride of place in my collection. The top image on the right is the very same radio and it still performs as good as ever. I had the TR-9000, the 10Watt version of the same radio. Just about identical in every respect, the 9000 had a red display and the 9130 had the green.

My 9000 was a complete set-up with matching power supply, base unit and speaker. Again, a VERY big mistake to see these things when I did but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

JRC NRD-525 General Communications Receiver

I got my JRC NRD-525 from Low Electronics. That was good day out in those days; a trip out to Matlock in Derbyshire to drool over the latest shiny new equipment always went down well.

I did a lot with the 525, most notably my first decoding of H.F. Fax transmissions. Back then, the major press agencies used FAX. to distribute their news images and a home-brew PLL, D to A converter and a bit of machine code on the Acorn Archimedes was all it took to grab them.

Really great receiver.

TenTec Corsair II HF Transceiver

For quite some time around 1986/87 I was really active on C.W. and the TenTec had a reputation of being the de facto radio for serious operators. So, when one came up, I got it.
25 or so years later, I'm at a bit of a loss to explain all the fuss. It's true to say that once you announced you were using a TenTec, your signal report suddenly jumped to 599 but I can't honestly say I enjoyed using the thing.

Mine was complete with matching speaker, power supply and second VFO (if my memory servers me right). It also came with a Drake microphone that I hung on to for a long time.

Nice enough I guess, but the TenTec didn't hang around long... the Yaesu FT-ONE replaced it fairly soon afterwards.